Greentree Ranch

Cece's great grandfather, William A Green, holding his Morgan, Rocky Ford King, on his Rocky Ford Farm in Amboy, Illinois around 1904.

He had been a ham radio operator since the age of 15 and would really like to act on that. He also wanted to move to Colorado where his family had summered when he was a boy. After he talked it over with his spouse, Louise, he put out inquiries for a radio station in McCook, Nebraska since that was the closest one to Colorado he could find. When the letter came back he saw that the man owned a sister station in Loveland, Colorado, just where he wanted to live! He inquired about the availability of that station and found it was for sale. Negotiations began and the station was purchased.

The girls, Julie (now with a PHD in Education, living in Pennsylvania), Debbie (now an internationally famous weaver and instructor living in Guatemala) and Cece (still owner/trainer at Greentree Ranch Morgans, Loveland, Colorado) agree to move on the condition that they can have horses. Promises were made, as was the move in the winter of 1961. So is the prelude to Greentree Ranch Morgans.

The move was rather a culture shock for the girls since they had lived in New York all their lives. It was not so much so for Bill and Louise Green as they had both grown up in Iowa and only left there after graduating from Iowa State College (now University). It was a real experience for Bill, having come from a life of buying multiple page advertising spreads for his clients in the likes of Life, Look, National Geographic, etc to go to a town where he had trouble convincing the local businessmen to buy airtime for 50 cents a minute! The businessmen in Loveland didn’t believe that radio could sell anything.

Meanwhile, Louise’s business, Greentree House Christmas Traditions, transplanted well. We daughters on the other hand had a harder time fitting in. Being from “the east” (said by some to be the main north/south street in town) they were looked at as oddities. As the youngest, Cece, made her way with the horses. Morgan horses. While growing up in New York there were always other people around the house. It was post WWII and there were always refugees in need of help. I do not ever remember a time when there were not foreigners in and around the house. It was a part of life in New York and remained one in Colorado.

When the family moved on to what was to become Greentree Ranch Morgans, you could put all our combined knowledge of horses into a 3 gallon bucket and still have lots of room left over. We knew so little in fact we turned horses out on to a fresh green alfalfa field. The fact that we did not kill any of them is a miracle in itself. We did however, founder Bonita Graham severely. As a result, the fact that we got any foals out of her was amazing. There is no doubt that God was watching over us as the land we found was next door to Marge and Milo Dugan of Mar-Lo Morgans. They had transplanted from Michigan and we were lucky enough to be able to rely on Milo’s great horse sense, as well as that of the neighbor across the street, Tony Yelek. Between those two, we managed to keep happy, mostly healthy horses.

In those first days we had a little of everything, horse wise. We were sold Quarter Horses and Appaloosas when we first moved to town, since those were the most plentiful breeds (and still are despite our best efforts). We then bred our Quarter horse mares to Dugan’s Mar-Lo’s Colonel Hamtramck. We were so pleased with the results that we purchased three Morgan mares, Suzette of Sunnyside, Bonita Graham and Dipsy Doodle. We soon discovered that when we wanted to ride the Morgans came to the gate and wanted to go with us while we spent hours chasing the other horses we had. It was a no-brainer when it came time to pick a breed to raise.

We were never able to get Suzy bred so she was my first show horse and Bonita Graham (Stetson X Antler’s Bonnie) and Dipsy Doodle (Flying Jubilee X Antler’s Bonnie) both produced some nice foals for us when they were old enough to breed. Bonita Graham was a show horse that was hard to beat in English and Western Pleasure in her day. She also claimed fame by producing the incomparable Greentree Bonniejohn (by Orcland John Darling), Greentree Firelight (by Applevale Encore) and Greentree Nightsong (by Greentree Bonniejohn) who was the dam of Greentree Benjamin (by Applevale Encore).

It was at this time we began to discover the realities of breeding and crossing certain bloodlines. When we crossed these two mares with Colonel, the mares we got were lovely individuals; on the other hand, the colts were all born with a restricted inguinal ring so they had no appearance of being males. The penis was restricted from dropping out of the body so there was no apparent sheath. Once discovered, we no longer made that cross. Our first foals included: Greentree Ballerina (she was killed on a dark night on the road in front of the ranch), Greentree’s Aunt Meg and Greentree Noah by Mar-lo’s Colonel Hamtramck and out of Dipsy Doodle and Greentree Seth by Mar-lo’s Colonel Hamtramck out of Bonita Graham.

In the 1960s Ladies Home Journal had a series in the magazine called “How America Lives”. Bill and Louise Green were featured in that column in the February 1966 issue. That was truly a gift from God as the writer was a man named Ernest Havemann. He introduced us to a summer girls riding camp in Winstead, Connecticut. I attended it in the summers of 1966 and 1967. I came out with a real dressage and eventing base. When the Captain was done with us, we could ride anything with legs! That gave me a great start for being able to break and train our own horses on a beginning basis.

I had the great fortune to supplement that knowledge with lessons of a very different type, that being saddle seat, from Martin Cockriel of Parker, Colorado. With years of riding and some training under my belt, I went on to Morven Park International Equestrian Institute in Leesburg, Virginia post high school. There the studies were very much the same as at Capt. Collings just on a larger basis. It was a thrill to get to ride some Olympic team horses while they were being quarantined there after flying back to the states. During this time the fates and a gracious God brought Elizabeth Cameron (Now an internationally famous portrait artist) into our lives. She was at school here in Loveland and she and I became fast friends. We remain so to this day.

Prior to graduating from Loveland High School, we had an event at the ranch that was to change all our lives forever. Marge and Milo Dugan had arranged with Lyman Orcutt of Orcland Farms to lease Orcland John Darling for a couple of years. While he was here we bred Bonita Graham to him. The result, as you may know, was Greentree Bonniejohn in 1968. We knew we had a special colt but had no idea how special he would become!

When we realized we had a colt that needed to be kept stallion, we decided we needed professional help! We needed a trainer. We chose Les Pedicord in Littleton, Colorado.
Les along with John Graham, Bill and Danny Williams all combined over the next two years to make Bonniejohn into the great horse he proved to be.

We also realized we needed to have some mares to breed to him, so we began looking. As per usual in our lives, we didn’t have to look far. God put his fine hand to things and mares began to come to us!

In 1973 when we were approached by Nina Amory with the offer of a mare named Ashland Dark Mist for sale, we purchased her and right away bred her to Bonniejohn. The result was Greentree Maryjane, followed by her sister, Greentree Jasmine.

Another great good that happened to us was to get a call from B. Wallace Mills in Hay Springs, Nebraska in 1976 looking to breed some mares. At that time we had purchased Applevale Encore as a cross to the Bonniejohn mares. We worked out a lease/breeding contract with him and so began our relationship that continues to this day with the second generation of both families. He was interested in breeding mares to Encore yet we felt they would cross better with Bonniejohn. As it turned out, we were right.

We began by breeding mares and ended up taking his two year olds, breaking and training them and getting them sold for him. It was profitable for both of us. For many years his horses had all been friendly and loving and easy to handle. Then someone backed up to his gate and stole six mares right out of the pasture! After that he no longer made his horses friendly and easy to catch. As a result the horses we got to train had hardly been handled. They had been weaned and had a halter on once before they arrived here. They had been loaded through a chute and unloaded into our indoor arena. What a time that was! What we discovered quickly was that his lines, Topside Eager Beaver (Broadwall Brigadier x Bambi Moon) and Red Correll daughters crossed very well with Bonnie producing such champions as: Greentree Nightengal, (Regional Champion Junior Exhibitor English Pleasure) Greentree Commotion, (Regional and National Champion Western Pleasure) Greentree Ever Reddi, (USDF and AMHA World Champion Dressage Horse) all out of Reddy Ann Eager; Julia’s Kela Tawi (another Reserve National Roadster Champion) out of Julia May Eager and Greentree Brigadier (National Champion Carriage Driving Horse) out of Lady Brigadier and currently senior stallion at Greentree Ranch to name a few.

In the early days, Marvin Beeman, DVM was well known for his lecture “Form to Function”. We had him come to Loveland and give the lecture as a fund raiser for our youth group. Following his talk my mother, Louise, asked him to examine both Greentree Bonniejohn and his dam, Bonita Graham with an eye to breeding the two of them. A rather risky venture we thought. Both horses were at Pedicords for the examination and later Les and John said he had those horses do everything but stand on their heads that day. When it was all over he said, “They have no common faults, breed them!” He also said of Bonniejohn, “He’s as close to a perfect horse as I’ve seen”. Quite a compliment from him! That union produced Greentree Nightsong. She was a very pleasant show mare for many of our youth riders, a backbone of our lesson program and the dam of Greentree Benjamin, World Champion Roadster. Dr Beeman was right, inbreeding, done right can produce great things.

In 1978 we added another generation to our program in the form of Katherine Green aka Katie. She has been a vital part of the program as a rider, driver, instructor and trainer. She and Nightengal share a birth year and so much more. They trotted to the Regional Championship for Junior Exhibitors and have remained lifelong friends. Nightengal has produced several very fine horses for us including: Greentree Jessica who went on to produce Regional Champion Carriage Horse Mia Poco Mykata by Greentree Brigadier, for Paul Siemens; Greentree Nightswift, a winning combined driving horse and junior stallion for Thorpe Mountain Morgans of Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Greentree Nightowl, Reserve Junior Western Pleasure Champion for Tony Picardi and Kathy Sheldon of Loveland, Colorado; Greentree Lady Bonita a training level dressage horse for Teri Malec of Seattle, Washington; and Greentree Nightjoy and Greentree BrigadierGeneral for our breeding program.

The 1970’s and 80’s were the real heyday for Greentree Ranch and their breeding, training and showing programs. During that time we had an average of 87 horses and produced 15-20 foals a year. At our highest population we stood 8 stallions! I never want to do that again! We had a strong show string including horses like: Greentree Bonniejohn, Applevale Encore, Greentree Maryjane, Bonita Graham, Greentree Nightengal, Annie Greensprings, Senator Bonniejohn, Greentree Nighthawk, Julia’s Kela Tawi, Morganfields Don Ash, Misty Green Jon Ash, Greentree HE McCord, Greentree Regent, Greentree Regency, Greentree Nightstar, Greentree Nightlife, Greentree Splendor, Greentree Commotion, Greentree Nightlife and others I am sure to have forgotten.

In 1975 we purchased Applevale Encore. He was at the time a World Champion and we set a new record for the highest price paid for a Morgan at the time. He came to Colorado and we continued to show him as a Park Harness and saddle horse. In August 1977 Danny Williams came on board as our outside trainer as I was pregnant with Katie. That year we showed Applevale Encore to the World Champion Amateur Park Harness Horse and Reserve World Champion Open Park Harness Horse. It was quite an experience to stand in the middle of the ring and have them call name after name out and ours was not one of them. They got to the Reserve Champion and still we were left standing. Danny and I looked at each other and just grinned. We were stunned and full of joy! What a wonderful thing had just happened to us. It almost seemed beyond belief.

We then were left standing in the Open Championship as well and had high hopes for the Championship there as well but it was not to be. We were Reserve Champion instead. I felt it was a real coup as I was the only amateur and the only woman in the class! A friend said afterwards, tongue in cheek, that she was going to protest the class as there were two in the buggy! In 1978 Danny and I showed him to the AHSA Park Horse of the Year.

Bonniejohn’s show career spanned three decades. He showed and won in Park Harness, Park Saddle, English Pleasure, Pleasure Driving, Western Pleasure, Combined Driving and Carriage Pleasure. He was always easy to have around and played by the hour in his pasture, tossing a 5 gallon bucket or what ever else he could find in the air and catching it again, all at a gallop. It was not unusual to have cars lined up on the road watching him play. We showed him in the west for many years and then decided to send him to the east for his shot at the horses there as well so we sent him to Whitney Stables in Cox’s Creek, Kentucky. He had a rather successful season there as an English Pleasure/Pleasure Driving horse in 1980, culminating with a win in the Amateur English Pleasure Stallions class at the Grand National. In 1977 he won the AHSA Morgan Pleasure Horse of the Year Award with more than twice as many points as the next closest horse.

Katie learned to walk holding on to his legs and going from one to the next to the next. It was heartwarming and amazing to watch. I firmly believe he thought Katie was his child to love, guard and raise. He taught Katie to ride and post but would not canter with her until she cantered on another horse in front of him. Once he had seen Katie canter another horse he realized it was safe for him to do so also.

In the 1980s an especially virulent virus, Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, went through the area. We had such a large population, 109 horses, at that time that the Centers for Disease Control came to us and asked for our help in research on this disease. We agreed and for a month or more we kept all horses in the same places and checked every horse every day, and treated them as necessary, to track the disease across the ranch. We bled every horse three times to check for titers to the virus. As a result we know an awful lot more about this disease than we ever thought we would need to know. I even had a case of it. That really excited my doctor as they had gotten a flyer on it from the CDC and had “a real case”, one of two in the county.

In 1980 Greentree Maryjane lost her foal to e-coli. She was born breech and did not live past a day. Poor Maryjane grieved so that we finally put her to work to see if that would help. It became obvious that this little mare that had shown as a two year old park harness horse wanted to go fast. Not just fast but really fast. Danny started working her as a roadster and we ended up taking her to the Grand National. It was a wonderful experience winning that first of fourteen world titles with her, but nothing compared to watching her repeat the performance with driver after driver. She was so solid in her performance! This year she returned to the Grand National as a past champion at age 30. She looks older but the spirit is still there and it brought tears to my eyes to see her get a standing ovation. What a champion and we bred her. How lucky we are!

During the 1980s I decided to get my Morgan judging license. After going through the program as it then was, I was granted a small r in judging both Morgans and Saddle seat Equitation. I judged from New Hampshire to California and in England, Canada and Sweden. While judging I as able to see the trends the Morgans were taking in the United States always measuring our breeding program against what I could see in front of me. I was pleased with our program as I felt we were accomplishing what we set out to do.

Also, in 1989 I was elected to the American Morgan Horse Association board of directors from the newly formed Region 9, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. I feel that while on the board I was able to accomplish things to support the Morgan horse as it was and as it should remain, including the Pathways Program and cleaning up the Open Competition Program. The Trails committee had been fallow for a number of years and with the help of the office staff and interested individuals was able to get it up and running again. We also instituted a youth life membership. I enjoyed my time on the board leaving when my mother became very ill in 1995.

In 1987 while taking Katie to school, I turned across the highway not having seen the oncoming van. We were both seriously injured and that changed our lives with horses forever. I was no longer able to ride with much comfort and due to a closed head injury had trouble with memory as well. Driving became my discipline of choice.

It was during that healing time that we sent our first mare to Sweden. Her name is Greentree Night n Day, she is by Bonniejohn and out of Niobrara Mayfair. She was in foal to Aranaway Viceroyal and produced a colt that is still standing at stud in Sweden. One of her daughters was named Best in Show of the 2003 show over 80 Morgans. We also sent two other mares, Greentree Blackbird and Greentree Electra, both by Bonniejohn and out of Cree Charmer and Anvils Hi Stockings, respectively. A son of Blackbird won the Swedish singles Championship and came to the USA to compete in the World Singles Championship. We were very proud.

1994 began a whole new era for Greentree Ranch when Mom was given 6 months to live with her lung and bone cancer. She only made it four and a half months. Before she died, Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He lived two years suffering a broken hip in the meantime and died in April 1997. In the year between their deaths I put my beloved Greentree Bonniejohn to sleep. He had developed a skin cancer and was losing weight and condition at a rapid rate. Having suffered these losses the ranch was then sold and Katie and I moved to our new “ranch” with cattleman Dave Yelek. He and I were subsequently married and he has been very patient about the sorting of yet more of the stuff lifetimes were made of. (If anyone wants to help come sort pictures please let me know, I have boxes left to do).

Our breeding program continues on with Greentree Brigadier and me at the helm. As we have needed more mares they have arrived. One of the crosses we have been most successful with has been to breed Brigadier to Bonniejohn daughters. This cross has produced consistently powerful, typey MORGAN horses. They are quick to learn and retain information. They really want to learn and be part of what is going on. Our colt from Nightengal this year, Tommy (BrigadierGenral) distinguished himself early on by whinnying every time I went by with a horse I was working, saying, “I want to go, too!”

We are finding the most people breeding to Brigadier are looking for dressage and driving horses. What they may not know is that he was a winning English Pleasure and Pleasure Driving horse as a youngster. He has been handicapped by my interests turning to Carriage driving and then to Combined Driving and my contracting Fibromyalgia Syndrome which has meant I can no longer compete in Combined Driving Events either. But in this years United States Singles Championship, in Parker, Colorado five of our “children” were represented: Greentree BJ Creeper (Bonniejohn X Cree Charmer) with Daphne White of Durango, Colorado; Greentree Nightswift (Brigadier x Nightengal) with Laura Poncelow for Thorpe Mountain Morgans of Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Greentree Zeus (Bonniejohn x Cree Charmer and half of a pair) with Bill Lower for Victoria Bennett of Rockwall, Texas; Mia Poco Mykata (Brigadier x Jessica) with Paul Siemens of Parker, Colorado. It was quite a gathering and brought tears to my eyes to watch them perform and think about what this would have meant to Mom and Dad.

Following that this year was the Morgan Grand National and World Championship Horse Show at which not only Brigadier did well, winning the Grand National Champion Carriage Pleasure Driving Turnout; but so did his sister, Greentree Ever Reddi and his daughter, Greentree Courtney both winning World Championships showing in the dressage division.

At this time the main focus of Greentree Ranch is to produce good quality, sound, smart, healthy Morgan Horses. The training focus has changed from show horses to youngsters. My favorite thing training is to start young horses in harness and under saddle. Given my druthers I will start young horses for owners who can then take them on to glory from there.

In addition to the great World, National and Regional Champions we have bred we have also bred a multitude of fantastic family horses. While the Champions make our name known, the family horses make our hearts known.