TROTTING FAMILIES. 41 



Some nameless person, perhaps a patriot ambitious 

 to despoil the enemy, or, as is more likely, a miscreant 

 bent upon plunder, stole tins True Briton, and ran 

 him across the bridge to Connecticut, and thereupon 

 he became an American possession, and was kept at 

 East Hartford. This horse was the sire of the bay 

 colt afterward known as Justin Morgan. The dam 

 of Justin Morgan is represented to have been of the 

 Wildair breed. Wildair, a horse of the very first 

 quality, was imported from England, and afterward 

 repurchased at a high price and returned to that 

 country. According to 'other accounts, Justin Mor- 

 gan's dam was descended from the Lindsey Arabian, 

 a noted animal kept first in Connecticut and after- 

 ward in Maryland. 1 At all events, it is probable 



was sired by Partner, grandson of the Byerly Turk, and grandsire 

 of King Herod. The dam of Traveller was by Bloody Buttocks, 

 the Arabian. The dam of Lloyd's Traveller was by a son of Old 

 Fox, out of Miss Belvoir. 



1 The story of this horse is a romantic one. In return for some 

 very important service, he was presented by the Emperor of Mo- 

 rocco to the captain of a British frigate, who took him on board 

 and set sail for home. Being obliged to call at one of the West 

 India islands, the captain put the horse ashore in order that he 

 might exercise himself in a large enclosed yard near the sea. 

 Unfortunately there was a pile of lumber in this yard upon which 

 the horse climbed, and, the lumber slipping, he fell and broke three 

 of his legs. In the harbor at the time there happened to be also an 

 American ship commanded by an acquaintance of the British officer, 

 and, as this vessel was intending to remain there for some weeks, 

 the horse was given to the American captain, who brought him on 

 board, put him in a sling, and succeeded in setting his broken legs. 

 The animal finally arrived in the United States in good condition, 

 and was sent to Connecticut, where he soon made a reputation. 

 He was now called Ranger. During the Revolutionary War some 

 Virginia officers, including General Harry Lee, were struck by the 

 great excellence of certain horses ridden by soldiers from Con- 



