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PINE ETHAN WALKER -2804- -[US]30689-
June 30, 1976 - March 14th, 2006
...was bred by the late Stanley Walker, Rushville,
Nebraska, Manager of the US Government breeding program at Pine Ridge,
South Dakota. His bloodlines include some of the greats in the Western
Working family of Morgans including King Pine, Chief Wabaunsee, Agazizz,
Red Correll, Jubilee King and Merry Ethan among others. Pine was a working
ranch horse all of his life and sired 44 foals registered in both the
American and Canadian Morgan Horse Registries along with hundreds of unregistered
and part-bred Morgans.
His registered get include 41 chestnuts, 2 blacks
and 1 bay, throwing 3 to 1 fillies to colts. You can find his get working
ranches throughout the Midwest on both sides of the border. He never failed
to stamp his foals with his clean flat bone, excellent feet, great conformation,
his athleticism and agility, endurance and most importantly his wonderful
disposition
His foals are unmistakable. Manys the time we've
had people contact us about their unregistered Morgan wondering if we
know who it might be. Like Deb Fancy who called up one day and told me,
"there was just something about his face, he's the first horse I've ever
bought without riding him first".....sure nuff, a few phone calls later
and we had the information for Deb. The gelding who stole her heart with
his expression was "Cool Hand Luke". He carried the brand of Duplicate
Morgans and is a full brother to Duplicate Liberty and A-One Merry Clara
Walker. (See Mares page.)
"Deb Fancy and Cool Hand Luke Xmas /05 Alberta
Foothills" |
Then there was "Mr. T" who arrived
at our place one day. He is a part-bred Morgan, his dam being a pinto
mare, Velvet.
Photos of Mr. T
Click on any photo to open a larger
image in a new window.
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"Mr. T"
(Pine Ethan Walker x Velvet)
written by Ida M Liscum
for Simply Morgan, Jan 15th, 2002
"Mr. T" arrived in our laneway one day last
June as an unexpected guest. He is owned by Brenda Oberg of Coledale,
Alberta. Brenda was at our place trimming feet that day and she
casually mentioned that her husband, Justin, would be dropping by
to pick her up and would have their reining horse with him. He had
been on loan to a local cattle ranch for the last eight months.
Brenda said he was Part-Morgan but she knew nothing of his breeding.
Obviously, being that he was Part-Morgan,
I was anxious to see him and asked Justin to take him off the trailer
when they arrived. One look and I knew for sure that the horse standing
in front of me had to be a son of Pine Ethan Walker, our senior
stallion. He had all the trademark characteristics of Pine's get.
The handsome head, the kind eye, the clean flat bone, the short
coupled body and the athleticism; it was all right there staring
me in the face. He is a blood bay with three white socks and a high
white stocking on the right hind …. he has a distinctive white belly
spot. "Hmmm, with that belly spot, he should be easy enough to trace",
I thought.
I stood and talked to Justin and we watched
as Brenda jumped on "Mr. T" bareback and using only a halter and
lead rope attached at one end, she put him through his paces on
the front lawn. It was a delight to see the spins, slides and roll
backs he performed with such ease. Justin was just full of stories
of "Mr. T"…About how they came to purchase him and his winnings
at Alberta Reining Cow Horse competitions. He told a story of the
gelding's big heart and how he went after a bull through the buckbrush
one day when Justin was using him to gather cattle. The bull had
decided to hunker down in a gumbo filled slough. "Mr. T", even though
his cannons were scratched up by all the buckbrush went right in
after the bull. He pushed and pushed on the bull which resulted
in the bull giving a mighty swing of his head, sending Mr. T and
Justin flying. Justin figured for sure by then the little gelding
would be done in…But no, "Mr. T" had other ideas. He backed up and
with his hind feet, by now over his hocks in muck, he nailed that
bull in the side with two well placed kicks. The bull decided it
was time to give up and fall in line with the others.
After Justin and Brenda left that day, I did
some tracing and checking. Sure enough, I was right. "Mr. T" was
born May 14th, 1995 on the McKee Ranch, Oyen, Alberta, where Pine
was standing, to a Black and White Tobiano registered Paint mare,
Velvet, and his sire was none other than Pine Ethan Walker.
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And finally we heard about Duplicate
Denfield, (Pine Ethan Walker x Bonney Velvet) the accomplished dressage
pony horse.
Photos of Duplicate Denfield
These images are full-size.
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"Duplicate
Denfield aka Denny "
(Pine Ethan Walker x Bonney Velvet)
by Leanne Copithorne of
Deerfield Farm, Springbank, AB ~ June 5th, 2004
I train and compete dressage horses. Most
of our horses are Imported or Canadian bred warmbloods and warmblood
crosses. My top horse is a Swiss Warmblood stallion imported from
Europe, owned by clients, competing at the International level,
and I'm proud to say we have a number of International calibre dressage
horses at our facility.
Denny (Duplicate Denfield) just sort of hung
around our place until he was 6 years old. He was given to my daughter,
Tory, a few years prior (they're the same age) by my parents and
wasn't pressed into service until Tory needed a horse for pony club
when they were both 6 (they're both 15 now). I put a few rides on
him and found him sensible, and sent them off to pony club. He never
had any real training over the next 6 years, being ridden by a child,
but he was always dependable (well, at least safe!, he is a character!)
and would, and still can, jump the moon.
Pony club lasted a few years and then the
kids mostly trail rode and had their own little adventures with
their horses. I never pressed them to seriously compete because
I wanted them to have fun with their horses.
When Tory turned 13 she caught the dressage
bug and wanted to train and show with me. My daughters had been
coming to the dressage shows with me since they were toddlers, and
since my older daughter had started competing on cutting horses
with my parents, it was nice to have Tory with me.
Denny had no formal training at this age and
we started from scratch. In two years, with most of the training
being done by Tory under my supervision, Denny has learned to go
forward to the bridle in a balanced frame, producing good quality
work.
In fact, last year, his first year of competition
at a national level dressage show, he was awarded the "training
level championship - junior rider".
He has advanced through the four training
and four first level tests, and moved up to second level already
since then. People are always commenting on the quality of her "pony".
As fate would have it, Denny's 14.1hh frame
is no longer a good fit for Tory who just won't stop growing! Although
Tory loved dressage she wasn't willing to part with Denny until
one of my clients, who had also been learning dressage on Denny,
began to talk seriously about buying a horse just like him.
When I first mentioned to Tory that selling
Denny to my client would ensure him an excellent home and continued
success in the dressage ring, she cried for a week. However, reality
started to sink in as she has her sites set on competing on the
Young Riders Dressage Team ( International level dressage competition
for riders aged 16 to 21). She finally realized that Denny's sale
was necessary in order to finance a new dressage prospect that would
otherwise be impossible . Horses with Denny's skill, competition
record, and experience are hard or next to impossible to find for
the serious minded, entry level dressage enthusiast.
We made the difficult decision to sell Denny
to my client for a substantial sum where he has stayed in training
at our barn and Tory continues to ride him occasionally. Denny's
new owner is gearing up for her first national level dressage show
and has total confidence in her new horse, just like us! He has
been, and will continue to be, a wonderful ambassador for the Morgan
Horse in the dressage ring!
Click here to view Denny's
test scores from the Alberta
Junior Young Riders Dressage Classic.
(Note: Denny's sire is incorrectly recorded on this record.)
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Pine retired from his life on the
range in October 1999. We picked him up sight unseen at the McKee Ranch
and brought him home based on his reputation alone. There was never a
regret. It was an honour to have such a horse in our lives. Often times
an old horse will lose body condition and start to look down but not so
with Pine. He was in great shape and passed his last days with the bred
mares on one side of his paddock and the open ones on the other side.
He had one bad day and then he was gone.
His passing was marked by nature's
heralds. A bird in the house two days before, an owl calling in the night
as he passed and a golden eagle hovering over his grave and then soaring
straight up to the heavens as he was being buried overlooking the breeding
pasture where he ran free with a huge band of broodmares and was king
of everything.
Pine Ethan Walker ~ Final Rest
Rest well, my friend ... until we meet again. |
Many thanks go to the Stanley Walker
family for having bred such a horse, Cuddy Norbury, for realizing his
potential at the suckling stage, and to Arnold McKee for passing on his
legacy to us.
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