 Carole Thoms grew up with a love for horses. As a young girl her first horse was a grade Pinto name Glory B, that while had not been recommended to her by the horse dealer she and her parents bought her from, started what would become a long time involvement with horses. In the early 1960's Carole bought her first registered Morgan, Pandora Mildann (Major Mildann X Nancita Mildann). She is pictured at the left as a three year old at the UVM Morgan Horse Farm in Vermont. Pandy had been hauled there by the family mustang to be bred to UVM Flash, producing the first Skyloft prefixed foal, Skyloft Poseidon(1968). Other early purchases included Linsleys Lassie, and Linsleys Laddie. In 1966, Lassie was the NY Yearling Futurity Champion. So began a legacy along with a history of Futurity Champions. To see a more detailed account of many of the horses produced from the 1960's through today, visit them on the HISTORY page. Carole bred many outstandng Morgans that many times sold as weanlings. The few that stayed longer, sold quickly after debuting in the performance arena. Carole was involved for many years with the NYSMHS, earning the Silver Horse Shoe Award and also managed the NY Morgan Show in the 1970's.  Carole's oldest daughter Jennifer grew up with a love (and addiction!) to this wonderful breed of horses. As a youngster she showed leadline, and eventually the farm's senior breeding stallion Saddleback Sonalect. Jennifer worked with the farm horses, in addition to working several years at BelCrest Sport Morgans in Churchville, NY. Following the tradition of producing great Skyloft horses, Jennifer started out right with Skyloft Forget Me Not (Longview Gallant X Skyloft Cameo). This mare became a very talented western mare under her guidance, in addition to a hunter pleasure mount both on the flat and over fences. She was sold and became a highly competitive Carriage horse. In 2001, Skyloft re-intered the halter arena. The weanlings Skyloft Seduction (Carlyle Coalition X Skyloft Cameo) and Skyloft Captivation (Carlyle Coalition X Skyloft Forget Me Not) proved to be strong competitors. As yearlings in 2002 they earned a multitude of halter titles, ending with the NYSMHS and Penn-Ohio High Point and Reserve High Point halter awards (respectively) for 2002. The 2003 colt Skyloft Intimidator (Carlyle Coalition X Skyloft Cameo) placed 3rd out of 17 in his NY Breeders Sweepstakes class, again showing the success of the Skyloft program. Two generations of breeders, and going on five generations of outstanding Morgans! Having grown up learning from many exceptional horses, peers and mentors, Jennifer has developed a wonderful quality of training her own horses, clients and some occasional outside horses. Present day she is enjoying her Amateur status and does not accept outside horses or students. Jennifer currently works full time for Norway Savings Bank, and also supports some of her equine habits with her art work from the Attitudes by Design studio she has at home. All this and she also makes time to serve as a Southern Director on the Board of the Maine Morgan Horse Club, and on the Maine Morgan Show Committee.  In January of 2005 Jennifer made the move from Rochester, NY to Southern Maine with horses in tow to join Ben Hartwell at his family owned farm in Gorham, Maine. In July of 2005 Ben and Jenn were married, followed by his deployment to Iraq. Ben returned home in April of 2006. He is still with the Army National Gaurd and was recently promted to Sargeant. Ben is pursuing his goals of raising a premier grass-fed beef product, promoting sustainable agriculture, as well as sound and healthy farming pactices. Ben has his Associates from Cobelskill, and his Bachelors in Animal Science from Cornell University and currently works for Capricorn Products Inc. Ben also was elected in January 2008 as VP of the Maine Grass Farmers Network, in addition to already serving on the Board of Directors for the Cumberland County Farm Bureau and the Cumberland County Extension Executive Board. Other than his grass-fed operation, Ben enjoys taking Skyloft Seduction out to work cows and is looking forward to also working with his coming 2 year old Paint gelding, Dolces In Town.
After a couple crazy years of moving, marriage, and deployment, the Skyloft breeding program is resuming once again... |
