Doug Wolaver is a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who has won the World Grand Championship in the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration three times. His winning horses were Mack K's Handshaker in 1960, Triple Threat in 1965, and Go Boy's Sundust in 1967.

Life and career

Wolaver was born in 1947/48 to Myron and Jean Clark Wolaver. He grew up on his family's farm near Cornersville, Tennessee and was exposed to horses and

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

s from a young age, as the family farmed with mules. His first exposure to horse shows came as a child, when he showed ponies owned by other people. Wolaver later began training the ponies himself, and his father Myron "Pap" Wolaver ultimately gave him a young Tennessee Walking Horse

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

named Miss Merry Allen. Wolaver and Miss Merry Allen competed in the 1956 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and won the Two-Year-Old Filly World Championship, starting Wolaver's career. Wolaver and the horse Mack K's Handshaker won the World Grand Championship in the 1960 Celebration. Mack K's Handshaker, a black

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

, was owned by Wolaver and his father at the time of his win. Wolaver was also one of the youngest trainers to win the World Grand Championship at the time, being twenty-two years old. Wolaver won his second World Grand Championship in 1965 on Triple Threat, who was owned by Joe Wright at the time of the win. The stake that year lasted almost a full hour and included 11 entries. Two years later Wolaver and Go Boy's Sundust won another World Grand Championship. Wolaver and his wife Brenda live in Diana, Tennessee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolaver, Doug 1940s births Living people People from Marshall County, Tennessee Tennessee Walking Horse breeders and trainers People from Pulaski, Tennessee