Sometimes, Lightning Does Strike Twice

The Marvelous Morgan! We are celebrating these horses as our April Breed of the Month on YourDressage!

Did you know that dressage riders who choose a member of this versatile breed as their mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) is a participating organization?

After losing an irreplaceable Morgan mare who supported her through her MS diagnosis, another Morgan gelding from a rough background stepped up to the plate to be her partner – proving that sometimes, lightning does strike twice!

By Kandace York

Snip’s story starts with his friend, a “little red mare” I nicknamed Merit (AMHA, Rosewind Sunny Delight).

I adopted Merit from Forever Morgans so she could retire on our pastures and be a companion for my aged gelding. But a few months later – surprise! I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Although Merit had no experience or training as a “physical therapy horse,” she decided to unretire herself and do exactly that. When walking got hard for me, Merit let me lean against her. When I fell, she halted and put her head down so I could hold on while she lifted me up. When I couldn’t mount, she stood still and let me keep at it ‘til I made it. Later, when I learned (again) how to trot, she glided along at a slow jog for many miles to let me practice.

At the same time that I was diagnosed, I learned about Snip, a little black Morgan that Forever Morgans was helping out of a grim situation. I wanted him as soon as I saw him, but I already had Merit, and my life had just gone into a total tailspin.

Then, Merit started aging fast, as her work from before I adopted her began to catch up to her. Even though it didn’t stop her, Merit felt stiffer and shorter-strided every day. Her veterinary team, farrier, therapeutic massage technician, saddle fitter – they all tried everything. But even “everything” has a limit. 

If I wanted to keep walking, I knew I had to pick up the reins with another horse. 

Throughout the sad hunt for a new horse, I told myself that Merit was irreplaceable and any comparisons would be wrong. “Lightning doesn’t strike twice” became my mantra. Lightning doesn’t strike twice; it doesn’t strike twice; it doesn’t strike twice. I knew this.

But then, from years ago, Snip resurfaced. His owners were moving, and they generously returned him to Forever Morgans. His registered name? Nogle’s Lightning. 

I bought him. 

His former owners reached out to help smooth his transition and to piece together his life before Forever Morgans rescued him as a 14-year-old, 13.2-hand “Amish cart pony.” As it turned out, Snip was foaled in Oklahoma, some 500 miles from us, and as a young horse, he’d been sold to someone who didn’t feed him well. A woman bought him, brought him east, and restored his good health. For years, they drove up and down Pennsylvania roads together.

Sadly, she had to sell him, and he changed hands several times until he landed in a kill pen. By then, his registration papers had disappeared, and “the truck” was on its way. That’s when Forever Morgans stepped in to save him. 

DNA revealed that he was not just a purebred Morgan, but registered only 14 generations from Figure, with all three foundation sires (Sherman, Bulrush, and Woodbury) and 100 percent “old breeding” in his pedigree.

When Snip came here, Merit, kind as she was, spent her final weeks showing him around the place, napping with him under the wych elm, and just being a good friend. He was smitten with her.

She “graduated” much too soon.

Without her, Snip and I stumbled at first to build a partnership. He’d lost a friend, and I’d lost…words don’t describe what I’d lost.

My partnership with Snip came slowly, even though he grew kinder every day and took his good manners to superlative levels: motionless in cross-ties; easy to groom, handle, and tack up; agreeable for hoof-trimming, vaccinations, and clipping. That was just the start.

Like the rest of us, Snip does have some flaws. His conformation is slightly downhill with a short back and a forward girth groove; to work comfortably, he needs a specific girth, pad, and saddle. In the show stall, he sometimes frets “loud and long.” He’s timid about trailer-loading. His teeth need veterinary care twice a year so he can chew even soft hay.

But oh, is he ever a solid citizen in other ways! He seems to understand that he is my legs, which may or may not work, and even though I’ve never claimed any special status, he is always my trusted partner. Without fear, Snip and I explore new trails, unfamiliar roads, and yes, dressage rings, indoors and out. When I fall off, he stops, stands still, and “guards” me until I get up. Even when he’s loose on pasture, he chases away any horse that, in his mind, shouldn’t be near me.

In 2024, we took Snip to what we think was his first dressage show, a schooling show at Ohio’s University of Findlay. Despite a weather-related late arrival, which meant no warm-up, he worked through his Introductory A and Introductory B tests without flinching. He even nodded to the judge when we halted. The dressage letters piqued his curiosity, but he waited to check them out; during his tests, he was single-minded.

While I fumble with human things like my legs, the reins, and my emotions, Snip earns judge’s remarks like “well-behaved pony.” Exhibitors, judges, and stewards have all welcomed us, even though, as a sturdy, up-headed Morgan, he definitely doesn’t look like any other horse there.

Before Snip, I showed Arabians and Half-Arabians up to the regional championship level, so it was only natural that I’d ride through this diagnosis. Since that awful day when the neurologists told me what was wrong, I’ve stopped all medications. The MRIs show that the lesions stopped spreading, and the decline stopped progressing, when I started riding again. That first, rather bleak diagnosis has been upgraded to a milder form of MS with fewer symptoms and a brighter long-term prognosis. 

I didn’t expect a Morgan to help me through this, and I sure didn’t expect two Morgans. 

Merit and Snip have been a credit to their breed, to Forever Morgans, and to all the good connections who came before us. Snip would probably add that he’s a credit to himself, too – because he is.