58 THE MORGAN HORSE 



any in New England, and is the same that was in my keeping last 

 season. WILLIAM HOOKER." 



In 1781 William Hooker advertises " the famous horse Wildair " 

 at Hartford, only adding that he " is so famous a horse that he needs 

 no description." 



In 1782 : " Wildair will cover this season at Freeman Kilbourn's 

 stable (terms, four to eight dollars). This beautiful bay horse is 

 the same that covered at Mr. William Hooker's last year, and formerly 

 at Mr. Church's in Springfield." 



All the above horses, excepting Rainbow, are stated in the ad- 

 vertisements to have been by imported Wildair. Ptolemy is de- 

 scribed as bay, fifteen and three-quarters hands : dam an imported 

 mare by Duke of Devonshire's Traveler. In one of the advertise- 

 ments of imported Wildair it is stated that he is just fifteen hands 

 high. 



The advertisements abound in more remote issue of W r ildair. 

 These are especially numerous in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connec- 

 ticut, New York and New Jersey. (See Appendix, page 923.) 



Of the grandam of Justin Morgan nothing certain is known. F. 

 A. Weir, Walpole, New Hampshire, informs us that he understood from 

 "Uncle Si Bellows 2d," who made inquiries in regard to her many years 

 ago, at West Springfield, that she was a descendant of Arabian Ran- 

 ger, afterward known as Lindsay's Arabian. This is the only 

 suggestion of a pedigree of this mare known to us. If it is 

 true, she was quite probably by Sportsman, a son of Arabian 

 Ranger, kept by Justin Morgan in 1778. In his advertisement of 

 Sportsman in 1778 Mr. Morgan says: "His excellence for beauty, 

 strength, saddle, harness, and fine colts are so well known that there 

 needs no further description"; and adds that "it is the same horse 

 that covered at Colchester last season". Selah Norton advertised 

 him in 1776, describing him as "dark grey, one of Ranger's colts, an 

 easy canter for saddle, an excellent trotter for chaise". The dam of 

 Justin Morgan has been believed to have been of the blood of Arabian 

 Ranger by those who did not know that his breeder ever kept a stal- 

 lion of that strain. Mr. Linsley, who was ignorant of this fact, says: 

 "It is thought by some that the dam of the Justin Morgan was a de- 

 scendant of Lindsay's Arabian, which was imported into Connecticut 

 in 1766, being then four years old. This idea seems to have been 

 founded principally upon the resemblance of the Justin Morgan to 

 the stock of that celebrated horse, and, indeed, we are not aware that 

 there is any other ground for this opinion ; still it is entitled to some 

 respect, for a close and striking resemblance between different ani- 



