Truth in Advertising

[from a private discussion list, 21 September 1999]

...have been shoveling out my mailboxes and thought this would amuse you all...

A few years ago I was enlisted to help a friend find replacements for her aging horses. If you think the people who are asking for a dead-broke, registered Morgan family horse for $2K or less are dreaming the impossible dream, try finding a decent Ladies Fine Harness or 5-Gaited horse in California or Illinois for less than the price of your mortgage. The following fluff is a distillation of email during our increasingly cynical search:

The Cynic's Guide to 5-Gaited and Fine Harness Horse Advertising
1. "Extraordinary Rack"
     Horse is dead lame and cannot normally walk, trot or canter.

2. "Fabulous Slow Gait"
     Same as above, plus stringhalt.

3. "Push-button horse - great Jr. Exhibitor mount!"
     Only a kid can ride this horse -- adults aren't motivated enough to find the right buttons to push.

4. "Does it all -- clips, ties, trailers"
     ...everything except walk, trot, canter, gait, take leads on command and halt. Backs very well.

5. "Tried and true Ladies horse, ready for a new home"
     Has gaits and leads: otherwise, still breathing.

6. "Won at Lexington"
     In Weanling Halter and 4-Year-Old Road Hack

7. "Real show horse attitude -- never quits"
     Including for vet, farrier, grooms and stall cleaners.

8. "Wild mover - great action" (harness horse)
     Get a quick-hitch -- the only way you'll ever hook this sucker is on the run.

9. "A natural Stakes horse"
     Goes like gangbusters and is butt-ugly.

10. "Bold in the bridle"
     Take up power-lifting if you buy this animal.

11. "Green, but has a wonderful presence"
     We are selling this horse because everyone here is scared to death of it.

...and lastly, the great enigma:

12. "Fine Harness Horse for sale. Wears shoes well"
     Neither of us had the nerve to call the number listed to inquire.

Seasonal change

[posted to Morganlist, 26 Sep 1997]

Well, I can certainly attest to the truth of what was said about our latest storm-- nearly an inch of rain in 24 hours, which is highly unusual for this area. To add insult to injury, it was very warm: yesterday's temperature in the barn was 81 degrees at 3pm... while it was raining, mind you.

JM mentioned changes in seasonal behavior in horses a while ago... I have had similar experiences, and always chocked it up the difference in weather. I know that -I- always feel a bit more fey and energetic once the heat of summer begins to abate (hasn't happened here yet, more's the pity) and I have always considered that it isn't a whole lot different for other animals. JM further noted that he sees this change right around Labor Day, and that syncs with my experience too.

Hours of daylight have been mentioned, and may well be a factor. However, I tend to think that *angle* of sunlight and night-time temperatures may be even more of a stimulus. These behavior changes always seem to appear *after* night temperatures have begun to drop, and the angle of light is noticeably autumnal. Too, this is when I usually notice that the horses have started their winter coats, which may indicate some sort of hormonal thing. My grandmere referred to the autumnal wild horse phenomenon as "being tickled by their new coats". This seems appropriate, since even the wildest of the lot usually settles by the time their winter coat is noticeable.

My parent's Percheron mares were a striking instance of seasonal change in behaviour. Normally, they were the most phlegmatic trio of ladies you could ask for. Come autumn, we would always have to endure the few weeks during which they were convinced that they were actually war horses. Their normal routine of off-work hours snoozing under the tree in their pasture and mooching around the byre during milking became a busy schedule of chasing cows and dancing about cutting shapes in the air. This exuberance also came out in their work. I think JM's term "keenness" sums it up: when you feel like you are leading the Charge of the Light Brigade from atop a field rake, it is a little unnerving! (Fortunately, the lot of us came to a far better end than the 11th Hussars did under the Earl of Cardigan.)

For the Ladies

[posted to MorganList, Christmas Day, 1997]

We all have our holiday traditions; one of mine is to give the horses a sweet mash with beer and sing and play for them (and anyone else in the barn,) on Christmas day, in thanks for their work and company. Being the sort of person for whom one thought is inevitably connected to seven other things, I cannot mix bran without thinking of the foaling season, (another occassion to mix lots of mashes) and I cannot think of bran mashes and foaling without thinking of Kevin Powell, my father's business partner, best friend, and a significant influence in my own life.

This is an Irish recipe that we fed mares after foaling. Kevin (the Irishman who provided this) contended that this was to help prevent the mare from retaining the placenta. While the following may not meet the standards of modern nutrition science, I think it has value in the restorative effects of sugars, fats, a little protein, a small bit of alcohol, the bowel clearing effects of bran, and of course, loving attention... Quoted from childhood memory:

"Take 2-4 pound of ¹red bran, depending upon the size of the mare. To this add 1/2-1 pound of ²white bran, mix well in a tub with a cup or two of ³sulphured black treacle and a cup of ⁴good oil. Go the ⁵pig boiler and ladle up enough ⁶butter milk to make a thick meal of your tub of bran, and eat a potatoe if there is one the boiler. Mix the buttermilk well in -- you should be sweating a little now. Let this all stand up for a bit while you go admire the foal. Cool the mixture with enough strong, dark ale to make it up as a soft mash. Pour yourself a pint and give a pint of ale to all the grooms, as well as a silver dollar to the ⁷man who ⁸wisps the foal. Crack and egg (2 or 3 if she has bled much) shell and all into the mash and mix it in. Take the tub and your ale into the stall. Hand feed the mash to the mare until she eats on her own. Keep her standing so the foal can suck his fill. Sup your ale, and let the cats have as much of the mash as they've a mind to eat. If there is aught left after the mare passes her ⁹membranes, and she isn't keen to finish, put the rest in the pig trough, but offer it to the cats first. If there is time enough, eat a bowl of porridge and have a rest. Otherwise, start the morning feeding."

Sláinte to you all, and the foals to come!

¹ wheat bran
² rice bran
³ blackstrap molasses
⁴ usually corn or linseed oil
⁵ pig feed that included scraps from the food preparation was boiled in a giant, closed kettle. Not only does this prevent the spread of disease (and is still required in the case of pigs raised for sale,) it makes the feed more palatable to the pigs. We always put the leftover bits from the dairy into the boiler, as well as a variety of field grade root crops; carrots, beets and potatoes, notably
⁶ in this case, the whey left after making butter or cheese
⁷ or girl! I think this is a Kerry tradition -- I imagine that that once upon a time the currency counted was shillings
⁸ rubs down -- originally done with a twist ('wisp') of straw
⁹ placenta

Sweet dreams

Alchemy by Firelight, registered Morgan filly -- six hours old

A question of temperment

[posted to Morganlist, 15 August 1997]

Through circumstances too embarrassing to explain, I managed to have the upper door of Corey's stall come crashing down on both of us... while I was screeching and flailing about in an attempt to avoid being flattened, he exhibited his usual response to loud noises and airborne objects ("Oh cooool! What else does it do?") and tried to follow the grate into the barn aisle. Managing to close the bottom door in time to prevent on-site accident investigation by the Horse Patrol, he had to be content with 'assisting' me and another boarder in wrestling the grate back on to it's brackets. While I truly do love the courage and curiosity of the Morgan horse, sometimes I think if this animal were a kindergartner, he would come home with report cards notated "runs with scissors".

Morgan Horses: Artemisia AMHR# 02731

Color & Markings: Dk. Chestnut; star & snip, anklet near rear

Height & Weight: n/a

Breeder & Location: Frank Orcutt; West Burke, Vermont

Pedigree:

                    Wood Horse                                              
               Peter's Vermont
                    Jennie                                    
           Peter's Morgan
                    Morgan Hunter 2nd                                             
               Wilson Patridge Mare
                    bay x General Hibbard
       Ethan Allen 2nd
                    Black Hawk                                              
               Ethan Allen
                    gray x Red Robin
           Stephen Doe Mare
                    Green Mountain 42
               Jennie
                    Phoebe                  
   Ethan Allen 3rd
                    Gifford                                                    
               Green Mountain 42
                    mare stb Woodbury                            
           Green Mountain 493
                    Billy Root                                               
               bay mare
                    Crane mare                       
       Wiggins mare
                    Black Morgan
               Charley Watson
                    mare x Wood's Comet                                  
           Thurber mare
                    Morgan Tiger                                                  
               brown mare
                    mare x Dr. Abel Brown Horse
Artemisia
                    Peter's Vermont                                                     
               Peter's Morgan
                    Wilson Patridge Mare                               
           Ethan Allen 2nd
                    Ethan Allen                                        
               Stephen Dow Mare
                    Jennie                                                    
       Bob Morgan
                    Green Mountain 42                                                      
               Green Mountain 493
                    mare x Billy Root                                  
           Topsey
                    Black Morgan                                              
               Dinah
                    Canadien mare
   Lady Laura
                    Green Mountain 16
               Black Morgan
                    gray x Levi Wilder's colt                         
           Morgan Tiger
                    Comet                                                  
               chestnut mare
                    bay x Wilson horse                    
       Laura
                    Billy Root                                           
               Dr. A. Brown Horse
                    stb Morgan mare                                 
           chestnut mare
                    unknown                                             
               stb Morgan mare
                    unknown

History:
An intensley line-bred mare of the old Vermont families, there is little record of Artemisia's life prior to her purchase by the U. S. Government farm. She was briefly owned by A. Fullerton Phillips, whose breeding program produced many of the foundation horses of Robert L. Knight's "Lippitt" horses.

An excellent producing mare. Artemisia's foals were to have an enormous impact in the Government breeding program. For all that Bennington became one of the principle sires of the U.S. Government Farm, Artemisia rightly stands beside him as the dam of his noted get. All but three of her thirteen foals were sired by Bennington, including the notable sires Mansfield 7255, Querido 7370, Ulysses 7565 and Canfield 7788, as well as productive mares Redfern 04360 and Willys 04622. Interestingly, her son Ajax 5302 was exported to Japan. The only of her other three foals whose line survives today is that of her daughter Agatha 02680, sired by Croyden Prince.

Competition History:
There is no known competition or work history for Artemisia: her contribution to Morgan history has been entirely through her outstanding foals. The catalog of her produce is as follows:

Name	Reg. #	Gender	Color	Year	Sire
Agatha	02680	mare	chestnut	1913	Croyden Prince
Ajax	5302	stallion	bay	1914	Donald
Donaldson Jr.	7040	stallion	bay	1917	Donaldson
Mansfield	7255	stallion	chestnut	1920	Bennington
Palmyra	04223	mare	bay	1922	Bennington
Querido	7370	stallion	bay	1923	Bennington
Redfern	04360	mare	chestnut	1924	Bennington
Slydell	04385	mare	chestnut	1925	Bennington
Topsham	7514	stallion	chestnut	1926	Bennington
Ulysses	7565	stallion	brown	1927	Bennington
Willys	04622	mare	bay	1929	Bennington
Artiben	7702	stallion	chestnut	1930	Bennington
Canfield	7788	stallion	chestnut	1932	Bennington

References and Related Links AMHA Registry CD, Volume I
The American Morgan Horse Association

AMHA Morgan Archive Cards
The American Morgan Horse Association

Algranti, Laura Stilwell; A Blue Hen Mare: Artemisia
The Morgan Horse Magazine, July 1986

Longmaid, Dale; Government Notebook: The Mares and Foals Part V
The Morgan Horse Magazine, December 1984

Mellin, Jeanne; The Complete Morgan Horse
The American Morgan Horse Association
Shelburne, Vermont 1992

Owen, Mabel; Gold Star Mares
The Morgan Horse Magazine, September 1967
reprinted, The Morgan Horse Magazine, December 1986

The Hazard of Versatility

[posted to Morganlist, 30 June 1997, not long after making the switch to reining from dressage/eventing/hunters]

...is the occasional cross-training bobble. To wit: I was doing some fast, extended lope work in the jumping ring: it has far and away the best footing on the property for reining work. Since Corey was wanting to hold back a bit on the extensions, to encourage him I had lifted my rear end out of the saddle in more or less an approximation of my usual eventing seat. (Heels down, legs relaxed and loose at the horse's side, backside just slightly out of the saddle, weight balanced and carried on thighs, rolling with the horse's motion.) Worked great -- he really zoomed out on the extensions and zipped right back into collection as soon as my seatbones were back in contact with the saddle, asking for a slower cadence.

The trouble came when I turned on a circle in such a fashion that for a brief instant we were lined up on one of the jumps in the ring. Those foxy little ears snapped forward in target acquisition mode, his hindquarters sucked up underneath, forehand lightened, and every fiber in the little horse's body was fairly giggling "FENCE! ohmyohmyyesyesFENCE!" In the normal course of things a 2'3" jump is no big deal, but I am still less than rock-solid in a western saddle, and the thought of going over anything other than tiny X's in one makes my blood run cold. To forestall what looked like a real disaster in the making, I gave a half-halt, sat down on the horse and and made my seat very slow. Unfortunately, what I got back translated to "Wheeeeee! BIG fence!" and a powerfully collected and forward moving horse. At this point we are four strides out and in Do or Die mode. A slightly stiff outside rein and a goodly shove with the outside knee managed to snap him off the line to the jump... thank the Powers That Be. We continued on a long diagonal and did a couple of jog laps until Corey no longer seemed, by some perverse gravity, to be sucked into a line on every fence we passed.

The burning question that remains in my mind is have any of you experienced similar, unexpected training cross-overs with your multi-discipline horses, or is this merely my Guardian Idiot in action?