Happy Friday! In honor of maple sugaring season, here is a Friday Flashback that speaks of a Lippitt Morgan’s participation:
A Farm News piece from 1991.
Stan & Sally Achey, Moonridge Farm, Middletown Springs, Vermont
Spring is a busy time of year at Moonridge Farm – the process of making maple syrup requires hours of work. This year, the season started early. We were in the middle of gathering sap, and still tapping trees when it came time for the Governor’s Tree Tapping Event. Each year, the governor taps a tree to “officially open” the maple season. This is Vermont’s bicentennial year and a special ceremony was planned. In addition to the current Governor, the tapping was to be done by a representative of the Vermont Maple Producers, who would be in costume as Thomas Chittenden, the state’s first governor. Our assignment was to provide “Thomas Chittenden” a ride to the official tree in a horse-drawn vehicle.
March 11th turned out to be a rather typical early March day, cold wind and all. We arrived at the village green in Fair Haven to a scene of bygone days. Huge kettles of sap boiling over open fires. A team of oxen were pulling a gathering tank on a sled. People in colonial costumes milled about. Into the middle of this, Stan drove our mare, Covenant Knightngale (Meredith Knight x Covenant Kara Moro).
Gale wasn’t used to gather sap this year, since the incident of “Indiana Achey” and his break-away sap wagon last summer had left the gathering wagon in disrepair (but that’s another story). She was clearly pleased to be out and on display. Stan had driven around the green, posed for pictures, and was waiting for the ceremony, when the school buses arrived.
At least a hundred, (or so it seemed), elementary school children got out of the buses, formed into a swarm, and started for Gale. She stood like a statue, and let ever child that wanted to pet her and talk to her. “What’s her name?” “What kind of horse is she?” “Is she friendly?” We answered the same questions over and over. One boy who had already spent much time with us remarked, “I think you’re getting more attention than the Governor!” Gale did her part of the ceremony proudly, waited calmly, and was then driven off. It had taken time in the middle of our busy season, but it was a good opportunity to show off the Lippitt Morgan. In their thank you note to us, the Maple Producers said, “the appearance of your Morgan horse created a feeling of dignity and pleasure.”
Farm news from Stan & Sally Achey, Moonridge Farm. Published in the Lippitt Club News Vol. XVIII, No. 3; May/June 1991, p. 10-11.
(Page admin’s note: Photo of Covenant Knightngale’s sire, Meredith Knight, from Dave Carr’s collection. If anyone has a photo of Knightngale, we’d love to see it!)
