3 o6 THE MORGAN HORSE 



horse, that is, a horse for all work. His head, ear and eye were excellent, and 

 every other point fully equal to Mr. Linsley's account, with all the important 

 muscles much larger than I have ever seen upon any other horse of his size 

 except old Justin. Throughout his long life as a stock horse want of size and 

 height were the only objections ever raised against him among men of good 

 taste and judgment. Until he was about ten years old his stock had ob- 

 tained no special notoriety, and himself only noted as an animal of great 

 beauty with extraordinary power of endurance and strength as a horse of all 

 work. Consequently whenever an act was to be done requiring the great- 

 est strength and speed and endurance, this same little horse was selected. 

 About this time he became the property of Reuben Crane of Derby, who 

 kept him till he (Crane) died, and I purchased him of his estate in 1843 and 

 kept him till '53. In early life his services as a stock horse were quite 

 limited ; when Crane had him I think he was bred to about 50 mares each season. 

 When I purchased him, although then more than 20 years old, he had all the ex- 

 ternal appearance of a colt. His greatest weight was in July, 1844; he 

 then weighed 1040 pounds, and his reputation was such as to command all 

 the -business I desired. One year he covered 114 mares in three months. 

 During all these years he was seldom in harness except for exercise. He had 

 all the oats he would readily eat from April to September; and from Septem- 

 ber to November he was limited to four quarts per day. During the winter 

 he got no grain, but occasionally a feed of carrots, etc. I kept him in a warm 

 box stable in winter, with an open yard attached for exercise, and a box 

 stable well ventilated in summer. I bled him every spring, but never gave 

 him any cathartic medicines, and during the whole time I owned him I never 

 knew him indisposed in health for a single moment. He had a quarter crack 

 in one front hoof, which sometimes lamed him for a day after shoeing ; with 

 that exception, he was never lame, and up to the day of his death his limbs 

 were perfectly free from blemish and in every respect perfectly sound. He 

 was probably the most sure foal-getter ever known in this State. During 

 the season of '58 he covered two mares, and one of them has produced a colt 

 since his death. The most important matter in relation to this horse which 

 remains to be mentioned is the general character of his stock. The first 

 season he stood in this county for the use of mares was when he was five 

 years old. This being before the days of railroads, large horses were all the 

 rage. It turned out, however, at the close of the season, that 12 men in all 

 his vicinity had been so unwise as to each breed one mare to the little Morgan. 

 Eleven proved in foal. Eight horse colts and three mares were produced. 

 The horse colts were all gelded at two years old, and were all subsequently 

 sold in Boston at an average of $321.50 each, one being sold to an English 

 nobleman for $1000, and shipped to Liverpool. The prices at that time were 

 more than double that obtained for an equal number of any other horse's get 

 of that year in the country. At this time we know of more than 50 stock 

 horses of his get which are mostly gone to the Western States at a cost to 

 their owners of more than $1000 each ; yet it is not claimed by any one that 

 the style and speed on the track of his stock is equal to that of old Black 

 Hawk, Green Mountain Morgan and perhaps some others. But we do say, 

 and that without fear of successful contradiction, that for style, strength, 

 docility, speed as roadsters and endurance, all combined, the stock of Royal 

 Morgan compares with that of any other horse ever owned in Vermont. It 

 is, moreover, but fair, in discussing the subject, to keep in mind that while 

 the services of Black Hawk were held at $100 the mare, no more than 

 $10 was ever claimed for the like service of Royal Morgan; hence we may 

 fairly infer that the mares coupled with Black Hawk were those selected 

 from the best in America, while those sent to the cheap horse were mostly 



