The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-10-07

fair at Chicago in 1893 Vermont has
carried off the honors at all of the
great expositions. AT st. Louis a year
old stallion captured the sweepstakes
and was sold, as he was being led back
to his stall after being shown, to a
New York banker.
The next session of Congress is ex-
pected to make an Appropriation to
carry on the work planned at the gov
eminent establishment at Weybridge.
1t is believed by the prominent Nor
gan breeders throughout the country
that they shauld have a journal de-
voted exclusively to that breed of
equine. They have one of the largest
associations of registry in the country
and a systematic record is being
made by the association to preserve
the records of Morgan horses. How
ever, there is a need, it is pointed out,
of a magazine of general circulation
to be devoted exclusively to Morgans.
The prominent breeders of the coun-
try believe that if a systematic attempt
is made to exploit the Morgan as the
all-purpose horse of America the re-
Mobilization will be realized and the
industry of breeding this strain of
blood put upon a footing that will
make it of interest to the farmers of
the country to breed Morgans.
Referring to the exploits of Ver-
mont Morgans an early issue of the
New York Herald in 1853, in an arti-
Gle on the old Sixth avenue railroad
said: -Four fifths of the horses en-
ployed on this road are from Vermont
and New Hampshire, and of these
nearly all are of the celebrated Nor
gan breed" In that year the Maine
Farmer in referring to the marketing
of horses said: For a seller of
horses, it is only necessary to estab-
lish the fact that his horses are of the
Morgan blood, and he meets with a
ready sale at good prices" This state
ment is being proved every week in
Vermont and the demand is keeping
place with the supply. Not long ago
a breeder in the state of Washington
ordered a yearling colt shipped by ex-
press from Vermont to the Pacific
coast.
Probably no horse race has ever ex-
cited more enthusiasm in this country
than did that participated in by the
famous Morgan-Ethan Allen at the
old-fashioned ~race-course on June 81,
1867, when Oar Mace drove him with
a running mate against the great DeX-
ter, winning the race. 1t was esti-
mated that 10000 people witnessed the
race. When the story of the exploit
of Ethan Allen got back to Vermont
the price of Morgan horsefiesh went
skyward and the owner of a likely
colt would 0 entertain the thought
of the price of comon horsef1esh. The
boom was on. 1t continued for some
years until the popular fancy turned
to the PAGER. That was the unfortun-
ate epoch for the Morgan horse.
Breeders proceeded to produce pac-
ers and while the demand was good
for many years it ceased some years
ago. Today the Vermont breeder of
Morgans makes a wry face when men
ton of PAGERS is made. That the Nor
gan horse is synonymous with Ver-
mont and typical of her products is
evidenced by the fact that the design
er of the silver service presented to
the battleship Vermont mbellished one
of the pieces of the service with the
head of a Morgan horse. When one
of the sculptors of the worlds fair in
Chicago was making a giant model
ing in clay of a typical specimen of
the American equine Vermont furnish
ed the model. The mare that posed
for the sculptor died a few years ago
in Central Vermont. She was a daugh-
ter of Daniel Lambert, truly a blue
blood in Morgan lines, for her dam
was bred in the purple-on Morgan
lines. Probably the folklore of cen
trail and western Vermont contains
more stories and legends pertaining to
the Morgan horse than does the story
of any other community in the state,