My
history with Morgans started before I did! My mother owned a wonderful
Morgan gelding named Jinx. He carried her and her friends through
the mountains, dabbled in dressage and taught everyone what being
a Morgan was all about.
When
I was very young we lived out on a small farm and I had a pony
named hobie that I adored. I was terrified to ride him faster
than a walk, but I would go visit him every day in his favorite
corner of the pasture and feed him treats.
We
moved into town when I started school and hobie stayed behind.
I started begging for a horse. Finally, when I was ten my parents
relented and I was signed up for riding lessons. My mother declared
if I was to ride it was going to be on a Morgan. So we drove to
a Morgan barn a few towns over every week for my lessons.
I
kept right on begging for a horse and the next winter Santa left
one under the tree for me!
Our
christmas tradition was to visit friends on christmas eve to eat
and celebrate with their family while they opened gifts that night.
Well that year there was one present left over. My parents handed
it to me and inside was a halter, some photos and a bill of sale
for a Morgan gelding! I was speechless for probably the only time
in my life!
My
new horse was named Newtown Landmark (Mantic Balladeer x Rulers
Royal Jem). He was a 14.2 hand chestnut gelding with a heart of
gold. In the grand tradition of Jinx before him, Mark showed us
all what a Morgan should be. Mark and I showed in hunter, equitation,
dressage, showmanship and over fences. We went through 4-H and
competed at Morgan shows. He was my best buddy throughout my teenage
years.
Eventually
it was time for Mark to carry on with another youth and he was
sold to a wonderful young girl who competed in dressage and cross
country. I was looking in a new direction and thought I'd like
to try riding saddleseat. I bought a half-wild unbroke three year
old mare to try to learn saddleseat on.
ATMF
Pandora (ATMF Superstition x ATMF Morning Frost) was a big beautiful
mare with a ton of drive and heart. I broke her to saddle and
had fun riding her. She was a challenge right from the start,
but taught me a great deal about how to work with a horse.
During
this time I wanted to go to college so I got a job at Morgan Manor
in Philomath working horses to put myself through school. Rollie
and Joan Bowers gave me great opportunities to work some exceptional
horses and meet great people in the breed. We went to shows from
the Pacific Northwest to Oklahoma and southern California.
I
met Dustin while at Morgan Manor, he had been working there since
he was about ten. He was the handyman that Rollie and Joan relied
on to fix something or rig up a gadget.
I
liked working horses at Morgan Manor, and in particular was successful
with Mantic Moonmist. I loved her sire, Mantic Emperor so I purchased
a breeding to him to use on Panda but it wasn't meant to be. Tragically
Panda broke her leg while exercising one day and had to be put
down.
Dustin
and I went on the great mare search of the Northwest to find a
mare to use the Emperor breeding on. We found the wonderful mare,
ER Quintessence. Quincy was Dustin's first show horse, he learned
a lot about being a rider and a horseman from her. She was a grand
old mare that had the greatest personality and sense of humor.
Quincy
gave us two fillies, Akira Anticipation (by Mantic Emperor) and
Akira Beijing (by PWF Good Will Hunting), both featured on the
Mares page. I gave lessons off Quincy
and eventually sold her to a forever home.
We
purchased the royally bred Code Red (Issues 'N Answers x Kilkenney
Tansy) to breed to PWF Good Will Hunting, but he was sold and
not standing to the public before the breeding happened. I showed
Red a little bit and enjoyed her sweet nature. I bred her to Arboira
Top Gun and she produced Akira Conspiracy Theory. Red has been
sold to Windenhill where she will continue to produce exceptional
foals.
Dustin
& I were married in September of 2005. Of course we had to
have a Morgan involved so Akira Beijing was recruited to be the
wedding carriage horse. After only about a month of harness work
Jing carried us to and from the aisle with aclarity and the wedding
was perfect.
We
have since bought our own small farm in Lebanon, Oregon. When
we bought it there wasn't much here except the house and a lot
of overgrown flowers. Dustin has converted the chicken coop into
a great barn with stalls and we have fenced the back section for
pasture. We are working on updating and rennovating the house
and doing some landscape work. Dustin plans on putting in a covered
area for riding and his shop.
We
hope to see you at some shows in 2008!
