By Barbara Crochet       Reprinted from Simply Morgan Magazine, November/December 2001       Why did you choose the Morgan Breed and tell us about your first Morgan?   In 1991, while living on the Central Coast of California, I owned a very high spirited Arabian gelding whom could and would give you some pretty explosive rides. I rode regularly with a group of distance riders and we "cliniced" every couple of months with John Bozanich, an accredited Monte Foreman instructor, living in Springville, California. While attending one of these clinics an "event" occurred involving my Arabian gelding. That day I decided, and it was suggested, that I should think about another horse. There were two breeders of Morgan Horses in Springville, I was interested and I did not waste any time looking them up. I knew very little about the Morgan Horse and nothing at all of the families within the breed. When I went to visit Natalie Goode of Small Town Morgans, I was totally enamored with the young mare, Small Town Ellie Ash (Marvelous Ideal X Small Town Sally Ash). She fit my criteria and was one of the most beautiful mares I have seen, and she did not buck! Ellie came to live with me July 3rd 1991. Today I am very thankful to that Arabian gelding and my lack of understanding to the troubles I was having at the time. If things had been different then, they might be different today.             When and why did you decide to start breeding Morgans?   Small Town Ellie Ash turned out to be the perfect Morgan Horse. Four months later we purchased Ellie's 3/4 sibling, Small Town Welcome (Marvelous Ideal X Caven-Glo Amanda Ash) for my husband, Ted. It was confirmed the Morgan breed was for us. Ted and I had become friends with Natalie and we admired her small herd of Lambert Morgans (I had educated myself by this time to the Morgan families) and had thoughts that I too was going to breed Morgans. You know the saying "be careful of what you wish for as you just might get it". When Natalie dispersed her herd due to life circumstances in 1992, Ellie's dam, Small Town Sally Ash (Caven-Glo Challenger X Caven-Glo Amanda Ash), and Canyon of Quietude (Criterion X Caven-Glo Topaz) came to join Ellie and Welcome, and that was the start of our breeding program.     Did you have a mentor? If so, can you tell us a little about that person and how he/she affected your program?   I look at our program as having two elements that make up the whole, Morgan Horses and Horsemanship. I am honored that I have what I feel are two of the finest examples of horsemanship and love of the horse to aspire to. Eve Oakley of Caven-Glo Morgans was a breeder of Morgan Horses for thirty years. Eve was a true horsewoman who cared deeply about the Morgan Horse and her students who came to her for her knowledge and expert instruction. She was breeding for a using horse and had both high breeding standards and ethics in her dealings with people. In 1992, I met Tom Dorrance, a Master Horseman, who had a big influence on my horsemanship. In 1993, in honor of Tom and his teachings, we registered the prefix 'True Unity' with AMHA. 'True Unity Willing Communication Between Horse and Human' is the title of a book Tom wrote.     How many Morgans do you currently have?   We have a herd of seventeen!!!!!     What do you base your breeding program on and why?   Within our foundation stock are four grand-get of Cavendish (Jubilee's Courage X Paragraph) the foundation sire of Eve Oakley's Caven-Glo Morgans. Cavendish was a grandson of Jubilee King carrying 50% of his blood. These individuals are a very strong link to the legendary Jubilee King. We have taken on the stewardship of these Morgan treasures in hopes to insure these distinct bloodlines are preserved as a genetic resource for the future. It is in our opinion though, that breeding for any extreme cannot be considered beneficial, and is instead often destructive to the genetic health of a population. For almost five years we have studied and then used a model conservation breeding program that was designed to protect genetic variation in small contained populations. We are very excited with the results of adding new "genetic material" while still maintaining a very remarkable uniform appearance to the foundation lines. These outcrossed individuals now have their place in the herd and will be bred back into the foundation lines for genetic viability.     What are your goals as a breeder? As a horse owner?   As a breeder, to continue the development of our own breeding philosophies, and to expand our knowledge of the principles and methods of conservation breeding, and to breed the kind of useful Morgan that this breed was founded on.     As a horse owner?   To have that special relationship "True Unity" with our Morgan horses.
		Article ©2001 Simply Morgan Magazine.