The Stable and Kennel 
OLD-FASHIONED MORGAN HORSE 
that horses should trot phenomenally fast and when 
trotting races were fashionable. The crosses of 
Hambletonian blood with Morgan may have helped 
the Hambletonians but it played the mischief with the 
Morgans. It did such general harm that the type 
came near to perishing, so near indeed that a few 
years ago it was difficult to find Morgan horses of the 
old-fashioned sort. But some were found, as a few 
breeders had not been carried away by the Hamble¬ 
tonian craze and had kept the Morgan stock reason¬ 
ably pure. There being a renewed demand for Mor¬ 
gans they are now being bred in various parts of the 
country and in a few years the supply will be consider¬ 
ably increased, though it will be ten years or so before 
the demand will be met. 
The horse show is responsible for the Morgan 
renascence. When these attractive exhibitions first 
became popular the light harness horse par excellence 
was the long-tailed Standard 
Bred Trotter. I have nothing 
whatever to say against these 
animals. To those who like 
them well they are just what 
they want. But their lack of 
substance and symmetry, to¬ 
gether with their various 
styles of action, seemed to un¬ 
fit them for many classes in 
the show rings where the 
Morgans were most admir¬ 
able. If the horse shows 
have done nothing else than 
to save the Morgans their 
existence and popularity 
would be justified. Now the 
United States Department of 
Agriculture, co-working with 
the State of Vermont, has 
established a plant in Vermont to breed Mor¬ 
gans and experiment as to the best way of 
getting back to the horses of our grand¬ 
fathers. That progress should be made in 
going backwards seems anomalous but in 
this instance it is the case. More, however, 
may be quickly expected from private 
breeders than from these official experiments. 
The appropriations by the Government have 
been most niggardly and the officers in charge 
have not been able to buy the very best, but 
have been compelled to take what they could 
afford to pay for. This is not in the least 
their fault and what 1 say is not meant as 
a reflection upon them. Private breeders 
are not always so hampered. But every use¬ 
ful horse type should be conserved, preserved 
and if possible improved by the national Gov¬ 
ernment. To do this continuity of breeding 
is necessary. The private breeder loses his 
fortune or his interest or dies and then his operations 
cease and his breeding plant is broken up. Only a 
government can keep up the needed continuity. All 
the European governments do this in one way or an¬ 
other. And when one of these governments wishes a 
horse the best of the particular kind desired is pur¬ 
chased regardless of the price. Even Italy, generally 
considered rather poor, recently paid Tio,ooo for the 
English horse Melton. 
The founder of the Morgan type is knowm in his¬ 
tory as Justin Morgan. During the better part of his 
life, if not all of it, he was called Figure. He was 
foaled about 1789 at West Springfield, Massachusetts 
where his owner, Justin Morgan, kept a tavern. The 
owner, the year the colt was foaled, moved to Ran¬ 
dolph, Vermont, where he was a school teacher, a 
drawing and a music master. According to the 
“Af organ Register and Record” edited by Air. Joseph 
TWO MORGAN BROOD MARES IN KENTUCKY 
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