Don't hook your horse like this!

This is not fair to the horse or to the people involved.

All participants are SO fortunate not to have gotten injured in this episode.

Unfortunately, it is scenarios like this that make business for trainers.

It is so unnecessary to go about it this way.

I can hardly count all the things that are unsafe and just plain wrong with this.

I do NOT want to get the call to fix this horse!

San Francisco 1906: video on the street

This film, originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. From New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!).. It was filmed only four days before the quake and shipped by train to NY for processing. Amazing but true! Music: "La Femme D'Argent " from the "Moon Safari" album by Air

Grand Canyon 'muled' in 1924

My grandparents, Kate and Darwin Morse, 'muled' the Grand Canyon in 1924! At the bottom of the Canyon, they had to walk across a wire suspension bridge to the other side of the river and catch their mule that was sent across by the guides. If you didn't catch your mule, you had to walk back up out of the Canyon!!

Mule crossing the bridge over the Colorado River in 1926.

The bridge today.
More pix of the bridge

Driving to CA in 1924

My Grandfather, Darwin Morse and my Grandmother, Kate Winthrop, eloped in 1924 along with my Grandmother's sister, Emily Winthrop, and her husband, Corey Miles. Darwin was working on Grenville Winthrop's estate, Groton Place, as an electrician and caretaker of the birds. Corey Miles was the family's chauffeur. They stole their father's car, got married in the near by Interlaken section of Stockbridge, Massachusetts and drove up to Montreal the same day. Shortly thereafter, they all drove to California in 1924. I believe that is Darwin at the wheel.

From Test Barn to Stable

This what my stable looked like in the late 1940's when it was home to my grandfather's heard of Guernsey cows. It was known as the "Test Barn" where the best milking cows were milked. There is a room in my house known as the 'hired hand's room' where the head milker slept. He milked cows twice a day, 7 days a week, for ten years and never missed a day.

By the time I was old enough to actually remember anything, the Test Barn had been converted into a stable for horses. The stall fronts are where the gutter is on each side of the center aisle and there is a wide garage door at the far end.

The Bull that Made Green Meads Farm

This is Langwater King of the Meads, born in 1931 from stock of the famous Guernsey cattle breeder F.L. Ames's Langwater Farm in Easton, MA. King of the Meads was the foundation sire for Darwin Morse's prize herd of Guernsey's here at Green Meads Farm. The photo was taken in 1935 by the foremost photgrapher of cattle in the USA at the time...and maybe ever...Harry Strohmeyer.

My grandfather noticed that Harry only took one shot of each cow he photographed. When asked to take photos of Darwin's horses, Harry replied that they were much more difficult to photograph. With cows, he said, he just waited for the skeleton to settle into place but horses had too much muscle covering the skeleton and were much harder "to see".

This bull sired almost all of the Guernsey cattle produced here from the 1930's through the 1950's. They were sold all around the world and the experience provided the foundation for both my grandparent's expertise as animal breeders. My grandfather went on to success in breeding Morgan horses and, believe it or not, canaries! My grandmother raised, trained and bred over 26 breeds of dogs in her life time.

Pair in Progress

Marle Hill Concert Master and Rhythm owned by Liz and Dave Herrick
October 23, 2009