| Horsename: | Gaines' Denmark |
| Breed: | Thoroughbred (~70%) American Saddlebred |
| Sire: | Denmark |
| Grandsire: | Hedgeford |
| Dam: | Stevenson mare |
| Damsire: | Cockspur |
| Sex: | Stallion |
| Foaled: | 1851 |
| Country: | United States |
| Color: | Black |
| Owner: | Edward P. Gaines |
Gaines' Denmark (foaled 1851) was one of the most influential stallions in the development of the American Saddlebred.
Gaines' Denmark was foaled in 1851 in Bardstown, Kentucky. He was a black stallion with two white hind socks, sired by the Thoroughbred stallion Denmark out of a part-bred mare known as the "Stevenson mare".[1] Gaines' Denmark sired four influential sons: Washington Denmark, Diamond Denmark, Star Denmark, and Sumpter Denmark.
Upon the start of the American Civil War in 1861, offspring of Gaines' Denmark were put into a cavalry troop led by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan. Although Gaines' Denmark survived the war, he did not accomplish much as a sire after it. Prior to the war, he was used as a show horse. Today, he is considered one of the progenitors of the American Saddlebred horse breed.[2] [3]
As a stud, Gaines' Denmark first caught the attention of American Saddlebred Horse Association founder and president John B. Castleman in 1857. Castleman, then a 16-year-old teenager, purchased a 3-year-old, "three-fourths Thoroughbred" gelding named Lightfoot that was sired by Gaines' Denmark out of "a mare by Boston". With the assistance of Isaac Byrd, an enslaved African American who was owned by Castleman's family, Castleman trained Lightfoot to be a "saddle" show horse, and entered him into a local horse show. The horse fetched an "unprecedented price", and Castleman became further interested in Gaines' Denmark as a foundational sire for the Saddlebred.[4]
Gaines' Denmark was owned and bred by Edward P. Gaines, a breeder of "saddle horses" who lived near Georgetown, Kentucky and Lexington, Kentucky.[5]