86 « ILLUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



thorough-bred. Their saddle, light carriage, trotting and racing stock 

 are justly renowned. Scarcely any country in the world is better adapted 

 to the production of fine horses than the blue-grass region of Kentucky ; 

 and it constitutes a sort of Arabia of the West, to whose breeders and 

 trainers the buyers of the United States, sometimes even foreign gentl©' 

 men, come to purchase mares, stallions, and trained coursers. 



The American thorough-bred retains man}^ of the striking character- 

 istics of the Arabian and his best old world representatiA'^e, the Englisfi 

 racer ; and in speed he compares Avell with the best horses of England. 

 He is more stoutly built, however, and capable of more endurance than 

 the English horse. 



XV. The Morgan Horse. 



A story is current to the effect that during the war of the Revolution, 

 one of the British officers. Gen. DeLancy, rode a very beautiful stallion, 

 of great value — said to have been a true thorough-bred. This horse was 

 stolen by one Smith, an American, and retained within the American 

 lines. He was the sire of a colt from a Wild Air mare ; and the colt, 

 being foaled or having become by purchase the property of one Justin 

 Morgan, of Randolph, Vermont, received the name of his master, and 

 his descendants xiave ever since been known as the Morgan horse. 



The stolen stallion, called "The True Briton" or "Beautiful Bay," 

 has been described as not only beautiful, but as having possessed great 

 action, and being capable of leaping fences, hedges, and ditches, bearing 

 a rider, from which it has been argued that he was not a thorough-bred, 

 since that stock cannot jump ; but he was in any event a remarkable 

 horse, and his valuable qualities have been transmitted to his descendants. 

 Of so pure blood and marked character was he that his powers of repro- 

 ducing himself equalled those of the most unmistakable Arabian ; and 

 the Morgan blood is perceptible after various crosses, and that too, with 

 many inferior breeds. 



So rriarkcd are the characteristics of these horses, and so different are 

 they, in some particulars, from other races, that they seem fully entitled 

 to be considered a distinct breed. They are in great repute, also, in 

 many portions of the country ; and some efforts have been made with 

 much success, to bring the stock back to its former and better condition, 

 by breeding from the best and most strongly marked stallions and mares. 



They are stout and hardy, while at the same time of good form-^ 

 capable of performing tlie greatest amount of labor, and that, too, with 

 quickness of movement. They are always in demand, and command the 

 highest market prices. 



The following are the distinguishing points of a true Morgan : 



