CAME FROM GOOD BLOOD. 503 



apart, to give the horse an appearance of strength and endurance scarcely to 

 be looked for in one of his spirit and fleetness. The high-crested neck, and 

 thick wavy-tail of the Morgan, show much of the character of some races of 

 the Canadian. 



The Morgan horse is remarkable for the projection of his ribs from the 

 spine, giving him a wide back and a round barrel ; while the Canadian horse 

 is inclined to be flat-sided. They differ much in their style of traveling. 

 The Morgan raises his forefeet but little, while the Canadian horse has a high 

 and labored action of the forefeet. The Canadian horse is certainly very 

 remarkable for the excellence of his feet, but poor feet are of very rare occur- 

 rence among Morgan horses. 



Mr. Wallace has given the subject some consideration, and I make 

 some quotations from a reference to the family in the second volume 

 of the Trotting Register: 



It is altogether probable his sire was thoroughbred, and that his dam had 

 some of the blood of Lindsey's Arabian in her veins. At that early period 

 there was a good deal of attention paid to breeding the race horse in the val- 

 ley of the Connecticut river, and several very fine animals were imported 

 direct to Hartford. This horse Justin Morgan, named after his owner, was 

 ver}' much more blood-like in his appearance and form than his descendants of 

 thirty or forty years later, and in this discussion it is important to note this 

 fact. How often have we seen Morgan horses paraded with manes fully a 

 yard long, and heavy in proportion, and their owners pointing out this feat- 

 ure as a distinguishing characteristic of the purity of their Morgan lineage. 

 Unfortunately for this theory, which was so industriously propagated, Justin 

 Morgan had no such mane ; he was quite smooth, and not essentially unlike 

 many blood horses. There is no evidence that he was a trotter of any con- 

 siderable speed, but was always ready (and generally successful) to run a 

 quarter " for the drinks all round." * * * * Taking the breed 

 altogether, it is fair to say that a great many of them possess the trotting 

 instinct in a marked degree, and some of them in great power, without the 

 physical conformation that will permit them to go very fast. The question, 

 ■"Where does this trotting instinct come from?" is in order at this point. 

 The habits and conditions which made the Canadian a trotter would in time 

 produce the same effect immediately south of the St. Lawrence as well as 

 north of it. But we must look for some other cause, as the breed is not old 

 enough to have become the established creature of surrounding circumstances. 

 In the very first remove from the original horse, we have seen the blood of 

 the dams was unknown ; in the second remove the same information is want- 

 ing ; and in the third the immense crests, long manes and hairj^ legs of their 

 neighbors in Canada begin to show themselves, and are contemplated with 

 pride as evidence of high Morgan breeding. Connect this with the fact that 

 the country — especially the northern borders — was full of mares of Canadian 

 type and blood, and we not only account for the hair, but for the trot at the 

 same time. I am fully satisfied that the two families are very intimately con- 

 nected in blood ; and while there is more symmetry and style, and blood if 



