504 THE MORGANS. 



you choose, in the Morgan than the Canadian, the former, probably, inherits 

 from the latter whatever measure of trotting instinct he possesses. Some 

 members of the Morgan family show no marked resemblance to the Cana- 

 dian, either in their own or in the appearance of their offspring ; and when 

 we find trotting instinct in such individuals we must admit we do not know 

 where it came from, unless we conclude the instinct was transmitted without 

 the other marks. 



From the above it is important to note that trotting instinct may 

 exist with an imperfect conformation^ and that in this family, at least, 

 conformation is worthy of some consideration, which is undoubtedly 

 true. 



The peculiarities in the type and form of the Morgan must ba 

 ajjparent to any one who is sufficiently familiar with other families to 

 comprehend the difference. I never approach one without finding- 

 myself totally at sea as to all points of conformation, as compared 

 with other roadster or trotting families. They have such high mount- 

 ing crests, short backs, with hips pointing so far forward, and their 

 short plumpy quarters, generally pointing backward so far as to give 

 them the appearance of stout little pullers, but as not having a ready 

 or easy working leverage. They make nice gallopers, as their con- 

 formation of back and quarters is admirably calculated to pitch the 

 body forward Avith both hind legs at once, yet the propelling power 

 wdth one hind leo* at a time, is deficient in the matter of ready and 

 sweeping leverage. But he has the instincts and ways of a roadster 

 in a high degree. This comes from the fact, that some of his ances- 

 tors, far anterior to Justin Morgan, had been accustomed to road 

 habits rather than galloping, a fact that would not startle any one 

 among the staid and sober denizens of the hillsides and narrow val- 

 leys of New England. From the earliest periods of their history the 

 New Englanders were not a galloping people — road horses were the 

 only ones in use or demand — and the instinct or habit would be 

 acquired and would develop before the roads would be good enough 

 to suggest any demand for speed. As better roads came, there would 

 come a demand for an advance in the higher trotting qualities of the 

 little punchy Morgans. At this time, however, the family had 

 assumed a type and form which was fixed and strongly defined in its 

 character. They would not yield it readily, and it was so far diverse 

 from that of the great trotting families, that it could only be reached 

 and engrafted upon that, or this upon it, by processes exactly adapted 

 to the end desired, or the result would be an inharmonious union. 

 That many such unions took place is altogether probable. Wide 



