The Story Behind EMR Morgans
A family affair that is rich in the history of ranching and Morgans in Montana tells its stories
By Ed Radtke
Ed Radtke was raised on a cattle ranch at Hall located in western Montana. The mountains there are very rugged and timbered. Each summer he and his family pasture their cows and calves in these mountains. The horses they use had to be strong both mentally and physically to handle treacherous terrain. Because of these demands, breeding a horse for this purpose has been a generational endeavor.
Both of Ed’s grandfathers were horsemen. Grandpa Atwell was a noted teamster in Granite county where he ranched. Atwell’s team was noted for their ability to pull heavy loads when other teams had given up. Ed’s paternal grandfather, F.E. Radtke, raised registered Per- cherons in North Dakota. Grandfa- ther Radtke had two stallions he took state-wide breeding mares every spring. He crossed these stallions on Morgan mares and raised many fine horses. These horses were used for farming, under saddle and light driving.
In 1936 Ed’s father Marvin Radtke moved to Montana to find work during the depression. Marvin started working on local ranches in the summer and in mines in the winter. During this time he married the Al- berta Atwell, a daughter of local rancher. Shortly after, they pur- chased a ranch from the infamous feuding Dooley clan, but that’s an- other story. This same year they had their second child, Ed. Ed always said it was the very best year they had.
A neighboring rancher of Marvin’s was Hans Koefoed. Hans had emi- grated from Denmark when he was nineteen and liked quality horses for both draft and saddle. Hans rode a part Morgan that weighed around thirteen hundred pounds called Brownie. This horse wore a size three shoe and Hans liked to say he never tied a rope on anything Brownie could not pull. Hans owned a very large ranch and needed quali- ty cow horses. He wanted a horse that would go from early morning until dark and at times longer. These horses needed to be fifteen hands or more with short backs, a good mind and good cow sense. To fill these requirements, Hans purchased a Morgan colt from Bill Jackson who was a noted Montana Morgan breed- er. This colt was a solid bay named Luzan. Luzan was by Juzan by Jubilee King and out a mare that went back to Revere and Chief Bugler. Bill Jackson had purchased Juzan from the JC Brunk ranch.
Luzan was an excellent ranch horse who could with stand the mountainous terrain, and move and sort cattle with ease. His easy temperament allowed him to be transported in a stock truck along side mares and geldings. Luzan was so quick cutting cattle he threw a local cowboy off with one of his turns.
Hans never raised any registered Morgans and his sole desire was to have good stock horses. Luzan fulfilled this purpose by producing wonderful stock horses from a wide variety of mares. Ed worked for Hans starting many of these horses for him; his favorite being the Morgan crosses to work with that were out of three albino mares. The crosses were a brilliant copper color, excellent in the mountains and had abundant cow sense.
Luzan was purchased by Marvin at Hans’ estate sale. During this time period Marvin purchased a mare, Leota, by Red Racer from Ann Hays. Ed purchased her filly, Kootenie Madie’s Girl who was by Madie Canfield by Mansfield. This was the foundation of Moana and EMR breeding programs and the start of a life long dream for both Marvin and Ed.
Madie’s Girl was a very good mountain horse, tough as nails and one you could ride from early morning until dark. Ed says the only way he got Valerie to marry him was by telling her he would give her this mare. Forty one years later he still thinks he got the best of the deal, however don’t ask what Valerie thinks. Madie’s Girl’s progeny are still in the EMR breeding program.
After Luzan, Marvin purchased Joe Daly, by Domino Joe. This stallion crossed on Luzan’s offspring added more size to the horses while still retaining the easy training ability. Joe Daly introduced Flyhawk bloodline into their Jubilee King breeding program. This is called the golden cross of Morgan world.
In 1989, Ed and Valerie purchased Iron Forge Starman, from Pruett and Sherrie Helm. Starman, is by Something Blue by HVK Santana and out of Cambridge Suzy Q who had 17 crosses to Jubilee King. This revived the Jubilee King blood in the EMR breeding program. While Starman was not purchased for a sport horse, Sally Radtke-Anderson trained and competed him successfully to Grand Prix. He has taken Ed and Valerie’s horses to a new level of trainability and has proven to be a wonderful asset.
For over 50 years, Ed has moved cattle many miles and rode for long hours and still does. He has ridden alongside Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Arabians and crosses of all kind and has never been left behind, followed anyone or felt out horsed on his Morgans. In Ed’s humble opinion, or maybe not so humble, Morgans can do it all with the best of them. Ed says he has now become a professional stall cleaner.
EMR Morgans’ junior stallion, Flower of Alliance will be adding Flyhawk once again into the breeding program. He is Caduceus bred and a great grandson of Wyoming Flyhawk.
After leasing their cattle ranch at Hall to their two sons, Valerie and Ed have moved to Bigfork, Montana. They, along with their daughter Sally, now focus entirely on raising Morgans and have found the horses they bred for ranch work are well suited for the sporthorse world. EMR Morgans have been sold for trail, working cattle, jumping, dressage, driving and just equine partners.