" The Beginning "

By Linda Konichek

A Special Tribute to Wendy and Taco  (Linda Konichek, 1994)

Jericho Creek Farms have been breeding quality Morabs, Morgans and Arabians since 1985.  In our quest for a bright and successful future, we found ourselves looking back to the past and the proven quality of the old bloodlines.  Our Morgan stallion, Moro Hill Magnum, brings 100% Lippitt-Morgan lines to our stock, and our Arabian mares have a heavy percentago of Crabbet/Egyptian lines.

Our first homebred Morab stallion, Jericho’s Mr. Chauvinist, is an exciting combination of these lines through his Morgan sire, Moro Hill Magnum, and his Arabian dam, Moonlite Absinthe’.  Our Palomino Morab stallion, Sir Raf Royale, is a second generation Morab, tracing back to the first Morab Registry, with strong Raffles Arabian percentages, and he has already produced two fine Palomino Morabs.

We began breeding Morabs with our foundation Morab mare, Ta-ket (Taco) and one Arabian mare.  Today we have six Morab broodmares, two Morab stallions, one Morab Junior Stallion (leased for 1994), two Morgan broodmares, three Arabian mares, and one Morgan stallion.

Letters from young horse enthusiasts have led me to think about how all this got started.  Jericho Creek Farms began in the dreams of a “horse crazy” little girl.  Wendy was “riding” pretend horses almost as soon as she knew what a horse was.  Her favorite “toy” was a battered felt cowboy hat, and her “horses” were the two sofa arms, Grandpa’s sawhorses, and her dad’s leg.

At age seven, she started collecting Breyer and Hartland horse models (she has over 200 today) and reading Walter Farley stallion books, as well as every other horse book in the library.  And every night she dreamed of a horse of her own.

At age ten, she began trying to convince her dad that she should own a horse. (I was easy, since I, also, had dreamed of a horse as a young girl.)  Wendy campaigned relentlessly for two years.   Finally to “shut her up” (and we thought, to end the matter) Wendy got her dad to promise that she could have her horse only if she could find a place to keep her horse, free.  If she could do that, he’d get her a horse for her twelfth birthday.  Norm was sure that deal would keep Wendy busy and finally end the horse issue, but he had reckoned without realizing how serious his daughter was.

Now Wendy had an important goal, and she set about achieving it with remarkable determination for a girl her age.  Every day her school bus passed a lovely mini-farm, owned by a well-to-do doctor’s widow.  The lady’s children had grown; the barn was full of props from a local theatre group; the pasture grass was tall, and the fences were neglected.

Unknown to us, Wendy wrote the lady a letter, explaining her problem and how nice it would be for a horse to use the barn again and keep the grass down…Imagine our surprise, and embarrassment, when the first we knew of this deal was when the lady called us and said that if Wendy got the barn and fences in order, she could keep a horse there!

We often say, in our family, that “If things are meant to be, they will be.”  Just a week after the phone call, I ran into an old friend from high school, whose father raised Arabian horses.  She said he had a nice ten-year-old Morab mare for sale, to someone special, only.  Taco had been her dad’s own horse, but he was busy with his young Arabians and never had time to ride her.  Mr. Ricke met Wendy; Wendy met Taco, and it was an instant sale.

The next few years were spent learning: learning about all the expenses involved in the proper upkeep of a horse; learning how much time it took before and after school to take care of a horse; learning to ride, mostly from books and magazines, and 4H clinics, because private lessons were so expensive; learning about horse shows and trailering horses safely; then discovering the fun shows, speed shows and gymkhana events, and finally, learning more and more about Morabs, and their many special traits as a breed.

The more Morab horses we got to know through the Midwest Horse Fair and local Morab clubs, the more we realized that several of the traits we valued most in Taco, such as reliability, versatility, intelligent attitude, excellent endurance, and willingness to learn any new skill quickly, were common in well-bred Morabs, and we decided that if we ever got a farm, we would breed Morabs.

Meanwhile, Wendy and Taco were doing well in regular horse shows, but they both really loved speed shows.  It seems that from the first days she had Taco, Wendy’s favorite way to end a ride was to race the wind around the pasture…besides, Wendy had now grown to over six feet, and people at horse shows were telling her she had to get a bigger horse to really do well in open shows.

At first, when we went to speed events, Wendy endured strange looks from the other riders, most of whom were on fairly large, muscled quarter horses, or race horses from the track.  They didn’t expect much from this very tall girl, riding a very small grey/white mare, with a big chest and very muscular legs, but when the two of them started winning, no one wondered any more.

Taco usually placed in the top horses, but seldom was first in plug or barrels, because the tall horses could outrun her, by a second or two, in flat racing, and she was carrying a large rider, who couldn’t afford a light-weight barrel racing saddle.  But any event involving precision or control, like Jumping Figure, or Flag Race, or Speed-and-Action, was her specialty.  More often than not, her cumulative scores gave her the high point or special trophies and ribbons.  It was fun to see the two of them having so much fun and winning, as well.

One of my favorite memories was of “The Best Speed Show, Ever!”  It was an open show, held in a small community park near our farm, and we missed all the morning classes, because we had been at our first Morab Futurity, showing Taco and her first Morab filly, Jericho’s Magic Lady.  Despite the fact that she was still too young to wean, Magic Lady,aka “Cha-heeta.” did well in her Futurity Classes; then, we rushed to get to the park and speed show, which was almost two hours away.

At the park, there were expensive trailers and impressive-looking Quarter horses everywhere, and we had a small, slightly overweight, fifteen-year-old Morab mare, with a nursing filly at her side.  This was the first, and only time, I ever heard Wendy doubt her horse.  She said, in a worried voice, “I don’t know, Mom, looks like some pretty tough competition.”

Taco must have heard that remark, or else, she was just happy to finally get back to the “fun stuff,” because she immediately became the crowd’s favorite horse.  I stood at the finish line with her “baby” and Taco raced with all the spirit and joy she possessed.  She won trophies, a custom leather cape, horse gear, and spontaneous applause all afternoon.Finally, came one of the toughest trail classes we’d ever seen with chains to drag, mailboxes, a noisy sack of cans to haul, backing patterns, and flapping flags to race under at the end; the entire course was timed.

I think Taco decided to teach Wendy never to doubt her again; she whipped through that course without one mistake, even though she’d never seen some of the obstacles before.  Tears were trickling down my cheeks, as I watched Wendy collect all her trophies and prizes, with her little white Morab and beautiful eight-week-old filly prancing along, while the crowd yelled and cheered.  A lot of people heard about Morabs that day, and they all got to pet our two marvelous Morabs.

The next few years were really busy, because we finally had our dream farm, which was definitely a “fixer-upper” and would require lots of sweat and work to get it back to top shape.  Plus, in 1987, Wendy and I were working full-time and spending many hours getting the International Morab Breeders’ Association and Registry started.

Taco got to loaf a bit, in between presenting us with two other fillies, sired by Sir Raf Royale, a beautiful red-chestnut, Jericho’s Royal Motif, in 1990, and a flashy Palomino,Jericho’s Royal Ashlin, in 1991.  We did drag her to a few shows for leadline classes and special riders, but life was pretty tame and easy until we discovered team penning.

At age twenty, Taco decided to show all those bigger horses what a small Morab could do. After two practice tries, the team Taco and Wendy were on came in with the fastest time of the day, and a month later, this same team won the Reserve Champion Amateur Division, for a cash prize, on a day that had over fifty teams entered.  And once again, she did it all with her nursing filly waiting at the gate!

1992 marked an important milestone for us as breeders, because Taco’s daughter, Jericho’s Magic Lady, presented us with the first third-generation Morab, born from two Morabs we had raised from birth. Jericho’s Mr. Gallant, a beautiful, blood-bay colt was the first foal by our Morab stallion, Mr. Chauvinist, who was now three.  And Taco became a grandmother!

I guess what Wendy would have to say to all those twelve-year-old girls, dreaming about horses, is “Dreams can come true, but only if you’re willing to help them along with a lot of hard work!”  Taco is twenty-two this year, and she and Wendy still race the wind once in awhile and get to have fun at team penning. 

Mr. Chauvinist, aka “Fooler” is four now, and Wendy is riding him under saddle this year; he is over sixteen hands, and Wendy plans to show him in dressage, so she finally has that “big” horse that everyone wanted her to get.  But her favorite horse will always be, Taco, the little Morab mare who did it all, and gave her absolutely beautiful babies to carry on, in their mother’s hoofprints.

Breeding the finest Morabs is both a demanding and loving responsibility that is twofold. Because we love the Morab breed for its beauty, intelligence and uniqueness, we care about consistently maintaining the finest of these qualities in the foals we produce.  Because we love our prized breeding stock, we care about maintaining the highest standards in our breeding operations.

Honest, sincere love of the Morab horse is the driving force behind our breeding and marketing programs.  Our plans are geared toward producing show and breeding Morabs of superior quality, from the best and most proven bloodlines in the Morgan and Arabian breeds.  We hope to make a real impact on the Morab breed, in the years to come, by continuing to produce Morabs of distinction, and we hope Taco will still be around to see them!