ETHAN ALLEN. 515 



seated infirmity to many of his produce. It is even said that he was 

 foaled with spavins. Be this as it may, it is certain that all his great 

 prowess as a trotter was maintained in spite of this serious disadvan- 

 tage, and that it has rendered many of his offspring of little value. 

 Their feet and legs are not up to the early Morgan standard of supe- 

 riority. 



Mr. Leonard T. Tucker, a gentleman of the State of Vermont, and 

 for many years the owner of the stallion Draco, and whose life has 

 been passed in great part among the Morgan horses, at one time wrote 

 a letter, from which I make an extract: 



The statement that Ethan Allen is, anatomically, very evenly balanced, is a 

 mistake. Ethan is quite too light in the hindquarters for the other portions 

 of his body ; not glaringly so, but plainly so. In his hind limb* he is 

 extremely faulty. The hock joints being narrow and not strongly capped,, 

 the upper end of the cannon-bone being too narrow, and the joint very 

 crooked, renders them extremely liable to become curbed, as they have 

 been two or three times badly, but have been well treated in the first 

 stages of the strain, and I presume do not show. The pastern joints of the 

 hind limbs are too long and delicate, not larger than ought to be on a well 

 balanced horse of 700 lbs. It is this natural weakness in Ethan that compels 

 him to " quit " at his fastest gait, when asked to carry even himself muclt 

 over half a mile. Having been with this horse much of the time during 

 three of his best trotting seasons, I speak from absolute knowledge, and only 

 wish to state the facts. 



That Ethan Allen has the most perfect trotting gait ever seen, all admit 

 who know him. He works with the least waste of motion. His stride is as 

 precise as the stroke of a pendulum, and so true does he carry his body, so- 

 graceful his head and neck, and animated so as to " light up all over," that he 

 presents a most perfect " sylph-like form of elegance." Though he can not 

 cany weight and last, yet it is extremely doubtful if there has yet lived a 

 more speedy horse. At the stud Ethan may be safely used when the dam cam 

 fortify his weak points as did the pacer Pocahontas, and the dams of Honest 

 Allen and the Porter colt. 



The " trotting strains " of the Morgan family are not to be found. They dO' 

 not exist. The original Morgan horse, called Justin Morgan, was. half or 

 more thoroughbred ; had a short nervous action ; was a spirited elegant saddle 

 horse, but had no trotting speed. Of the six stallions saved from him, none 

 showed fast trotting. Of the grandsons only one, and that was Hill's Black- 

 hawk. This latter horse was by Sherman Morgan ; the best roadster left by 

 .Justin. It is claimed by those who knew the dam of Sherman, that she was 

 a mare of uncommon endurance on the road, but not fast. It is eveiywhere 

 admitted where she was known, that the dam of Blackhawk was speedy- 

 Ethan Allen was one-eighth Morgan, and no speed in any ancestor on the 

 Morgan side. Then it must have been that he inherited fast trotting in the 

 seven-eighths instead of the one-eighth, where there was none, for it is. eertaia 



