i8o THE MORGAN HORSE 



Mrs. W. H. Cook describes her as a very spirited animal when 

 they first had her, and so much afraid of a buffalo robe that it was 

 difficult to drive her with one in the carriage. Mrs. Cook frequently 

 drove the mare when her husband had her. 



Rev. Joseph Cook, who is a son of William H. Cook, says: 

 " She had a long hip, fine limbs, rather long neck, and was very 

 graceful. She was neither slim nor stout; she was very docile and 

 intelligent, rather nervous. She had the graceful shape of a high- 

 blooded horse; she had the look of an aristocrat". 



Concerning the origin of this Moses Bates horse, Robin or 

 Red Robin, sire of the dam of Ethan Allen, the most searching in- 

 vestigation leaves us in doubt. Mr. F. A. Leland draws his picture 

 thus: "Red Robin was as handsome a bay horse as ever you saw; 

 a playful horse, supple as a fox ; as handsome as Ethan Allen, who 

 looked like him". Mr. A. Litchfield of Springfield, Vermont, who 

 knew Robin well, says he was a round-made, nice, pretty, bay horse, 

 not a large horse; would not weigh over ten hundred pounds, a beautiful 

 horse ; a nice traveler and a trotter. He was also a good draft horse, 

 and they used to drive him on a team to Boston. He was about the 

 size of Gifford Morgan; had a longer hip; a very pretty horse, with 

 mane and tail about as near right as could be. Mr. Bates gave the 

 horse to his son-in-law, James A. Grimes, who lived on the Field 

 farm in Springfield. Mr. Litchfield has an impression that Robin 

 came from the Gills. The Gills and the Bates were related. Thinks 

 he may have been by a Gill horse. 



Mr. Parker of Springfield, Vermont, born in 1 8 1 1 , says : " Robin 

 was a Morgan-built horse, about fifteen hands; thick set; he had the 

 go in him. If it had been the trotting days, he would have been a 

 sporting horse ; he went right to the ground, and carried his feet be- 

 hind outside of his forward ones. My father raised a colt from him, 

 that did wonders down country. Sold at a high price and became a 

 trotter". 



Mr. Parker thinks Moses Bates or the Gills raised Robin. 



Mrs. Gill of Springfield, over ninety years old, remembered 

 that previous to 1819 her husband's father, Amos Gill of Springfield, 

 had two red horses, one, she thinks, a son of the other. 



Mr. Howe of Springfield, an old gentleman, thinks Amos Gill 

 had a stallion before he had Black Prince. He says that Robin was 

 a full-grown horse, owned by Moses Bates, in 1820. 



Abner Bisbee of Springfield, Vermont, says: "I think Moses 

 Bates raised Robin, a small bay horse. When I first knew him, the 

 horse was perhaps two years old. I was a boy then, ten or twelve. 



