The Morgan Horse

The beauty of the Morgan Horse lifts the heart. The breed exists solely because it pleases people. It is their heritage.

The Morgan is easily recognized by his proud carriage, upright graceful neck, and distinctive head with expressive eyes. Deep bodied and compact, the Morgan has strongly muscled quarters. The intelligence, willingness, zest for life, and good sense of the Morgan is blended with soundness of limb, athleticism, and stamina. In addition, Morgan thriftiness and longevity have made this breed a good bargain for more than 200 years - easy to love and affordable to own. The Morgan horse is free moving and calm under western tack or elegant and aristocratic ridden in English style. A tractable temperament allows the Morgan to excel when driving in single or multiple hitches. Companionable and comfortable on a quiet pleasure ride anywhere open skies beckon, working as a sensible partner in a long day of ranch work or endurance riding, waiting alert and ready to enter a show ring, or performing in formal riding disciplines, the Morgan is a versatile horse within a versatile breed. The Morgan horse agreeably adapts to his owner's life style. This first American breed can be found worldwide.

Reliable, loyal, tireless, and versatile, a Morgan becomes one with people of all ages and walks of life, sharing the mutual enjoyment in every equine pastime.



Origin of the Morgan Horse

Justin Morgan was a teacher, composer, businessman, and horseman who had moved to Randolph, Vermont from Springfield, Massachusetts in 1788. He acquired a bay colt, born in 1789, giving him the name Figure. This colt was the founding sire of the Morgan breed. While his true origins remain hidden in history, Figure is thought to have been sired by True Briton, a horse widely respected for his excellence and known as a sire of quality horses. Figure's dam, was "...of the Wild-air breed, of middling size, with a heavy chest, of a light bay color, with a bushy mane and tail - the hair on the legs rather long, and a smooth, handsome traveler." Her sire was Diamond; a son of Church's Wildair by Wildair (Delancey's) out of a mare owned by Samuel Burt named Wildair. As Figure grew, his compact muscular body and stylish way of moving impressed many of the pioneer farmers and settlers. Soon tales of his beauty, strength, speed, hardiness, endurance, and gentle disposition spread amidst the small New England towns. His ability to outwalk, outtrot, outrun, and outpull other horses were legendary. His stud services were offered throughout the Connecticut River Valley and various Vermont locations over his lifetime. His most valuable asset, however, was the ability to pass on his distinguishing characteristics, not only to his offspring but also through several generations.

After Justin Morgan's death, Figure moved on to other owners and spent a life working on farms, hauling freight, and as a parade mount at militia trainings. In the practice of the day, he became known by his former owner's name, the Justin Morgan horse. He spent his life working and died in 1821 from an untreated kick received from another horse. His three most famous sons - Sherman, Bulrush, and Woodbury - would carry on his legacy to future generations of Morgan horses.

Growth of a Breed

The offspring of Justin Morgan's sons and daughters grew along with the young nation that was building itself upon hard work and determination. Morgans worked along side their owners clearing fields and forests. When the week's work was done, they provided transportation to Saturday market and Sunday meeting. In addition, they pulled stagecoaches throughout New England. In the 1840's several breeders in Vermont and western New Hampshire began efforts to concentrate the Morgan lines.

By locating second, third, and fourth generation descendants of the original Morgan horse, they established the foundations of the breed. By the mid-1850's Morgans were selling for high prices and were widely distributed across the United States. Morgans set world-trotting records when the sport of harness racing was in its infancy. Black Hawk and his son Ethan Allen were nationally famous and became household words. The majority of Morgans, however, did their daily work willingly and efficiently. They were highly regarded as general-purpose horses capable of performing a wide variety of tasks. During the Civil War, Morgans served as cavalry mounts and artillery horses. A cavalryman was only as good as his horse and the Morgan is mentioned in many sources as a highly desired horse during the Civil War. The First Vermont Cavalry, mounted entirely on Morgans, gained a wide spread reputation as a fighting unit. Of their more than 1200 horses, only 200 survived the war. Morgans are noted for their small ears set above a broad forehead with large, kind eyes, tapered muzzle and expressive nostrils, an arched neck set on a well angled shoulder, broad chest, short back; deep, compact bodies set on legs with flat, dense bone; round croup, and round, hard hooves. Their proud bearing gives them a distinctive beauty that catches the eye of all.

The stamina and spirit of the Morgan, combined with its build and way of traveling, contributed greatly to the formation of other American breeds. These breeds include the Standardbred, Quarter Horse, Tennessee Walking Horse, and American Saddle Horse. The first Morgan Horse Register was published in 1894. Since it's establishment, the registry has listed over 147,000 Morgans with breeders located in all fifty states and overseas.
 

Morgans Today

Today, Morgans can be found in all 50 states and in more than 20 foreign countries. Individuals generally range from 14.1 to 15.2 hands, with exceptions under and over that. Colors allowed within the breed include bay, black, brown, chestnut, gray, palomino, creme, dun and buckskin. The Morgan has remained a stylish mount with conformation that lends itself well to a vast range of disciplines. Morgan versatility is widely recognized. The breed's soundness, power, agility and stamina make it the choice of many driving enthusiasts. Morgans comprise a large number of entries at Combined Driving and Carriage events, and were the first American breed to represent the United States in World Pairs Driving competition. Morgans also excel in many other disciplines, including Park Saddle and Harness, English and Classic Pleasure Saddle and Driving, Western, Hunter, Jumper, Eventing, Dressage, Reining, Cutting, Endurance and Competitive Trail. They are gentle enough for lessons, 4-H and Pony Club involvement, and due to their steady, comfortable gaits, are in great demand as therapeutic riding horses. Morgans are equally well known for their loving, kind dispositions. Those who buy a Morgan often say they have not only purchased a horse, but have welcomed a new family member.



Morgans in the Civil War

Morgans were a favored mount by cavalry soldiers in the Civil War. They were sensible under fire. The could march tirelessly all day. They maintained their condition on unpredictable rations. And they were loyal to their riders in all circumstances. Morgans recorded by Civil War stories include Reinzi, Charlemagne, Little Sorrel. Other Morgans included the mounts of the 5th New York Cavalry: Pink, Betty, Cockeye, Prince, Frank, Mink, Mollie, Jack (#1), Topsy, Nellie, Jack (#2), Dunlap's mare, Sukey, Black Dick, Brydon's Nellie, Charley, Jane, Pomp, Wyman Horse, June, Lucy. A monument was built to honor Pink, and a marker was made for the grave of Billy. Betty Root served under Lt. Trussel in the 1st Vermont Cavalry. Old Clem was owned by Colonel Lemuel Platt who organized the 1st Vermont Cavalry. Clifton was ridden by Dr. William Capeheart of North Carolina until he was killed in action in March 1864.

The following regiments of the cavalry were mounted on Morgans when they were first organized. As horses were killed in action they were replaced by government owned mounts which varied in quality.

First Maine Cavalry

Second Michigan Cavalry

Third Michigan Cavalry

Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry

Fifth New York Cavalry Company H

First Rhode Island Cavalry (Morgans and French Canadian horses)

Fourth Virginia Cavalry Company H-Also known as the Black Horse Cavalry or the
Black Horse Troop, this unit created panic among the raw recruits of the Union army at the First Battle of Bull Run or First Mannassas.

First Vermont Cavalry-this unit received shipments of more Vermont horses during the war, 200 of the original 1,200 Morgans used to mount this regiment survived the war. They inspired the following remarks:

• "The mounts of the First Vermont Cavalry were decidedly the best I had ever seen. Everybody was attracted by them. I have heard both General Buford…and General Hatch…say that the mounts of this regiment was the best in the army. General Buford…also told me that he would as soon have this regiment of Vermont volunteer cavalry as a regiment of the regular army." - Charles Tompkins, Captain, U.S. Army
  
   
• "The other day, a very fine horse being offered at the Inspection Ground, I bought him. He is a chestnut horse about 15.2 hands high, five years old, weighs between 1,000and 1,100 and is pretty as a picture. He is of the Morgan breed, proud and high spirited, yet fearless. He will stand within four feet of a puffing locomotive and never thinks of being frightened. He is deep-chested and has very powerful and muscular limbs. Built for strength, speed and endurance. He has a very fine head and ears and a neck that might serve as a model in painting. In fact, he is a prince among horses, and I doubt not that I shall be envied my treasure when I rejoin my regiment. I ride him a little every day and enjoy it hugely. It seems good to be once more in the saddle. On the street his proud bearing attracts much attention and the rascal gets more admiring glances than his rider." - Captain William C. Hazelton, 8th Illinois Cavalry, letter to his mother, June 3, 1864.
  
   
• "Dad fought in the Civil War and saw a lot of that company from Vermont that had all the Morgan horses. Dad was with the artillery. Six horses were needed to pull each big piece of equipment and Dad got two of those Vermont Morgans for his lead team. He sure thought a lot of them and according to him there wasn't anything they couldn't do. They were constantly in demand to move pieces of artillery that were mired and other teams had failed to move." - A.G. Maier speaking of his father and his Morgan horses in 1950

Famous Morgans

Reinzi ( a.k.a. Winchester) was ridden by General Philip Sheridan to rally his Union troops and was commemorated in the poem and painting, "Sheridan's Ride" written by Thomas Buchanan Read. Reinzi was preserved and is at the Smithsonian museum.

Little Sorrel was a Morgan ridden by Confederate General Stonewall Jackson in his Civil War campaigns.

Comanche, the lone survivor of the battle of the little big horn is widely considered to have been of Morgan lineage.

Charlemagne was the Morgan mount of General Joshua Chamberlain when he won the fight of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.

Black Hawk - A son of Sherman Morgan, he was famed for his speed and elegant style. He in turn sired the world champion trotter Ethan Allen.

Ethan Allen 50 - The fastest trotting stallion of his day, he was sired by Black Hawk. The popular trotting horse weather vane was based upon his silhouette.

Morgans in Other Breeds

The Quarter horse stallion Joe Bailey was a son of Headlight Morgan. Jubilee King, a famous Morgan, was also registered under the Quarter Horse name of Yellow Jacket. Yet another well-known Quarter Horse sire, Joe Hancock, was sired by Redolent, a son of the Morgan Red Oak. In 1920 the King Ranch of Kingsville, Texas, purchased the two-year-old colt Lucky from the U.S. Government Farm for the purpose of upgrading the stock horses they were breeding. Countless Morgan mares were purchased from farms in Illinois and turned out on the range in the King Ranch remuda but can not be identified as the offspring they produced where shown as being out of “Morgan Mare” in the original AQHA registry books.

Ninety-percent of today’s Saddlebreds carry Morgan blood. The original list of stallions selected as foundation sires by the National Saddle Horse Breeder’s Association in 1899 included the Morgan stallions Cabell’s Lexington and Coleman’s Eureka. Today, the majority of Saddlebreds carry Morgan blood through the Black Hawk grandsons, Gist’s Black Hawk and Indian Chief; and the great-grandson, Peavine.

Tennessee Walking Horses owe much to early Morgan blood. The foundation sire, Allan F-1, traced to Black Hawk through his dam. His son, Roan Allen F-38, was also out of a mare tracing to Gifford Morgan.

The early Morgan contributed bottom, stamina, substance and purity of gait at the trot to the lines of the American Standardbred, enhancing the speed later given to the breed by the Hambletonian stallion.
 

Important Morgan Dates

1789—Justin Morgan, the breed’s foundation sire, was foaled in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1857—D.C. Linsley’s book Morgan Horses was published. It is the earliest book documenting the history of Justin Morgan and America’s first breed.

1894—Volume I of the American Morgan Horse Register was published by Colonel Joseph Battell.

1907—The American Morgan Horse Farm was established in Weybridge, Vermont, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the breeding and preservation of the Morgan horse.

1909—The Morgan Horse Club was formed at the Vermont State Fair.

1921—To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Justin Morgan, the Morgan Horse Club presented to the U.S. Morgan Horse Farm the Justin Morgan statue, which is still exhibited there today.

1927—The Morgan Horse Club was incorporated as a membership corporation under the laws of the state of New York. This was the first time that certificates of registration were issued by the Morgan Horse Club.

1939—The first National Morgan Horse Show was held in Woodstock, Vermont.

1941—Owen Moon Jr. of Vermont started the Morgan Horse Bulletin, now known as THE MORGAN HORSE magazine.

1949—Otho Eusey of Massachusetts became the printer of THE MORGAN HORSE magazine, a duty he fulfilled until retiring in May of 1980.

1951—The U.S. Morgan Horse Farm was taken over by the Sate of Vermont, becoming the University of Vermont Morgan Farm.

1952—The Morgan Horse Show division was recognized by the American Horse Shows Association which is now USA Equestrian. 1971—The Morgan Horse Club, Inc. was renamed the American Morgan Horse Association, Inc.

1973—The first annual Grand National Morgan Horse Show was held in Detroit, Michigan.

1976—The AMHA was recognized as a member of the National Bicentennial Sports Alliance, and the Morgan was recognized as the Bicentennial Horse.

1981—The AMHA received an official invitation to participate in the Presidential Inaugural Parade for President-elect Ronald Reagan.

1982—The First Annual Membership Convention and Seminar was held in Los Angeles, California, February 12-14.

1985—Morgan horses represented the United States in the World Pairs Driving Championships in Sandringham, England and have continued to do so in years since.

1985—The U.S. Postal Service issued commemorative stamps depicting the Morgan horse.

1997—The Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show celebrates is 25th year.

1997—The first Canadian National Championship Morgan Show was held in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Important Towns for Morgan

Chelsea, Vermont—Location of the grave of Justin Morgan, the horse

Randolph Center, Vermont—Town where Justin Morgan brought his horse. Location where the man Justin Morgan is buried.

Shelburne, Vermont—Location of the American Morgan Horse Association headquarters.

South Woodstock, Vermont—Location of the old National Morgan Horse Show before it moved. Also the home of Upwey Morgan Farm, which has become the Green Mountain Horse Association.

Weybridge, Vermont—Location of the farm where the government bred Morgans for cavalry. Now it is the home of the UVM Morgan Farm.

White River Junction, Vermont—Where the Morgan Horse Club was formed in 1909.

Springfield, Massachusetts—Birthplace of the original Justin Morgan Horse.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—Location of the World Championship Morgan Horse Show every year.

(Text on this page courtesy of www.morganhorse.com)

Standard of Perfection for Morgan Horses

Correct Morgan type and conformation should be considered not only during In-Hand classes but also in performance classes where rules indicate that type and conformation are to be considered. The Standard is also used to evaluate Morgan type and conformation outside of the show ring.

1. Type is the ideal or standard of perfection for the breed. A Morgan is distinctive for its stamina and vigor, personality and eagerness and strong natural way of moving.
2. Conformation is the degree of perfection of the component parts and their relationship to each other.
   1. The head should be expressive with broad forehead; large prominent eyes; with straight or slightly dished short face; firm fine lips; large nostrils and well-rounded jowls. The ears should be short and shapely, set rather wide apart and carried alertly. Mares may have a slightly longer ear.
   2. The throatlatch is slightly deeper than other breeds and should be refined sufficiently to allow proper flexion at the poll and normal respiration.
   3. The neck should come out on top of an extremely well-angulated shoulder with depth from top of withers to point of shoulder. It should be relatively fine in relation to sex. It should be slightly arched and should blend with the withers and back. The top line of the neck should be considerably longer than the bottom line. The stallion should have more crest than the mare or gelding. An animal gelded late in life may resemble the stallion more closely.
   4. The withers should be well defined and extend into the back in proportion to the angulation of the shoulder.
   5. The body should be compact with a short back, close coupling, broad loins, deep flank, well-sprung ribs, croup long and well muscled with tail attached high, carried gracefully and straight. A weak, low, or long back is a severe fault. The Morgan horse should not be higher at the croup than at the withers.
   6. The stifle should be placed well forward and low in the flank area.
   7. The legs should be straight and sound with short cannons, flat bone, and an appearance of over-all substance with refinement. The forearm should be relatively long in proportion to the cannon. The pasterns should have sufficient length and angulation to provide a light, springy step.
   8. The structure of the rear legs is of extreme importance to the selection of a long-lasting equine athlete. Any sign of poor angulation of the hocks, sickle hocks or cow hocks must be considered a severe fault. Lack of proper flexion of the hock is cause for very close examination of the entire structure of the rear legs and should not be tolerated in breeding stock or show ring winners.
   9. The feet should be in proportion to the size of the horse, round, open at heel, with concave sole and hoof of dense structure.
   10. Viewed from the front, the chest should be well developed. The front legs should be perpendicular to the ground and closely attached to the body.
   11. Viewed from the side, the top line represents a gentle curve from the poll to the back, giving the impression of the neck sitting on top of the withers rather than in front of them, continuing to a short, straight back and a relatively level croup rounding into a well muscled thigh. The tail should be attached high and carried well-arched. At maturity the croup should NOT be higher than the withers. The under line should be long and the body deep through the heart girth and flanks. The extreme angulation of the shoulder results in the arm being a little more vertical than in other breeds, placing the front legs slightly farther forward on the body. The front legs should be straight and perpendicular to the ground. The rear cannons should be perpendicular to the ground when points of hocks and buttocks are in the same vertical lines.
   12. Viewed from the rear, the croup should be well rounded, thighs and gaskins well-muscled. Legs should be straight. The gaskin should be relatively long in relation to the cannon. The Morgan should portray good spring of rib and well-rounded buttocks. Slab-sided individuals should be faulted.
   13. The height ranges from 14.1 to 15.2 hands, with some individuals under or over.
   14. Horses must be serviceably sound-i.e. must not show evidence of lameness, broken wind or complete loss of sight in either eye.
   15. Stallions two years old and over must have all the fully developed physical characteristics of a stallion. Mature stallions must be masculine in appearance. Mares must be feminine in appearance.
   16. Coat or eye color shall have no bearing when judging Morgan horses.
   17. Brands, including freeze brands, shall not be discriminated against in any class.
3. Other distinctive attributes of the Morgan horse are his presence and personality. These include:
   1. Animation
   2. Stamina
   3. Vigor
   4. Alertness
   5. Adaptability
   6. Attitude
   7. Tractability
4. Correct way of going for In-Hand classes:
   It is imperative that height of action should not take precedence over correct way of going. Emphasis shall be on type and conformation with consideration given to horse's ability to move correctly on the lead.
   1. The walk should be rapid, flat-footed, with a four-beat cadence, and elastic, with the accent on flexion in the pastern.
   2. The trot should be a two-beat, diagonal gait, animated, elastic, square, and collected. The rear action should be in balance with the front.
5. Posing horses must stand squarely on all four feet with the front legs perpendicular to the ground. Rear legs may be placed slightly back. Judge must ask exhibitor to move hind legs up under horse for inspection.

(The above descriptions have been adapted from "The Morgan Horse Judging Standards".)