The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1906-08-10
WILL REVIVE
MORGAN BREED.

4tzE f. s$h#
Montana horse breeders will be in
terested in the announcement that
the government is 90 ing to revive in
terest in the Morgan horses, famous in
the New England states in the last
century for their stamina and stay
ing qualities. At the present time few
Morsans are being raised but the de-
pnrtment of agriculture intends to do
away with this.
Early in the last century New Eng
land in general and Vermont in par
tlcular were famous for their Morgan
horses. These horses We're small, but
we'll built compact, and very good
roadstcrs, with powers of endurance
very little short of remarkable. From
Vermont they were distributed over
the entire United States and over con-
siderable portions of Canada, the
blood entering into the light harness
stock of both countries and having
NAA SAASSl w 3kCdt fSlAuC. hE III 1uSI~
pal effect was the endurance and
stamina which it gave. With few ex-
ceptions it did not produce extreme
speed. For this reason the passion
for speed in the light horse, at all
costs, caused Morgan breeders to neg
lect conformation and quality, and
tieo+ cfa fnr t1,ryy
81 for long distances for which the
Morgan was noted.
The small size of the Morgans was
also fault when market requirements
We're considered. The result was that
Morgan mares were mated with stand
ardbrcd stations of other strains to
get speed and increased size, and
the Morgan type was very largely bred
out. These standard bred horses we're
not of the Morgan type, and in many
cases they were not desirable individ-
uals for breeding purposes Even in
Vermont the effects of these crosses
are found on every hand. In the
southern part of the state it is hard
to find horses showing the Morgan
type, but farther north they are COM
mon.
Believing that the Morgan character
istics were too valuable to the horse
breeding industry to be lost, the burea
of animal industry of the department
of agriculture has established stud
in cooperation with the Vermont ex-
perimen STATION to revive interest in
the Morgan breed. The type selected
is that of the old Morgan, with size
and quality. With increased size the
Morgan horse will answer the require
ments of the market for light horses
and will be a profitable horse for
farmers to raise.
Nine mares and two fillies We're
bought in June. They are uniform in
type, with full-nlade bodies, good legs
and feet, fine heads and necks, full
hind quarters, and abundant quality.
Seven mares and two fillies were pur-
chased in Vermont and two mares in
Kentucky.
These mares were bought by a
board composed of Prof. c. +. Cur
tiss, director of the Iowa experiment
station; Mr. Cassius Peck, Of the
Vermont experiment station, and Geo.
NJ. Rommel, animal husbandman of
the bureau of animal industry. In
addition to the characteristics mem
toned above, the board insisted on
pure trotting action and Disseminated
sharply against pacing Or any ten
dency to mix in gaits. Pacing strains
in the pedigrees were also avoided
as far as possible.
Selectios Of type will be rigidly
practiced and undesirable animals Gull
out from time to time MIR. w. F.
Hammond has been appointed to con-
duct the work at the experiment sta
ton. Mr.. Hammond has had a life
long experience in horse breeding in
Vermont, and is descended from the
Hammonds who developed the Yer
mont Merino sheep.