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You can trace the Lucine connection with the
Morgan horse back to Janey's early years. Born Mary Jane Lawson in
Flushing, NY, the family moved before she was a year old to the
Midwest and eventually settled in Springfield, Illinois.
Janey's mother was the horse person, and Janey remembers, “She used
to ride Calvary horses every Saturday out at the fairgrounds and
gave lessons.” Janey believes that's how she met the Greenwalts.
They would go to the Greenwalts’ farm almost every weekend, and
Janey's brother, Howard, worked for them. Janey said, “That was my
introduction to Morgans, and year after year, we all had fun.”
This time in Janey's life marked the beginning of a lifelong
friendship with the Greenwalts, and in later years when she was
breeding Morgans, she'd look to their Brunk bloodlines.
In her teenage years, Janey's family moved east, and Helen Greenwalt
sent Janey to her sister, Grace Brunk Woods, to ride with her - all
hunt seat and big horses. Janey was enlisted to help with the lesson
program. Later Janey went off to school and became a Registered
Nurse. It was shortly after that she met Dr. Lucine.
Janey and Suzy
They married in 1953, and Al’s father gave the
couple Squire Penn, a Morgan stallion, as a wedding gift. It was the
elder Dr. Lucine who helped his son build their first barn on their
property in Penn Valley, outside of Philadelphia.
Janey had been riding for Squire Penn’s previous
owner (who also owned a Morgan stallion, Rocky Bon, at that same
time), and remembers that Squire was “just everything that I wanted
in a Morgan. He had disposition galore…he was extremely well
made…and had a lot of motion.” Janey showed him in Parade and Park
classes, and the pair did extremely well.
Around this time, the couple also started their family with Suzanne
and then Betty Jane. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Lucine established his
private medical practice in the suburbs, and the family moved to
Chester County. Both girls enjoyed the horses as much as their Mom,
and Janey remembers putting the girls on Squire for many of their
first riding experiences. “The kids used to slide off Squire’s rump
and hang on his mane, and you truthfully could do anything with
him,” Janey said. Later it would be Squire's daughters that Janey's
girls would ride and show successfully.
Roadster to Saddle was one of Janey's favorite classes. She and Don
Long (one of our New York members), along with Dayton Sumner, would
partner showing the Longs’ stallion, Lord Linsley - with Janey
taking over the Roadster to Saddle duties.
Sugarstone was the registered prefix for the
Lucines’ Morgans, and Janey says her plans always were for a “very
modest program…if at all.” The Sugarstone name came from their home
at the time in Sugartown, and a barn that was made of stone.
Janey did most of the work with her horses, and if professionals
were needed, it was Mike Goebig and Tom Caisse to whom she turned to
saying, “They've got some of the best hands I’ve seen” and “it makes
a difference riding one of their horses.”
Other favorite horses that she's had include Squire's Delite, of
whom she said, “She'd go all day long if you asked.” After a
successful career as an open and amateur park saddle horse, Delite
ended up being a “tremendous cross country horse.” Nighty Nite,
Fancy B, Windy Hill Beamsong (who Janey owned for a time) and
Pinehaven Sparkle were also favorites.
Janey believes what makes Morgans special are “their intelligence,
their disposition and …they're just an all-in-one package. Morgans
have so much go power…and so much to give…and they do!”
Based on her contributions over the years (many-times by Dr.
Lucine's side at meetings and shows), Janey was recognized in 1999
when she was inducted into the AMHA Hall of Fame, and in 2001, with
the AMHA Cecil Brown Memorial Sportsmanship Award.
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