08/13/2025
EULOGY FOR MOLLY'S GIRL
1993-2025
(aka Willow or Willie, aka Mora)
Molly's Girl was foaled in May 1993 in Vermont (Ryegate Moro Magic x Molly's of Trotwood) and died recently, in July 2025, in New Mexico of colic.
I got to know this splendid bay Morgan mare quite well following Hurricane Katrina, while we were displaced from our Oldstyle Morgans farm in St Tammany Parish of Louisiana in the fall of 2005. Friends from Whitney Hill farm, Maggie Mulligan and Brad Gombas, breeders of quality Morgan horses and Australian Shepherd dogs had taken me and mine in following the loss and devastation of the 2005 hurricane along the Gulf Coast.
They had relocated from East Corinth VT to Mora NM a couple years ahead of my relocating from Moretown VT to Covington LA. We kept in touch and compared our respective scenarios of moving our livestock to southern states with shorter winters, saying we hoped to visit each other's new places.
However, Hurricane Katrina made that happen in unforeseen circumstances. Me and mine at the time included our two Morgans, a breeding stallion, Oldstyle Sport, and his dam, Susans Chelsea; two dogs, a rescue Doberman Toby and the exemplary Aussie Kip we'd acquired from Maggie while back in Vermont in the late 1990s; plus a cat or two (I'd rehomed our horses' companion Nubian goat to a dressage barn in Louisiana prior to heading to NM). It was a hell of a lot for anyone to take on, especially since they at that point only had the one bedroom adobe and a breeding stallion of their own on premises, Pemaquid, plus many other Morgans and dogs; but they made room for us all (they were then going by El Oro Morgans).
In September and October 2005, I was set up on their sun porch, we had to alternate pasture turn-out for the studs, and my beloved matriarch mare, Chelsea, was assigned to pasture with Willie. I was a bit concerned because Chelsea was an alpha mare through and through and had tormented my sister's Morgan mare when Vision was boarding with us back in Vermont. I realized "not to worry" when I saw Chelsea allowing Willie to eat out of her grain bucket (otherwise a death wish for any other horse). The two bay Morgan mares bonded, and as I got to know and love Willie I considered purchasing her from Maggie for breeding to Sport. But it couldn't have happened at a less opportune time for Oldstyle Morgans, we were displaced with an uncertain future.
I'd lost my job in the New Orleans area, my Louisiana farm was in a shambles with half the tall oaks and pine trees around our property having come down on the fencing of our pasture sections. While I was at Brad and Maggie's in New Mexico, I was searching hard for employment and a modest property in NM where we could resettle. No trees had come down on my house in Louisiana and the property doesn't flood so I knew it would sell easily. Meanwhile, Maggie expressed interest in breeding her Pemaquid daughter mares to my stallion Sport.
However, it was determined I needed to go back home to Louisiana for various reasons rather sooner than later, not my choice really, yet largely due to my mother's COPD had advanced to the point she couldn't take the altitude for me to relocate her to New Mexico.
Meanwhile our official breed journal, The Morgan Horse magazine (of which I was Executive Editor/Publisher at one time), published the story about our go-around with Hurricane Katrina entitled "Survivors of the Storm" (as I recall) and about all the support and help we received from AMHA plus individual Morgan owners.
After our mother's eventual death in St Tammany Parish on Mardi Gras Day 2009, I was able to relocate me and mine to New Mexico after all in the spring of 2010.
All the while, I kept in touch with Brad and Maggie. Then I assisted some heavy-duty dog friends, the Blackshears, to broker a deal with Maggie for a lovely female Aussie. After my beloved Chelsea's agonizing demise from colic in 2016, I eventually got Sport moved over to board at the Blackshears' ranchito nearby in the South Valley below Albuquerque NM in 2017. So he could be around other horses, their donkeys etc. I had previously downsized by selling our lovely young black Morgan mare, Ragtime Angelique, and was no longer boarding his gaited girlfriend filly. Sport was so lonely and depressed at his dam's loss, as was I. FYI, Sport had been gelded during the horse holocaust brought on by the 2008 economic melt-down, at no fault of his own.
The Blackshears fell in love with Sport and kept asking to buy him. Carol declared him the most handsome horse she'd ever seen and raved about how comfortable he was to ride, yet I had to keep telling them he should have more regular riding, such as his new owner Mimi would provide him. Sport was sold in 2018 at age 18.
Carol Blackshear decided they needed a third horse since Sport was leaving. As I'd assisted them in prior horse searching, I checked out available horse rescue / adoption offerings in the region without much success. They admired Morgans after knowing mine, so as it turned out, I connected them with my Morgan breeder pal up in northern New Mexico. We went to go check out the other of the two Morgan mares Maggie was willing to let go, chestnut Nellie; yet I knew Willie was the primo choice of the two. Thus they were buying the lovely bay Morgan mare that had been the only horsey friend to my alpha mare Chelsea while we were staying with Brad and Maggie when displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Willie was so very much like my beloved Chelsea, with just about all the desirable attributes, just slightly larger. She was beautiful, of classic conformation, a lovely mover, very personable, and forward yet sensible. Willie was of sweeter temperament than my Chelsea, who'd well earned her moniker The W***h with her antics as she came of age back in Vermont. As with Chelsea, Willie was in great shape for age 25 then; their vet doing the pre-purchase exam was quite impressed and liked her so much he said if they weren't buying her, that he would.
Like Chelsea, Willie was old Morgan bloodlines and also qualified as half-Lippitt like Sport. The Blackshears wanted to rename her, and after several options settled on Mora, from where they acquired her plus fitting New Mexico's southwestern heritage in general. Carol Blackshear eventually had the hip replacement surgery that allowed her to ride more frequently and for longer periods of time.
Willie/Mora came from Vermont, where I knew about all the Morgan people and their Morgan horses of note. I knew her breeder, Phil Mears of St Johnsbury VT. And also her sire, Ryegate Moro Magic, a bay stallion of full-Lippitt Morgan bloodlines, well loved and campaigned by Judy Johnson and Dan Sherwood of Micmac Morgans of Brookfield VT. Her registered name was Mollie's Girl (similar real name to my Susans Chelsea).
Before I relocated from New Mexico after getting out of horses, to my current Florida lake home in 2022, I had a last commemorative ride on Mora along the Rio Grande River bosque trails. The same trails we'd frequented with Chelsea, Sport, Angie and pals when my Oldstyle Morgans was located on a horse property nestled in the old cottonwoods that backed up to the Rio Grande. It was Mother's Day weekend 2021, the five-year anniversary of Chelsea's tragic death. Mora and Chelsea were oh so similar I didn't even have to close my eyes to imagine she was Chelsea. I felt that Chelsea was channeling through Mora, her only equine friend ever. It was emotional and healing for me, and riding behind Carol Blackshear, my tears were only witnessed by Mora.
I didn't see much of Mora or the Blackshears my last year in New Mexico. Previously, my dearest and closest friends in NM, we'd had a falling out, largely related to their misuse of Mora. Phil and Carol Blackshear were extremely knowledgeable about dogs: they had several dogs at once, of various breeds. They competed German Shepherds, training in Schutzhund protection work, and herding with their Border Collie and Aussies, plus therapy dog certifications. Although I was an experienced dog owner and had trained several protection breed dogs myself, I deferred to their superior experience with canines.
They did not acknowledge the reverse was true with our respective horse experience. They did not appreciate it that I would relay that they should take Mora's age and history into account in their use of her. I would explain how, unlike other breeds, Morgans are ambitious and one has to typically rate them according to their condition. In other words, don't let them trot on or canter along full bore for extended trail rides when not conditioned to that level.
One incident in particular was a flash point, when Carol sent me a photo of her over-weight adult niece standing up on the saddle of Mora - a rather sound senior mare yet with a history of back concerns. I immediately texted her back, NOT OKAY. And my subsequent explanation of pressure points of standing atop a saddle being different than sitting in a saddle fell on deaf ears. I was also concerned for Mora when I saw on Facebook they'd used this 32-year-old mare on a Cienega Mountain trail ride quite recently. One cannot call that light trail riding. I am sure Mora's former longtime owner/Morgan breeder, Maggie Mulligan, would be similarly disgusted.
Molly's Girl / Willie / Mora was an exemplary horse -- a shining example of the abilities, beauty, and longevity of the Morgan breed. These senior mares should be treated with all due respect and consideration -- always.
Bless you Mora, thank you for being such a fine Morgan breed ambassador and my beloved Chelsea's only horsey friend ever. Thank you for helping me along after her loss. I knew all too well you would not last forever. However, I am sorry you suffered with colic at the end like Chelsea did. Even if treated with euthanasia relatively quickly, it is an ignoble although common end for horses. You were an absolute treasure among mares. Rest in Power Mora as you tread greener pastures. I hope you and Chelsea found one another. Trot on!
Link to her Morgan bloodlines:
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/mollys+girl
