RPM was a

Tennessee Walking Horse The Tennessee Walking Horse or Tennessee Walker is a breed of gaited horse known for its unique four-beat running-walk and flashy movement. It was originally developed as a riding horse on farms and plantations in the American South. It is a ...

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 Emerson "Bud" Dunn (May 15, 1918 – January 11, 2001) 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 Wor ...

, who also trained the horse's sire to a World Grand Championship in 1992.

Life and career

RPM was a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

stallion sired by Dark Spirit's Rebel, the 1992 World Grand Champion Tennessee Walking Horse, and out of Ebony's Emmy Lou. As a

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

, RPM was sold to Pete Hammond and Bob Kilgore for $100,000 and put in training with

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the st ...

, who had also trained Dark Spirit's Rebel. Dunn showed RPM to the three-year-old World Championship at the 1997

Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration 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 19 ...

and the four-year-old World Championship in 1998. The same year, RPM was entered in the open World Grand Championship and won reserve. Dunn was aiming RPM at the World Grand Championship the next year. However, in May 1999, RPM was sold to TR & N Partners for $1.25 million, making him one of only 5 Tennessee Walking Horses to ever be sold for over one million dollars. At the time, it was estimated that RPM's price might be the highest ever paid for a Tennessee Walking Horse. The new owners moved him to Sammy Day's stable in

Shelbyville, Tennessee Shelbyville is a city in and the county seat of Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The town was laid out in 1810 and incorporated in 1819. Shelbyville had a population of 20,335 residents at the 2010 census. The town is a hub of the Tenness ...

. Shortly before the Celebration, Day was convicted of bribing a judge at a different show, fined and put on suspension. RPM was returned to Dunn's training and won the World Grand Championship. In 2000, RPM was retired to stud at Bridlewood Farm and then sold to Jaclyn Smith in 2005. Smith moved RPM to Rising Star Ranch near Shelbyville. RPM was found sick on the morning of July 20, 2005. He was being taken to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

veterinary hospital Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

when he died of an obstructed bowel caused by

colic Colic or cholic () is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube ( small and large intestine, gall bladder, ureter, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content out ...

complications.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist Individual Tennessee Walking Horses World Grand Champion Tennessee Walking Horses