I have nominated Tim & Shirley O’Gorman for the Golden Reins Award. The nomination had to be accompanied by an essay of 400 words or less. I had a hard time reining in (no pun intended) my enthusiasm, so I would like to share the uncut version with the Above Level community.
It’s All About the Horses and Their People
They were born with the passion. Proximity made it Morgan horses. Fate brought them together. Love and mutual respect made them a team.
Separately and together, Tim and Shirley O’Gorman having been training horses, supporting the Morgan breed, and parenting young grooms for long enough to be eligible for this award. They are trainers who epitomize integrity, honesty, and professional ethics. They work to model and enhance the Morgan industry, and they have a deep respect, care, and love for their people.
Tim started as a kid in his backyard (Adirondack State Park) in Colton, NY, buying, training, and selling horses with his grandfather’s support and advice. That experience, with any horse he could get his hands on, taught him to treat every horse as an individual with its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Living in upstate New York, not far from the Vermont border, he naturally came into contact with Morgan horses. While still in high school he spent a summer learning from the venerable Fred Herrick. He later gave up a full academic scholarship to Cornell University to attend college at the University of Vermont. While at UVM he participated in programs at the Morgan Farm where, as a senior student, he won the annual yearling colt contest with Helicon Hermes. The contest was judged by Dr. Paquette who was very impressed with Tim’s talent and encouraged him to pursue his passion. This association, through Dr. Paquette’s daughter Conky, led Tim to Carousel Farms in Bellevue, OH where he had the opportunity to work with and show some of the great Morgan champions of the seventies.
