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The Continental Divide Morgan Horse Association: A Look Back...And A Look Ahead
Morgan horses are scarcely new to the West...they came with the pioneers and the cavalry. And because of the cavalry and their great success with Morgans, there were remount breeding operations, built around Morgan stallions, in several places in the West. But in the late 1950's and early 1960's, the Morgan as a pleasure horse was in it's beginnings in Colorado. An indication of it's growing popularity in the Rocky Mountain States was the formation of the Circle J Morgan Horse Association, organized primarily to put on a regional Morgan Show at Estes Park. As Colorado's population growth accelerated due to new industry, there was a growing interest in pleasure horses, and the Morgan horse became one of the breeds in the forefront of this growth. many families were attracted to the Morgan...But it soon became apparent that showing Morgans in open classes with primarily quarter horse judges was often not a satisfactory experience for young Morgan owners. And getting Morgan classes in open shows was difficult because there weren't enough Morgan exhibitors to make classes pay for themselves. What to do? Those who were "getting into Morgans" found it frustrating. They needed to have Morgans seen in the shows to attract more new owners...and they needed more new owners to get the classes into the shows. They burned up the telephones talking to the fledgling Circle J group about getting youth activities added to their show...but at first this did not materialize. And so, in the summer of 1969...with these needs as a background, several families got together at the suggestion of Louise Green , and formed the Continental Divide Morgan Horse Association. The early members were from Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming and membership quickly grew to the 30-40 area. The first year's program included six training shows...one day events devised to give show experience to the youth and amateur exhibitor...with opportunities to learn about Morgans, about showing, and about riding and driving. These were called Justin Fun Shows. There was also a one day all-Morgan show in Loveland - the first Continental Divide Morgan Horse Show. Over the years, the show has expanded to three days...has added a full day of dressage in parallel with the main ring and a two-phase carriage event on Sunday. The show is now a tradition in the Morgan community and in Loveland on each Labor Day weekend. With the strength gained from an organization that has grown from about 20 to over 80 memberships...And with helpful interest from Circle J and other independent owners, the problem of Morgan classes in open shows has been addressed. The number of shows in the area with class A Morgan divisions grew to 9 and now stands at 6. With the CDMHA constitution stating the club's purpose is breed promotion, the club has sought ways and venues to present the attributes of our beloved Morgan horse. For several years we have organized and staffed a Morgan promotional booth at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The booth is busy talking Morgans and passing out promotional literature 10 hours a day for 16 days. In Spring each year, we staff a Morgan promotional booth at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo for 3 days. We also promote our Annual Labor Day weekend show in the community and the media and have participated in Stallion Parades and numerous youth judging events. In our future, we are presented with both challenges and opportunities. The new Larimer County Fairgrounds coming on line in 2003 promises to be a new larger, more modern facility which will afford us the opportunity to expand and improve the product we offer the Morgan show exhibitor. The increase in Morgan barns in the region gives us a large audience to draw from. On the challenges side, the busy schedules and varied interests of our current membership makes it very difficult to maintain a group of volunteers who will devote the time needed to carry the club's goals forward. Creative solutions will be needed in order to preserve the club's breed promotion tradition and make our wonderful Morgan horse available to increasing numbers of people. If you are interested in Morgan horses, please join us and help preserve and expand our great breed.
Ev Munzel ...with posthumous credit to Bill Green on early club history April 2001
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