UVM Rarity 1990-2006 UVM Elite X UVM Happy
UVM Rarity was my first Morgan mare. I was introduced to the Morgan breed thru my family’s two mares: Laine’s Dawn and Diana’s Dawn, but Rarity was the first mare that I purchased. Jackie Brittain and I found Rarity when we went on our first horse adventure in Vermont. We were looking for a few good Morgan geldings, all-purpose riding horses for the ranch. On our rounds we visited several wonderful Morgan Farms including East of Equinox (where I purchased Jazzman), UVM Morgan Horse Farm where we met UVM Happy, a UVM top producer and a gorgeous, big, feminine mare, and Destiny Morgans where we saw several young prospects for sale.
While looking around at Destiny Morgans Jackie pointed to a horse out in the pasture and said, “Look at that mare!â€Â Rarity was stunning and everything a Morgan mare should be: huge eyes, little ears, chiseled, feminine head, elegant arched neck, short, smooth back and a full flowing mane and tail. She was a shiny dark brown and she knew she was special. Coincidently she was a UVM Happy daughter. Rarity was not on the sales list but after a little persistent pestering, her owner Gladys Severance sold us this exceptional mare.
Rarity’s pedigree reads like a who’s who of the UVM Breeding program. Her sire line: UVM Elite by the great UVM Watchman, her dam’s sire line: UVM Highlight by Orcland Vigildawn, and of course her dam the great UVM Happy considered one of UVM’s top mares.  While with Gladys at Destiny Morgans, Rarity had two very nice sons, Breeders Maestro and Breeders Crescendo both by the stallion, Santini.
When Rarity came home to Central Florida we started riding her with the thought of going to a show or two. She soon earned the nicknames, Madame Zoom Zoom and Rare Mare. She was a hot one! So, after conversations with owners of UVM bred Morgans we learned that the “hot’ runs in some UVM lines and they are perfect to cross with large, athletic, solid minded Morgans that will result in an ideal Morgan offspring. We decided to send Rarity to Courage of Equinox to be bred.
Rarity was a survivor! She experienced two near fatal events in her life that would have ‘done in’ a lesser horse. Not Rarity. She was determined to make it through both of these disasters. Her first near death experience came when her rectum was severely torn. No one knows exactly how it happened but if she had not been taken to the equine hospital immediately she surely would have died. After seven months in the hospital, and a bill several times larger that her purchase price, Rarity went to Meg Preston’s Rumbrook Farm to complete her recuperation.  Meg took good care of Rarity for about a year and when she was ready to resume a normal horse life we decided to send her to Saralin Morgan Horse farm and Sally Longenecker. She would have a good life there and possibly even return to breeding.
Rarity paid me back for all the worry and expense by giving me three beautiful foals: Emma, Fabien and Harmony. Merriewold Emma is by Nemours Noble Elegance and was purchased by the Bodnar family of Merriehill Morgans while still at Rarity’s side. Emma was shown as a yearling and became Reserve World Champion Yearling Filly in hand. Merriewold Fabien, by Lyonhil Quasar started his training in working western, reining and cutting, and was then purchased by Stacy Mclain as her all around pleasure horse and trail partner. Fabien has Rarity’s gorgeous looks and energy along with Quasar’s size and athletic ability. Rarity’s last foal is Merriewold Harmony by Beethoven. She is an elegant filly with that extra attitude needed to be a top contender in the show arena. She is currently in training with Luman Wadhams.
Rarity was bred one more time but lost the foal early in the pregnancy. This was the beginning of her second life threatening challenge. Rarity lost all control of the muscles in her hindquarter, including her tail and rectum (not legs). She was in the hospital for several weeks and at one point her chances of living were not good. But she wasn’t in pain and while there was hope we didn’t give up. More importantly, Rarity wouldn’t give up: she wasn’t ready to go!
Rarity returned to Saralin and was slowly and lovingly eased back to a “retired†routine. She lived happily one more year out at pasture. She had her friends, good Kentucky grass and the leisure she had earned. One afternoon when she was on her way to the barn for the evening meal she just lay down and was gone. She picked her time. She always was in charge.
Click here to view Rarity’s Pedigree Page and Photo Album.
Additional Comments by Diane Benoit:
My daughter was reading the tribute to UVM Rarity and showed it to me. We bought Breeders Maestro from Dawn Severence, Gladys daughter, in 2005. He was one of the first foals from UVM Rarity. He is living the good life still in Vt, we built a 4-stall horse barn this past summer ( Dawn refers to it as a house not a barn!) and brought him to his forever home. He is fourteen now and is ridden by my three girls 10, 12, and 14. They trail ride him and show him in the local Morgan circuit. He still takes the blue ribbons!
He is an awesome horse and treats each one of my girls differently when they are riding him. He still has the energy of a 2 year old but is kind and very safe . It was fun to read how Rarity was nicknamed zoom-zoom!  I hope we will be lucky enough to have him 26 years like Rarity.
Your website is great and its fun to see how beautiful some of Maestros relatives are! If your interested I can send a picture of him.
Diane Benoit
Sally with Merriewold Galaxie. (Ironforge Starman x Ringbrook Renaissance)
In 1997 and again in 1998, she and her Thoroughbred gelding competed on the USDF Region 6 North America Young Rider Team.
Sally has also received her USDF Bronze and Silver Medals on non-tradional dressage mounts. She has flourished with the help of instructors – such as, Jeanne Gaudreau, Mike Osinski, Debbie Riehl-Rodriquez, Steffen Peters and Conrad Schumacher.
According to Sally, “Galaxie is starting to give nicely to the bit, bend through the body and cantering a nice circle – doing so, relaxed. She is leg yielding and has nice canter transitions. Galaxie has also developed a good work ethic.”
 On a quiet Saturday morning in Arroyo Grande, California, our two year old fillies Gaysha, Galaxie, and Georgia calmly waited for the blacksmith in the barn at Rancho Arroyo Grande. Then – for reasons known only to Gaysha, she startled, panicked, and pulled back so hard on her halter that she came out of it and flipped over backwards landing with a thud on her back.  Jackie Brittain, Merriewold’s manager and trainer, ran to her side as Gaysha got up, shaking and scared. Jackie soothed her, calmed her, got her back in her halter and looked her over for any injuries. All appeared to be OK. It was just some kind of freak accident. Gaysha was not a high-strung filly. She had always been easy to handle, good natured, and sensible. For several days after the accident, Gaysha remained out in the pasture with Georgia and Galaxie. However, it soon became apparent that her hind end was uncomfortable and not getting any better. So, we brought her in for stall rest and did some energy balancing work on her. Then one morning, about a week later, she laid down and either couldn’t – or wouldn’t, get back up. We now feared that Gaysha’s injuries were probably a lot worse then we had previously thought. We called Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center and talked to Dr. Carter Judy. We discussed our options and decided to get her up and bring her in to the clinic. Lucky for us that day, Cody – the manager of the stable, had a few friends over to do some roping. It took six of us to get Gaysha up. She was in pain and afraid to stand on her right hind leg. We knew it was risky getting her in the trailer and taking her to the clinic, but our other options were even worse. Once up, Gaysha hobbled slowly to the trailer and courageously walked on. 
We arrived at the clinic and Gaysha was escorted to the examination area. Dr. Judy gently swayed her hind end and knew immediately that she had a fracture. Jackie and I both had a chance to feel the slight clicking during the movement. To determine the severity of the injury he wanted to do a nuclear sintigraphy test. We left Gaysha there in good hands – not knowing, what the future would hold.Dr Judy called that evening and confirmed the worst. Gaysha had a fractured femur and a probable additional fracture of the pelvis on her right side. He cautioned us that although there was hope of recovery the road would be long with possible set-backs and not to be too optimistic. He prescribed maximum confinement, pain management and bone building supplements. She could go home, but only time could help with the healing.The incredible team at Rancho Arroyo Grande went right to work preparing a special stall for Gaysha. They installed an overhead steal cable diagonally across her stall going from hay to water. Her lead rope was tied to the cable and slid along so that she could eat and drink, but could not lie down. Extra bedding was added to cushion her feet.   A dirt ramp was fashioned so that she would not have to hop over the threshold (although she would not be leaving this stall for a long while). Gaysha needed to stay calm and quiet. Our fear was that she would keep trying to lay down and consequently re-injure the fractures.
The first and second week went by with Gaysha being the model patient. We took turns going in to her stall to give her light grooming, massages and to just spend time with her. She would look out her window quietly and occasionally called to her friends. By the third week, though, she seemed restless – or perhaps, depressed.  It was almost as if she was giving up.
 It has been a little over a year since Gaysha’s fall and as you can see from the picture above, she is back to her old self! She and Caduceus Marika share a pasture and have become best friends. In this photo, Gaysha is racing to re-join Marika without any concern for her old injury.
“Reef, was so very special to us. She was our first broodmare, as well as, a companion and show horse.  She produced several beautiful babies for us and her oldest was our first Grand National Top 10 horse. She opened up a while new world to us, but even more, she was our special friend that greeted us each morning, gave kids pony rides, took care of all the babies, took Mike on his first saddle seat ride and shared the foaling of her babies exclusively with him. She was the bestest of moms, teaching her babies all the right things and disciplining them as only a fantastic broodmare could do. She taught them to love people, understand our requests and to tolerate whatever we asked of them. She will be so missed, but her legacy lives on in her get!”
Comments by Jennifer Carr, Reef rider and foal owner:
Comments by Sally Longenecker, Reef’s last caregiver:
