04/23/2020
A brief bibliography...
As long as he can remember there were ponies on the farm, but
In the late 60’s Steves’ dad bought a dude ranch as part of a larger development in Colorado. Paradise Ranch was still operating profitably and it was decided to continue operations. Steves’ mom, along with his sister, Cindy move to Paradise Ranch for the summer. Mom oversaw operations, Cindy rode horses all day and Steve worked with the Cowboys. The bug bit.
After that summer, two of the ranch horses returned to Knoxville TN with the family. It was not long after, that dad decided we needed Morgans because of some good experiences he had had with them on a hunting trip. Thus Tennessee Valley Morgan Horse Farm was started. Steven and Cindy, through 4-H learned how to handle, manage and show horses. Then they decided to become breeders. Over the years, a number of fine quality horses were produced at their little family farm.
Then in 1980 tragedy struck: Cindy was killed. The farm continued on for a while. A trust fund for an award for the Morgan youth of the year was established in Cindys honor (which exists to this day). Steve moved on, changed careers, got married had a family and faded from the horse world.
Five years ago, Steven decided to venture back into the horse world through his carving business. As he reconnected with old horse buddies and started going to barns and shows, he saw a vast change in the horse world. Much of what he saw saddened him.
On bemusing this with a friend, he was challenged to do something about it. At first, Steve did not want to...it was too big a project to undertake at retirement age. But it did not take long to go ahead and proceed. Steve says: “I can think of much easier ways to spend my retirement than doing this, but this project needs to be done”. Many of his friends said he was crazy. The only thing crazy about this is if the horse industry doesn’t see the value that World of Horses can lend to the industry and lets it slip through its fingers...
