HORSIN' AROUND
MCCURDY PLANTATION HORSES TREASURED OLD SOUTH ‘MCCURDY LICK’ TROTTER
he McCurdy Plantation Horse was developed in the late 19th century by the McCurdy family in Lowndesboro, Alabama. Like other popular gaited horse breeds such as the Tennessee Walking Horse and the Racking Horse, this breed has its roots in the south and arose when landowners wanted comfortable, versatile, calm, dependable and durable horses that could carry them long distances over rough terrain and work the land. During the 1860s, Lewis and W.D. McCurdy, who had adjoining plantations, operated as McCurdy Brothers in Lowndes County, breeding, training and racing Standardbreds, best known as a harness-racing breed.
While the McCurdys were known for raising outstanding trotters, they bred a gray Tennessee Walking Horse stallion named Doctor F-79—now considered as the foundation sire of the McCurdy Plantation Horse breed—to some of the finest plantation walking mares in central Alabama. The McCurdy brothers first focused on breeding Tennessee Walking Horses, but as their quality breeding program gained in popularity, they began to focus on raising horses with Doctor F-79 bloodlines, slowly producing the distinct breed that is now known as the McCurdy Plantation Horse. These early McCurdy horses were often ridden 20 to 30 miles a day to town or to oversee plantation work, were hitched to a buggy, wagon or plow, herded livestock and hunted or carried kids to school.
McCurdy’s Oakley, left, is an outstanding example of a McCurdy Plantation Horse. McCurdy’s Dreamer, above, was used for years to manage a private quail hunting plantation in Virginia.
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LEFT PHOTO BY HALEY BOWEN; RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF DON BROWN
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Written by: Kym Rouse Holzwart
