Breeding Morgan Horses. 5 



in the loss of the beautiful form and quality of the Morgan and did 

 not make him a trotting race horse. It did add stamina and endur- 

 ance to certain trotting-horse families, for which the Morgan breed 

 deserves considerable credit. 



In the early days many high-class Morgan stallions and marcs 

 were purchased at attractive prices and taken to other sections of 

 the country, and while a few scattering studs were bred pure in their 

 new locations, many of them were absorbed by other breeds, such 

 as the Kentucky Saddle Horse. The identity of many was lost, 

 not because of a lack of ability to improve the stock in their new 

 surroundings but because definite breeding records were not kept in 

 many rural sections and repeated transfers of ownership occurred. 



Fig. 2.— Side view of Morgan stallion Troubadour of Willowmoor No. 6459 A. M. R. 



MOVEMENT TO CONSERVE BEST BLOOD. 



This diluting and scattering of valuable Morgan blood went on 

 for many years and no one gave any serious thought to the matter. 

 At least, no definite action was taken until a comparatively few 

 years ago. when several public-spirited men, who knew personally of 

 the many meritorious qualities of the Morgan horse, made an effort 

 to preserve the best specimens of the breed. In 1906 the United 

 States Department of Agriculture and the Vermont State Experi- 

 ment Station were authorized to assemble a small band of Morgan 



