I spent all day researching Morgans.
Yes, that’s right.
I spent all day researching the horse I am going to buy….
in 3 or 4 years….
to keep on the land I don’t own….
in the state I don’t live in.
Yeah, I know. There are about 437 more productive things that I could have spent my time on.
Instead, I found this:
and this:
And this:
I’ve always known that I really, really, REALLY like some Morgans, whereas I’m completely turned off by others.
Come to find out, it turns out that Morgans have their own little fanclub of foundation-bred Morgans, much the same way that Quarter horses have their little niche.
It turns out, I really like foundation-bred Morgans.
No, wait. Let me reword that.
It turns out I’m slightly obsessed with foundation-bred Morgans. There, that’s a little more accurate.
I mean, who wouldn’t be?
Look at them! In my opinion, they look exactly like a horse is supposed to look. Compact, sturdy, elegant, versatile….
I’ve always prided myself on not being one to get all caught up in breeding or color.
When other girls were oohing and aahing over flashy paints or Hancock-this and Poco Bueno-that, I kept silent and allowed myself to feel quietly superior.
Pah.
Breeding. Color. Meh. There were plenty of fantastic, grade horses out there for me to love. I didn’t need anything special.
And then I saw this:
And suddenly, I turned into a raving fangirl.
Forget the whole “Team Edward”/”Team Jacob” fangirls.
They ain’t got nothin’ on me.
I spent entirely too much time on their website, pawing through photo after gorgeous photo.
Then I discovered they had uploaded videos to Youtube.
Yeah.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time eyeballing this filly (Quietude Andalucia). Is it just me, or does she look unbelievably smooth to everyone else, too? I really enjoy riding bareback, and one of my criteria for my next horse is that it not rattle the teeth out of my head every time it breaks into a trot. This filly looks like you could hop up on her bareback and head off into the hills without either of you breaking a sweat.
Go ahead. Try to resist clicking through the links to all the other videos. I double-dog-dare you.
Yeah. That’s what I thought.
I couldn’t help myself either.
Don’t you just want to crawl through the computer screen and go live there with them? All those gorgeous horses… moving freely on lush, open pastures… the serene music….
I even went so far as to write the farm an email. I mean, I’ve seen some good-looking horses here and there. After all, my friend Bunnygal has some unbelievably talented, well-bred stock.
I’ve just never seen anything that grabbed me the way this farm’s herd did. As far as I can tell, they don’t have a single dud in the bunch. I’m actually almost disappointed that their herd as the fancy coloring it does, because I feel like I’ve completely sold out.
“Bean, I need a horse! No, not any horse… I need a fancy foundation Morgan with rare bloodlines! No, not that rare-blooded Morgan… I need this other kind with long flaxen manes and tails and stocking feet!”
SIGH.
At any rate, I figured it was worth a quick attaboy email to give them two thumbs up from the opposite end of the country. The thing is, not only did I write this farm a letter…. But they actually answered me back.
They thanked me for my kind words, provided me with some really interesting information, and then offered to mail me a DVD.
Now the only thing that is missing is how to convince these people that I’m really their long-lost daughter, and that they need to invite me to come live with them in West Virginia.
They are very nice horses.
The good thing is, the breeders look like they should still be in business in 4 years! So yay!
They are beautiful! Ohh you’ve taken me back to my younger years when I was horse mad! 🙂
You know I love this post, Becky! I was also looking into Foundation bred Morgans for you, and I also found another “type” of Morgan you may love, the Lippitt Morgan. Check out this website, to me they just SCREAM Morgan – they are totally traditional in every sense. I love ’em. 🙂
http://www.lippittmorganbreedersassociation.com/
Becky….come to the dark side….we have STANDARDBREDS….
JJ— I was just starting to research Lippitts when I wrote this blog, but it sounded too juvenile for me to post “And I want a Lambert! And a Lippitt!”. Can you believe that there’s not one single foundation Morgan breeder in Arizona? Why is that? I don’t want to be *that* person, who travels halfway across the country to get a horse when there are perfectly good horses to be found all around… but seriously? Not one breeder?
Aarenex–Ah, the Standardbred. See, there’s a problem with Standardbreds…
#1: If I fall off while riding bareback and there aren’t any big boulders, trees, or fences around, how am I going to get back on?
#2: After years of pouring feed into Jubilee (5-6 flakes of alfalfa daily, plus a HUGE bucket of beet pulp mixed with rice bran and weight gain.. and all that only sort of rounded out his bony hips), I am daydreaming of something fat that needs to constantly be put on a diet. Standardbreds are leggy and elegant… “Fat” doesn’t really come to mind when I think of a Standardbred….
We were buying what we were told was an un-papered foundation Morgan once. Turns out, he was really a Canadian Horse! So, if you end up buying without papers and your Morgan looks more like a Moose-Whale-Pig-Cow, run a pic or two by me and we’ll make sure he/she/it isn’t a Canadian Horse!
I want the red one. I’m going to call her Flicka.
Mugs– Yeah, yeah. I know. There’s not a ton of color/size variety since they’re linebreeding so much. On the other hand, since I REALLY like the look of them so much, it just means I have more to choose from if/when the time comes! It makes me wonder, though— does linebreeding create unhealthy horses? I’ve always found that really well-bred horses seem more prone to colic and foundering. Eh. Like Scarlett O’Hara says, I’ll think about that later.
And ugh— you’re right. They all do kind of look like Flicka, don’t they?
It doesn’t matter. I’m still jonesing for one. I’ve got no self-respect when it comes to horse-lusting. 🙂
Another reason that there isn’t a huge range of colors with Morgans is that many purists believe that a true Morgan is either Bay, black or chestnut w/ minimal white. Newer breeders are really starting to breed color in such as palomino, buckskin, pinto and creme. Those color genetics have always been there, but they’ve not been encouraged through breeding for many years. Even now in the show circuit you get people who turn their noses up to anything that’s not the standard bay/brown/black/chestnut.
You don’t have to go all over kingdom come to find your Morgan, Becky. There are soooo many “types”, they may not necesarily be Lippitt or foundation, but they’re still ALL MORGAN :).
And, what’s wrong with Flicka? 😉
Lol…it’s so funny sometimes how we can all love horses but still have such different opinions. I don’t know why but Morgans and Arabs just don’t do it for me. I mean, I can tell that’s a nicely bred Morgan and all but my heart doesn’t get all fluttery like it does for a giant gray warmblood. I’m a gray warmblood junkie. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?
Fyaah–
And the second step is running out and buying one? I get confused what the next step is if you don’t want to be healed…. 🙂
MMMMmm. You’ve actually got me, there— I love great, big, warmbloods, and dapple greys are my favorite color right after a bright, coppery chestnut. (I wish they would stay dappled!)
If I were just going to sit around and look at horses, I may have to go with a warmblood. The problem is that I don’t have any actual lessons/training and almost NO time spent in an English saddle, so a warmblood would be wasted on me. In my next life I’m going to be independently wealthy and take dressage/jumping lessons all day, work with a personal trainer all evening, and mince about in crop tops and jodphurs, riding one horse after another…. You know, in between my trips to ride horses in other countries (like Scotland, Chile, and Belize.)
Becky – Maybe in your next life we can be sisters? Tall, skinny, rich sisters who ride beautiful warmbloods with perfect equitation all day long and take a couple of years before we settle down to go to school in someplace like Germany where we get to ride all kinds of fancy critters over huge jumps with no fear at all. Sound good?
The next step always depends on who you’re asking. Buying one seems like a perfectly reasonable cure to me but my husband seems to disagree. Silly husband.
Yeah, it would be nice if they would stay dappled. I have a feeling my TB is going to get pretty white when he’s an old man. Ooooo….almost forgot how much I love a bright coppery chestnut with a blaze and white socks….droool.
Last winter there was a girl at our barn with two Dutch WBs. One was a particularly pretty gray and one was a chestnut. AND she was 18 and she was tall and thin with beautiful red hair and perfect eq. Oh, how I wanted to (inside voice “be her”) hate her, but she was a nice girl.
Oh, and it’s never too late to learn something new. I’ve seen 70 year old women out here learning dressage. I hope I’m still riding at that age.
I’m 34 and just started lessons and showing again. I couldn’t afford much when I was a kid so my formal lessons were minimal. I don’t think I warrant the fancy warmblood yet but I’m working on it. 🙂
You are preaching to the choir here, girl. Native, transplanted Vermonter. Spent more hours than my children wished at the Morgan Horse farm. Etc. Stout, hardy, using horses, except for the Arab look-alikes….who does that? Keep your dream.
becky- you don’t get it. red is my favorite color. my friend flicka is my favorite movie(the real one with roddy mcdowell).
I really do want the red one. She was the deepest, reddest one of the bunch….
drooling doesn’t stop just because you get a horse
Well before you mentioned what farm, I knew which farm. The photo of the stallion w/the girl riding him?–that is Criterion,sire of my Clarion of Quietude, who I got in 1983 when he was 3 years. He is still hale & hearty on my place at age 30 now.
I bred Lamberts & Lippitts in the 1980’s & 1990’s. I still have 6 Morgans. All old type. The paly in my avatar is one of mine–1/2 Lippitt, his sire a Lippitt of my breeding. There are two Lippitt breeders down in San Marcos & a Lippitt breeder in Hesperia.
The Lippitt Club has a web site & Facebook, as does the Lippitt Morgan Breeders Assoc. If you want to see color–Rainbow Morgan Association. There is a Yahoo group of colorful Morgans too which always has lots of photos people send.
Well, I could go on for a very long time.
My blog, OldMorgans.blogspot.com, has pictures of old Morgans (currently featuring photos from 1951).
Anyone who wants to talk Morgans is welcome to email me at
morganredhorses@gmail.com
Laura S
sagebeasties.blogspot.com