These two photos were taken with Cole Myren, left, riding Duke and Nancy Bergman, right, on board Duke for the first time. Duke hasn't been ridden in a few years so he's getting a refresher course. This is a 16 hand horse so don't let Cole's 6' 5" long legged height make you think this horse is a pony! Duke exhibits the naturally high tail carriage the old breeders bred considered a trait in the best bred Walking Horses.

My daughter-in-law, Kate, took this photo of Duke during their Christmas visit in 2009

Duke as a yearling, out in front. Far Left is Star Gray with the big blaze.

 

Duke was born at Confederate Hills Farm, Billy Taylor's Winchester, Tennessee home. He left Tennessee as a youngster   and  from then on he resided at Gary Martin's Make A Horse Farm in Dighton, Massachusetts. I first ran across Duke's     photo in an  old issue of the Breeder's Guide and thought he looked like a nice horse plus I liked his bloodlines.

 

Ever since Star Gray lost his breeding ability, I have asked Gary if he would consider selling Duke and the reply was always     the same  - he wasn't interested in selling. I contacted Gary in the winter of 2008-2009 once again to ask if he would  consider selling or leasing Duke. I was surprised to get a letter back from him saying he would sell Duke. Duke arrived at    my farm   toward the end of March 2009. He had some major adjustments to make here in Wisconsin.

 

Our climate is different than Massachusetts, there was a whole herd of mares who came into a raging heat shortly after he       arrived here and I am not kidding when I say five mares were backed up to his fence squatting for him in early April, which is   too early to breed here. Add to that mess, several other stallions on this farm of 17 acres, and he was a bit high strung worrying about those mares, hearing the other stallions whinnying for the mares. It was doubtful for a few weeks whether he would be  able to make the adjustment of being here at his age but he did calm down and settled in nicely. If you look at the head shot of  him at the top of this page you will see some white lines on his face about halfway up the face. Gary tells me those are Duke's "tatoos", he was born with those weird little white lines and he passes them on to his foals sometimes.

 

Several mares, Della, Kris, Lucky, and Scarlet are bred to Duke for 2010 and I am anxiously waiting for those foals!!!! Spring   is a long time away yet but I'm betting these foals will have some size to them, be loose moving and some walking fools.

 

Duke is the son of  Paige's Echo, whose story is quite unique.  Paige's Echo was bred by Danny and Billy Taylor's father and   was sold to J.W. Sanders in 1967. Sanders was not a horse person but liked the big horse and kept him as a pet. Echo was    never gelded but he never served a registered walking mare. The opportunity came for the Taylor brothers to acquire Echo      and return him to his home farm at 27 years of age. In 1993, his first registered Walking Horse foal hit the ground. The foals    of Echo were attractive horses with plenty of natural walk and people oriented dispositions. 

Society's Duke Allen is one of Paige's Echo's sons, tracing back to the rare Red Eagle F-61, this non-Allen line offers       genetic diversity and hybrid vigor. Paige's Echo's dam, Pinky Lu, was sired by Wilson's Merry Boy GG, blending the famed Merry  Boy line with a full sister to Miller's Wilson Allen, one of the nation's leading sires of flat-shod show walkers in the late forties. Duke's dam was sired by Red Bud's Rascal, Leon Oliver's popular breeding stallion (now deceased).  Duke's sire, Paige's  Echo, had eight foundation "F" horses on his papers.   These are true Heritage Horses.

 

Duke has a great disposition and loves to have the area behind his ears scratched.  Strange thing with these Echo horses       about having their ears scratched - Star Gray is the same way! Duke traces back to Wilson's Allen; and on the videotape,       "A Look Into the Past", Dr. Bob Womack says Wilson's Allen, in his opinion, was one of the finest stallions of all time. He     sired natural, loose moving foals. Star Gray exhibits the looseness of gait that Wilson's Allen was known for. 

 

  In the early days of the Walking Horse registry, a number of stallions were considered very good sires. After the start of the TWHNC, sons of some of these went on to win World Championships at the early shows. From 1945-1948, Midnight     Sun and Merry Go Boy became the first two stallions to win the WGC, drawing the focus of many breeders. Many other       stallions were forgotten in the limelight accorded these two black horses. One stallion that maintained a strong court even after  the big-lick became the status rather than just a trend was the chestnut Wilson's Allen son, Society Man. A big, handsome      stallion, Society Man passed along some rare and exotic genes from his dam, Virginia Joyce. Society Man was the 1943         World Champion Jr. Stallion, which in 1943 was a three year old colt that must display a solid canter in addition to the      running  walk and flat-walk. Over the years, a number of his sons were used in the stud to perpetuate this line. His lineage continues  today through the produce of many of his daughters, but only one grandson, a sabino stallion named       Paige's Echo, sired sons   that are actively involved in breeding programs around the country today.

 

During the summer of 2003, I had some time to research Society Man's background. He had many pages of production records  so I started to go through them all. I was quite surprised to find out of all the sons he produced, only ONE, Paige's Black Boy,   had sons who had sons who are still in production today. Of the Paige's Black Boy sons, only one son has sons who are still in production, and that son is Paige's Echo, the sire of my stallion. To appreciate how rare this bloodline is when   it comes to an unbroken line of males to carry on the Society Man name, there are only six stallions out there in production today, Society's  Duke Allen being one of them.

 

Duke was tested negative for EVA and vaccinated in 2009. I will continue the yearling vaccinations for EVA and if anyone wants to see the test results, I can email them.