The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration (TWHNC), sometimes known as the Celebration, is the largest horse show for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed, and has been held annually in or near Shelbyville, Tennessee since its inception in 1939. The Celebration was conceived by Henry Davis, a horse trainer who along with several other horsemen, felt the Shelbyville area should have a festival or annual event. Although the Celebration was originally held in Wartrace, Tennessee, it moved to Shelbyville, the seat of Bedford County, a few years later. The Celebration spans 11 days and nights in late August and early September annually, and finishes with the crowning of the World Grand Champion Tennessee Walker on the Saturday night before Labor Day. The TWHNC draws an estimated 2,000 horses and 250,000 spectators to Shelbyville each year.
I Am Jose is a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion and three-time World Grand Champion. He is the first stallion and second horse to win the World Grand Championship three times. I Am Jose is black with a star on his forehead.
The Talk of the Town was the first Tennessee Walking Horse to win three World Grand Championships, and one of only two horses ever to do so.
The Racking Horse World Celebration is the largest show for the Racking Horse breed. It is held annually in late September at the Celebration Arena in Priceville, Alabama, a few miles outside Decatur. The Celebration encompasses over a week of nightly shows, and includes approximately 170 classes. Over 1,000 horses compete there each year, and spectator attendance is roughly 70,000. The World Celebration's counterpart is the Spring Celebration, held in April at the same location.
Emerson "Bud" Dunn was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Kentucky who spent most of his career in northern Alabama. He trained horses for over forty years and won his first Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship at age 74 with Dark Spirit's Rebel; at the time, he was the oldest rider to win the honor. He was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame in 1987 and named trainer of the year in 1980 and 1991. In 1999 at age 81, Dunn surpassed his own record for the oldest winning rider by winning his second World Grand Championship, riding RPM. He died of a heart attack in January 2001.
Winston Wiser (1910–1961) was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Shelbyville, Tennessee, who won five World Grand Championships on three separate horses.
Go Boy's Shadow was a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who won two World Grand Championships in the years 1955 and 1956. He was the last horse to repeat win in his breed for nearly fifty years.
Billy Gray was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who won four World Grand Championships on different horses. Gray was named Trainer of the Year in 1982.
RPM was a Tennessee Walking Horse who won a World Grand Championship in 1999. As a four-year-old, RPM was sold for $1.25 million, estimated at the time to be the highest price ever paid for a Tennessee Walking Horse. RPM was trained by Bud Dunn, who also trained the horse's sire to a World Grand Championship in 1992.
Judy Martin is a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer. Martin trained the World Grand Champion Shades of Carbon, and was Tennessee Walking Horse Trainer of the Year in 1976. She also judged horse shows.
Billie Nipper was an American artist who specialized in painting portraits of horses. Nipper, a native of Cleveland, Tennessee, painted every horse that won the Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship from 1976 until her death. Besides Tennessee Walking Horses, she painted other breeds of horse, as well as landscapes. Her paintings were made into prints and transferred onto china and other objects. Nipper also bred horses, and her husband and son were horse trainers.
Honors is a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who won his breed's World Grand Championship in 2016. He had previously won a Four-Year-Old World Championship in 2012. Honors has also been used for breeding.
Wink Groover was an American Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who won the World Grand Championship in 1970 with the horse Ace's Sensation. Groover was also Trainer of the Year for 1970, and later served as a chairman for the National Horse Show Commission. Groover died in April 2010, at the age of 74.
William Earl Bobo is a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer. He won the World Grand Championship at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in 2003 with the stallion The Whole Nine Yards. Bobo also showed the notable horse Rowdy Rev, who competed in the World Grand Championship several times but never won. Bobo has been named Trainer of the Year by the Walking Horse Trainers Association.
Rowdy Rev is a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who won the Reserve World Grand Championship in the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Although he repeatedly competed in the World Grand Championship, he never won, despite wins in other large shows.
Game World is a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who won the World Grand Championship in the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in 2011.
Gen's Black Maverick is a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion. He has won two World Championships and the 2017 World Grand Championship in the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.
Pride's Generator (1975–2001) was a Tennessee Walking Horse who won three World Championships before being retired to breeding. Standing at stud first at S. W. Beech Stables and later at Waterfall Farms, he sired over 2,000 foals, of which two became World Grand Champions and over 100 became World Champions.
Main Power is a Tennessee Walking Horse who won the World Grand Championship in the 2005 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. He had previously been the Three-Year-Old World Champion in two categories, Four-Year-Old World Champion and Reserve World Grand Champion.
Santana's El Nino is a Tennessee Walking Horse who won the World Grand Championship in the 2008 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. He was trained by Link Webb.
