JUSTTN MORGAN 73 



Sherbrooke, Canada] pursues the inquiry as to the blood of the great 

 progenitor of the Vermont coach horse, are equally to be admired. 



"If at any period since the days of Flying Childers (out of Betty 

 Leedes,by the Darley Arabian), foaled in 1715, the opinion had gen- 

 erally obtained that speed and bottom could be had without regard 

 to pedigree, and without systematic recourse to the blood of the turf 

 horse, and that opinion had been acted upon to this day, does any 

 one suppose that we should have witnessed in our time such perform- 

 ances as those of Boston and Fashion and Medoc, and Sarah 

 Bladen and Miss Foote, and a host of others, running four miles un- 

 der 7:40? Or that we should have had such coach horses as those 

 for which we have been indebted to Vermont, descended from the 

 Morgan horse, fine blood bays with black mane and tail, and clean 

 bony legs, able to sail off the wind ten knots an hour and not tire at 

 that? Yes it does appear that ' G. B.' is of this opinion as to the 

 latter description of horses, and maintains it with so much earnest- 

 ness, fairness and ability as to divest all who take an interest in the 

 subject of every wish except that which obviously animated him 

 a desire to arrive at the truth. 



"For myself,! have no hesitation in saying, that, if there be a dis- 

 tinct breed of horses possessing the qualities which he no doubt accu- 

 rately describes as belonging to the descendants of the Morgan horse, 

 which may be perpetuated and preserved from flying to pieces, and 

 yet not necessarily partaking of the pure blood of the turf horse, 

 then, would I say, of the two let go the Arabian blood and hold fast 

 to the more useful stock for all work. But let us be careful that in 

 snatching at the shadow we lose not the substance ! Especially as, 

 where and as far as we can trace the pedigree of great performers in 

 harness, they run into a known strain of pure blood. It will be ob- 

 served that 'G. B.' (with whom, unaffectedly, I pretend to no com- 

 parison as to research or practical knowledge) grants us for the 

 Morgan horse stock 'cleanness of head and limb, and an Arab ex- 

 pression of the countenance.' Here I began to think was ground 

 enough on which to place my fulcrum ; but the ' low withers' and 

 ' heavy shoulders' staggered me; yet I, on reflection, remembered 

 that Lawrence, in his splendid work on the horse, had said of 

 Eclipse, a horse that partook of the blood of the true Arabians : 'He 

 was never beaten, never had a whip flourished over him or felt the 

 tickling of a spur, or was ever for a moment distressed by the speed 

 or rate of a competitor, outfooting, outstriding and outlasting every 

 horse which started against him'. Of this rabbit-shouldered horse 



