34S-/5 THE MORGAN HORSE 



" He never bred any horses to my knowledge. He did at one time own 

 a stallion that he called the Cock of the Rock, but do not know as to their 

 relationship. Respectfully yours, 



MRS. CHARLES C. BRADFORD." 



Two horses, and only two, named Cock of the Rock, are conspicuous in 

 the history of American horses. The first of these was a bay horse, without 

 marks; bred by Nathaniel Coles on Long Island; foaled 1814; got by 

 Duroc, son of imported Diomed : dam by imported Messenger. This horse 

 was sold by his breeder to C. W. Van Rantz, and by him, in the fall of 1819, 

 to Gen. Barnum of Vergennes, Vt., who took him to his home in Vermont, 

 and kept him until 1829 or '30, when he was sold and went to Orange 

 county, N. Y., and, in 1833, was sold again to Judge Barry and others and 

 taken to Gallatin, Tenn., where he died several years later. The other 

 horse of this name was the Morgan Cock of the Rock that appears on 

 page 313. 



The description of the horse, Cock of the Rock, owned by her father, 

 given to us in our interview with Mrs. Quick, made it probable that he was 

 the Morgan Cock of the Rock, but was not accurate enough to make it cer- 

 tain. The following additional information received from our old friend 

 John Moore, Fleetwood Park, New York, taken in connection with Mr. 

 Linsley's statement that Morgan Cock of the Rock was kept for a time in 

 New York, supplies the missing link which shows that Morgan Cock of the 

 Rock was kept in New Jersey at precisely the time that Mr. Coburn kept 

 his horse Cock of the Rock in New Jersey, and there can be no reasonable 

 doubt but that these two horses are one and the same. 



Mr. Moore, whom we met again at the Kellogg sale at the American 

 Institute, New York, said : 



"I knew Seely's American Star. He was a blocky horse, not over 15 

 hands ; a prompt, full-made horse, nice mover, with spread gait. Resembled 

 the Kentucky Hunters. Round made and ribbed up ; had a nice neck. 

 He resembled a good deal the Morgans ; old Ethan Allen and old Star 

 were alike in shape and style. Star would make you think of old Ethan Allen." 



Again Mr. Moore said, in answer to direct question of what breed he 

 thought American Star was : 



" He resembled very much the Cock of the Rock breed ". And when 

 asked what this breed was, he continued : 



" Cock of the Rock was chestnut with white face and feet, silver mane 

 and tail, 15^ hands high, that came to Oneida county, N. Y., from New 

 Jersey, and stood there one year, about 1836, at my father's barn in Norwich, 

 and in New Berlin, Chenango county. His stock looked like the Morgans ; 

 round, blocky-built, with good necks, good shoulders, good loins and active 

 on the feet. It was said that Kentucky Hunter was got by him. 



"Cock of the Rock was a fine-coated horse, golden sorrel, lighter than 

 chestnut, claimed to be well bred, but I do not know his breeding, nor what 

 became of him. He was a blocky, strong-made horse." 



