The story of Spring Hollow Morgans
Statesmans Morita with James and Evelyn Skillington in 2004
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The beginning
After decades riding Thoroughbreds - fox hunting, in Pony Club, in working hunters and cross country in Maryland - with the move in the late 1970's to our farm in the Central Pennsylvania mountains, we found Morgans were ideal for our new horse lifestyle - smart, sane and athletic. Our Morgan Sport Horse breeding program began 34 years ago with the purchase of a single Old Government broodmare that we bred to a local Lippitt stallion. With our first foal, Spring Hollow Sir Guy, we caught the breeding bug and began looking for a few additional mares and a stallion. Our criteria: we wanted the temperament, brains and beauty of a Morgan with the athleticism of our hunters, Our search took us up and down the East Coast and landed at Statesman Farm in 1989 with the purchase from Lynne Shpak of Statesmans Morita (The Statesman x Ransomvale Morita). Morita was the fifth generation "Rita" in her line - 90+ percent Lippitt with a strong infusion from the Moro Hills program. One of the best daughters of The Statesman, she won in carriage pleasure driving and over fences, was a superb back-country trail horse and ruled the roost until her untimely death from a strangulating lipoma colic at age 18. |
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Foundation
In 1990, a very special colt was born at Statesman Farm - Statesmans Silhouette (Chief of State x Meadowrock Melanie). "Silly" as he became called, had a look of eagles from the minute he was born - natural charisma to go along with three exceptional gaits, correct conformation and impressive self-confidence. He came West to Pennsylvania when he was weaned and immediately stole our hearts. That inborn self-confidence and resilience proved critical to his survival. In the summer of his yearling year, playing with another yearling colt, he caught his hind leg in the corner-brace wire of his paddock, slicing deep into his hock and causing a greenstick fracture of his cannon bone. He spent months on stall rest wearing a full leg cast and then went through more months of physical therapy to become pasture sound. Several vets said he'd never compete, but a visiting equine sports medicine specialist from Tufts University examined him and prescribed hock injections every three months until his hock fused. Full soundness returned, and he went back to Statesman Farm to train with resident trainer Lori Shoemake when he turned three - and he and Lori created an enduring partnership that lasted until Spring 2022, when at the age of 32 he succumbed to a nasal tumor. A search for broodmares to build our breeding program took us farther West - to Dr. Lowell Hughes of Caduceus Morgans in Iowa. Dr. Hughes was a wonderful mentor and exceptionally knowledgeable breeder - his formula of combining Brunk (mostly through Flyhawk and Jubilee King, principally through two stallions - Wyoming Flyhawk and Patchett Hill) with Old Government and "a little" Lippitt had proved to be a winning ticket, producing Morgans with size and athleticism that could compete successfully in sport disciplines. His program seeded the breeding efforts of multiple partners in the Midwest whose horses are often seen in Morgan sport horse pedigrees today. |
Statesmans Silhouette as a foal
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Spring Hollow Dark Shadow and her then junior whip, Jacob Arnold
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With Lowell's help, we purchased several mares from him and from his partners, and the cross with Silhouette proved magical - producing multiple sport horse champions in dressage, carriage and hunters. They are too numerous to mention, but a few include Spring Hollow Dark Shadow (Statesmans Silhouette x Caduceus Jocasta), who won with her junior whip Jacob Arnold through the advanced level in combined driving; Spring Hollow Night Magic (Statesmans Silhouette x Bethesda Sorceress), who took his junior rider, Devon Browell to her "C3" rating in Pony Club and won in dressage and working hunter; Spring Hollow Lady Grace (Statesmans Silhouette x Caduceus Mercedes) who is successfully competing through third level with her amateur owner Carol Weber; Spring Hollow Legend (Statesmans Silhouette x Spring Hollow Legacy by Patchett Hill) successfully competing at Prix St. Georges with Cathy Echternach.
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The legacy continues
Changes in our family meant in 2014 we took a hiatus from routinely breeding and Silhouette was retired, but we retained several of his daughters and granddaughters to continue his legacy. We searched for many years for the right stallion to breed to these mares and in Fall 2018 found Moana Echo, a 2013, 15.2-hand brown son of Iron Forge Starman out of Amador Merry Bell, who went directly back to Lowell's foundation lines. We had long admired Starman, Sally Radtke Anderson's Grand Prix stallion, and in 2000 purchased a Starman daughter from Sally's parents, EMR Millennium, to breed to Silhouette. The cross proved very successful and helped make the decision to purchase Echo easier. Crossing Echo with our Silhouette daughters combines three of the Morgan breed's most proven sport horse breeding programs: Statesman, Caduceus and EMR/Moana. So far we've had four foals from Echo - they have exceeded our high expectations and we believe we've found our "golden cross" that will continue our program - a few foals at a time - for years to come. The program could not continue with out the help and support of Lori Shoemake, who moved with Silhouette to Pennsylvania 19 years ago to open Evonly Equestrian Center next door to Spring Hollow. We're grateful that Silhouette brought us together with this extraordinary horsewoman and her family. |
Spring Hollow Sorceress, 2021 filly (Moana Echo x Spring Hollow Enchantress)
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