Beautiful Jim Key

Beautiful Jim Key was a famous performing horse around the turn of the twentieth century. His promoters claimed that the horse could read and write, make change with money, do arithmetic for "numbers below thirty," and cite Bible passages "where the horse is mentioned." His trainer, "Dr." William Key, was a former slave, a self-trained veterinarian, and a patent medicine salesman. Key emphasized that he used only patience and kindness in teaching the horse, and never a whip.

The stallion, Jim was 16' hands high and a Bay with a Mahogany coat. He had a white star on his forehead, a small white blaze on his nose, as well as a white stocking on his right hindleg and a tiny stocking on his left foreleg. He was considered to be an Arab-Hambeltonian. His sire was Tennessee Volunteer standing at stud at a livery stable in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Tennessee Volunteer was the great-grandson of Rysdky's Hambletonian. His dam, Lauretta Queen of Horses had a prestigious pedigree as she was an Arabian horse originally owned by Sheik Ahemid of Persia.

Early years
Dr. William P. Key, a mulatto and former slave bred his mare to a stallion at Bell Buckle Farms in Shelbyville, Tennessee. She gave birth to a very unusual colt with extraordinary talents and a superior intellect. When he was first born, he was considered to be quite ugly and gangly looking. In fact, he was so sickly that stable hands urged Dr. Key to kill the weanling on several occasions. Slowly but surely, Dr. Key was able to nurse him through his first year of life.

He was a very observant horse and started to mimic the tricks performed by one of Dr. Key's dogs. Dr. Key fed him the best hay and oats and Jim Key only drank mineral water. As a yearling, he was actually residing in the Key's home and his conformation was transformed into the beautiful lines inherited from his sire and dam. By 1890, he started sleeping in his stall of the Key's barn.

Because he was such an inquisitive animal, Dr. Key started teaching him the alphabet as well as to cipher numbers and various other tricks. Dr. Key hired a promoter and they started traveling around the United States for 9 years appearing at respectable music halls and opera houses. Then they began to travel regularly to such venues as the old Ryman Auditorium in Nashville; Broadway in New York, Syracuse, Chicago, Cincinnati, Atlantic City, New Jersey, New Orleans and Boston; the Pittsburg Exposition and the 1900 Export Exposition in Pennsylvania; the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition in Charleston; and the St. Louis World's Fair.

Tours
The horse became a celebrity thanks to the progressive promotion of A. R. Rogers. The horse performed at large venues from Atlantic City to Chicago, and was made an honorary member of George Thorndike Angell's American Humane Association.

Beautiful Jim Key and his trainer periodically toured the United States in a special railroad car to promote the fledgling cause of the humane treatment of animals. They performed in venues in most of the larger American cities, including New York’s Madison Square Garden. The horse was among the most popular attractions at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Beautiful Jim Key was supposedly intelligent enough that he could calculate mathematical problems, possibly even trigonometry.

President William McKinley saw Beautiful Jim Key perform at an exposition in Tennessee and declared, “This is the most astonishing and entertaining exhibition I have ever witnessed.” The President also commented that it was an example of what “kindness and patience” could accomplish. He performed before President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Roosevelt at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in April, 1904. Due to his age and a continuous battle with rheumatism, Jim Key performed before an audience for the last time in March 1906 at the Kansas City Convention Hall.

Death
Beautiful Jim Key passed away three years after his owner, Dr. William Preston Key a/k/a Doc Key or Doc Bill passed away on October 18, 1909. Dr. Key's wonderful horse passed away on September 18, 1912 in Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee. He is buried off of the Tullahoma Highway there in Bedford County.