Floyd Carothers
OccupationHorse trainer
DisciplinePerformance Tennessee Walking Horse
BornWartrace, Tennessee
Died1944
Major wins/ChampionshipsWorld Grand Championship in 1939 and 1942
Lifetime achievementsFirst trainer to win Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration
Significant horses
Strolling Jim, Melody Maid

Floyd Carothers (died 1944) was an American horse trainer from Wartrace, Tennessee. Carothers trained Strolling Jim, the first Tennessee Walking Horse to become World Grand Champion of his breed. He also trained the third World Grand Champion, Melody Maid.

Carothers died of cancer in 1944.

Life

Carothers was born in Wartrace, Tennessee to W. G and Minnie Griders Carothers.[1] He was married to Olive Carothers. The couple bought the Hotel Overall, later known as the Walking Horse Hotel, in the early 1930s,[2] and lived on the third floor of the building.[3] Carothers died of cancer in 1944.[4] He is buried in Wartrace, not far from the hotel he owned.[3]

Career

Carothers and fellow trainer Henry Davis operated a horse training stable in Wartrace. On April 30, 1939, they purchased a three-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse gelding named Strolling Jim for $350. Although Strolling Jim had been used as a plow horse by his prior owner, Carothers immediately began training him to be a show horse.[5] Strolling Jim was soon sold to Colonel C. H. Bacon of Loudon, Tennessee, but was left in training with Carothers so he could be exhibited in shows over the summer. [5] The first Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration was held in late summer of 1939. Carothers entered Strolling Jim, and the pair won the first World Grand Championship. Soon after, Strolling Jim was sold to a California owner and taken out of Carothers' stable.[5]

In 1942 Carothers rode the mare Melody Maid, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rambo of Fayetteville, Tennessee, to a World Grand Championship. Prior to the championship, Melody Maid had won both the Tennessee State Fair and Kentucky State Fair.[6]

Legacy

Carothers' ghost, as well as the ghost of Strolling Jim, is reputed to haunt the Walking Horse Hotel itself, as well as the stables behind it.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Agriculture, Tennessee Dept of (1 January 1942). "Biennial Report". Retrieved 14 June 2016 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ "Disembodied voices well-known in Tennessee". Times Daily. October 25, 1984. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 Marsh, Donna; Morris, Jeff; Merk, Garett (13 September 2011). "Nashville Haunted Handbook". Clerisy Press. Retrieved 14 June 2016 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "The Walking Horse Hotel". 7 September 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Tennessee Walking horse - Strolling Jim". Walkers West. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Tennessee Walking horse - Melody Maid". Walkers West. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  7. ↑ Brown, Alan (14 May 2014). "Haunted Tennessee: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Volunteer State". Stackpole Books. Retrieved 14 June 2016 – via Google Books.
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