Our History & Other Musings

The word Dahlonega (dah-lah-nee-guh) means yellow rock or place of gold. The word came to Idaho with Georgia miners who named their placer claim the Dahlonega Belle, located at the mouth of what became Dahlonega Creek. Dahlonega Creek flowed through the front yard of our place that we owned while living in Idaho (1975-1988). This is where we first started raising Morgan Horses. The headwaters of Dahlonega Creek originate at the base of Morgan Mountain, located on the Continental Divide and state line of Idaho and Montana. We were destined to be Morgan breeders.

Our start in the Morgan Breed started with the purchase of a weanling filly, "Carmida Harmony Rose", from Jim and Sherie McFarland, Carmen, Idaho. Harmony's sire was Shawalla Buck. We went to Walla Walla, Washington to see the wonderful "Buck" which led us to the purchase of "Shawalla QueenB". Clarence Shaw was an old time breeder that at one time had as many as 75 Morgans. QueenB was his very last to part with. She was a quality, solid producer of 12 foals. So, we started breeding Morgan Horses.

Over the years we slowly added bloodlines of El Spartz, Mortana Karlee, Tetonia Sensation, Desiderata Valeska, Cambridge Commodore, RDD Menett and Aranaway Jennifer. All very strong in Brown, Sellman, Hill and old Government.

Our senior stallion, Crown Imperial, better known as "Mister", was purchased as a 3 year old. Mister added for us his tremendous presence, hip and over 30% Flyhawk breeding. What a fabulous cross he has been on our great Western broodmares. You can see many examples at the ranch and throughout our web page.

In the fall of 1999, after a number of years of searching, we added our second main stallion, Shagwood Shininghero. "Hero", a buckskin, met our goals of wanting to add color, and good western government bloodlines like "Tio Lalo", along with maintaining our horse's tremendous presence and conformation. Hero is a great balanced mover with a perfect shoulder and hip, a gelding-type of disposition with stallion looks and production.

All our horses have at least 10% Justin Morgan lineage. This percentage is determined by following every bloodline back to where you can determine their true Morgan percentage For example a son of Justin is 50%, and when bred to a grade mare the offspring would be 25%, and so on. The Morgan Horse Register Volume 3 lists horses that trace back to Justin Morgan and their percentages. This procedure insures that the horse is still a Morgan. We calculate Crown Imperial at10.866 and Hero at 11.283.

We use our Morgans to enjoy the back country, such as pack trips into the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Hells Canyon Recreation Area in the Snake River. We help the neighbors using our horses to move cows and ride fence lines. Day rides into the Wilderness is a common event around here. Our area is steep and rugged. The Morgan Horse shines for us with their stamina to go for miles/hours and days, and stay sound year after year.

We are located in Northeastern Oregon, 45 miles northeast of LaGrande, OR., 4 1/4 hours west of Bosie, Idaho and 2 hours south of Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, WA., 6 hours east of Portland, OR..

We encourage you to come by and see our horses. A phone call is recommended to insure that we will be home.

We offer to you tough working lines with beauty and great disposition, creating the all around versatile family horse. We strive for Morgan type, with style, good bone and feet. Athletic for any use, from the mountains, ranching, to jumping and show or just for pure pleasure. Thank you for visiting our web site.

How it really started..... when Cindy saw the movie "Justin Morgan Had A Horse" at age 6. She made a vow that "someday I'll have a Morgan Horse". That someday was 20 years later when Michael surprised her with Harmony Rose for her birthday. And now I have over 30 beautiful Morgan horses.

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