Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1903-09-05
Woodstock, w., Sept. s, 1908.
THE MYTH OF THE MORGAN
HORSE.

VOnoC'
There never was breed of Nor
gan horses; and there are not any
horses of the so.called Morgan breed
now. There was developed, about
one hundred years ago, in New Eng
land 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, de-
vcloped during the eighteenth cent
ury, getting its best blood from
Arab importation, and its endurance
from the hardships Of a pioneer civil
lization, which caused a natural Sc
lection of horses as we'll as men.
This New England type had been
in existence for nearly half century
when Mr.. Justin Morgan of Ran.
dolph, VT, took very good speci-
men of it and tried to establish
special breed. His horse did have
great popularity and numerous de-
scendants; but, according to Mr..
John Gilmer Speed in the Century
Magazine, they were no different
from the type of horse then well
developed and widely spread through
New England. The Morgan horse
was a general type, not special
breed.
This view is not likely to be pop
,Iar in Vermont, and especially in
Windsor county, where "Justin Nor
gan" did his best work. According
to Mr.. Allan w. Thompson, in his
''Hlstory of Windsor County," the
Morgan stallion was for two years
(I7oS to 1907 in Woodstock, being
then owned by r.William Rice, one
time sheriff of the county. There is
is some doubt about this; but it is
quite certain that he was in Wood
stock in 1873. According to the
same authority "Justin Morgan" was
foaled in 1850, and was thus "a years
old when he was last in this town.
Several Of "Justin Morgan's" de-
scendants were kept at Woodstock,
NOTABLY Woodbury. and Wood
bury's best sons, Old Clifford and
Old Green Mountain Morgan. So
that Woodstock horses at one time
had 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.. Thomson, however, in his
interesting pamphlet already referred
to, gives an incident which shows the
indcfiniteness of the type, AS we'll as
OF the breed at that time. In 1852,
at the second state lair held in Rut-
land, there was the usual grand cav
alcade, and two rival sets of owners
were present, one with the Black
Hawks and the other with the Nor
gans. There was, says Mr.. Thorn
son, ga plain difference in the looks,
shape, size, color and travel of the
two breeds; yet "both sides called
the Black Hawks Morgans.
The Morrill, horses, once popular
breed here, were also called Nor
gans, although they were of an es-
sentially different type.
The horse-history of eastern Yer.
mont shows that while for period
Of 20 or 80 years everything had to
give way to Morgans vet during
and after this time at least half a
dozen new breeds or crosses We're
introduced, 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 1850 it
became unpopular. Various trotting
strains were introduced in it's place,
and in the last 40 years no serious
and effective attempts have been
made to popularize the Morgan.
1t seems to be pretty we'll agreed,
both by Mr.. Speed and Mr.. Thorn
son, that the type was crowded out
and is now practically extinct. 1t
may be possible to bring it up again;