Old Lyme — For decades, Mary Jean Vasiloff welcomed people onto McCulloch Farm on Whippoorwill Road to learn about Morgan horses.

From open barn weekends to horse clubs, she educated people about her Whippoorwill Morgans and taught young people the fundamentals of how to care for horses. 

"She wanted to share her love and passion of the Morgan horse," said Denise Goucher, an Old Lyme resident and one of the first members of Vasiloff's Morgan horse club.

Vasiloff, 86, died last month in Old Lyme, after a battle with cancer, said her son, Christ Vasiloff.

Over the course of her career, she bred more than 500 Morgan horses, a breed known for their intelligence and sensitivity to people, he said. 

Vasiloff leaves behind a legacy of preserving Morgans of the original design, he said. Vasiloff was one of a very small group of breeders that kept the old breed in form and fought against a trend in the '50s and '60s to bring in other types of horses to make them more showy.

McCulloch Farm's open barn weekends, held twice a year, attracted more than 500 people each day, he said. Vasiloff also believed in the versatility of the Morgan horses and would host one-day events that featured at least 25 different classes, he said. She was also deeply involved in youth promotion.

"She was constantly educating and promoting what was going on with the horses," he said.

Taylor Goucher, Denise's daughter who began going to McCulloch Farm in third grade, learned from Vasiloff how to take care of them before riding them. She and another girl, Meredith Chamberlain, who learned from Vasiloff are now in veterinary school.

"We were just really included in everything," said Taylor, who is in her first year of veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania. "I think that was really powerful to spark our interest at such a young age."

Taylor recalls that when she was in sixth grade a mare she loved was about to foal. She slept for 12 nights in a row outside the stall in the barn at McCulloch Farm. The night the mare finally foaled, Vasiloff gave Taylor the rare opportunity to go into the stall and towel off the baby.

"I notice more being in veterinary school that a lot of people were raised riding horses and showing, but nobody had the experience I did, and I think that's really special," she said.

Denise Goucher said Vasiloff instilled confidence in young people by teaching them and then allowing them to work with the horses on their own.

Vasiloff's parents first bought land on Whippoorwill Road in the 1920s and ran a camp for inner-city youths to experience the outdoors. They later operated a dairy farm, her son said.

In 2000, Vasiloff and her family protected about 434 acres of more than 500 acres of land, with a conservation easement held by the Nature Conservancy.

Vasiloff became interested in Morgan horses and bred her first horse at age 15, her son said.

She continued breeding the horses for decades. A few years ago, McCulloch Farm transitioned to focus on boarding horses, rather than breeding them, a decision that came as the horse market bottomed out and Vasiloff was also in her 80s, said her son.

About two years ago, the farm took in about 17 horses when the roof of a barn in Lyme collapsed. The horses now stay at the farm along with about a half dozen Whippoorwill Morgans.

Christ said his niece and nephew will inherit the farm, and it will remain a horse facility at least for the next five to 10 years, while the family will also explore supplemental businesses for the farm.

Vasiloff wrote the 1978 book "Alone with Your Horse" and had been named the American Morgan Horse Association's Woman of the Year, served as the association's director, and was inducted into the association's Breeder's Hall of Fame, her obituary states.  

The American Morgan Horse Association posted a tribute for Vasiloff on its website: "Few people have [had] as lasting an impact on the Morgan breed and its promotion than Mary Jean, who marked nearly 70 years of breeding Morgan horses. ... "

"Mary Jean dedicated as much hard work to breeding as she has to Morgan promotion, most prominently with her Versatility Days. ... Through the years, Mary Jean introduced and educated countless people about the breed who have in turn become Morgan horse owners," the tribute continued.

Ina M. Ish began breeding Morgan horses in North Carolina from horses bred in Old Lyme by Vasiloff. Ish said Vasiloff wrote articles and photographed horses and gained her vast knowledge from experience, studying, and going around to different barns to observe different horses and bloodlines.

Anytime Ish had a question about the Morgans, she knew who to ask.

"I called Mary Jean, and she had the answer every time," Ish said. "She was such a warm-hearted, generous woman."

"She handled them with supreme confidence, and they all respected and responded to her beautifully," Ish added about Vasiloff's relationship to the Morgan horses.

Vasiloff told The Day in 2012 that she loved the connection she had with the Morgan horses.

"The relationship I have with them is what I enjoy," she said. "They greet you lovingly."

k.drelich@theday.com