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A BREEDER’S VIEW BY MARY ANNE MORRISON
BLOODWORTH PHOTO
FO C USI N G O N ARABIANS FOR CHILDREN AND AMATEURS
Mary Anne Morrison with the Half-Arabian/Half Welsh pony mare LIL MISS PERFECT LD (Goldhills Most Wanted x Aiming for Perfection).
A
t her Laughing Dog Ranch in Ojai, California, Mary Anne Morrison breeds purebred Arabians and Arabian crosses (many of them half Welsh pony), with children and amateurs in mind. The fruits of her labor include her 2019 USEF Leading Breeder of HalfArabians award, along with countless Sport Horse Championships, open Hunter/Jumper and dressage winners, as well as main ring Arabian titles. As Mary Anne says, “Both my parents were horsey. My paternal grandfather was Chick Morrison, a famous movie horse trainer and silent film actor. The Morrison brothers were ‘imported’ to
Hollywood from Morrison, Colorado, by Hal Roach, who needed real cowboys in his movies.” Away from the show ring, Mary Anne is a passionate trail rider, believing that show horses need to have fun, too. “We’re known here in Ojai as ‘those ladies who ride the trails bareback in halters on those Arabians!’” she says. We’ll let Mary Anne take it from here, as she conveys how she found her niche as an Arabian breeder, and how decades as a breeder of champion show dogs gave her a template for producing pretty performance horses. – Denise Hearst
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