viii THE MORGAN HORSE 



of Morgan horse might well be bred more fitted for draft than speed, and 

 another line might also be bred especially adapted to safe family use, the 

 fastest line of Morgan horses, we have no doubt, will continue, in the future 

 as in the past, to assert their superiority on the turf as well as on the road, 

 and the 2 :o8 of Lord Clinton in a race, we doubt not, will yet be reduced 

 to 2 :oo by a Morgan horse. 



In preparing this work we have been very ably assisted by W. H. Bliss, 

 Esq., of Middlebury, Vermont. The work was begun with him in 1884, and 

 finds us still working together at its close. His excellent judgment as a 

 lawyer and eminent talent as a writer have been constantly at command, 

 and entered largely into the warp and woof of the book. We are also under 

 much obligation to the Hon. Chauncey Smith of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 one of the most eminent lawyers and clearest thinkers of the country, 

 for valuable counsel and advice. 



We are also under special obligations to the "General Stud Book ", pub- 

 lished by the Messrs. Weatherbee of London, England, for information on 

 remote pedigrees, and other valuable historical matter. We have had occa- 

 sion to criticise their record of several American horses, that doubtless they 

 copied from American authorities, but as a whole their work appears to be 

 very carefully edited. 



In Volume II. of THE MORGAN REGISTER, that is now very largely pre- 

 pared for the press, there will be hundreds of old-time Morgan sires that 

 do not appear in this volume. The arrangement will be in alphabetical 

 order, and all horses in this volume will be entered in that, and proper 

 reference made to the page on which they appear in this. In many cases 

 later or more extended information will appear of horses recorded in this 

 book. We shall also begin in Volume II. to record certain animals under 

 their dams, following in this the English, and, as we understand it, the 

 Arabian or oriental system of registration. Only the choicest of brood 

 mares will appear in this way, such as have proved most valuable from 

 their own quality or the character of their produce. A careful study of 

 the first volume of the English "General Stud Book", edition of 1891, 

 has convinced us that there is no system in which pedigrees can be so 

 accurately and concisely recorded, and so certainly traced, as this. In the 

 American system of separate record there are certain advantages, espe- 

 cially in giving the history of each animal, and in the greater facility in 

 which the record can be made, that make it desirable, as we think, to also 

 continue that system of recording. 



Some of our friends have become impatient at the time consumed in 

 the preparation of this work, but to those who have ever undertaken 

 any similar work, or who understand its nature, this time will not seem long. 

 After nine years we bring the first volume to a close, with the second one 

 largely prepared. The preface to the first volume of the " General Stud Book " 

 shows that the collecting of pedigrees for that work began previous to 1791, 

 but the first volume was not published until 1808. Mr. Sanders D. Bruce, 

 editor of the "American Stud Book", states in the preface of his first volume, 



