12 



Justin Morgan is a repetition of that of almost every other threat sire 

 known to the breeders of live stock. 



Let us illustrate this point in the history of another breed. The 

 Percherons of fifty years or more ago were mainly quick-moving, 

 light-draft horses, known in France as "diligence" horses, and were 

 largely used to draw stage and mail coaches. Indeed, the earliest 

 American writer on the Percheron horse used them to draw heavy 

 carriages. DuHays himself advocated keeping pure the three types 

 of the original Percheron horse the light-draft type, the heavy-draft 

 type, and the intermediate type. 6 Yet what consideration would be 

 shown a light-draft Percheron, or even one of the intermediate type, in 

 our modern show rings ? The improvement of the breed has carried 

 its standard as a draft horse far beyond that of its progenitors. Yet 

 who may deny the debt the breed owes to the good qualities of 

 those progenitors? 



Again, the forebears of our modern Hereford cattle were huge 

 animals, often gray -faced and speckled-faced, with a very heavy 

 forehand and light hindquarters, but they were wonderful grazers. 

 The type was one which would cause laughter if seen in a modern 

 show ring, but who doubts that the remarkable vitality and good 

 grazing qualities of the modern American Hereford are due to inherit- 

 ance from the now obsolete type from which it descended ? 



It is so in breeding live stock of any kind. Improvement must 

 be made, or the breed dies out. Breeders must set for their ideals 

 higher standards than those of the past or even of the present, or 

 retrogression is inevitable. Linsley held similar views and counseled 

 breeders to improve their Morgans. At the time he wrote he says 

 that "it can hardly be questioned that a general improvement has 

 been steadily going on in the character of our horses." c 



Improvement should be carried out, however, in such a manner that 

 the good qualities may be retained and the undesirable ones elimi- 

 nated. To adopt size in Morgans as the one great thing to be obtained 

 would be as unwise as to adopt the exact type of Justin Morgan 

 or to set up extreme speed as the sole standard. Linsley, referring 

 to this subject, recommends that the Morgan be brought up to the 

 standard of size which he set forth (14 to 15.2 hands, weighing from 

 900 to 1,100 pounds), but not at the sacrifice of any of the valuable 

 qualities already present. d 



The improved type of the Morgan horse must be based on standard 

 market requirements for horses known in our show rings by the 



W. T. Walters, of Baltimore, who translated Charles DuIIays's work on "The 

 Percheron Horse" for the Orange Judd Company in 1867. 

 ft See Walter's translation, 

 c Linsley, D. C., Morgan Horses, p. 182. 

 <*Ibid., p. 214. 

 [Cir. 163] 



