A young Barbara Matthews and Idle Hour Belinda, an ambassador for the Morgan breed. Credit Howard Schatzberg
Growing up in Colts Neck, New Jersey, almost halfway between Manhattan and Philadelphia, Barbara Matthews (nee Woodruff) was dreaming about horses. At the age of seven, she entered a contest sponsored by the Edsel Car Company and won a pony and a saddle.
Barbara named the black pony Fury, after one of her favorite books. She kept Fury at her grandparents’ nearby farm. Barbara learned to ride by staying on Fury when he tried to buck her off. He lived to be 33 years old. When raising her own daughter, Christine, Fury was Christine’s first pony to ride.
When Barbara outgrew Fury, she took hunt seat lessons at a nearby barn, and learned to jump. Her parents leased one of the barn’s horses, so Barbara was able to compete at local schooling shows and gymkhanas.
At a gymkhana, Barbara watched people drive ponies, so she taught Fury how to drive.
When Barbara married Tom Matthews in 1969, he enjoyed restoring carriages. The beauty of Morgan horses caught both their eyes, and they bought a Lippitt-bred mare to drive. Their daughter, Christine, was born the following year.
During this transition into Morgans, the Matthews met Harry and Carolyn Sebring, and Mike Goebig. With Harry’s help, they bought Black River Bravo in 1982. Barbara showed him in English pleasure and pleasure driving.
Then they bought Idle Hour Belinda. “She was a great ambassador for the Morgan breed,” Barbara said. “She did whatever I asked her to do, and I showed her in western pleasure and even hunter paces. Christine rode her in junior exhibitor English pleasure classes. We both won a lot in the mid-Atlantic area shows.”
Since day one, other than lessons from time to time, Barbara has done all the training with her horses. They had a small three-stall barn in Colts Neck with a paddock and turnout area. Barbara was able to drive horses on dirt roads around the farm and through the woods.
In 1987, they bought a 15-acre farm called Village Farm in Crosswicks, NJ, from a Standardbred trainer. There was a six-stall barn and a jogging track on the farm. A few of the boarders kept their horses with Barbara, and this is how she was introduced to Standardbreds. She took to driving them naturally, and really enjoyed it.
Bred Richest Standardbred
Barbara also enjoyed breeding Standardbreds and raising foals. When one was good enough, she would enter it in a race and take it to the track and hire a catch driver for the race. She also rented a stall at an area training center so she could train her own pacers. One of her early success stories as a breeder was Loose Change Boy. He would race during the week and come home on weekends to be turned out and relax.
One of Barbara’s Standardbred mares produced Foiled Again in 2005, who went on to be the richest horse in harness racing history. He won lots as a young horse, then a new owner and trainer gelded him, and he went on to pacing greatness. Foiled Again won 63 times in his career with earnings of $7.6 million.
The Matthews followed his career and his induction into the Harness Racing Museum Hall of Fame last year.
Barbara’s interest in Morgans continued, specifically mares who could be used as broodmares after their show careers had ended. After Belinda passed away, she bought Willorock Sable in 2001. She showed Sable in English and classic pleasure and driving, and the mare produced one foal for her. Born the same year as Foiled Again, the Morgan colt was named Floored. Barbara sold him to a client of Mike Goebig and Dwayne Knowles’ of Broadmoor in Kutztown, PA. The gelding went on to win both the World Three-Year-Old and World Four-Year-Old English Pleasure Championships, plus two Morgan Grand National titles in the English Pleasure division, with owner Tara Good in the saddle.
Barbara’s next challenging adventure was into the world of Saddlebreds. In 2002, she purchased CH Five Minutes More, and showed him in three-gaited show pleasure for the next eight years. “He was the love of my life,” Barbara said. “He did everything I asked of him, and we showed all over, including Devon and Children’s Benefit.”
She also had great success with CH Harlems Jamaican in the country pleasure division. And Barbara’s name is associated with another dozen Saddlebreds in the winner’s circle.
At the Children’s Benefit Show, Barbara was exposed to the road horse to bike and saddle divisions. She found another venue for her Standardbreds. She continues to compete with Magical Beginnings in Roadster to Bike classes.
Full of passion, talent and desire, Barbara bought a training center of her own in 2002 in Allentown, NJ. The Ridge is 42-acres with barns, half mile track, paddocks and a therapeutic swimming pool. They swim approximately 35 horses a day. The center has stabled up to 88 horses at a time.
And just last year, Barbara bought a Morgan gelding, Circus Boy CH. She showed him a few times in Classic Pleasure Driving, but found out the gelding and her daughter, Christine, are the perfect match. They have won two classic pleasure driving championships so far this year under the direction of Dwayne Knowles and Mike Goebig of Broadmoor.
Even though Barbara is approaching retirement age, that word is not in her vocabulary, even though she is involved in a very physically demanding industry. ”I hope to keep doing what I’m doing with horses for as long as I can,” Barbara said. “I enjoy working with the newborn foals in the spring, and I still want to find another Morgan or Saddlebred to compete with in pleasure driving.”