Pony Girl Rides Again

Atakapa Beautee

Most of you probably think of me as an Appaloosa fan. Although I consider myself a horse fan in general, of course, I love, and obviously own, an Appy. I owned a part Appaloosa pony as a teen, and my sister always had Appy's, too. However, back in the day, even before Appy's, I was a big fan of Morgan horses.

Maggie

I have mentioned it in one of my first few posts that I learned to ride on a Morgan mare. She belonged to our neighbor, who gave horseback riding lessons. This woman had gotten the mare as a yearling when she herself was a teen. She raised and trained her herself.

The mare's name was Maggie. She was an old-style Morgan, barely gracing 14.2 hands, very typey, small head and ears and thick neck. She was a golden blood bay shadowed with dark dapples when she shed out in the spring. Her black mane and tail were thick and wavy, and she was built like a sausage. I kid you not. She had no flank indentations at all. Her back was so wide, it was nearly impossible to fall off (we mostly rode her hunt seat.) I suppose this is why she made such a good lesson horse?

WP Winora Knight

My sister and I saved up our allowance and scrape our coins together for riding lessons on Maggie. The neighbor had a small arena with a white-washed fence. Maggie was always tolerable. She was a bit stubborn, for sure, but never did anything dangerous with us.

Kiva Cinnabar

The neighbor dreamed of breeding Maggie, and eventually did. I remember visiting a stable with her to look at a local Morgan stallion that she had chosen as a potential sire. The old man who owned him brought the nearly black-bay out of the barn. The stallion promptly snorted, arched his neck, and pranced around the corral like stallions do. Maggie's owner called out in awe, "Morgan!" He was a nice stallion. I had not seen many stallions in my life at that time, and he was pretty flashy. Maggie was soon in foal and gave birth to a rambunctious bay colt named Robin.

Rum Brook Immortal

I was obsessed with Morgans for many years. Maggie's owner had issues of The Morgan Horse magazine around her house, and I would always borrow and pour over each page of every issue.

I should clarify that I gravitated, and still do, towards the old-style, or foundation bred Morgans (one particular line is known as the Lippitt line.) These horses are more "true" in type. In the Morgan world, after the 1930's, Saddlebreds were often found in the bloodlines of many Morgans, creating a more refined and showy horse for events such as saddle seat and driving. Many modern day Morgans posses more of that "Saddlebred" look. I have nothing against Saddlebreds, but I like Saddlebreds to look like Saddlebreds and my Morgans to look like Morgans of days gone by.

Last summer at a schooling show, My Boy's former owner, a young trainer who now rides and trains at a well-respected Arabian facility, made an interesting comment. We were watching a chestnut horse warm up for a western pleasure class, and discovered that it was a Morgan. The trainer commented,"Oh, that's a Morgan? I thought that was just a really well-bred Arab."

I don't know who this is, just a pretty Morgan head!

It doesn't seem like any breed of horse can escape the controversy that seems to follow it's fans, breeders, exhibitors, and owners. For example, the Appaloosa industry deals with the criticism of Appy's becoming nothing but "spotted Quarter Horses." Ironically, the QH influence is blamed for a lack of color on many of the registered horses. Although many believe the Quarter Horse cross breeding has vastly improved the breed, there are many people out there that specifically breed the original, uncrossed Appaloosa bloodlines, regardless if such horses are born with sparse manes and tails. The Paint industry, although booming in recent years, has also struggled internally with what to do with it's SPB's (Solid Paint Breds, or breeding stock.)

Here are some interesting stats.

Number of horses registered in the following breed associations for 2006:

AQHA (Quarter Horses) : 165,114

APHA (Paints) : 39,357

AHA (Arabians) : 7,003

ApHC (Appaloosas) : 6,749

AMHA (Morgans) 3,461

Some of these breeds do have other registries as well, so these are not completely accurate as to total registered horses in and outside of the U.S. But both Appy and Morgan numbers are not looking so good in comparison to the others. That figures though, as I always seem to root for the underdogs!

My mom's gelding, Dusty, is said to be of Morgan breeding, more specifically, a Morgan/Quarter Horse cross. We don't know for sure and have no way finding out as he was a rescue in his past, so little information was passed on. However, I think his typey head, intelligence, and personality lends itself to Morgan breeding. Actually, I think the Morgan/Quarter horse makes a decent crossbred, as does the Arabian/Quarter horse. But I am getting off subject here, which goodness, I do so well!

As a young teen, I dreamed of breeding Morgans when I "grew up." I think I even had farm names picked out. Later, in my late teens, I had a friend that showed Quarter Horses and she converted me. However, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Morgans and would love to own one someday. Thank you little Maggie May, for teaching me not only about horses and how to ride, but also about the marvelous Morgan!

All photos, except for the one of Maggie and of my Mom's gelding, are of Morgan horses that I liked the "look" of. I have added their names in case anyone wanted to look them up for more information.

I had such a lovely weekend with My Boy. The weather was nearly perfect, so I spent both days with my horse.

I am trying a new tactic. Once My Boy is haltered and out of the pasture, he gets his grain (supplement.) Since I do not feed him, I can't do this every day, but my hope is that it will make him a little more dependent on me.

I thought my horse would be up for bucking and running antics once we got to the arena, since he'd been mostly cooped up in a paddock for two weeks. But he was happy just walking and jogging circles.

Oh, do you like my new muck boots? The ones I was borrowing from Paint Girl were too big and I had to wear 3 pairs of socks with them. These look a bit clunky, but are much more comfortable!

Yikes, My Boy, where is your head?!

Whew, there it is. Buried in what is left of the green grass, of course!

Nope, you are not experiencing double vision. That is my silly boy double-haltered. The breakaway one is underneath and once I had him haltered, I was too lazy to slip it off. I know, isn't it mildly tacky? Get it? Tacky?? You know, horses, tack.....oh, never mind!

I had to move several of these teddy bear caterpillars out of My Boy's path as he grazed. They were crawling everywhere on the grass. Do you know what they do when you pick them up?

Oh no Pony Girl, you're putting me back into this little paddock again?

Yep, Saturday it was back in the little paddock until Sunday, the day of the big release! Besides, I know My Boy was going to really miss being pastured next to the mares. Paint Girl shot this undercover picture of them all canoodling last week!

On Sunday, this is what My Boy thought about being worked two days in a row. Uh, hello mom, I'm, like, totally recovering from a pretty traumatic hoof abscess here? Like, maybe another month off would be more appropriate?

After Sunday's mild workout, I took My Boy back to his own pasture. The first thing he did was drink water from his trough.

A-Ha Pony Girl! I'm back in the big pasture! It was so easy for you to catch me in that little paddock.....we'll see if you can catch me now!

What's the second thing my spotted pill did after being put back in his regular pasture?

Head for the closest patch of green grass!

Then he walked way out to the back to make sure his favorite dirt pit was still there.

Then, his nose led him to the fresh sweet smell of new shavings in his run-in shed.

I had a hunch of what was going to happen next, so I quickly turned on the video recorder and this is what I caught:

Ya think My Boy was happy to be back home?? No more hoof boots and small paddocks! Knock on wood! Although, the breakaway halter is staying on for another week or two while I work on dropping his head for haltering. I don't have a clicker yet, but over the weekend I reinforced this with treats on the ground after he held his head down for haltering, and already I see an improvement.

By the way, I caught Morgan in the hay shed again. This time, instead of being stretched out ten times her size, she was modeling what those teddy bear caterpillars do when you pick them up.