Western Working

Disposition

It takes a great deal of mental resilience and pliability to make it in a working lifestyle. Horses can’t just be done after a tough lesson or a good hard ride, there is no, “Oh, he’s just having an off day”. They must perform well and consistently enough to allow a rider to have most, if not all, their attention directed elsewhere. A horse must be teachable while having the resilience to withstand grueling, unforgiving work.

Though expected to respond with the lightest touch, face down things that would send most horses flying to the hills, and venture far outside of their comfort zone, a good using horse must also have the foresight to keep themselves and their rider from harm. A good broke horse won’t lose their sense of self-preservation, but also have to be willing to jump through fire when needed.

Horses are, of course, herd animals, but a working horse needs a great deal of independence. When all hell breaks loose, they have to keep a level head - it doesn’t matter if a mountain lion is a stone’s throw away, that horse had better keep an eye on it’s feet and keep from breaking an ankle first and worry about the lion later.

I’ve never met a rancher who kept around horses they couldn’t use (with the exception of old horses who’ve earned their retirement). If a stud can’t keep his wits and his testicles both, well, snip snip! Many events and venues have started banning stallions, an unfortunate consequence of a failure to train OR a failure to geld anything you couldn’t control in a group setting. Not everything born with balls was meant to breed, and only exceptional stallions who are both usable AND who can throw good colts are kept around to reproduce. Anything less gets removed from the gene pool, keeping it clear of studs that were dangerous or unpredictable.

Morgans played a vital role in establishing and working America’s ranches. The Western Working Morgans were carefully bred and honed to embody the traits central to a using horse - trainability, grit, sturdiness, longevity, intelligence, etc. These traits can be seen in the horses produced from the Western Working lines, no matter what discipline they venture into.

It takes an extremely high caliber of horse to cut it as a ranch horse. Thus, a rancher’s culling process tends to be much more thorough and stringent than most other breeders. Horses must be the whole package - both in disposition and conformation in order to withstand the demand of a working animal. A horse must spend many years proving themselves before going onto reproduce, with little tolerance for flaws or short comings. We feel this culling process continues to produce the best horses out there, so we keep our program limited to these proven bloodlines and animals.

Conformation

Modern veterinary science has given us many great tools and options to extend the usability of a horse and increase its quality of life. However, costly procedures and maintenance isn’t a viable option on 20 head of horses you have to be able to pull out and use at a moments notice. Ranch horses must be able to physically withstand long miles, rough terrain, cold winters - and days full of hard stops, fast turns, dragging calves, and moving cattle. Few, if any, performance roping, barrel racing, cutting, reining, etc. horses make it much past 10 years old without requiring injections, PEMF therapy, daily supplements, and/or special therapeutic shoes.

No matter how great a horse is, anything that isn’t sound enough for a working lifestyle isn’t going to make the cut. Sure, there are minor flaws that can be mitigated through selective breeding, but you won’t find bloodlines prone to navicular or ringbone on a working ranch.

Horses that are unbalanced, crooked, or disproportional simply lack the physical abilities of a correctly put together animal, thus conformation plays a huge role in any working program.

Moreover, many features that supplement a horse’s functionality are actively sought after and become staples in these breeding operations. A big, square hip that can let a horse really rock back on, a wide chest with a big shoulder that lets a horse really move around laterally, plenty of bone and foot to hold up against hard work - these structural considerations become more than something that’s “nice to have”. Hence, horses that are able to stay sound and perform well as working stock are retained and bred, while anything less is culled out, keeping many of the soundness issues we see in modern performance horses from becoming the norm.

All-in-One

Morgans are well-known for their versatility. Though few of our horses are working animals, the selective processes that produced Western Working Morgans made for a great all-around animal, regardless of discipline.

We believe strongly in preserving and promoting these old Western Working lines, as we believe there is no higher standard of disposition and conformation in any discipline, group, or breed than that of a working horse. As such, we’ve found no higher quality of animal in our search to be intentional about outputting horses who will succeed in whatever calling they happen into. Though many working horses never made an appearance in the show ring, their successes and influence is of no less import than those horses with pages of show records.

Unfortunately, many of the working lines are becoming more scarce as the ranching lifestyle becomes less and less viable. That being said, there are Morgans who fall outside the Western Working lines who still embody many of the traits we value. Ancestry plays a huge role in the outcome of any horse, but we will never deny the truth of evaluating the horse standing in front of you. Like many of our favorite breeders, we won’t ever sacrifice the quality or usability of an animal simply because of a set of papers; instead, we’ll continue to strive to meet the high standard of only breeding the best we can find.

Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect horse. There are always little things we’d like to tweak or change here and there on any animal. We continue to work with breeders and Morgan historians to find those little-known horses who really had it all and ensure those bloodlines live on. Below are some of those hidden gems and the story of how and why they made our list.

Preservation

When my dad’s mare passed in 2020, I was shocked to find a number of my favorite breeders had retired. As the number of ranchers decrease, so have many of our favorite breeding programs. Many of these horses never made it to the show ring, and feature prefixes you don’t see very often. We are lucky to benefit from these selective breeding programs, and strive to preserve the legacy and standards of those Morgan owners who bred only the best stock.