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POSITIVELY'S PRIDE
(Positively X Early M Dawn)
1989 black stallion, 14.3
Pictured at age 21, 2010. Photo by Lisa Garcia.
In October of 2018 I posted on Facebook that I was on the hunt for a stallion to lease. After trying all spring to breed Charli via AI- and
failing- my vet had suggested live cover. My thinking was if someone had a stallion they weren't using over the winter or early spring, that I could
try again with Charli and maybe breed another mare as well. We've had great success with pasture breeding. The candidate had to be kind with his mares
and experienced at reading them, as well as easy to handle. Incredibly, I had more than 20 stallions offered to me; I cannot thank you wonderful folks
enough for trusting me with your precious Morgans. There are so many kind, generous people in this breed!
In the end I decided upon a stallion I had admired for many years, but had never bred a mare to. Positively's Pride (Positively x Early M Dawn) used to be owned by my very dear friend Lisa Garcia; his kind reputation
preceded him. He settled a very nice gray mare this year for his current owner Leah Flowers, who has graciously allowed me to borrow Pride for awhile.
Thank you so much, Leah and the Flowers family!
Pride's immediate pedigree is kind of like the old joke, "by Truck out of
Kansas" in that I have not seen nor heard of any of the horses his first two
generations of his pedigree (if anyone DOES have photos or information about
them, I would love to hear from you!). Beyond that point however, he goes back
to some wonderful old breeding, including the beautiful Adrian Ashmore, who
stood here in Georgia in the 70's; the famous smoky cream Chingadero; and
representatives of several famous and long time breeding programs such as the
Quietude Stud (via their foundation stallion Criterion), Lippitt (through Lippitt Norman) and Funquest (Funquest Pat Hand,
Funquest Fazizz). Another interesting ancestor on
Pride's paternal line is Gipsey Boy (Gipsey King x Minerva, by Scotland), a
black stallion who worked with the US Park Police. His daughter, April's Fancy, is Pride's great great grand dam. She is also the dam of Star Studded, the sire of the
well known sport horse stallion, Moorewood's Excalibur. Indeed, Pride is built like
- and moves like - a sport horse. He floats when he trots, with a lot of "hang time". This kind of suspension. common in warmbloods,
is not at all
easy to find in Morgans. Pride has a very uphill build which is also getting harder
and harder to find in our breed.
We pray we are able to get Charli in foal to Pride for 2020. I am also looking for a dun, splash or
silver mare to lease (or possible purchase) to breed to him. Best of care, guaranteed! If you might be willing to work something out to that end, please email me!
|
Positively |
Monongahela |
Windcrest Chief |
| Fancy Snowball |
| Buddington Lovely |
Kickapoo Dandy |
| Allen Belle |
|
Early M Dawn |
WVM Phoenix |
Adrian Ashmore |
| Molly Tynes |
| Brigadoon's Cameo |
Courier of Quietude |
| Nordale |
You can view Pride's complete pedigree
here.
It includes pictures of many of his ancestors.
More photos of Pride
(click on a thumbnail to enlarge)
March 2005 photo of Pride used in the Georgia Morgan Horse Club's Directory. Courtesy of Sherri Larson Farmer, who owned Pride at the time
and bred four of his 16 registered foals.
A
2011 photo of Pride snoozing at Lisa Garcia's Claywood Farm in SC. Photo courtesy of Lisa.
Close up taken from the above picture.
April 2011. shortly after arriving at Ochwalkee Creek Farm. Bit of red clay staining on his white socks,
but I love the series of curves he displays.
November 11, 2018- The day after Pride arrived at Brookridge.
Charli meeting Pride through the fence.
November 13, 2018- Grazing.
November 16, 2018- I looked out
on this cold morning and saw Pride keeping watch as all three horses in the adjacent pasture slept.
November 17, 2018.
November 17, 2018- Just a few minutes after putting Charli in with Pride. She is cleaning up his alfalfa twigs (he
can only eat the leaf) and he is waiting for her
to give him some sign she is interested. Her swishing tail and
backed ears say "Buster this is MY alfalfa. I don't know what else you have in mind, but keep your distance!"
Charli and Pride at dusk on their first day together, November 17, 2018.
November 21, 2018-
I looked out to check on the horses this morning and this is what I saw in Charli and Pride's pasture. Dozing after a busy night of... love?
I dunno- Charli is in heat but she is still not allowing Pride to cover her. But I don't know what goes on out there in the dark, so I am hopeful.
Meanwhile... the old man looks tired, and Charli looks happy, but whether that is because she has just had her wildest fantasy fulfilled
or simply because she has it in her head that my appearance means she is going to get fed, only she knows for sure ;-)
November 23, 2018- Friends Cassidy Sutherland and Rhonda Evans
visited, with Cassidy's three year old son Evan. For weeks now, Evan
has been all excited about getting to ride. He became a bit reticent
when confronted by the reality of the situation, however he soon
warmed up to the idea. It was a very
cold and windy day here in the ATL, so Evan's actual riding consisted of being led on Rosie up
and down the barn aisle, out of the wind. However we did sit him up on the old man for a few minutes, too.
November 26, 2018- Tonight's sunset was absolutely gorgeous. Here's Pride cleaning up his dinner with all
those pretty colors behind him. My vet floated his teeth, gave him his shots and a brief checkup a few days ago. We discovered he has a grade 3 heart murmur,
bad lungs and very bad teeth. One upper incisor was fully a half inch longer than the others,
he has a wave mouth and had sharp points everywhere. He cannot really chew
hay at all so he is up to four feedings a day of Senior feed, soaked alfalfa cubes and alfalfa/timothy pellets. Yesterday was a warm-ish day, so he got a pedicure and beauty treatment- some spot washing with warm water to remove dried sweat
(from numerous amorous encounters with Charli) and a sheath cleaning too. He stood ground tied for all of it. I am really enjoying him!
December 18, 2018- Pride has been here a little over a month now. I started him on Equioxx
(NSAID for arthritis) about a week ago, and he is moving around much more easily.
I separated Charli from Pride as it's just easier to keep him on his feeding schedule without
having to separate her from him each time. She now lives in a paddock next to him. Both horses seem fine with this arrangement.
December 25, 2018- Merry Christmas! Pride got a new red halter for his
Christmas gift. It looks pretty spiffy on a black horse!
December 28, 2018- Pride was in the barn with the rest of the herd last night as we are once again getting deluges of rain (SOP every weekend for several months now...
it's getting real old). I had to take a picture of him in his fancy remodeled stall.
Jim sent the door and stall bars (which he built back in 2001 when we had Adiel's Casino Gold on lease) off a month ago to be powder
coated, and they finally came back. He just finished varnishing the wood as well.
Pride respects the stall guard but I don't leave the door open when I'm not there.
I wouldn't worry about him getting out/with
one of the mares so much as what could happen if he and Roadie met up. Roadie still thinks HE'S the man ;-)
January 1, 2019- Our new year got off to a scary start on New Year's Eve. On the advice of friends I decided to add beet pulp to Pride's diet, to increase fiber and hopefully aid in weight gain. I soaked a small bit overnight and gave it to Pride with his lunch time Senior.
Within an hour he was on the ground colicking. My regular vet was out of town for the holiday so I gave
Pride 6 ccs of Banamine and waited for his backup to arrive. The whole time I was thinking
"this is it! He's almost 30! OMG he's going to die". The experience was just terrifying. It turned out to be nothing but a bit of gas colic, probably caused by the beet pulp. Here is Pride the next day, grazing like I'd never seen him graze before.
Jim's comment: "he just had a near death experience. He's decided he better get out and enjoy life". LOL!
January 15, 2019- Pride has really picked up his activity level and his weight is improving by the day. In late night chats with my friend Amanda Hewitt Pruett she mentioned a
slow feeder ball she has for her mare. Since Pride can't really chew hay I was looking for a way to slow feed him his pelleted hay, and this seemed to be a good idea
(thank you, Amanda!). It dawned on me that we had
a slow feed ball for one of our dogs about 20 years ago. Jim found it in the basement and we tried it out with Pride. He figured it out quickly! Since it didn't hold very much feed, I ordered a horse version
made by Shires. I put it in an empty water trough
so the feed doesn't get lost in the dirt. Pride loves it! We can hear him banging it around in his trough from the house, and
that way we know he is happy and eating. It takes him several hours to
completely empty the thing, a much better alternative to
him gobbling it all up in ten minutes. It holds about two scoops (6
pounds) of pellets. I ordered another one so I
always have one filled and ready to drop in his feed trough. Best
$20 I ever spent! Here is the one we have-
Tractor Supply carries this same ball, as well.
February 2, 2019- Pride snoozing on warm winter day. He has put on almost 50 pounds in the last month. I hope that once the
grass starts growing that I will have to put him on a diet!
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