26 THE MORGAN HORSE 



We may state that the Morgan is the best stock for all work, most durable 

 and the best travelers, as they do their work with more care, and on less food 

 than any other kind". Each of the above reports is signed by the person who 

 made it, and each is from a different person. They are the results of circulars 

 sent into nearly every county (as they state) by a committee of three ap- 

 pointed by the State Agricultural society to get information on horses. In 

 their report the committee say that they " sent printed circulars into nearly 

 every county, but received only 13 answers". The quotations given are from 

 1 1 of those, and are a remarkable testimony to the value and popularity of 

 the Morgan stock. This testimony could be indefinitely multiplied from 

 other " State Reports ", but enough, we think, is here given to show the very 

 general appreciation of this family in localities far distant from its origin. 



James D. Ladd, in an article in "Wallace's Monthly", July, 1882, says : 



" During twenty years of life in eastern Ohio I bought several hundred 

 thousand pounds of wool annually. From five to seven months each year I 

 was almost constantly on a horse's back or riding behind a pair in a 

 buggy. I know what a good saddle horse is ; I also know what a good light 

 harness or roadster horse is. In all my experience I have only found a few 

 that were really first-classs of either hence I know the importance of the 

 subject, and trie interest that attaches to it. 



"Justin Morgan was the most prepotent sire that has lived in these United 

 States. The Morgan family, as a whole, to this time have been the best light 

 harness horses, and of all the branches of the family, Black Hawk and his 

 descendants are the best". 



In the next number, in an article entitled " The Prepotency of the Mor- 

 gans", Mr. Ladd says : 



"When I was a young man, on a visit to Saratoga Springs, I sat one even- 

 ing on the front verandah of Congress Hall. The time was the week preced- 

 ing the New York State Agricultural fair, which was to be there that year. 

 Silas Hale rode Green Mountain Morgan through the street of the then vil- 

 lage of Saratoga. The moment I saw him I was upon my feet, and with a 

 great crowd was hurrying to get a closer view of that horse and to find out 

 what family he was of, and where he came from. If Jumbo was to-day driven 

 through that now much more populous street, I question if he would attract 

 more attention than the Green Mountain Morgan then did. And why? 

 Not because of his reputation for speed ; he had not trotted very fast, or run 

 very fast, or done anything to greatly distingusih him from hundreds of other 

 horses that were daily seen on that street. It was nothing more or less than 

 his consummate get-up ; it was his style, his manner of action. 



" Next morning I went to see him in his stable. In the same barn I found 

 Fred. Wier, with old Gifford Morgan, then said to be 32 years old, shrunken 

 with extreme age, but lively and active. His counterpart, Gen. Gifford, stood 

 in the same box, and the old horse would followhim into the show ring without bit 

 or strap of any kind, and at Wier's command he would walk or trot, promptly 

 and cheerfully as a colt. Near by was David Hill, with Black Hawk and 

 his daughter, the Belle of Saratoga, and old Lady Suffolk. 



" I had been with horses from childhood. I was familiar with the best 

 horses of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio ; but in these, the two 

 Giffords, Black Hawk and Green Mountain Morgan, I saw what impressed 

 me as the most horse to the inches I had ever seen, and from that day to this 

 I have known a Morgan horse wherever I have met them. I cannot say so 

 of any other family of horses ; not only so, but wherever I have used him I 



