Steve Hill (horse trainer)

Last updated
Steve Hill
OccupationHorse trainer
DisciplinePerformance Tennessee Walking Horse
Major wins/ChampionshipsWorld Grand Championship in 1949
World Grand Championship in 1951
World Grand Championship in 1952
World Grand Championship in 1953
Significant horses
Wilson's Allen, Midnight Merry, The Talk of the Town

Steve Hill was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer. He is one of only three horse trainers to win the breed's World Grand Championship four times, and trained the first three-time winner.

Career

As a youth, Hill began his career by training the early Tennessee Walking Horse sire Wilson's Allen, then a three-year-old, for his uncle Johnson Hill. [1] Steve Hill said later, "The horse was small and so was I, and my uncle thought we'd match up pretty good." [2] Hill made his show-ring debut at age 14 on Wilson's Allen at the Wartrace Horse Show. [3] Hill won a total of 4 World Grand Championships at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in his career, beginning with the red roan mare Midnight Merry in 1949. [4] He followed up the first win with three more on the bay gelding The Talk of the Town in three consecutive years, 1951, 1952 and 1953. [5] The Talk of the Town remains one of only two horses ever to win three World Grand Championships. Hill lived in Murfreesboro but had his training stables in nearby Beech Grove, Coffee County. [6] [7] Besides the World Grand Champions, Hill trained several other horses to success. [8] Hill remains one of the winningest stake trainers in Celebration history. [9]

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References

  1. Beisel, Perky; Dehart, Rob (2007). Middle Tennessee Horse Breeding. ISBN   9780738552811 . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. "Tennessee Walking Horses - Wilson's Allen Homepage" . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  3. "100 Years of Walking in Wartrace". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  4. "Tennessee Walking horse - Midnight Merry #461829 home page by Walkers West" . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  5. "Tennessee Walking horse - Talk Of The Town #473791, home page by Walkers West" . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  6. Beisel, Perky; Dehart, Rob (2007). Middle Tennessee Horse Breeding. ISBN   9780738552811 . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  7. "Bulletin". 1980. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  8. "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  9. "Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration - Gallery of World GrandChampions" . Retrieved 10 March 2016.