Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-09-11
The Myth of the Morgan Horse.

Woodstock Spirit of the Age
There never was a breed of Morgan
horses; and there are not any horses
of the sO-Called Morgan breed now.
There was developed, about one hun
dred years ago, in New England
chiefly, a rather well-recognized type
of horse. He was not large, but was
well-shaped, with small head, large
chest. clean action and tremendous
stamina. This type. developed during
the eighteenth century, getting its
best blood from Arab importation and
its endurance from the hardships of
a pioneer civilization. which caused
natural selection of horses as well as
men. This New England type had
been in existence for nearly half a
century when Mr. Justin Morgan of
Randolph, Vt. took very good speci-
men of it and tried to establish spe-
cial breed. His horse did have great
popularity and numerous descend
ants; but, according to Mr.. John Gil
mer Speed in the the Century Maya
zine, they were no different from the
type of horse then well developed and
widely spread through New England.
The Morgan horse was general type,
not a special breed.
This view is not likely to be popular
in Vermont. and especially in Wind
sor county. where Justin Morgan
did his best work. According to Mr..
Allan w. Thompson. in his " History
Of Windsor County the Morgan stall
lion was for two years O79S to 1900
in Woodstock. being then owned by
Mr.. William Rice. one time sheriff of
the county. There is some doubt
about this; but it is quite certain that
he was in Woodstock in 1913. Ac-
cOrding 10 the same authority" Justin
/ Morgan was fcaled in 1883, and was
thus - years old when he was last in
! this town. Several of Justin Nor
/ gan's descendants We're kept at
/ Wood notably Woodbury. and
| Woodbury's best sons. Old Clifford and
| Old Green Mountain Morgan. SO that
/ Woodstock horses at one time had a
/ large amount OF the Justin Morgan -
/ blood. Up TO about 1860 the so-called
/ Morgan horse was very popular in
/ Vermont. so much so that in the
eastern part of the state nearly all the
/ horses were believed to have some of
the original blood.
Mr.. Thompson. however, in his in
teresting pamphlet already referred
to. gives an incident which shows the
Indebtedness of the type, as well as
of the breed at that time. In 1852, at
the second state fair held in Rutland.
there was the usual grand cavalcade,
and two rival sets of owners were
present, one with the Black Hawks
and the other with the Morgans.
There was. says Mr. Thompson, a
plain difference in the looks, shape,
size. color and travel OF the two
breeds 90: yet both sides called the
Black Hawks Morgans.'
The Morrill, horses, once a popular
breed here. were also called Morgans,
although they were of an essentially
different type
The horse-history of eastern Yer
mont shows that while for a period
of 20 or 80 years everything had 10
give way to Morgans yet during and
after this time at least half dozen
new breeds or crosses We're intro
duced, such as the Morrill,, the Black
Hawk. Ethan Allen-Lambert, Clay
and Hambletonian, besides minor
strains, such as Blazing Star and
Tally-ho.
The Morgan type was not suitable
for trotting races, and about lS5O II
became unpopular. Various trotting
strains were introduced III ltS place
and in the last 40 years no serious
and effective attempts have been made
to popularize the Morgan.
1t seems TO be pretty well agreed
both by Mr.. Speed and Mr.. Thomp
son. that the type was crowded out
and is now practically extinct II
may be possible to bring it up again
but the horse is too small for the
cities, and for coaching, and it is toe
slow for the track. Its merit lies il
its value as a country road horse. II
is the ideal animal for this state, but
the racing passion of our farmers
killed ii and, we fear, forever