62 THE MORGAN HORSE 



the horse some time before his death, and there is no evidence that 

 he ever owned any other horse in Vermont. 



On the i/th of November, 1800, a dividend of eighteen cents on 

 ths dollar was ordered to be paid to creditors. Thus close " the short 

 and simple annals" of the man who brought into the then young and 

 growing Green Mountain State a most interesting and important ele- 

 ment in its prosperity. 



The following description of the Morgan horse is from D. C. 

 Linsley's excellent work. 



" The original, or Justin Morgan, was about fourteen hands high and 

 weighed about 950 pounds. His color was dark bay with black legs, 

 mane and tail. His mane and tail were coarse and heavy, but not so 

 massive as has sometimes been described ; the hair of both was straight 

 and not inclined to curl. His head was good, not extremely small 

 but lean and bony, the face straight, forehead broad, ears small and 

 very fine, but set rather wide apart. His eyes were medium size, very 

 dark and prominent, with a spirited but pleasant expression, and 

 showed no white round the edge of the lid. His nostrils were very 

 large, the muzzle small and the lips close and firm. His back and 

 legs were perhaps his most noticeable points. The former was very 

 short, the shoulder blades and hip bones being very long and oblique, 

 and the loins exceedingly broad and muscular. His body was rather 

 long, round and deep, close ribbed up ; chest deep and wide, with 

 the breast bone projecting a good deal in front. His legs were short, 

 close jointed, thin, but very wide, hard and free from meat, with mus- 

 cles that were remarkably large for a horse of his size, and this super- 

 abundance of muscle exhibited itself at every step. His hair was 

 short and at almost all seasons soft and glossy. He had a little long 

 hair about the fetlocks, and for two or three inches above the fet- 

 locks on the back side of the legs ; the rest of the limbs were entirely 

 free from it. His feet were small but well shaped, and he was in 

 every respect perfectly sound and free from any sort of blemish. 

 He was a very fast walker. In trotting his gait was low and smooth, 

 and his step short and nervous ; he was not what in these days would 

 be called fast, and we think it doubtful if he could trot a mile much, 

 if any, within four minutes, though it is claimed by many that he 

 could trot it in three. 



"Although he raised his feet but little, he never stumbled. His 



o 



proud, bold and fearless style of movement, and his vigorous untir- 

 ing action, have perhaps never been surpassed. When a rider was on 

 him, he was obedient to the slightest motion of the rein, would walk 

 backwards rapidly under a gentle pressure of the bit, and move side- 



