Marshall is a 19-year-old registered Morgan gelding. He stands at 14.2 and is a bay. He is a well-mannered horse that can be rode by anyone. Children to adults can easily ride this horse. He is one of five Morgans that we own and keep on our 40-acre place, three of them from the same Morgan breeder in Superior, Montana, Treasure Morgans. He is a breed of Morgan called a Western Working Morgan. Since at 75, I still perform all the training and horse shoeing, I need to thin the herd a bit.
He is one of the horses that we use for others to ride with us. Many, if not most, are in-experienced riders. Marshall always takes great care of them whether a young 6 – 10-year-old, teenagers, women of all ages, and men, he can always be trusted to take great care on the trails in the mountains or our high deserts, to ranch or arena riding.
He trailers very well, he stands without assistance to be shod and we can catch him anywhere in the field, arena, etc. He’s a great mountain horse with very sure footing, easily goes through creeks and up and down steep slopes. We have packed on him without a problem and he will hobble and bell if placed in a field to feed.
Morgans are also known for this comment: “It’s the horse that chooses you”. If your kind and respectful to him he will take to you very shortly. I always enjoy him when I come out to feed or let them into the fields as no matter which of the 5 gates leading into and out of our arena, he will always watch for which gate I’m heading for and meet me for his morning rubbing and Lov ‘in.
We’ve had him for about 15 years and he’s never shown any inclination to bite or kick. Once he gets used to his surroundings he’ll settle in, but he generally doesn’t like change in his environment, and will be wary and cautious until he figures out it won’t hurt him. I’ve been riding and training horses for many years and have found that Clinton Anderson’s way of training matches mine very well and we have adopted many of his systems in our training too.
He has had a small skin cancer patch on his shoulder that developed about 5 years ago. When it first appeared in a silver dollar size patch, it had 5 small bumps that would ooze out a wet substance. We starting treating it about a year later once it was evident it was not going away on its own. We used a chemical called CDS (Chlorine Dioxide Solution) that has proven to kill cancers, tumors, and infections. After one year’s use, of a couple applications per week, the area had dried up from any active elements and stays that way to this day. The last two years the spot has shown hair growth in the Winters. Our current Veterinarian says the best way to treat these skin type cancers is to leave them alone as far as any surgeries are done. It has now been approximately 5 years with no change in the last three other than some hair growth, we must take from this that it is in a dormant state.