The list...

I figured I should list the horses I am writing about, so perhaps they will show up in a google search and MORE people will contact me.

(Last night, I had a fantastic interview with an alum from the class of 1972--very knowledgeable horsewoman, and she's a poet. Her descriptions of the horses were, well, like poetry! So wonderful.)( I love this job!)

Anyway, here are the stallions:

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Abbott,Canfield, Goldfield, Magellan, Mentor, Panfield,The Explorer, Windcrest Don Again, UC Marquis, Ledgmere Bounty, Orcland John Darling, UVM Viking, UC Ringmaster, Chantwood Command, UC Doc Daniels, UC Show Biz and UC Toronado
And the broodmares:

Sheba, Sentana, UC Sensation, UC Melodie, Cannie, UC Rhapsody, UC Expectation, UC Taffy, UC Lyric, UC Concertina, UC Fascination, Merwin Black Beauty, UC Sonata, UC Topaz, Delmaytion Desire, UC Esther, Song of Courage, UC Ovation, UC Aria, UC Carberry, UC Hope and Courage, UC Electra, Salem Sentana and UC Holiday.

Send me your memories: soundthebuglestudio (at) charter.net

UC Cannie and Foal

UC Cannie and foal, watercolor pencil and ink Illustration for My Horse, My Heart: The Morgan Horses of the University of Connecticut. copyright 2011 Helen Scanlon.

Born in 1949 to the to athletic and exquisitely feminine mare, Phillipa, and the formidable stallion, Canfield, Cannie possessed a brilliant chestnut coat and a small star on her face with a tiny smidge of a snip on her muzzle. Her eye was large and bright; her attitude kind and willing.

~excerpt from UC Cannie's chapter

by request--an excerpt!

(me and The Great Red Horse, UC Ringmaster. June, 2010, photo by KJL)


Here is a little taste of the UC Ringmaster chapter....

UC Ringmaster loved children and was careful and kind when they were in his company.

After he won his second World Championship, a woman and her two blonde little girls visited the show barns and asked if they could meet Ringmaster.

Les (Parker, Ringmaster's rider)took the woman and the twin little girls, who were no more than five or six years old, to see the Champion. Les opened the stall door and Ring bent his head down to greet the excited girls. He softly blew his sweet, hay-scented breath into one twin’s golden hair and rested his black velvet muzzle against her cheek. The girl visibly shivered.

“You can touch him,” Cheryl (Orcutt, Ringmaster's owner) said to the young girl, no doubt a horse-crazy girl at that.

She reached over, stroked the gentle stallion’s nose and was transformed.

“We call him the fire breathing dragon,” the girl said, her hushed voice filled with awe.

Time to draw!

I finished the outline of the UC Cannie and foal illustration. It just needs color and it's done.

I couldn't track down photos of the beloved mare, so I went by a description of her from the all-breed pedigree website.

I have a goal of two new illustrations a week. So who should I draw for my second horse this week?

UC Toronado?

UC Doc Daniels?

Abbott?

I have about 30 or so illustrations to do. Gotta get moving! The Arches paper arrived and it is SO MUCH BETTER than this "multi-media" crap, I mean, "paper," that I purchased a while back. Multi-media? No way. Unless you actually *like* your watercolors to look like they've been painted on Kleenex.

Why did I even think of using any other paper?? Oh, Arches, please accept my humble apologies.
*grin*

PS Yes, the UC Ringmaster foal illo was done on that multi-media paper...so guess what? I'm re-doing it.

UC Toronado

Here he is--now a gelding named "Gideon" (what a fantastic name!)---with his rider and biggest fan, Jade.
Nice Champion ribbon, you two!

From summer 2010, Woodstock Fair.

Toronado ("Giddy") was a herd stallion at UConn for many years. And yes, he sired beautiful babies!
(Of course he did--look at him!)
He was a success right away--he sired UC Hope and Courage and UC Concerto in his first year.




Pic provided by Jade, thank you.

UC Doc Daniels

Mary O' Donovan and UC Doc Daniels in the Hartford Courant, 1997.
UC Doc Daniels, driven by Mary O'Donovan, UConn Holiday barn. (The mares were near, but he behaved himself!)(what a great horse)
Credit: Horsin' Around Photography, Brenda V. Cataldo


Thank you to Mary O'Donovan for these incredible photos of UC Doc Daniels.

UC Doc Daniels was a UConn herd stallion for many years. A handsome gentleman with an unwavering work ethic, he sired many beautiful, sturdy foals. (Take a look back in this blog--UC High Hopes "Shoe" is one of his famous sons!)

It is such an honor to write this regal stallion's story.

hay! you with the pitchfork!

Grooms and working students: me (on left in red scarf) and two of my wonderful roommates at Woodcock Hill Riding Academy, circa 1990.

Fun, fun times! Our days were filled with horses, hay, wood shavings, saddles, sweet feed, polo wraps, snaffle bits, buckets, friendship and laughter.

Our house was just over the hay field past the indoor riding arena. We would return home after a long day of barn work and EAT. Boy, we could eat. Anything not nailed down was smothered in peanut butter and devoured.

We would burn it all off by the next day's chores....


My next chapter is about the lovely mare, UC Hope and Courage.

Watch this space for some pics of the magnificent stallion, UC Doc Daniels. Prepare to be awestruck....

Helllooooo UConn Alumni!

Send me your stories! I want to hear from you!

soundthebuglestudio (at) charter.net

Tell me about your time with the Morgan horses at UConn! Each herd stallion and top-producing broodmare has their own chapter. (So, do the math---that's 34 chapters, people!)

Just finished UC Cannie's chapter. I never met her, but she left a hoofprint on my heart.
What a sweet, beautiful mare she was.

The book journey is one filled with wonderful tales of the grand Morgan horses of the University of Connecticut....

....thank you for sharing your stories, dear alumni. Keep 'em coming! Spread the word.

Somewhere

Somewhere...Somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some Paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
...I know great horses live again.
- Stanley Harrison

a life, changed

Me and my old friend, Red, at Woodcock Hill Riding Academy, 1991. (Please note the fabulous attire--perfect for stall mucking)


I have A LOT of information I need to get into the chapters. My interviewees are THE BEST: They are so willing to share their stories with me.
And let me tell ya--they are GREAT stories. It is an honor to transcribe them.

The Morgan horses at UConn live in so many hearts. Many alumni I've talked with tell me that their time at UConn was life changing and was some of the most fun they've ever had. Being young and surrounded by horses--- living the barn life, riding all the time, making forever friends--it can transform a soul.

I can understand it, because it happened to me.

I lived and worked at a nearby riding academy during my time as a UConn student. I would get up well before the sun to muck stalls before my 8am class, eat a second breakfast, throw the bike in the back of my pickup, drive to UConn, park, jump on the bike and ride to the art building all the way on the other side of campus....it was a fun and very busy time of my life.

I shared a house with a bunch of horse crazy women and we usually had wood shavings and oats embedded in our socks and hay in our hair. I am still friends with many of these women today.

We lived in service of the horse; we bonded over the care of our beloved charges.

We fed them, kept their stalls clean, brushed the shavings out of their tails. We rode them and learned from them. We cheered when they won a ribbon at a show. We cried when they left us.

Your whole being changes when you have horses in your life. Something in your soul clicks into place when you hear the soft, friendly nickers of hungry horses as you slide the barn doors open just as the early morning light peers over the horizon.

You are never the same after that....

Justin Morgan Had a Horse

I read Marguerite Henry's book, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, when I was around nine years old and I promptly fell in love with the Morgan breed.

I bugged my parents to get me a Morgan for Christmas (yup--just get a Morgan--I'll keep it in my bedroom!). I drew Morgans all the time; intently studying Wesley Dennis' illustrations. I made sure the neck was thick and the legs sturdy. I envisioned Justin Morgan beating every horse in a race and out-pulling even the strongest of seasoned workhorses. Justin Morgan, also known as Figure, was born a runt; nothing to write home about, but he grew into an amazing stallion of great heart, mighty strength and boundless stamina. He was the father of America's first breed: The Morgan.

For Christmas one year, my parents gave me a set of fabric markers and my first project was to draw the mighty Figure on my favorite ratty orange t-shirt (see pic on left--you can kinda see it). I wore that orange t-shirt all the time. I was a kid obsessed.

I'm 43 now, and my childhood love of the Morgan horse has re-awakened.

And that makes me very happy!

the nature of horses...

(Me and my friend, Cavan. Rest in peace, Little Man...)

Horses are true to themselves.

If we don't get the answer we want from them, we asked the wrong question.

Horses teach us patience, humility and integrity. One can not be false with a horse. One can not lie to a horse. They know what the truth is, and they will remind you of it. Always.

A horse can be kind to show us that we can trust. A horse can be spirited to remind us to not be complacent. A horse can be strong to carry us home when our own legs have weakened. A horse can remind us to treasure life and the ones we love--everyday.

Even when our hearts are broken, we need to stand up and take care of ourselves and also take care of those who need us.

I can not get UC Cannie out of my mind....

Cannie was a beautiful and wonderful broodmare who taught so many important life lessons to those who loved her.

Her kindness and nobility carry on.

1959 video

Have I mentioned how GREAT youtube is?

Look what I found--a 1959 video of the National Morgan Horse Show in Northampton, Massachusetts:


Mentor was standing at stud at UConn during this time, I bet he was at this show.

I love history!

horses *are* poetry....

An alumna of the class of 1974 contacted me yesterday. How exciting! Can't wait to talk with her and hear her stories about the UConn horse barn in the early 70s.

The UC Doc Daniels chapter is progressing nicely. I find my words are leaning towards an almost poetry-like style as I write about these amazing horses. It wasn't intentional, it just happened that way. I don't want to write a dry history text--how can I write that a horse like UC Doc Daniels is simply "a bay Morgan born in 1987" when he is so much more than that?

I want to give my readers a peek into a soul.

....and what grands souls they are, these UConn Morgans....


Check out this video. Can you see why the Morgan horse inspires me so?


The Morgan horse is living, breathing American history. They helped build our great country; they pulled the stone boats for our walls, hauled the logs for our houses and carried us on their sturdy, proud backs.

I raise a glass in your honor, dear Morgan horse. Thank you.

Back on track!

Started the UC Doc Daniels chapter AND the Panfield chapter.

Panfield was a favorite of Dr. Cowan's because of his correctness and beauty. Panfield added a real one-two punch to the Morgan breeding program at UConn: He was a wonderfully prodigious broodmare sire and his brilliance can still be seen in his modern-day descendants.

Oh, and he was GORGEOUS. Picture a sturdy, muscular Morgan stallion all dressed up in a gleaming gold coat topped off with an illustrious blond mane and tail....

....a stallion to make your heart skip a beat. A stallion of fantasy.

But, he was real. He lived.

That, my friends, was the mighty Panfield....


Here's a golden Morgan stallion named Crispin enjoying a sunny day: (I LOVE youtube! Wonder if this guy has any Panfield in his pedigree)