Charles Brantley: A Life In Walking Horse

By Sarah Gee
©Voice, August/September 2007

Nellie and Charles Brantley

Brantley – few names evoke a clearer sense of history in our breed. From Allan F-1 to Roan Allen F-38 to Merry Go Boy, the Brantley family of Coffee County, Tennessee has both witnessed and influenced the path of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Involved from the very beginning, it was James R. Brantley that first recognized the potential of a black stallion that refused to trot. That stallion, dubbed Black Allan and later Allan F-1, was eventually designated the founding sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. His son, J. French Brantley was renowned judge and great promoter of the breed, serving first as a director and later as president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ Association^sm of America. Before that, both gentlemen were instrumental in the founding of this very association.

As the grandson of James R. and the son of J. French, Charles Brantley was destined to devote his life to the Tennessee Walking Horse. From a very young age, his ambition was to make the Tennessee Walking Horse his profession.

Charles was born November 12, 1924 at the family farm in Coffee County. Although too young to have known Allan F-1, one of Charles’ earliest memories is of the 1928 death of Roan Allen F-38.
When he was eight, Charles’ father moved the family to nearby Manchester, Tennessee. Following the move to town, Charles would return to the farm every summer to work. He began showing halter colts as a teenager and, in 1939, he showed in the very first Celebration. It was the beginning of an incredible legacy. “Brantley Farm has shown at every Celebration except for the years when my father judged and when I judged. We won five out of the first six Celebration Get of Sire classes with Brantley’s Roan Allen Jr. and colts from Brantley Farm have gone on the win World Championships in every category,” explains Charles.

If these walls could talk...

It was during high school that Charles met his future wife, Nellie Jay Wright. She was a year behind him in school. They started dating and continued to do so after Charles graduated. When he entered the U.S. Navy in 1943, their communication dropped off until an act of thievery brought them back together. Charles recalls, “Nellie had given me a shaving kit while we were dating. I took it with me when I went into the service and it was stolen. I wrote to tell her it had been stolen and that started us corresponding again. I got out of the service in the spring of 1946 and we were married that fall.”

Upon returning from the service, Charles debated about whether to go to college. In the end he decided to pursue his lifelong ambition and settled on the family farm. Under his guidance, Brantley Farm became one of the foremost breeding operations of the post-war years. Stallions such as Brantley’s Roan Allen Jr., Lee White Allen, Wilson Flight Allen, and Merry Go Boy called the farm home during the 1940s and 1950s. Additionally, the farm was at the cutting edge when it came to technology, carrying out some of the pioneering efforts in artificial insemination.

During his first few years back from the service, Charles also dabbled in training horses under saddle. He experienced a bit of success before developing some circulation problems that required him to stop riding. He continued to lead colts until a 1982 knee replacement put him on the sidelines for good. After that, his nephews led for him and later Chris Richards took over. Of Chris, Charles says, “Chris has been showing for us ever since he started. The first colt he ever showed was ours. He does an excellent job for us.”

Charles and Brantley's Roan Allen Jr.

Of course, it’s in the weanling and yearling classes that the Brantley name has truly reigned supreme. Young talents such as Go Boy Silhouette, Go Boy’s Susie Anne, Go Boy’s Brantley, Sun’s Smiling Sue, Sun’s Gracie Allen, Go Boy’s Allen B, Shadow’s Judy Cross, Invasion’s R.E., Brantley’s Midnight Sun, Dandy Delight, Gen’s Genessa, Gen’s Genieve, Stonecutter’s Legacy, and Silver Dollar’s Crystal have all walked to acclaim under the Brantley banner. Always a great supporter of the National Futurity, in 2000, Brantley’s Gen’s Genessa, shown by Chris Richards, won the TWHBEA Top Graduate Award for a foal nominated and shown as a weanling, yearling, two-year-old, and three-year-old.

2004 National Futurity Champion Stonecutter's Legacy.

Under close examination the Brantley influence is just as evident in under saddle competition. Horses such as Shadow’s Shadow (sire of 1971 WGC Sensational Shadow), 1959 RWGC Go Boy’s Invasion, Amateur WGC Go Boy’s Tallulah, Go Boy’s Souvenir, Ebony’s Misty Lady, Pride’s Secret Heir, Delight’s Dark Ghost, Go Boy’s Wonder, Dabster Delight, Gertrude Delight, The State Of The Art, and Jose’s Tom Turkey have carried the Brantley authority on victory passes throughout the country. Winston Wiser, Billy Gray, Ronnie Spears, Joe Martin, Herbert Derickson, Mark West, and Dick Myers are but some of the trainers that have saddled horses for Brantley Farm.

In addition to being a successful breeder and exhibitor of Tennessee Walking Horses, Charles has served the breed in nearly every phase of the industry. Forever linked to the history of the breed, in 1993 he received a Certificate of Appreciation for his support and contributions to the Tennessee Walking Horse Museum. That same year he was presented with the inaugural Heritage Award from the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association^sm for his work within the industry and his donation of original documents that trace the heritage of the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Tennessee sports legend and Hall of Fame President Sam Bartholomew, Jr. welcomed Charles to the Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

In recognition of his contributions to the breed and to the Celebration, Charles was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Hall of Fame in 1999. Two years later he became the first member of the Tennessee Walking Horse industry to be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Charles relates, “That was an incredible honor. I would just like to thank the Breeders’ Association^sm for helping to make that possible.”

Now 83, Charles continues to breed and raise top-quality Tennessee Walking Horses. Approximately 18 horses, including broodmares, weanlings, yearlings, and horses under saddle, currently call Brantley Farm home. Discussing today’s walking horse industry versus the walking horse industry of years ago, Charles remarks, “The diversity of today’s industry is great, there’s something for everyone. Today’s industry brings so much money into the state and it supports so many civic clubs. To say the industry has grown would be an understatement.”

A class act and a true southern gentleman, Charles Brantley has lived his life in pursuit of his boyhood ambition. He is the third generation of one of our breed’s founding families and he has fully devoted himself the growth and betterment of the Tennessee Walking Horse.