FOXTON FROSTY DAWN
(Foxton Society Beau X Foxton Smokey Dawn)
2002 brown silver mare, 13.2

I have always loved the silver dapple coloring. Throughout the 1990's I did much research into Morgans of the past which I strongly suspected were silver dapple, and in the hope of raising awareness about the color, authored a couple of articles on the subject for the Rainbow Morgan Horse Association newsletter. In February of 2002 it was confirmed that silver still existed in the Morgan breed. You can imagine my delight! So, Frosty is the culmination of a dream for me. I will always be grateful to Thom and Nancy Harris of Foxton Morgans in Foxton CO for  Frosty. 

Frosty's first foal was  Unconventional, a bay silver colt born on February 17, 2006. The second, a smoky black silver filly named Positively Charmed, was foaled on June 14, 2007. The third is (incredibly!) another silver- Edgefield Vermeil, a buckskin silver filly, foaled on April 11, 2009 for Char Cook of Edgefield Morgans. And on August 23, 2010, Frosty foaled a brown silver filly for her new owner Candi Rousseau of Tocara Morgans! So far, Frosty is an incredible four for four in the silver production department!

Frosty possesses a highly developed sense of self confidence. She greets visitors with a nicker and loves attention and scritchies. She has a love of water, and will often "volunteer" for a shower on a hot day, turning herself this way and that so that every part can be thoroughly soaked. Without a willing human servant to cool her off, Frosty will play in the water trough!

Frosty's pedigree not only contains the well-known, beautiful-headed show stallion Troutbrook Playboy, but numerous lines to fabulous and hard to find old Western Working Family horses such as Julio (Delbert X Katelina), multiple lines to Silver Ranger (Querido X Angelina), Romanesque (Red Oak X Mariah K), Chocolate (Linsley X Lady Spar) and Dan (Headlight Morgan X Kate B)- the source of silver dapple in our breed. She has Lippitt breeding through Lippitt Ethan Ash, John A Darling, Lippitt Polly Moro, and Lippitt Kate Moro, and several lines to old Brunk horses such as Juzan, King de Jarnette, Grenadier, Ken Carmen and Rarette (all by Jubilee King) as well as Stetson (Flyhawk X Sentola) and Kings Haven Senator (Senator Graham X Choquita). The rest of her pedigree is comprised of mostly old government breeding.

Frosty has been Red Factor DNA tested by UC Davis (click here to see her test results) and is homozygous for black (EE), which not only proves she is not a chestnut, as she might appear with her light mane and tail, it also indicates that she will never produce a chestnut based foal - no matter what color stallion she is bred to.

Frosty and her 2006 silver dapple colt Unconventional provided hair samples and photographs for the 2006 Uppsala University (Sweden) study of the silver dapple gene. This study resulted in the silver dapple test which is now offered by UC Davis and other testing facilities. A copy of the study may be downloaded here.

In early July 2010 my gelding Patented colicked, was rushed to University of Georgia Large Animal Hospital and underwent surgery for illeal impaction and enteritis due to eating coastal bermuda hay, a common cause of colic here in the south where this hay is the predominant type of hay fed to horses. The bill was tremendous. Candi Rousseau, who had Frosty on lease at the time, had wanted to add her to the herd at Tocara Farm, and so the very difficult decision was made to part with my dear Frosty. I will watch Frosty's breeding career with continued interest and maybe someday, lease her from Candi to breed her one more time for Brookridge. Thank you Candi for giving our beautiful and special girl a loving home! I will sure miss her, but will continue to watch her breeding career with much interest!

Foxton Society Beau

Society Statusmaster Troutbrook Playboy
Hi-Winds Amy D
Dores Day Windmill Jubylee
Dores Fey

Foxton Smokey Dawn

Topside Midnight Kings Haven Senator
Topside April Fancy
Foxton Felicia Pegasus Persuader
SH Crescent

You can view Frosty's complete pedigree here.
It includes pictures of many of her ancestors.

To learn more about the very rare silver dapple gene in the Morgan breed,
and to see pictures of many of Frosty's ancestors and relatives, please visit:



You can also read the article on silver dapple Morgans
in the April 2003 issue of THE MORGAN HORSE magazine.


More photos of Frosty
(click on a thumbnail to enlarge)
To see Frosty's pictures from birth to two years, go here.


She's two months in foal here, May 2005.


July 2005. Yes, Frosty loooooves water. Here she is begging for a shower while I was filling up the water tub in the pasture. I call her my hippopotamus ;-)


A few days after I took the above picture, I was getting ready to go to the gym one evening and had left the water on in the tub in Frosty's and Roadie's pasture, so it could fill while I changed into my gym clothes. When I came out to turn the water off, I discovered this scene. Frosty had pulled the sprayer out of the tub and it had lodged up against the fence, where it was spraying into the field. Of course Frosty could not let all that water go to waste, now could she? So first she turned one way...


...and then she turned the other. She seemed a bit put out that with the water in this position, only her bottom half was getting wet (although it did provide an interesting way to get her belly scratched!). I'm sure had I left her to her own devices, she'd have figured something out!


August 2005. The happy couple one summer evening at dusk. Frosty, by the way, wears the pants in the family!


Another August 2005 shot of Roadie and Frosty.


I was awake one morning at dawn and it was very foggy. I thought it might make for some interesting pictures of the horses. Here's one I got of Frosty. September 2005.


I was trying to get pictures of Roadie's head in his new bridle, and Frosty kept following us wherever we went. She was pressed right up behind me most of the time, so I didn't get any full body shots of her pendulous belly. She seemed to be pretty disgusted that Roadie was getting all the attention, as you can tell by her expression. November 2005.


January 2006. Frosty has gotten pretty sedentary in her late pregnancy. She has a very contented look these days, more than usual.


I hope that the next time I update this website, it will be to add a page for the little critter inside its mama's belly here. Frosty is officially due February 8. Stay tuned! January 2006 photo.


Here is Frosty on February 19, 2006 with her three day old silver dapple colt, Unconventional. I cannot believe this mare just foaled three days ago! She put on quite a show! I wish things had been a little greener and that Frosty wasn't at such a patchy stage of shedding, but I just love this picture of her!


On the left is a picture of Frosty and Connor, March 2006. Artist Linda McSweeny saw this picture on Wikipedia, and created the stunning painting shown on the right in February 2007. The original sold on ebay, where Linda regularly markets her incredible artwork, featuring horses, dogs and other animals. Thank you Linda for allowing us to use this image on our website!


March 2006. Spring has sprung in Georgia- I love the Bradford Pears in the left hand background of this picture.


A windy March day. Frosty had caught sight of the cows across the road. A few minutes later she did  a spook and snort at them and struck a beautiful, classic Morgan pose, but I was not quick enough with the camera :-(


Frosty and her beau, Roadie on a warm late October day (2006).


Frosty a week before she foaled her 2007 silver filly, Positively Charmed, June 2007.


At the tender age of 5, Frosty is now the matriarch of her own little family of silver dapple Morgans. I was hoping to get a really good picture of the three silvers together before Connor left for his new home in Canada. Well, all you can see of Charli is her big butt, Frosty just HAD to be chewing some hay and Connor's head is cut off, but here is my best shot of the three. July 2007.


10/7/07- This picture of Frosty and her 2007 smoky black silver filly Positively Charmed under the rainbow was taken by fellow artist Lesli Kathman at Saturday's 20th Annual Southern Model Horse Convention held here at the farm. SouthCon began in 1988 as a unique way to promote the Morgan Horse amongst model horse hobbyists, and it has helped make many converts to the breed since. Visit the SouthCon website for pictures and more information on the show.


October 2007- Frosty at Greg and Charlene Cook's Edgefield Morgans, Goshen IN where she will be bred to the buckskin Sunup Neptune son, Edgefield Sun Gold, in 2008.  On the right she is meeting HCTF Catch the Storm, Char's grulla mare. Photos courtesy of Mary Kay Longacre.


August 31, 2008- Char has started Frosty under saddle and here they are on her first ride outdoors. In the second picture, Frosty looks more interested in the grass... which would be typical ;-) Frosty will be having a late March 2009 foal by Char's pretty Sunup Neptune son, Edgefield Sun Gold. Watch this space!


Frosty and Char on another ride, October 2008. Photo by Mary Kay Longacre.


April 2009: Frosty and her 2009 buckskin silver filly, Edgefield Vermeil, at one week old. Photo courtesy of Charlene Cook.


Frosty and her month-old buckskin silver filly, Edgefield Vermeil aka "Maddie", taken on my visit to Edgefield Morgans, Saturday May 9, 2009. Frosty and Maddie look super, don't they? As did all the Edgefield Morgans! Thank you Char for your excellent care of Frosty! I enjoyed the visit!


July 2009: I think this picture of a sleepy Frosty resting her chin on her 3 month old- who's nearly as big as she is! is just hilarious. Proof that you CAN get size from a "pony mare"! And it's not that Sonny is a real big boy either- genes are just funny things. Well my vet says that Frosty is a "horse sized body on pony sized legs". That about sums it up. Both of her parents are bigger than she is. It will be interesting to see how big her future foals are.


September 2009- Frosty has arrived at Candi Rousseau's Tocara Farm in the Motherland of the Morgan, Vermont. Frosty wasted no time- she was bred and is in foal to Candi's grulla stallion, River Jordan (who was bred right here in GA!) for August 2010.


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Back to Brookridge Morgans home page

Learn more about the very rare silver dapple gene at the Silver Dapple Morgans Project.

 
To learn more about color in the Morgan breed, visit the Morgan Colors website.


Click here to join the
Morgan Colors group



Jim and Laura Behning
75 Glass Spring Rd.
Covington, GA 30014
(770) 385-1240
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