Skyland Manor founder, Kim Rother, was born with a deep love for horses. At the tender age of two she began riding lessons. The only barn that would risk teaching such a young child was a Morgan breeding farm located convienently up the road from Kim's childhood home. Little did anyone know that the paths were set then and the dreams put in motion that would later result in the realization of the Skyland Manor Morgan breeding program. In 1994 at the age of fourteen Kim purchased her first Morgan with babysitting money she had saved over many summers. She was a dark liver chestnut Morgan filly that Kim named Heritage Relic. It was right then and there that the Skyland Manor breeding program began unbeknownst to it's founder. Over the course of years Kim trained Relic to drive and to ride with assitance from that same Morgan farm she grew up riding at. She showed Relic locally and won local championships in Saddleseat. Relic was the first horse for all of Kim's experiences in training and breeding Morgans. And while Kim was teaching the mare it was really the mare who was schooling the girl. Kim could have had no better teacher. Our goal here at Skyland Manor is simply to enjoy our small herd, be it riding the trails or sharing the joys of bringing new life to this world. When we do breed our mares, we are careful about our choices. We select stallions we think exemplify the Morgan ideal as we see it, bringing out the best in our mares and the best in the stallions in what is hopefully a perfect Morgan foal. Bloodlines are of less concern than correct conformation, type, and disposition. Of course, we find that we prefer some bloodlines over others. The following fine examples of Morgans can be found in the foundation mares of our program: Waseeka's Nocturne, Beamington, Vigilmarch, Troutbrook Playboy, Kadenvale Don, Whit Akers Sensation, Immortal Command, Upwey Ben Don, Waseeka's In Command, Serenity Marchtime, Orcland Vigildon, UVM Flash, Futurity Command, Windhover Regency, UVM Highlight, Whispering High Beam, Fiddler's Black River, Legacy's Viking, Trophy, Chasely Superman, Kingston, and Mr. Breezy Cobra. Our Morgans come in a variety of colors. Buckskins, black, chestnuts, and a perlino can be found here and while they are all different colors there is no question that they are Morgans by type and conformation.
*Photo of (from left to right) Heritage Relic and Aquila's Sure Prize taken in 10/2010 by Sasha Gubanov*
