48 THE HORSE. 



one to expect ; his legs and feet are admirable the bone large and 

 flat, and the sinews big and nervous as steel springs ; his feet seem 

 almost unconscious of disease ; his fetlocks are shaggy ; his mane 

 voluminous and massive, not seldom, if untrained, falling on both 

 sides of his neck, and his tail abundant, both having a peculiar 

 crimpled wave, if I may so express myself, the like of which I 

 never saw in any horse which had not some strain of his blood." I 

 give a sketch on the preceding page of one of these horses, showing 

 the shape and action peculiar to them. It is said by good judges 

 to be an excellent likeness. 



THE MORGAN HORSE. 



THE MORGAN HORSE has recently been paraded in America as 

 a distinct strain, kept pure in its own district for more than half a 

 century, and descended from a single horse, in the possession of 

 Mr. Justin Morgan, a schoolmaster in Vermont. In the present 

 day the " Morgans" are so much sought after that in the year 1856 

 the Agricultural Society of Vermont offered a prize for the best 

 essay on the subject, which was awarded to Mr. Linsley, an inha- 

 bitant of the same state. According to this authority, the founder 

 of the family, or strain, was got by a horse called " True Briton/' 

 which was said to have been stolen, and whose pedigree is there- 

 fore doubtful. Mr. Linsley endeavors to prove, however, that he 

 was a son of the English thorough-bred horse Traveller, which he 

 assumes to be identical with the son of Partner, known as Morton's 

 Old Traveller, giving as his authority a pedigree inserted in the 

 Albany " Cultivator" of 1846. The same authority is also ad- 

 duced to prove that the dam of True Briton and also of Justin 

 Morgan's horse were of nearly pure English blood, and that the 

 latter was descended from the famous " Cub" mare ; but the facts 

 adduced seem of the most doubtful nature, and I believe that the 

 Morgan horse would in this country be considered as undoubtedly 

 half-bred. 



Mr. Linsley describes the founder of the Morgan strain in the 

 following terms : He " was about fourteen hands high, and weighed 

 about nine hundred and fifty pounds. His color was dark bay, 

 with black legs, mane, and tail. He had no white hair upon him. 

 His mane and tail were coarse and heavy, but not so massive as 

 has been sometimes described ; the hair of both was straight, and 

 not inclined to curl. His head was good, not extremely small, but 

 lean and bony, the face straight, forehead broad, ears small, and 

 very fine, but set rather wide apart. His eyes were medium size, 

 very dark, and prominent, and showed no white round the edge of 

 the lid" (Qy. iris?). " His nostrils were very large, the muzzle 

 small, and the lips close and firm. His back and legs were per- 

 haps his most noticeable points. The former was very short, the 



