(Dapper Dan x Redonna Vermont--Red Vermont x McDonna)Way back when I was in High School (late 1960's), I sometimes rode my horse over to the Peters Canyon Stables, a few miles away. It was run at that time by Billy Warne, a noted stock horse trainer. One day, walking through the barn, I was stopped by a lovely head hanging out over the stall door. The name plate on the door said "Dapper Dolly". I had no idea she was a Morgan, just that she was different from all the other horses there. It wasn't until decades later that I found out who she was. She was shown at good sized open shows in stock horse and did well.
Her sire was the popular Northern California stallion, Dapper Dan, of pure Western Working Family. Her dam was pure Brunk and a full sister to the granddam of one of my first Morgans.
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Dapper Dolly belonged to my father at the time this photo was taken. She was the most willing, tractable mare I have ever been around. She also had very good cow sense and did some cutting competing with Billy Warne. (That is his wife at the time, Alice Burns Warne, in the photo) Dolly had an incredible shoulder and of course beautiful head. I remember showing Dapper Dinah with her in a "Mares who Have Foaled' class about 1965. I would have taken Dolly over any horse in the ring, or at the show. She looked like a 'sport horse', although I didn't know the term at the time. Her sire, Dapper Dan, had the most wonderful temperment of any stallion I have ever known, which he certainly passed on to this mare.
ReplyDeleteDolly was put down in 1967 or '68 due to colic, and is to this day my favorite horse of all the ones I have known or owned since. I have a lovely photo of her free in the outdoor arena at Peters Canyon Stables, although we knew it as Shady Canyon Ranch.
I hoped we waved to each other when we were riding nearby!