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Brookridge Morgans began as a
childhood dream of mine. Like many young girls, I collected model
horses; one of my first was the Breyer black stretched Morgan, a gift from my grandmother. Involvement
in the model horse hobby eventually led to the real thing- first
with a friend's Morgans, and later with the purchase of my Morgan
mare Reminiscing in 1984.
The Brookridge ideal is the Morgan of classic "old type". This curvy,
full-bodied, pretty headed, unmistakably Morgan
horse is reflected in my
artwork and
equine sculpture and, hopefully, in the Morgans that I breed. I appreciate the older Morgan bloodlines of all families.
My training philosophy uses positive
reinforcement, which results in horses with incredibly willing and
cheerful attitudes. The Brookridge Morgans live the majority of
their time outside, as
nature intended, barefoot and in the company of
the herd.
I am deeply involved with colorful Morgans and enjoy
researching and writing about breeding programs and bloodlines related to the various colors
present in our breed. My articles currently appear in our breed journal,
The Morgan Horse
magazine. Older articles appeared in Simply Morgan,
Classic Morgan Admirers, the Rainbow Morgan Horse Association
Newsletter, Just About Horses, and many other equine publications over the years.
Many of my articles for The Morgan Horse magazine can be found here. Our
Morgans are pictured in many books on equine color, including Sponenberg's EQUINE COLOR GENETICS, Lesli Kathman's THE EQUINE TAPESTRY, Jeannette Gower's HORSE COLOR EXPLAINED,
Vera Kurskaya's HORSE COLOR EXPLORED and the textbook THE HORSE
(Evans et al).
I maintain two educational websites about color in the Morgan breed: Morgan Colors and
the
Silver Dapple
Morgans Project. I edited the
Rainbow Morgan Horse
Association newsletter from 1996-2016, and also served as editor of the Georgia Morgan Horse Club newsletter.
I am semi retired equine artist who sculpts and paints as well as
creating eye-catching equine advertising and website design.
My very handy husband Jim built most of our farm himself, including our lovely
barn. Our extended family includes
the new owners of
horses we've owned and/or bred and our canine companion
Newton.
Sit back and relax as you explore our website. I love to take pictures, so there is a lot to
look through.
Even better, come see our Morgans in person.
We welcome your visit, and so will the horses. Give us a call or
email today! -Laura Behning
BROOKRIDGE NEWS
March 10, 2024- Kate Cabot's first show with four-year-old Thunderous (KS Bluestem The Old
Guard x Coral Forest)! They were second in the Driven Dressage Training Level Test A at the Stride Schooling show at the Florida Horse Park. I am so proud of them both and
huge thanks goes to their training team of Linda and Larry Poulin. When you are a small breeder,
it is tough to prove your horses are what you know they are until someone like Kate comes along and proves it. We are so very grateful to you, Kate, for believing in our boy!
February 25, 2024- Nothing like a little extra assistance from an enthusiastic Morgan when you're out fixing broken fence posts! "Helpful" Stony picked up Jim's coat, grabbed the handle of the wagon and
finally dumped the bucket of tools. Stony is a 2023 colt, palomino carrying the rare silver dilution and also W20, and he is available! Go to his page to
learn more about him. On thing is for sure, Stony's new owner will never be bored with this clown around!
January 2024- It has been a horrible start to the New Year. Winter seems to be the time when my old animals have health issues,
but generally they come along as one sick animal at a time. We
lost our 13 year old dog Nellie to hemangiosarcoma on January 11. Kyrie
(age 22) had an eye injury which turned into a stromal
abscess, necessitating 5X daily treatment for four weeks and
counting. Topaz, who
is 32 this year, was down one AM and could not get up; she has an old
injury to her right hind leg (this happened while off our farm back
in 2008) that
limits her ability to use that hock. I thought it was the end for her but with vet assistance we were able to get her up. About 10 days later she laid down in the muddiest spot in the field
and was struggling to get up. Again, I thought it was the end but I had the idea to shove some hay up under her butt
for traction and right before the vet rolled in she managed to get up. Now I hold my breath every time
I see her lying down, but if she is on dry, grassy footing she seems
able to cope. Rosie (age 30) joined the party by coming in one morning with
her left hind end listing wildly to the side. I knew what it was-
had this experience with Pat years ago- and testing confirmed it was
EPM. She is finishing up a course of Protazil but is still not
right- switching her "leaning" side back and forth over the course
of days with some good "straight" days in between. And Papi choked on his feed
again. He had done this almost two years ago and I've been extra
careful since then to wet his feed well. It was a rough go for my
almost 35 year old stallion but thankfully he is still here with us.
I am exhausted and just hoping things will improve, with no losses
to the oldest ones, but knowing that is probably unrealistic. Photo is of
Charli, Stony and Rosie (on one of her "good" days), mid January.
October 7, 2023- On the first Saturday in October we host The Southern Model Horse Convention, a model horse show,
here at our farm. "SouthCon" is now in its 35th year, and was started as a unique way to promote the Morgan breed amongst hobbyists.
Entrants are able to interact with our Morgans all day. Here is our
2023 buckskin splash colt Louis (Fantabulous, KS Bluestem The Old Guard x Fantastical) with some of the show's entrants.
Louis is for sale; see his web page for more info, pictures and
video.
Site updated: March 10, 2024
BROOKRIDGE MORGANS
Jim and Laura Behning
75 Glass Spring Rd.
Covington, GA 30014
(770) 385-1240
Click to email us at morgans@mindspring.com
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