Feb 28, 2010: Ed Dabney with Tom Poulin at a dressage clinic in North Georgia. Ed was riding PKR Primavera Brio, a Morgan horse stallion for Col John M. Hutcheson, Dahlonega, GA. Good coaches are invaluable in any sport. Ed Dabney is a good friend with some serious ability and John asked him to ride Brio. Ed reports: "I learned a lot and had lots of fun riding your great horse. I would love to see him really developed. Wow! He could really be something. He definitely has the intelligence and ability plus he is such a handsome fellow! Maybe we can work with him together at your place more in the future. I'll let you know next time I have some free time and can come by to work with you on your classical riding."


February 12, 2010: "Busman's Holiday: Well it wasn't the "Cloud Peak" (fall 2008) because I wasn't wet and froze near to death.....in fact I was warm AND dry. But it was a rare winter wonderland in Georgia. I got the urge about 4 p.m. and went and called Soldier, the seven year old Brio son, up out of the pasture and young Tio Moro "Timmy" came with him so I said "well, you can come along, too!" I just ponied him along for a ride on this "Robert Frost" evening. These Morgans mature slowly. The bay is seven and the chestnut colt is not yet three. But they have the same sire so you only have to use your imagination for a vision of how the young colt will turn out. Most important of all is that he have a good disposition and be tractable.

"What breed of horse do you suppose Mr. Frost had in mind in "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" when he penned the words:

"my *little horse* must think it queer
to stop without a farm house near,
between the woods and frozen lake
this darkest evening of the year."

"Remember he was a New Englander.....three guesses ??"

January 2010: TRIBUTE TO A HORSEMAN-  Mr. Mac Claude Abercrombie, Sr. lived in Phoenix, Arizona, in the early 1900s, training mules to go down into the Grand Canyon for the Harvey Mule Company. He returned to Douglas County, Georgia to the Mule business and served more than twenty years as the county sheriff. Colonel John M. Hutcheson honors his mentor on this new website: Mr. Mac's Barn


Juli Thorsen had a good article recently about the influence grandparents can have on the future of horses. Our generation, the baby boomers, loved horses so we grew up to breed them and there has been a generational shift with generation x that isn't as interested as we were. For many reasons there is a glut of horses right now. What will the future hold? Juli says grandparents are pivotal to introduce the third generation to the love of the horse. This is five year old Libby Lou McMahan, back in October, on Althea Moro for her first horse experience. She has no fear and was not alarmed at trotting. When she came to visit again at Christmas she was a broken record... "Grandpa, can we go ride now?" We rode cross country for three miles and she wanted more. Maybe Juli is onto something.

January 2010: Over the years I have had horses do all sorts of strange things with fences....under, over and through. Twelve years ago I discovered Centaur and have extricated one mare out from under it with not a scratch on her, have taken it down to let a stud out of it (half in and half out) without him being hurt and have had all sorts of incidents where a horse kicked into it. I have never experienced a serious injury with this product. Here is my latest adventure:

Centaur Fence Testimonial


Merry Christmas from "the land down under" from Wirraway's Trademark (aka Briki), the son of PKR Primavera Brio out of a Funquest Erick daughter (aka Riki....ala, "Briki"). Briki was shipped to Australia with his mom as a foal, went 14h at 12 months and is only 21 months in this photo (foaled Mar 24, 2008). Mary Ann Schafer who is just back from visiting him reports: "He also hasn't gone thru an uneven growth spurt, hasn't been hind end tall or anything, he grows evenly front and rear. What I love best is the soft eye. Kind and intelligent and a hunk!" This colt is already creating quite a buzz down under.


It is always good to receive positive feed back on a horse John started.

"I rode with Georgia Ladies Aside in the Old Soldier's Day Parade in Alpharetta yesterday on Becky and it went tremendously well. She amazes me over and over again at what an amazing horse she is. There were only 3 of us in our group (both of the other horses are veteran parade horses- both of which rode side saddle in the inauguration parade this year). The parade was HUGE (approx. 100 entries - we were #84)! She took in all of the sites very well with minimal spooking (mostly at the noisy motorcycles and bicycles - they're just not right!). Out of all of the parade entries, there was only one entry that shot off guns and 2 with animals (us and a pair of camels 2 spots back from us pulling a wagon). And of course, where did they put the 15 "sons of the Confederate" with their guns they shot off every time there was a big crowd? You got it, right in front of us. They gave us no warning the first time they fired them off and they were LOUD. Romeo, one of the veteran horses, spun around and tried to take off, meanwhile Becky just flinched and got progressively better as the parade went (once she understood they weren't going to hurt her). She was awesome! You'd think she was a veteran parade horse!

So anyway, it was great. We spent almost 2 hours in the line up waiting for it to start and then the parade route itself was almost an hour long. Was really big and was in honor of all soldiers who have fought in any wars. Was great to see them all out there in their dress uniforms along the parade route. They would salute us as we went by. Huge turnout and was just a blast. Was great to hear all of the little girls along the way screaming for the horses too!

Here's to a great start of hopefully many more fun parades with Becky!"

-Melissa Starr, Alpharetta, GA


Fall 2009: Nashboro Belanna Gold has a new home! Congratulations to Ginger Krause!! Ginger writes, "I am having such a wonderful time getting to know her better, and though I admire her beauty, she has such a sweetness about her and the spark of individuality despite her maturity. She is wonderful to ride. She stands so well for grooming and my fooling with her, I just lay the lead rope over the fence and there she stays until I ask her to move! what a delight! I take every opportunity to scratch her neck and ears before, during and after I put on her halter or bridle and she really seems to appreciate the special care. I put fuzzy covers on her halter and bridle and that seems to relax her that she does not feel the leather and webbing right up against her. I call her my little angel. Thank you again for letting me have the opportunity to have her with me."