JUSTIN MORGAN 67 



ably during the interval between the ownership of Shepard and that 

 of Evans. 



In a second letter to the " Albany Cultivator", dated October 25, 

 1841, Mr. Barnard further writes: 



"In my communication on this subject, published in the late 

 October number, I have expressed too confident an opinion in saying 

 I believe the original horse (Morgan) was of French Canadian 

 origin. I have recently had some acquaintance with a Morgan horse 

 endowed with all the peculiarities of the breed, sufficient to make me 

 forbear any decided opinion on the point in question, until very 

 clear evidence is adduced. The affidavit which I furnished is only 

 probable, and not conclusive, testimony that the original horse was of 

 Norman French descent, and procured in Montreal. 



"The horse which has been with me of late is one of those called, 

 from being inbred, a full-blooded Morgan an absurd term, for it is 

 impossible that a descendant can inherit full blood from a single 

 progenitor. The term full-blood, or thorough-bred, can only be used 

 with propriety where the distinctive appellation is derived from a race 

 or sort which furnished both parents ; thus we say a thorough- 

 bred or full-blood English race-horse, a full-blood or thorough-bred 

 Alderney cow, if both sire and dam were of the breed or sort desig- 

 nated. The term thorough-bred, however, has heretofore almost 

 exclusively been applied to race-horses, because for centuries before 

 the present, the racing breed of horses have been the only breed of 

 animals highly cultivated, and of which the pedigree could be proved 

 by written or printed documents. 



"All the accounts, being not less than half a dozen, which I have 

 heard, of the origin of the first Morgan horse, agree in this, that one 

 Justin Morgan, of Randolph, Vermont, from whom the name was de- 

 rived, owned the animal while he was yet a colt. Doubtless there live per- 

 sons who can testify to his origin, whether or not it be such as repre- 

 sented in the late affidavit. The public would be not only gratified, 

 but greatly benefited by such evidence. There has probably never 

 been another stallion whose stock for thirty or forty years have pro- 

 duced so much net profit to the growers. 



" I will now endeavor to point out what appears to be the chief 

 points of distinction between the Morgan breed, and the horse of 

 Norman French descent, produced in Canada. Let me premise that 

 a great variety of races exists in the Canadian breed, yet all clearly im- 

 pressed with a certain general character. The broad, courageous-lock- 

 ing head, with ears far apart, thick neck, with general stoutness of 



