From the Morgan Horse Annuls

When I was a teenager, I would wait anxiously each month for the arrival of The Morgan Horse magazine, which I would read cover to cover and back again and again.  Recently, a friend sent me a link to some archival material, some of which I remember reading from my youth, most probably in The Morgan Horse.

The article was written by the Chief of Animal Husbandry Division for the Department of Ag on the Regeneration of The Morgan Horse in 1910, with references to D C Linsley, Morgan Horses, [published in 1857].  It's merit is threefold: for the history of the breed, as a harbinger to indiscriminate breeders of any horse, and for the beautiful prose that no doubt is entirely extinct from government reports nowadays.

Enjoy: http://www.archive.org/stream/regenerationofmo00rommiala/regenerationofmo00rommiala_djvu.txt

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Tandem Driving Fools

"I always look upon a man who drives tandem as a fool; he makes two horses do the work of one and most likely breaks his silly neck." ~Major General Sir C. Teesdale, R.A., V.C., K.C.M.G. remembering the birth of the Tandem Club

But when two women drive tandem...

Theresa Burns came to the barn to play today and we hitched Don Pecos and Ace as a tandem. I might add that it took three attempts to actually get to the barn as a torrential downpour was working its way towards washing out all roads leading there. Which meant we were stuck in the small indoor arena with a tandem, not enjoying the open air. Still, driving tandem at all is an impossible, intoxicating treat, and after the first harrowing few minutes, things were going rather well.

I was driving with one hand and as Ace tends to get a bit too heavy on the bit when I drive in this manner and I was tiring, I passed the ribbons over to Theresa, who adopts a two handed method that I absolutely must learn, because Ace settled right into her hands softly. We ventured out into the sloppy, saturated driveway when the rain subsided and both horses made great strides through the naturally occurring water hazards [enormous puddles] and stepped out like a seasoned tandem.

"Oh. Gosh!" Theresa pronounced. "They have power steering!" Quite unlike their performance in the pair configuration, where they are way too strong and way too forward. "This is Great!' Said the beaming Theresa. "This is just Great!"

"There is no reason, however, why a tandem should be a particularly dangerous or useless mode of conveyance...Nothing could well be more pleasant than for two great friends who do not quarrel more than three times a day to make a tour through a hilly district...and all the elements of open air enjoyment." ~Major General Sir C. Teesdale, R.A., V.C., K.C.M.G.

I should like it said that Theresa and I are great friends in the making and on no account would either of us see fit to argue more than three times a day, if at all.

"If there be a small degree of danger connected with the pastime, and a man must needs be a fool for liking it, long may there be many such fools in England to keep up all its sports and exercises as well as tandem-driving." ~Major General Sir C. Teesdale, R.A., V.C., K.C.M.G.

Suffice it to say we spent a damp, humid morning smiling like fools, driving darling Morgan horses tandem in a cornfield that is Iowa: a long, long way from England and a long time since the Major General's words first gave credence to the sport. If you have the nerve and a good instructor, you should try it sometime.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Spring and a New Carriage Driving Training Curriculum

Ahhhhh, Spring, you capricious, coquettish little season; so daintily you beguile woolly winter coated earth with promises of flowers and verdant views, albeit quick to retreat behind a contemptuous wind, or vainglorious snow storm. Who could be affronted for long, when the wind and snow shift hemispheres for fresh saps to freeze and your warm breath tickles the darling blossoms at your decolletage?

Oh, yeah, I got Spring bad. Which is good. Very good.

My new carriage training curriculum is really producing results. Just in a week, I can see substantial improvement in the horses. They are capable of more elasticity and suppleness than they were in months of training under my old regime. Their minds are much more eager, too. They seem to sense something is up with this new training model and I am seeing my excitement mirrored back to me.

Morgan horses always thrive on variety and I think they will merge seamlessly into the combined driving format. Now whether my mid-aged mind and body can relate so easily to the new paradigm stay tuned, but I am animate.

Hoping to take a leaf from the insatiable Morgan horses that I know and love, I must remain animate about all the projects I've agreed to take on this year and figure out how to fit in all this variety. The T Cart, the Horse Fair, the CDEs, Columbus Carriage Classic, Villa Louis' 30th Anniversary, and New Moon Carriage Classic. Stay in the Buggy! It won't be boring!

Go out and catch a bad dose of Spring!

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Dancing around a Gig?

So many people come up to me and say, "I just love your carriage, I want one just like it!"

Hold on a minute, folks. Yes, my gig is great. It is not expensive, but it looks good. However, a gig is not for the faint of heart. It sits high, with a very low seat rail. Driving the gig is like riding saddle seat. You better be able to hold on. You better not take a hard turn on a hillside. You better hit a long bump with both wheels at the same time. Ask Harold Ault. His gorgeous Kimball Stanhope Gig ejected him in a water hazard. A gig is a fantastic vehicle and I love mine, but it is not a beginner's vehicle, nor a CDE ride.

Choosing a vehicle is a very important decision for a carriage driver. You can change horses much easier than you can change vehicles. It affects the type of harness you must purchase and the type of driving you do. I have hitched many horses to my gig and it has worked out nicely for me because I had a list of criteria before I decided on a vehicle. I like fancy horses, 14- 15 hands. I like slow, tight and precise. I am not faint of heart. I am a show off. So the gig fit.

I drove other vehicles before purchasing the gig. I hitched Major and Don Pecos to a top buggy and then a road cart. It was all wrong. It was like wearing Chanel to the State Fair: wrong. It was like driving a vintage John Deere tractor to Bike Night: wrong. I hitched Ace to the road cart and I know he resented it. I have seen other horses with the same look on their faces. They seem to be saying: It's Wrong!

So, determine what type of person you are, what type of horses you like and then talk to other people who have horses and vehicles you like. Remember also that the size and weight of the vehicle are of great importance and should be addressed in your wish list. My gig is much, much lighter than Harold's and only one of my driving horses knows how to really pull it.

If you've ever seen a horse that is too big for the vehicle, you'll know how silly it looks to out-horse the vehicle. I once saw a Friesian put to a drop front phaeton. The vehicle was too small and delicate and the horse, who was a great mover, looked clunky. Friesians are big horses with big personalities, they need a big vehicle to show them to their best advantage, not a girlie vehicle.

Mary Jo Stockman comes to mind as a wonderful example. She has two fabulous girlie vehicles: a wicker phaeton and a George IV, which she puts to her very feminine Morgan mare. She has a Friesian, too, that she puts to a dog cart. It wouldn't work the other way around. [I can hear Heart, her Morgan, now: "Don't you dare hitch me to that DOG cart."] Both turnouts are head turners and if Mary Jo could, she would show them in the same class and the judge would tie her with herself for first place.

I have been told that I have it easy with my Morgan horses, they are versatile and can go sporty and formal. Yep, it's true. I am spoiled. I like it that way! But, I am not going to say that you shouldn't hitch sport ponies to a gig, because I've seen it done very well [Ingrid Krause's Haflinger tandem to a lovely cherry wood country gig comes to mind]. I've seen Morgans who did not have the brilliance to horse a Spider phaeton, too. It depends on how you do it, but choose a vehicle that fits you and your horse's style, size and weight. Remember, a Fjord put to a nicely turned out natural wood vehicle is a lovely picture, and I've been beaten in turnout by them.

Plus, they have way more fun in cross country than I do.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Feeling Sentimental Accidental Sagacity

The seemingly random youtube posts are in fact an allegory. I have been in the Morgan horse world for over 30 years and all three videos are a sentimental sigh for me this morning.

When I was a teenager, I poured through copies of The Morgan Horse Magazine with the kind of vigor my classmates were giving Teen Beat. My pin ups were Fred and Jeanne Herrick, Elm Hill Charter Oak, Saddleback Supreme, Applevale Donalect, Lord Appleton. The Herricks ushered in a new phase of the Morgan horse, a push toward the refinement that was just in its infancy in the late fifties and sixties when the 1959 Morgan National footage was shot.

Fleetwing is now legendary for producing the kind of Morgans who stretched the breed into the show horses of today. His progeny had longer necks, higher action and exotic movement. Black River Major burst on the scene and stole top honors at every show on the east coast, as a two year old. You can see his attitude on the Fleetwing and Progeny video. Fred Herrick told me the Morgan horse adjective 'stretchy' was coined to describe Black River Major.

John Bulmer and his wife Angela Connor established the foundation Morgan Horse farm in England, on the banks of the River Wye in Herefordshire, where I have spent many an unforgettable sojourn. The natural, breathtaking beauty of this place is indescribable- no one ever believes me when I describe it, so I will just say, I am drifting off in my memories. It was here I first met Jeanne Herrick. It was John who took me for my first carriage drive, careening around the Anglo-Welsh countryside. I could sit and listen to John for endless hours.

I hope you enjoy these reflections and justify my sentimentality.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Therapeutic Riding: Morgan, his Morgan and Michel[l]es

The Wednesday Night Team

I wish I knew how many miles Morgan, Michele and I have traveled together in the last six years. Walking next to Don Pecos last night, I felt the usual comfortable unity of our team. Pecos and I marching, swinging, consistent, Michele and Morgan moving back and forth, side to side and up and down with the rhythm of the movement, Morgan's mom, Holly snapping photos in the gorgeous late summer sunlight.

This is a blog. I have to remind myself to resist my natural tendency towards verbosity. For I could go on and on and on telling the stories of how this little boy has taught me lessons in life. Conversely, I could write about the many times I have experienced extraordinary boundless friendship with Michele and Holly. I can never say enough about the beauty of Don Pecos. But, suffice it to say thirty minutes on Wednesday go very fast, and so easily. All those minutes, all those miles, remain among my most cherished.

If I was to make a music video of the Wednesday Night Therapy Team, it would be set to the Eagles' song, Peaceful, Easy Feeling.

Enough talk. Let the photos speak...

Training Special Horses at Serendipity

One of the many pleasures of training horses for the Serendipity curriculum is the moment when the horse reaches the stage where he believes he's a show horse. The weeks of conditioning take away the sound of his hooves, his step is a spring, his neck sculpts into a crest, he raises his eyelids and looks widely at you. He knows he is special.

Ace has got to that stage. His extension is still a little wobbly, but he is working his heart out on it. The transition from baby sitter to ballet dancer doesn't happen overnight, and it is a credit to his breeding and disposition that he has got so far, so fast.

The longer I know Ace, the more he reminds me of his dam, Whitmorr Topaz. He shares her love of carriage driving obstacle courses: fast, fast trot, downshift, spin, more fast trot, turn, turn turn, go, go, go, stop, fast, turn, faster, turn, fastest trot, yeah! Topaz gave me three impeccable horses-Ace, Major and Don Pecos. They can all spin the gig 360 degrees at a working trot without moving the inside wheel. They love it, too.

Perhaps they enjoy it because the whip is having a ball, you might tell me. Yes, I agree to a certain extent. However, the fact remains that I hate cones courses. I do not enjoy them. And yet I trained all the above horses, and more, who do love cones courses. Maybe it's Morgans. Maybe it's Topaz's offspring. Who knows really.

One thing is for sure, they know they're special. You can see it when they move.

Equines of Serendipity- Kitten

Chevals JS Dream Doll

She came to me in a dream. I told my Mother the next morning that Dolly's foal's name was Kitten. "Yes, and what if it is a stud colt?" she asked. "No," I said. "She's Kitten." "Well, we shall see about that," she said. In the predawn hours of May 14, 1998, my Mother woke me and said, "Get yourself to the barn. Kitten has arrived."

If you look at Jeanne Mellin Herrick's portrait of the standard of perfection for the Morgan mare, you would swear Kitten posed for it: dark chocolate chestnut, two hind stockings, big, doe eyes, powerful, yet delicate. Ok, so Kitten is a Saddleback Supreme granddaughter, has 4 crosses to Pecos, 3 to Ben Donn and has unmistakeably the best of Applevale, Saddleback and Aquarian breeding in her papers. [Both my Mother and I have worshipped Fred and Jeanne Herrick for 40 years. They knew what they were doing, and we have proof.]

Kitten's registered name is in memory of the late Jennifer Steensen. When Kitten and Ace were born, Jennifer came to visit them. She was so excited, her laughter could be heard from inside the van, before she even got in the barn. Getting her wheelchair situated in the alleyway was a drama, so I just let Kitten out of her stall. She had to be restrained [by two people] from climbing into Jenn' lap, she was so determined. Jenn was shrieking with delight. I took photos.

Later that week, Jenn was scheduled for surgery to fuse her spine. Scoliosis was diminishing her lung function and the surgery was necessary. She asked her mother to frame one of the photos of her and Kitten to take to the hospital. On May 22, 1998, eight days after Kitten arrived in my world, Jennifer left it. My last memory of Jenn is her laughter, and the day old filly trying to board the wheelchair.

Kitten's story is not complete without Jennifer, just as Don Pecos needs Morgan. Their paths crossed only fleetingly, but the poignancy lingers on, eleven years later. Never underestimate the power of a seemingly chance encounter. Whether you believe in God, karma or destiny, Kitten and Jennifer fit the profile. Jenn's time with me was finishing, Kitten's was just beginning. That they met was the treasure.

So, whenever the world collapses on top of me, I go and sit at Kitten's feet. Right in front of them. She has no regard for personal space, mine or hers, as evidenced from day one. She wraps her lovely head and neck around me and holds me until I can crawl out from under whatever is overwhelming me. She is my sentinel.

She is also the dam of Cheval's Joie de Vivre, the mare in the photo at the top of this blogspot. I have not been able to breed her as much as I wanted, but one day, there will be another pre-dawn birth. I am waiting for Felix, Kitten's colt, who came to me in a dream.