Morgan Horses are valued by trail riders for their kind, willing natures, sound conformation, stamina, and hearty constitutions.
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Carole
Mercer of Eagle Point, Oregon, kept track of the hours she rode her Morgan
Horses on the trail until she tallied a whopping 10,000. “Then I stopped —
logging hours, that is — I’ll never stop trail riding!” she says emphatically.
“I suspect I’m probably up to 20,000 by now.”The
Northwest horsewoman fell in love with the Morgan breed nearly 30 years ago;
today, she has three registered Morgans in her barn. In addition to trail
riding, Mercer drives her Morgans, does ranch work, and performs dressage
musical
kurs, which she
calls “line dancing with horses.” One of
Mercer’s favorite pastimes is to pack up her Morgans and her two dogs (a Jack
Russell Terrier and a Labrador-Schipperke cross), and head for nearby Mt.
Ashland, in the Siskiyou Mountains. “Near the
summit, there’s a ski-resort parking lot where I unload, then I have the choice
of heading out on Forest Service roads or the Pacific Crest Trail,” she says.
“Either way, we ride through forests of tall Douglas fir and huge ferns. At the
top, there’s a breathtaking 360-degree view, which takes in Mt. Shasta. Morgans
are perfect trail partners, with the stamina, courage, and willingness to share
every adventure with you.” Mercer is
just one of the several thousand avid trail riders who enjoy the American Morgan
Horse Association’s Pathways Program, which rewards its members for hours spent
pleasure riding and driving, and the AMHA Open Competitive Program, which awards
participants in endurance and competitive trail events. The AMHA
also touts the breed’s rich history, which traces back to the late 1700s and
Justin Morgan, a music teacher in Randolf, Vermont. Morgan owned an eye-catching
bay colt named Figure. (See “Morgan History” on page 52.) The Morgan horse’s
ability to outperform every horse in the area, whether trotting, running, or
pulling, soon became the stuff of legends. And his ability to pass his
remarkable talents to the next generation ensured his place in history. More than
200 years later, we still celebrate Justin Morgan’s gallant little horse in
books and in film, while his descendants are cherished by trail enthusiasts for
their versatility, hearty constitutions, and kind natures. Read on to learn more
about the Morgan Horse, a true American original.
Good
Sports
MaryAnn
Schafer of Lake City, Florida, owns Bowood Elusiv Dream, the first Morgan mare
to earn the AMHA’s Sport Horse Award, and trail was a large component of it. In
their quest for the award, the duo had to post top honors in competitive trail,
combined driving, and combined training. In the latter, they had one horse trial
with three components that stood between them and the coveted Sport Horse Award.
They aced the dressage, went clean in the cross country, and had just the show
jumping left to tackle.
Schafer and
Dream had entered the jump course and cleared the first obstacle when a
herd of
deer bounded into the arena, and dashed right between them and
the second jump.
“Dream’s only reaction was to look up, then shorten
her stride so she wouldn’t
run right into the deer!” Schafer says. “She
didn’t waver or spook, and we
continued on and cleared every single
jump.” Such poise under pressure is
“typical of the unflappable nature
of the breed,” she
declares.
Trail
riding is Schafer’s favorite activity. She reports that north central
Florida,
where she lives, is very equestrian-friendly. “Many state
parks have beautifully
maintained riding trails that are separate from
those for motorized vehicles,
and an annual family pass for unlimited
access is just $80. There are hitching
posts, and barn stabling is
often available for a nominal cost. We love to go to
O’Leno State Park,
along the Santa Fe River. There are shade trees for comfort
in the
summer, and gently rolling terrain with trails that are wide enough for
carriages.
“And
sometimes,” she adds with a smile, “deer cross our path.”
Go-Getters
Michigan
schoolteacher John Quaderer owns three generations of Lippitt Morgan
mares.
Lippitts are registered Morgans that trace to the
breeding
program of Robert
Lippitt Knight and carry a
high
percentage of Justin
Morgan blood, through
specific horses
designated and approved by the
association. “It’s a small gene
pool, characterized by stocky,
short
horses with great
stamina,” Quaderer
says.
A couple of
years ago, Quaderer rode his Morgans for 233 miles
across the
state
from shore
to shore: Lake Huron to
Lake Michigan. This
summer, he plans
to repeat his
journey. “It was an amazing
experience, and the horses
were just as fresh when
we finished
the ride as when
we started.
Morgans are easy to live with, and out
on the
trail, they have a lot of
go.”
Linnea Sidi
of Loveland, Colorado, couldn’t agree more. Sidi,
who’s owned
and bred
Morgans
for 23 years, has 18
Morgans at her farm,
Meadowlark Morgans.
She’s also the
president of the Western
Working Morgan Horse Club, a
250-member group dedicated
to
preserving old Morgan
bloodlines,
particularly those used for ranch
work and
trail riding.
Sidi’s
most
memorable ride was in 2002, when she joined a
group of 50
Morgan Horse
owners
who traveled to Fort
Robinson, Nebraska,
for a trail adventure.
“I’ll never
forget the day we’d covered half a mile of steep,
narrow
switchbacks en
route to
a spectacular vantage
point,” Sidi
says. “Although it was
straight up or
straight down on either
side, no one had a problem with
the challenge. I was at
the
lead, and at the top, I
looked back and saw
the entire string of 50
Morgan
Horses climbing up the mountainside. It
was
unforgettable. Morgans want to
please you — just point and
go!”
Hearty and
Handy
Ken Thomas’
grandfather owned Morgan Horses; Thomas has owned and
loved
Morgans as
long as
he can remember.
Today, the
Richfield, Utah, horseman
is the president
of
the Morgan
Single-Footing Horse Association.
“‘Single-foot’
is an umbrella term for any four-beat gait, from a
foxtrot to
a
stepping pace,”
Thomas notes. “Some
Morgans are naturally
single-footed, and we serve to educate
and promote the
naturally gaited
Morgan. Our club members are primarily trail
riders.”
Several
years ago, Thomas packed into the Teton Range of the Rocky Mountains
with his
father and brothers. “Of course, we all rode Morgans.
They
have heart and
stamina: day after day, they give you
everything they’ve
got, which is welcome
in challenging
backcountry.
“We came in
from the Idaho side and crossed into Wyoming. The country was
gorgeous!
It was
August, and we rode through valleys that had
been carved out by
glaciers, and
were covered with
wildflowers. We climbed into the high
country, above the tree
line, where you could see forever. And all the
while, our
Morgans did us proud.
They didn’t miss a step.”
Competitive
Spirit
Helga
Lonkosky, too, grew
up in a family that raised Morgan Horses. She’s the
owner of
Beacon Morgans of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and
president of
the Archival Morgan
Horse Record. The group
originated in 1995 to
register Morgans that were
excepted from
the AMHA due to high white
markings,
even though they were
purebreds and had been DNA-typed.
Lonkosky is
also an avid competitive trail rider. She’ll never
forget her
first
ride with a
beautiful Morgan mare
she’d found
languishing in a mostly
Thoroughbred boarding
barn and brought
home.
“I was
relatively new to the sport, so I concentrated on negotiating the
course safely,
without taking note of how we finished in the
pack,” she
remembers. “My mare was
a wonderful
athlete and had
a sweet, willing
personality, and we had a
blast!
That night,
I went to the awards
ceremony, and
was completely shocked to find we
were second overall in
the
novice mid-weight division, and
first place novice
horse and
first
novice rider!” Trail
Therapy
“Every show
horse I have is a trail horse, too,” says professional trainer Eitan
Beth-Halachmy, who, with his wife, Debbie, owns Wolf Creek Ranch in the
foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. He’s trained many
Morgan
national and world champions, and has produced the popular
Cowboy
Dressage
instructional videos.
“How long
can you ride in circles?” Beth-Halachmy says. “I ride through our gate
and out
onto the trail. It’s good for your horse mentally and
physically, and for you,
too.
“When we’re
on the way to the world show, I tell people that we trail ride to
Oklahoma. We
stop in Gallup, New Mexico, and stay where we can head out
on a trail in every
direction. Morgans have many qualities desirable in
a trail horse. Their size,
between 14.2 and 15 hands high, means
they’re not so tall that you’d have
difficulty climbing back on if you
dismount on the trail. And they’re aware and
interested in their
surroundings, but not spooked by new scenery.
“I love the
look of a Morgan Horse — pretty, with beautiful, kind eyes. With their
great
looks, they also have a strong, sensible nature and the athletic
ability to do
anything that you might ask.” Shopping
Savvy
Beth-Halachmy
has spent much of his career evaluating and buying
Morgan
Horses for
clients; he
offers these
smart-shopping
tips: • Do your
homework.
Learn as much as you can about Morgan
Horses. You’ll find
valuable
information on the AMHA
website.
• Find a
mentor. Find
someone who’ll tell you the unvarnished truth, whether it’s a trail
rider,
Morgan breeder, or a trainer.
• Ask
the sellers why they’re
selling.
• Sleep on
it. Don’t buy
the first horse you see. Even if he’s wonderful, go home and make your
decision
away from the emotion of the moment.
•
Go on the trail. Ride
your trail horse prospect on the trail. Don’t be
satisfied
with
circling around
an arena — see how the
horse reacts in
the great
outdoors.
• Negotiate a
30-day trial period.
The seller
should be as interested as you that this new partnership will
work.
• Check tack
fit. Every
horse is unique, and some Morgans have broad, short backs, so you may
need a
saddle with a wide tree and short bars.
Then,
enjoy the ride of your life on a Morgan!
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