Meet Hark

In July of 2000 we were looking for a young Morgan horse to add to our little herd of three other Morgans. This was before YouTube, Facebook and websites so we contacted owners and breeders throughout the US and Canada and had them send us VHS videos of their sale horses. Oh what beautiful horses we enjoyed watching on those videos! It was a hard decision but I was leaning toward a lovely two year old bay stallion. So we gathered a group of friends and had a Video Viewing Party – with carrot cake of course! After the viewing, everyone was to vote by secret ballot. The decision was unanimous – it was decided that the lovely two year old bay stallion, HD Harkness, would become a member of our family.

Hark is a Breyer model horse! The first question we always get is. "How did he become a Breyer model horse?!" First, meet Hark, then I'll let you know how that happened.

HD Harkness (Hark) is a Morgan horse. He was born in 1998 at Hearts Delight Farm (that's the HD in his name) in Chazy, New York. This is Hark as a weanling at Heart's Delight Farm in New York. All of the horses born there are named after cities in New York. Can you find Harkness, NY on a map?

This is the barn Hark was born in. It was built in 1906 by William Miner. Heart's Delight Farm was developed on William Miner's family homestead in Chazy beginning in 1903. By 1918, the farm had grown to 12,000 acres and had over 300 buildings! Today, the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute is a manifestation of the philosophy and principles once embodied by William Miner at Heart's Delight Farm.

Our journey from Michigan to pick up Hark foretold the type of horse he would become: stoic, brave, energetic and trustworthy. Since we were heading to such a wonderful destination, we arranged a few side trips. Our children will still tell anyone that we tried to kill them when we went on the jet boats and braved the rapids of the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. We survived, and much like our ability to survive, Hark has proven that nothing fazes him either. On the way home from New York, we were stuck on a bridge in Toronto during a tornado warning. The horse trailer rocked terribly in the wind and we feared that poor Hark would panic and get injured and probably never want to get in a trailer again. When the storm died down, we got out to check on him and he was quietly and happily munching his hay. No storm was going to keep him from enjoying a road trip to some awesome new destination! To this day when he sees the horse trailer with the doors open he starts nickering and whinnying; it’s all we can do to hold him back! For several years he was the leader in our local Michigan Morgan horse parade unit. He had to go through Detroit Mounted Police horse training and was the only horse to pass on the first day. NOTHING fazed him…absolutely nothing!

When Hark got home and settled in we gelded him and started his training. He was driving in no time; he was the easiest horse ever to train to drive! A year later we were riding. His love was driving though. We showed him at dressage shows under saddle and enjoyed driving him at Carriage Pleasure Driving shows, picnic drives, and many, many other events and exhibitions. His love was driving though. During a dressage lesson, a well known international trainer told us, “You’ll have the fastest dressage test of the day. And that’s not a good thing!” So driving it was for Hark. He was/is truly the energizer bunny! Several years ago, at the age of 19, we were lunging him at a show early in the morning before the show started. The man in the stall next to us wanted to know if he was a four year old.

Over the years, Hark has brought home ribbons from shows in New York, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Michigan. It doesn’t matter what carriage we use, he looks magnificent with all of our carriages and he’s a crowd favorite with his “look at me” attitude. His good looks even garnered him the privilege of being the poster boy for the CAA driving show and the AMHA web site Pleasure Driving page. He is always a joy and pleasure to drive!

At home Hark is the head of the herd – in a nice way. All he has to do is give the other horses "a look"and the message is loud and clear, “this is my gate, my pasture, my hay – well - my everything!” If a leaf blows across the paddock and terrifies the other horses, Hark stands between them and the horrifying leaf and snorts at it to let them know they need not fear!

It makes sense that Hark is the author of the prequel, Hark! Follow My Hoofbeats and also the first book in the Hoofbeats Through History series, No Nan to Romans, because he is, as always, leading the way.

Hark has served as ambassador for the Morgan breed and promoter of Carriage Pleasure Driving at more events than I can count. To Hark of course, this means humans with treats! He loves the attention. Even our dog, Jingles, joins in the fun that Hark provides.

In 2022 we were contacted by Breyer - they wanted to know if they could make a model of Hark. The theme for BreyerFest in 2023 was going to be Driving Forward, featuring driving horses, and somehow they found Hark and wanted to make a model of him. It's all very hush, hush and they will never tell you how they found your horse; I think that adds to the magic of it all! Hark led the life of a rock star at BreyerFest. When he left his stall to go for a walk little girls would run after him and call out, "That's HD Harkness!" THOUSANDS of people from all over the world came by his stall to meet him. He relished in all of it. During his photo shoot with the models he posed like a pro. Since BreyerFest, he has made appearances at Horse Expos and events all over the US. He never ceases to amaze us with how quietly he stands while people pet him, hug him, kiss him and pose for pictures with him. he has even been known to smile for a picture when asked!

Hark is a one in a million horse. We are blessed to be his humans and love him so very much.