Aljak Acres began in 1977 when our family moved to Grass Lake from our home in the city of Ann Arbor. Having grown up on farms, Al and I did not want our sons to be raised in the city. Jeff and Ken had already shown great interest in horses, having inherited what we call "the horse gene", and Al was willing to help with the hard work involved with horses.

Our first equine was a little pony named Peanuts, followed by a half pony/half Morgan called Snoopy. Since these were quickly outgrown we moved a step closer to our dream of having Morgans when on our umteenth visit to Bob and Eide Houck and their son David, of Windmill Acres, we purchased a 19 year old mare, Kane's Debonette (Kane's Jon-Bar-K X Miller's Debutante) who was in foal to Irish Senator. Jeff showed the mare in 4-H and we started on our path to breeding Morgans that appealed to kids and adults because of their friendly nature, beauty and reliability. Jubilee Queen Ann (King Latigo x Comanche Rose) soon joined our little herd as Ken's 4-H horse and a broodmare. Then we leased Mair's Georgy Girl (Cursarius X Riverbend's Babe) as a broodmare. Only thing was she was a show horse and she knew it. She catapulted us into the class A show world.

Then Jeff needed a tall horse to fit him so Wilcharn Elegante (Helicon Helios X Kane's Powder Puff) was purchased from Bill and Charlotte Hudson. He was a young horse in need of training, thus starting our interconnection to Lori Nelson Beasley, which continues to this day. Jeff and Ken each worked for her and now years later she gives instruction to Ken's children and his oldest daughter Myriah has groomed for her at shows too. Jeff did the advanced training on Elegante and went on to win many awards in 4-H and Morgan shows including Youth of the Year for Michigan. Both Jeff and Ken became trainers in show barns while in college.

It was in December of 1992, while Ken was training out of our barn, that he went to an auction and ended up the highest bidder on the consignment by Kelli Ross - an embryo from Century Free Spirit and Liberation Starbrite being carried by a surrogate mare. Knowing that Liberation First Star, the full brother to this embryo, was a dark bay, imagine our surprise when Aljaks Double Whammy - a chestnut with so much white - appeared! Joan Lurie recognized his potential however and took him to the Breeders Sweepstakes in September of 1993. The night he won the Sweepstakes was one of the most exciting nights ever for us. That was the beginning of many friendships we have gained over the years as we have stood Whammy at stud. We always say the nicest people breed to Whammy and buy our foals!

Whammy is our kind of guy - producing beautiful but sensible offspring with that look at me attitude right from birth. We are so thankful to our Creator for Whammy and all the opportunities he and his offspring have brought us.
-Allan and Janice Martin