Creekside Morgans


		Arnona Cathleen Cathleen's show career consisted of one show on Long Island held at the old David Weld Estate, in Smithtown, New York, known as Blydenberg Park. A point of historical reference, Mrs. Weld was a descendant of Theodore Roosevelt and William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Their son, William Weld, was Governor of Massachusetts and recently gave consideration to running for Governor of New York against Elliot Spitzer, as he had returned to his ancestral roots within our fair state of New York. The horse show was an open show with mostly Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds exhibiting. Cathleen had the distinction of being the only Morgan Horse being exhibited that day. Most attendees didn't know what a Morgan looked like. She got a lot of attention from those attending the show (Long Island in the late 70s). Anyhow, after only three weeks of professional training, she took the Reserve Championship in Hunter Pleasure. We haven't a clue what side of her pedigree Cathleen's size comes from, but in her youth she stood 15.3 h, a big mahogany bay with a star. The one show was the extent of her professional show career. She retired after her win to trail rides and pastures. She is of course an offspring of Bald Mt. Fire Glow and Arnona Chloe L., a product of Mary and George Arnold's Morgan breeding. Mary, particularly, wanted Cathleen to continue to be shown. Unfortunately, careers prevented us from trucking her to the venues Mary wanted her to compete in New York and other states. Cathleen was purchased from Mary and George Arnold before she was weaned. We took her to Long Island as a nine month old. I rode with her in a two horse trailer the entire trip from Arnona Farm, Kanona, New York, to our place in Nissequogue, New York, a small incorporated village on the North shore of Long Island. For the long trip, Joe and George Arnold filled the second stall in the trailer with bales of hay for me to sit or lay on. It was a very early version of "trailer living quarters." When I wasn't sleeping, I kept a hand on her back and talked to her for the entire trip. For those moments when I wasn't talking, a battery operated radio kept her company. On her arrival at "Holly Hill Farm," Cathleen joined another Bald Mt. mare, H. A. Kitty Harris. Cathleen went from Mary and George's mares to the side of H. A. Kitty Harris. She was to remain with her partner Kitty, sharing a paddock and neighboring stall until we humanely euthanized Kitty on August 3rd. of 2005 at the tender age of 34. Kitty and Cathleen had been together a little more than thirty years. Until February of 2005 Cathleen had been free of any major ailments and belied her age. On Valentine's Day of that year, she was diagnosed with EPM. The virus was detected quickly and we elected to aggressively treat the disease. Many thanks goes to Angela Havens Gerrity, who administered the daily drugs to her for nearly three months. Cathleen is one of the few horses to survive EPM prior to the existence of a vaccine for the disease. She now shares a paddock and neighboring stall with her nearly blind companion Tonka, a Morgan mare in her mid twenties, at Havens Stocking Creek Morgan Horse Farm, Bath, New York. She is one of the last, if not the last Morgan carrying the Arnona prefix in the NYSMHS. Return to Mares page