Mile High Club – Shaking Up the Hunter World as a Triple Threat

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248 – July/Aug, 2018

by ALISON FOSTER-GREEN

There’s nothing that captures the attention of the Quarter Horse industry quite like a promising new stallion. Stallions are our future, and the most celebrated studs have a lasting impact on the direction of the entire industry – setting standards and trends in movement, appearance, and temperament that can last for decades.

Mile High Club, a 2013 stallion out of dam, Certifiable Cher, and sire, So Riveting, has the potential to join this rarified group of trend-setting studs. With his good looks, elegant movement, and easy-going personality, this young stallion is a triple threat that just might shake up the Hunter world.

For owner, Sandra Morgan, the decision to purchase Mile High Club, known around the barn as “Miles,” was informed by years of experience in the horse show industry. Morgan started riding at just nine years of age and progressed naturally into showing Quarter Horses. “Like many little girls, I first learned to ride on the back of a Shetland pony,” Morgan says. “I quickly moved from the little Shetland to riding a larger Arabian/Welsh cross pony, to showing in gymkhanas, to eventually riding Quarter Horses, and showing on the Quarter Horse circuits. I was hooked, not just to riding, but to competing with Quarter Horses. I have been part of this industry ever since, and I still love it just as much as I did when I was a little girl.”

Throughout the years, Morgan has been involved in nearly every aspect of this industry, from breaking two-year-olds to showing and breeding. She says, “I love to ride, pretty much every day. I spend a lot of my time working with young horses. I enjoy starting the two-year-olds and getting them prepared for the futurities, and I love competing with my three-year-olds as they learn to excel in the arena.” For Morgan, horse shows are so much more than a passion; they are a second home. “I just love being at the shows, everything from the fun local shows in and around Scottsdale, Arizona, where I live, to the big shows like the Congress. It’s a chance to see and be around a whole family of friends. Also, is there anything more fun than just sitting back and watching all the cool horses that are at the shows?”

Her love of the horse show world, and particularly of young horses, led Morgan to begin investing in stallions and getting involved in the breeding side of the industry. “I have been breeding for 30 years, but I really committed when I heard that Good I Will Be was coming up for auction. I texted my husband and said that we should try to buy him, and he agreed! Although we only owned him for 14 months before he suddenly passed away, it was a wonderful experience, and I learned that I loved owning and promoting a stallion. It wasn’t long before my husband and I started thinking about finding another one. Then, one day, Shane Pope called and said he would sell Mechanic. It was such an exciting opportunity. I had always loved that stallion, and we immediately went out to ride him and made the deal,” Morgan says.

Click here to read the complete article
248 – July/Aug, 2018