64 THE MORGAN HORSE 



the Morgan horse of Vermont; a breed known and esteemed for ac- 

 tivity and hardiness, throughout all the Northern States. Not re- 

 markable for size, and scarcely known to the sportsman for speed, 

 this race is perhaps as highly celebrated as any for general useful- 

 ness, and for such a degree of fleetness as entitles it to the appella- 

 tion of fast traveler. 



"Their height is from fourteen to fifteen hands ; color bay, neck 

 round and heavy, with lean heads, broad and deep chest, the fore 

 limbs set far apart, clean and sinewy legs, short, strong backs, with 

 that projection of the ribs from the spine which is a sure indication 

 of powerful lungs, and, consequently, of great wind and bottom. 

 The original Morgan horse, called also the Goss horse, is well known 

 to have appeared in Randolph, and St. Johnsbury, Vermont, some 

 forty years since, and to 'have been kept as a stallion, at first 

 with but little, and subsequently with very great patronage, some five 

 and twenty years, or until he was thirty years old or more. Various 

 accounts are current as to his origin ; many think it quite distinct 

 from the Canadian breed of Norman French extraction, and consider 

 the horse to have been of Dutch blood, and to have been introduced 

 from some of the settlements on Hudson river, southward of Albany. 

 Stories are told of a traveler's blood mare having got with foal by a 

 Canadian or Indian pony, at various places north and west, and hav- 

 ing brought forth this horse ; all these accounts are improbable, and 

 appear to be unauthenticated. 



" For the last dozen years, being aware, both by observation and 

 experience, of the surprising results of crossing the Canadian with 

 other breeds of horses, and having become acquainted with the vast 

 variety and different qualities of various races in the Canadian breed, 

 I have believed that the original Morgan horse was of French Cana- 

 dian origin. This opinion being confirmed by the accounts here 

 given, I am anxious to ascertain whether any one can prove it erron- 

 eous, and, if not, to make it public, that it may be known that thou- 

 sands of horses may be obtained in French Canada of the same blood, 

 and not inferior in qualities to the Morgan, whose existence added 

 several hundred thousand dollars to the wealth of Vermont. 

 Sherbrooke, P. Q., August, 1841. GEORGE BARNARD". 



To this is affixed the following affidavit: 



" I was about thirteen years of age when the Morgan horse was 

 first brought to St. Johnsbury, in Vermont, where my father lived. 

 As I am nowfiifty, it must have been about 1804. On the eve of the 

 second Tuesday in June (for I well remember that the morrow was 



