This month's story comes to you from member Michelle McMillen. Thank you Michelle for sharing with us and sending the picture of your beautiful black mare!
We are still collecting stories, its not too late to write up a quick paragaraph or two and submit it!
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I was a stereotypical horse-crazy girl. I rode the grocery store mechanical horses, I collected Breyer models, I spent a lot of time on my knees pretending I was a horse, I read every horse book I could find at the library. I occasionally got to ride on the ponies at Griffith Park and take a few lessons. Then we moved from suburban Southern California to my step-dad’s family farm in the panhandle of Texas, and all my horse dreams started coming true. My step-grandfather, an old cowboy and well-known Quarter Horse breeder, took me under his wing and taught me how to ‘break’ horses, starting with my very own black two-year-old mare. I spent every available hour on her back from my 7th grade year through my freshman year of college. She died suddenly just before the start of my sophomore year; fortunately by then I was dating the man who would become my husband (of now 36 years). His family had horses so I could continue to ride; we had two of our own when we got married after graduation. They traveled with us from college in Nebraska to veterinary school in Kansas to his first job as a veterinarian in Minnesota to Oregon when we moved here in 1989.
Shortly after moving here, I pursued a longtime fascination with English riding, starting out in Hunt Seat but quickly navigating towards dressage with some eventing thrown in for fun. My husband, in the meantime, fell in love with cutting. Both of us desired more suitable mounts for our interests. One of the very first horse friends I made in Oregon suggested I consider a Morgan, a breed I knew little about beyond the Marguerite Henry book, Justin Morgan Had a Horse. She had one, and my husband had clients with Morgans, so I started looking at them. I ended up purchasing Rogue Hill’s Galaxy (Axel) as a long yearling from Jean Sauer in 1991.
Axel took me on an amazing journey of firsts and dreams fulfilled! I started his ground training right away. When he was two, I trained him to harness and cart with Carmen Hobson’s help. We showed a little in Country Pleasure, and I started getting more acquainted with the NW Morgan community. When Axel was three we started under-saddle training; I was thoroughly converted to dressage by then and he was to be my partner. But he was nothing like the Quarter Horses I was used to; he looked and acted so immature. The friend who initially prompted me to look at Morgans kept repeating, “Just wait ’til he’s six.” SIX YEARS OLD? SERIOUSLY?!? But she was right; at six years old his brain and body got it together and we finally became the team I dreamed of. We won the USDF All-Breed Awards for Morgans in Training Level through Prix St. George; I loved being asked, “What IS he?” at dressage shows. He was like a Border Collie, eager to work for me, offering what he thought I might want before I even asked – not always helpful in dressage, but endearing nonetheless. I dreamed of going all the way to Grand Prix with Axel, but fate had other plans….
The horses I’ve ridden for others and owned since Axel moved to Texas in 2002 have all taught me things, but none of them have been the “dream machine” that Axel was. Still, dressage is all about the partnership, and I made the best of each relationship. But when your current horse has been diagnosed with arthritis in his neck, inflammatory airway disease, and equine metabolic syndrome, and has tripped and fallen with you a few times, the riding part of the equation becomes stressful instead of fulfilling. I got serious about looking for a safer, more able partner, and told my husband all I wanted for Christmas 2019 was the green light to get another horse.
I found my new partner by looking back through the March 2019 “Morgans for Sale” list Shelley Bullard put out. Umpqua Andromeda wasn’t on that list, but a listing did eventually lead me to her, and Stella became mine before New Year’s. A black mare like my very first horse; a Morgan with an astronomical name like my very best horse; a clean slate to work with like both of them – so many auspicious similarities to significant equines in my life! And yet, Stella is like NONE of the horses in my life, and we are taking things very slowly while I work to gain her trust and confidence. My beautiful black swan is total eye candy and would turn heads in any discipline, but you’ll eventually find us dancing in the dressage court. (I might have to wait until she’s six!)
Michelle McMillen
