When I first mentioned to fellow club members the possibility of a New York State Morgan Horse Society "Storytelling Project" it was almost without exception that Claire Murphy was named as someone you'd like to hear more about. And it's no wonder... consider this:

In our NYSMHS yearbook for 1961, Claire is listed with her two lovely mares - Orcland Youlenda and Donna Mae Pepper. This makes Claire a member for over 44 years!
By my count, using the AMHA 2003 registry CD, there have been over 188 horses listed with the Fiddler's or Fiddler prefix (and as an aside, do you know that Claire often used the NY Times entertainment section to pick names!)
When looking at the lineage of the fabulous stallions offered in our 2006 NYSMHS Stallion Service Auction, there are 7 different studs that have a Fiddler's horse listed on their pedigree
At one time or another, Fiddler's Green Farm was home to Wasseka's In Command, Kadenvale Don, Wasseka's Vivo and Fiddler's Trustee.

Claire's legacy to us are her beautiful Morgans, a bloodline that with her daughter Janie, she's devoted much of her lifetime to developing.

I have to admit that I was intimidated about approaching Claire, but before I worked up the courage to make the call I received a package in the mail - an old NYSMHS Directory. In it was a short note and an invitation to visit with Claire.

On September 4th, I hoped for an hour or two of Claire's time. Six hours later (and it felt like 15 minutes) I left with 90 minutes of video tape, wonderful stories, and a handful of photos. What follows will only scratch the surface, and quite selfishly I'll call it "the early days" with the ulterior motive being a return visit!

I'm sure I'll never do justice to telling the story of Fiddler's Green - but I hope it's a start!

Enjoy,

Part 1. She wanted to be a Rockette!

Claire was born in Brooklyn - she's very proud that she's a "New Yorker, thru and thru!" She likes to point out that until her early 20's, she'd never been on the other side of the Hudson River. Meeting the love of her life changed that, and after graduating from nursing school, the "City Girl" found herself traveling to San Antonio, Texas, to wed Edward. She then followed him to Germany (Edward was initially a military Doctor.)

Eventually they ended up on Long Island, and with two babies making up the Murphy household Edward thought it would be a good idea to look for a more rural setting to raise the children. There was a practice in Central Square for sale, and Claire, the "City Girl" thought "Times Square, Herald Square...Central Square" and off they went.

Talking with Claire is like reading a great book that you can't put down. With every chapter there's some wonderfully colorful story. For instance, in the house in Central Square...the previous tenant had committed suicide in the attic. When visiting with Claire, her Spanish Irish Mother upon finding out this news told Claire to immediately summon the Priest next door to bless the house, and that "I love you, but I'm leaving tomorrow morning!" The Priest promptly told Claire that having another baby (increasing the child count to 3) would rid the house of any bad spirits.

Shortly after number 4 (all boys) Claire's expecting again - but finally it's a girl. The Janie Murphy that we know and love joins the family. With five young ones Claire's got her hands full, assisting the Doctor, raising the kids - many of us have been there and what have we done? Well of course... it's the perfect time to fall in love with that first Morgan!

Part 2. "We Rocked the World with our Pepper Mares"

That's what Ayelien Richards said of Claire. But first let me back up a bit.

After an early incident with Burros came a "pony" that was actually a yearling colt. That didn't work, so Edward decides it's off to the State Fair to find a horse that Claire can ride. It's over 40 years later, and Claire still remembers the beautiful walking horse "Mexicali Rose." Surely a walking horse would be a perfect mount...NOT! After the horse ran away with Claire they decided that they needed to give the selection of a mount a little more thought.

About that time, Edward came across an article titled "The Horse that Became a Legend" about our Morgans, and originally published in the Reader's Digest magazine. Here's a reprint of the article he most likely read .(500kb download, appx 2 - 4 mins with 56k modem.)

So it's back to the New York State Fair again, to look at the Morgans. At the show, one of our club founders C. W. Rodee, had a gorgeous mare - Donna Mae Pepper was her name and you can see her pedigree here. Claire, as the cliché goes, "fell in love at first sight" and had to have Donna Mae. But it wasn't that easy; it seems that there was another individual who was interested in Donna Mae as well. After some maneuvering, since there was no deposit from the other buyer, the mare became Claire's.

View our video clip of this story in Claire's own words
(1.2MB file 4 - 7 min download on 56k modem)

The other potential buyer - John Lydon - wanted to know who had bought "his horse." From there the great relationship between the Murphy's, John Lydon, and Elizabeth Power of Waseeka's farm began.

Fiddler's Green Farm was as they say "on the map." Do you ever wonder where the Fiddler's Green prefix came from? That was Edward's idea. It seems it's a famous Cavalry Poem. I've posted it here for your pleasure. Or better yet - listen to "Mrs. Fiddler" tell the story. (500k file 2 min download on 56k) modem)

So now you know the "story behind the story." Soon, the mare Orcland Youlenda (Ulendon x Paleface) joined Donna Mae Pepper on the farm.

Here's a quick snapshot of where things went from there:

Donna Mae Pepper had a grand total of 8 foals, the more notable being Fiddler's First (foaled in 1961, by Orcland Leader) "FiFi" was the dam of Fiddler's Showboat. He went on to sire a total of 25 foals including Rake's Progress, and Tedwin Titlist, both exceptional Morgans. Donna also produced Fiddler's Contender, who only sired two foals, but with one of them being Tedwin Topic.

Orcland Youlenda produced 7 babies, one of which was Fiddler's Moonglow (by Waseeka's Vivo.) Moonglow produced Deer Run Command (sire of 82 foals as of 2003) and Deer Run Command produced the beautiful Fiddler's Trustee. Read about Trustee in this feature article (appx. 2MB file, so 7-10 min download on 56k modem) in The Morgan Horse Magazine. This article first appeared in the September 1996 issue of The Morgan Horse magazine. It is reprinted with permission.

And if these two mares and their offspring weren't enough, there were three stallions that we're all familiar with, that at one time called Fiddler's Green home and they were; Suzanne Steele's national champion Ben Don son Kadenvale Don, Waseeka's Vivo (a double grandson of Noctune and triple great grandson of Nocturne's dam Upwey Benn Quietude) and finally Mary DeWitt's Waseeka's In Command. These stallions when crossed with Claire's beautiful mares produced amazing babies.

Claire's come a long way from her days riding Orcland Youlenda. Although she laughed during our visit and claimed that "I don't know bloodlines like the experts do" it's clear that her instinctive choices over the years have made a significant contribution to the breed. Others see that too, and Claire is not only recognized as an AMHA Master, but she's also in the AMHA Hall of Fame.

We're proud to be able to claim her as one of our own! Thanks Claire, from all of us...

*Postscript - the story about Claire and Fiddler's Green is also a story of the love between a mother and her daughter. In the coming months I'm looking forward to sitting with both Claire and Janie to talk about the many experiences Janie had showing the top Morgans of the day. You can look forward to hearing more about that down the road.

On the following pages we're proud to present Claire Murphy's scrapbook. On many of the pages you'll see a link to a short video clip that offers up a commentary related to the photo. I've attempted to keep these clips as small as possible to reduce download time, but in some cases if you are not on a broadband or cable connection the wait time might be a few moments. Trust me, it's worth the wait. Should you have any problems viewing these files, please contact me and I'll try to help.

And now we're privileged to share with you Claire's scrapbook....