Last Chance - the original hybrid cross.

Prior to 1930, most Tennessee Walking Horses traced heavily back to Roan Allen. While Roan Allen was an excellent sire and crossing his offspring and descendants did allow the breed to develop and make certain traits (such as gait) homozygous, too much "line breeding" can be detrimental to the future of the breed. While positive traits are accentuated, so too are the negative. Line breeding can cause a decrease in size and intelligence along with flaws in disposition and conformation. It has also been attributed to increased incidences of infertility, cancer, and other genetic abnormalities.

In 1930, Albert Dement began to develop a line of horses without any Roan Allen blood. He wanted to preserve the standards of the breed and offer a new outcross. He crossed he crossed Hunter's Allen F-10 with Merry Legs F-4 three times. Twice, the foals died before they were a year old. Finally, he found success in 1931 Last Chance was born. The Last Chance line proved to be an excellent cross with the Roan Allen line, producing foals with hybrid vigor - improved size, gait, intelligence, conformation and disposition. Last Chance became one of the most prominent breeding stallions in the breed before his death in 1956.

Albert Dement, the man who created this legacy, passed away in 1940. His horses passed to his son, Arthur. During the depression, hard times fell families across the country, including the Dement family. Luckily, the bloodline was preserved and still exists today.

Last Chance today.

The Last Chance bloodline is still revered for many of its original traits, but the heavy line breeding practiced today has created a more limited gene pool and a new compatible bloodline is needed to enhance the Last Chance blood and bring back the hybrid vigor. For me, the question was "which bloodline?"

Changes in the breed.

As the show ring became the focus of the breed, the walking horse lost many of its original characteristics. The heavy pads worn by "performance" show horses changed the timing of the gait, so in order to produce a running walk while wearing the heavy weights a pacey horse was needed. The performance horse was also expected to be showy and hot - a far cry from the original laid-back disposition of the walking horse. These traits are not what I'm interested in breeding for, so that removes horses with recent "World Grand Champion" bloodlines.

I found everything I was looking for in  Golden Gambler  as a sire to my girls. The cross with my girls has far exceeded my expectations and has produced foals that I am keeping.  I especially love the results I got in crossing him with my Last Chance mare. This is one of the things that inspired the development of this site. Thanks Stephanie!