Smokey Valley Farm is helping bring back a breed of horse all but lost following the Civil War: the Smokey Valley Horse. For generations prior to the Civil War, mountain families bred horses to be versatile working horses, able to smoothly travel deep hollers and steep ridges. As a result, horses from the Appalachian region were highly regarded for their smooth gait and calm temperament by Civil War soldiers, and were nearly wiped out after the war.
Dr. Bob Coleman of Carter County comes from generations of family with a passion for smooth-gaited traveling horses. He has spearheaded development of the Smokey Valley breed over the past 40 years at his farm in Olive Hill. The horses will be celebrated at an Appalachian Horse Revival event with Morehead State University on Memorial Day Weekend 2019.
This revival of the Appalachian horse industry is best described in this excerpt written by Jeremy D. Wells of Grayson Journal-Enquirer who recently toured Smokey Valley Farm:
“They will go through the woods like a deer, and will go through the rocks like a goat,” [Max Hammond of Smokey Valley Farm] said.
He described the Smokey Valley Horse as calm, with a smooth gait on all terrains, and a “people horse.” That description was emphasized by Lil’ Red, one of the groups breeding stallions, as he sought out pets and nuzzled those who came near him while touring the barn. “We don’t breed for color,” Hammond said while describing Lil’ Reds strawberry roan coloring. “We breed for temperament, body and gait. But we have a lot of what you call the roan coloring.”
He described how the horses of Appalachia were so sought after that charges of horse thieving lead to feuds, like the Underwood War. This event, he said, lead directly to the establishment of a normal school, which would eventually become Morehead State University, in an attempt to “normalize” the people of Appalachia who were engaged in such feuds.
He said that with that kind of history, it’s appropriate that the farm is working with Morehead State to reintroduce the horse, and that a Morehead student, Brandi Meek, is the first certified registered horse trainer apprentice in the state of Kentucky, despite the state’s long history of and relation to horses.
This year, they are working with Morehead to put on a horse show of “epic proportions,” all focused on Appalachian horse breeds.
“We’re hoping to engage and leverage the entire university to bring back the horse industry to eastern Kentucky,” he said.
The farm is also petitioning Breyer, the toy company who makes model horses of different breeds, to select Lil’ Red as their archetype for the Smokey Valley Horse breed.
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To learn more about the upcoming event on May 23, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/equestriantraveler/
