Pat is calm by nature. As a foal he discovered a great way to cool himself off on those hot Georgia summer days- the sprinkler! July 1990.


He grew into those ears! In fact, he now has some of the smallest, cutest ears I've ever seen on a horse! Pat was about two weeks old here, July 1990.


Pat (age 2 months here) and his half sister Mimi had great fun with the big box our new washer came in


Pat, all grown up, at his first dressage show. Bar-Lyn Farm's Evening Dressage Show, summer 1994.


Another picture taken at Bar-Lyn Farm's Evening Dressage Show, summer 1994.


My niece Abby Atkins stayed with us for a week in August of 1999. She had been taking huntseat lessons in her home state of New York since February 1999. Dressage and the influence of the rider's seat was a totally new thing for her! This was her second lunge lesson on Pat.


Pat gets a pat! This is Jessica Hecker, age two, up on Pat during the Southern Model Horse Convention, October 1999. My friend Lisa Warner (of Claywood Morgans in SC) is holding Pat and proud father David Hecker is with Jessica.


One of the blessings of having so many sweet, calm, and reliable Morgans is that friends can come over and ride too! Here is Cassidy Evans on Pat and I am on Topaz, November 2000.


Cassidy and Pat again, November 2002. Pat looks so very much like his dam.


Pat is very out of shape as I've been too busy to ride him much, but he is a generous soul and puts in a good effort anyways! Cassidy is in college so she doesn't get to ride much either. Our beautiful fall weather is too nice to waste however!


A warm and sunny February ride, 2004.


We've been enjoying a warm, pleasant fall but I know those days are numbered. So I try to get out and enjoy the horses as often as possible. Pat's motto is "will work for food"; so, I bring him carrots, he totes me around, and everyone is happy! Late October 2004.


Pat and his half sister Mimi working off a few pounds (I hope!), October 2005.


Another shot from the same day, October 2005.


The first Saturday in October brings our annual model horse event at the farm. Begun in 1988, the Southern Model Horse Convention introduces model horse hobbyists to the wonderful Morgan Horse.  During the show's lunch break everyone was given the opportunity to ride. Trusty Pat is the mount of choice. Left is Valerie Hussain and right is Katie Zajdel  at the 2006 show.


Lisa Warner took these pictures of Pat and I at SouthCon 2006.


December 2006- I always enjoy seeing kids and Morgans interact but since we have no children of our own I have to borrow some from time to time ;-) A few days before Christmas, my brother in law and his two young children visited us. Josie is 8 and loves animals, but was very scared of the horses at first. Still, she was drawn to them, a good thing for overcoming fear! She wanted to ride so Pat was pressed into service. Josie has a rider's build and a good seat. Here she is getting instruction from me before we start.


Josie and Pat again. She looks pretty good up there, and has forgotten all about how scared she was an hour or so earlier! This was an exercise where she was to stretch out one arm at a time. She was amazed when she could get Pat to stop just by sitting deep in the saddle.


No one rides for free! If you want to ride, you must groom the horse before and after. It is empowering to a timid child to move a horse around in the crossties with just a touch. Pat was quite obliging about his feet, too, which was the hardest part for Josie because those feet are heavy.

The smile says it all, doesn't it?


September 2007- Fellow Georgia Morgan owners Susan Visi and her hubby Bill visited in late September to see Charli. Susan brought her brand new custom JJ Maxwell Wade saddle to show me. I needed to mop up the drool- what a beautiful thing! A true work of art :-) It is all hand tooled with a floral pattern, definitely a woman's saddle, and the seat has inlaid padding. Susan told me how comfortable it was. Then they asked if I wanted to ride in it. I did not need much persuasion.

So we saddled Pat up- well, they did most of it because I did not know how to girth the durn thing up, it is a special type of rigging (not like my western show saddle). So here is Pat and Laura gone buckaroo- well... sort of ;-)

And YUP... it is VERY comfortable.


After I rode I asked Susan if she wanted to try Pat. She wasn't dressed for riding but she did have her helmet with her, so she was game.


October 6, 2007 was the 20th Annual Southern Model Horse Convention, held here at the farm. The Friday evening before the show anyone who wishes can come and ride a Morgan. In recent years we've used Pat for this very important task. One of our regular SouthCon attendees is Paula Hecker from Tallahassee FL. This year Paula brought her 10 year old daughter Jessica to show at SouthCon. Paula has three girls but only Jessica is horse crazy like her Mom :-) Jessica has been on Pat before (see the picture earlier on this page, from the 1999 show) but since she was only 2 then, she didn't remember. She groomed Pat and then got a lesson on the lungeline. By the time we finished it was getting dark, but she had figured out how to use her seat to get Pat to halt, walk and was gleefully urging him into a trot- just a grinnin' away. She had no fear and was a very quick study!


November 2007- My sister Aimee was here for a visit from Ohio. She is the only other "horsey" sibling I have (there are 6 of us) though I have another sister who is a small animal vet, so she too got the "creature loving" gene :-) Aimee is also artistic and loves to take pictures. She took a bunch of pictures of my horses. Here is a kind of artsy one of me on Pat.


Aimee thought Pat looked very elegant standing all parked out in the cross ties. I taught him to park out years ago with food as "bait", so now after a ride, when he's in the cross ties getting untacked, he "begs" for a treat by parking out ;-) So here is a pic Aimee took of him doing his pose in good light, and a close up of his cute face.


October 2008: Pat during a lesson with my friend Cassidy Evans up.


March 2, 2009. We had 4"-5" of snow- a rarity for Georgia! Coral and Charli were running around feeling good after a night in the barn out of the blizzard, and Pat and Mimi wanted nothing to do with their shenanigans. Pat was wondering what all the fuss was about. After all, moving might burn off some calories. His motto is "less is more" ;-)


August 31, 2009-  Ericka Miller and her family came by to drop off some items for the 22nd Annual Southern Model Horse Convention's benefit auction. All of the Miller girls- Sam (4 years old and fearless!), Morgan, Danielle and Megan- took a turn on Pat. Ericka asked if I could take a picture of their family with Pat. A couple of the girls had some fear of horses before meeting and riding Pat. His quiet ways won them all over, and Morgan especially wanted another turn!


December 2009- I'd always wanted to do a Christmas card with all the horses on it. So when I saw these pet antlers at the Dollar Store, I had to get them. The next step was taking a picture of each horse wearing the antlers, then creating the Christmas card you see here.


February 13, 2010- We had a rare snowfall and I was outside early to enjoy it before it all melted. The horses would rather search for bits of greenery under the snow than pose for pictures. The second pic is Pat trying to interact with Mimi- not sure what he was asking her, but it was cute!  He loves his big sister and they are always together.


July 2010- It has been a difficult month. On the 2nd, I found  Pat down in the run in shed. I honestly thought he was dead. He'd apparently been struggling with colic for awhile that afternoon and was pretty beat up. He did not improve after my vet saw him, so we hauled him to the University of Georgia Large Animal Teaching Hospital. He was dehydrated and in a lot of pain, with a pulse of 80, and an ultrasound showed distended small intestine. The decision was made to send him to surgery, leaving me wondering how in the world I would pay for it- and if I would even have a live horse in the end. Well Pat might be getting older but he is a MORGAN, and he is a fighter. He came through surgery, which showed he was suffering from an illeal impaction and enteritis, most likely due to eating coastal bermuda hay. This is a common cause of colic here in the south where bermuda is the predominant type of hay fed to horses. Pat was up and down for the next week, then started to do much better. Two weeks after surgery we brought him home to recuperate. Here are pictures of Pat in his stall at home giving me his "please FEED me" look :-)

Our most sincere thanks go to Dr. Axel Varela and the team at UGA for their careful and considerate treatment of Pat. Dr. Varela kept me updated twice a day which was most appreciated. You all are THE BEST!


August 31, 2010- Pat is back out with the herd! After a month of stall rest and a month of individual turnout in our small paddocks- per the doctor's orders- Pat is finally back with the herd. Both Pat and Mimi seemed very happy to be together again. I am happy too! And Pat is eating hay again, though we will no longer feed bermuda to any of our horses. We found some decent timothy at a good price and will be stocking up on it for the winter. We can feed locally grown fescue as well (except to pregnant mares- not that we have any this year, unfortunately- not for lack of trying!).


Our annual Southern Model Horse Convention was held on October 2, 2010. As promotion for the breed, which is the purpose of SouthCon, we let folks ride one or two of our Morgans after the show. Pat is the horse we choose for show attendees to ride, but he was only cleared for riding again the week before the show and I hadn't had time to take him for a spin, what with all the preparation needed around the farm for SouthCon. Here we are after the show on Saturday, my first time back on Pat in almost 4 months. He felt just like he always has- moving forward nicely, dropping softly on the bit- just like he'd been ridden every day.


All day long at SouthCon, 11 year old Emma Huffman was telling everyone she was going to get to ride after the show. She was positively radioactive (I only have faint memories of having that much energy!) especially when she got to groom and ride Pat! She took instruction quite well and soon had Pat stopping off of her seat, instead of pulling on the reins as she is used to doing on the lesson horses that are her usual mounts. I wish her family lived closer so she could come ride Pat regularly!


11/28/10- Pat is back to getting ridden regularly, and since the surgery, with his usual dry lot stay for 12 hours a day and Remission, he has really slimmed down with no more fatty deposits on his crest and tailhead, though he still has a bit of a belly. Not sure that will ever firm up now that he's had surgery. I seem to recall reading that the abdominal muscles are weaker after they've been cut. But I digress. My long time friend and riding student Cassidy Evans rode him for her lesson today. It was cloudy early on so I didn't plan to take pictures but then in the middle of the lesson the sun came out, which was nice because it was COLD yesterday! But the sun made it comfortable. I hate winter, but at least here in the south we don't have as long of one nor as severe as folks up north get.

Pat can still move like a much younger horse and he is on no joint supplements or shots. Just amazing for 20 years old and a colic surgery survivor!



1/10/11- We got a good amount of snow, which unfortunately changed to ice due to freezing rain that came after it- shutting Atlanta down for a week after due to treacherous road conditions. After two days in the barn during the storm I put the horses back out. Pat, along with his sister Mimi, just hung around the gate wanting me to either give them more hay or put them back in. This is his "cold weather sucks, feed me!" face ;-)


July 24, 2011- My friend Cassidy Evans came out to the farm with her Mom Rhonda and Katie Sheriff, who is Cassidy's brother's girlfriend. Katie used to work at a barn and loves horses. After Cassidy had her lesson Katie had one too. Pat certainly could use some of that belly worked off of him. I am almost embarrassed to show this picture. He really is not as fat as he was a few years ago, but he is very unfit and the colic surgery combined with age seems to have left him with weakened abdominals, giving him a pregnant look. I know he has redistributed his usual weight because his girth is now too big; I need a new, smaller one. Katie, we hope to see you here again soon!