The Morgan Horse

-an American treasure-

The Morgan Horse is one of the oldest existing breeds of American light horse. As the 1800s were dawning several pockets of Running Horse derivative stock were becoming selectively bred for specific factors. The trotter in the northeast, the saddle horse in the mid-Atlantic area and the all purpose family horse- the Morgan in the northeast. The Morgan is an unusual breed because it springs from one foundation sire: Figure (sometimes called Justin Morgan), and contains repeated crossing in of his lines in an amount that is rarely seen in any other breed. This is extreme typesetting and the result is a breed that after more than 200 years is still in most strains clearly recognizable as a Morgan.

Figure

So to understand the Morgan we need first of all to decipher the genetics of Figure. In the era in which Figure was born the improver of the day- that is the horse breed used to upgrade the general light horse population was our domestic racehorse which I call the American Running Horse. Because the roots of our Running Horse breed are in early Colonial times it has been assumed that this racer was not a breed, but it was, and was widespread and extremely talented, a breed that could race at the pace or the gallop, both under saddle and in harness for distance of 1/4 mile to 4 mile heat races- for a hundred years before the English Thoroughbred arrived in the Colonies (~1750). The stallions from this breed were desired as improvement sires. The owner of Figure, Justin Morgan, stood quality stallions in the western CT and MA areas as well as in southern VT to supplement his earnings as a teacher. A study of Figure's pedigree reveals he was a fine example of the New England Running Horse of his time.

Figure is by a American bred of mostly English Thoroughbred blood called True Briton or True Britian out of an American Running Horse dam- Diamond Mare. There has been almost a continual discussion and dissention about his parentage. Part of this is because of his extraordinary talents and pre-potency, part is because of the records of the day are from information from letters, stud ads, and some few publications, which is a spotty record that did not provide the full picture of the horse industry in the late 1700s. To this day we are piecing together the history. We will look at his lineage here because we now know he is an outstanding example of the New England Running Horse at the dawn of the 19th century and he set the type for a breed that is still a valuable resource for those of us who breed horses for sport.
Figure (RH) pedigree (Battell version)

I need first to give you some background on the New England and New York Running Horse as both of these are represented in Figure's lineage as he was a product of the Connecticut Valley breeders. Our Colonial forebears were racing enthusiasts; starting first in Virginia 1610 and then in New England beginning in 1629 the English settlers imported many Irish Hobbies and English Running Horses both for use as saddle horses and to race - these were not Thoroughbred horses- the English Thoroughbred was not a breed until 1670 and was not imported to America until the mid-1700s. New York got into the game about 50 years later. The other Colonies- from Nova Scotia south to Georgia shortly followed so that by the time of the Revolution the racehorse craze had swept the New World. (Nova Scotia was an English Colony in this time frame and Halifax a racing hub).

These same 16th century breeds (Hobby/Running Horse) that made up the genetics of our first sport horse breed are also the base of the English Thoroughbred. (Recent DNA studies- Hill 2012 and Bower 2010 have confirmed what historical research has shown us, that the base of the TB is what they call 'native' British and Irish mares- we call these Hobby and Running Horse.) During this same era the English were beginning to add Turcoman and Barb to their Running Horse breed and the first 'thoroughbred' was Spanker a horse born in 1670. The Colonies (us) got our stock from this same pre-Thoroughbred base: the Hobby and Running Horse. The English Running Horse and the Irish Hobby were race-saddle horses, selectively bred for racing; the Irish Hobby was the fastest of the two, the Running Horse contained Irish Hobby, Galloway (Scottish Hobby) and English Hobby strains. They were small (13.1 to 14.1 hands) gaited horses who possessed incredible sprint speed and enduring stamina at both the pace and the gallop. Because they were gaited they were preferred also as riding horses, 'posting' had not been invented yet and a trotting horse was considered fit for the harness, the gaited horse was the desired saddle horse. It is from this race-saddle horse breed that our best light horse breeds descend. (You can read a full history of this amazing sport breed in my book- to be out in summer of 2012).

The eastern New York and western Connecticut areas were settled first by the Dutch who brought a cob breed with them- it was also small (14 hands) but was strictly a cob- a small sturdy harness/farm type, it was not fast and it was not gaited. It was highly prized in the Colonies because of its usefulness in light farm and draught work. As roads were built and a faster harness horse was desired the Running Horse was often crossed into this cob breed. The Running Horse was the 'up-grader' of the day.

Later on (from 1750) the English Thoroughbred was imported into America especially into the racing hubs and crossed on our Running Horse for gains in height and distance speed. These are the three genetic components that made up Figure's heritage. He did not have Arabian in him. You will see "Lindsay's Arabian" in his lineage as well as in the pedigrees of many other Colonial horses in both New England-New York and in the Virginia area where this horse stood. Lindsay's Arabian however in not an Arabian- he is a Barb. He is well documented as such. The Barb is an ancient breed (pre-1000 BC) that was birthed from the same base stock as the Iberian Peninsula- so it is genetically related to the ancient Spanish horse- from which also the Hobby descends. It is not closely related to the Arabian, a breed that developed 1500 years later. The name 'arabian' was added once he was imported from Connecticut to Virginia, before that he was called Ranger. However, he was a Barb imported to Connecticut in 1766- the shipping records and the importers notes have survived. So then, sorry to all of you who have been breeding in Arabian to Morgan thinking you are reinforcing background genes- you are not, when you breed Arabian to Morgan you are doing a 'cold cross'. Further, the Godolphin Arabian (seen in Figure 4 times) and the Darley Arabian seen in the early English Thoroughbred are not Arabians either- they are Turcoman horses. This also is well documented by historical records, and now the recent Mitochondrial DNA studies have proven this is so. This miss-labeling of horses as Arabian has caused considerable confusion to breeders for centuries.

Figure's sire True Briton (or Britian) is basically an early English Thoroughbred, although he was bred here in this country, as was his sire Llyod's Traveller. He stood in the New York and New England racing areas and was also used as an 'up-grader' for riding horse stock.Please note there has been continual contention about Figure's topline- this is because there is some mystery involved, stories that he may have been a stolen horse and his sire may have been Llyod's Traveler or Wildair or possibly another imported English Thoroughbred.

Figure's dam however is an American Running Horse, which then makes Figure one also. Her sire Diamond is straight from the New York Running Horse breeding program. The big give away to that is he is inbred to Wildair. Wildair was an imported English Thoroughbred; imported by Lt. DeLancey in 1765 first for use by the Maryland Running Horse breeders and then later was brought north to DeLancey's own operation in New York; his family owned a famous racing stable in the Bowery section of NY. He was a racehorse sire and he was bred to the racehorse mares in both those areas. The racehorse mares were American Running Horses. Wildair was returned to England right before the Revolution.

Figure's second dam, Sportsman Mare, was a daughter of the Running Horse Sportsman, who is by the Barb Lindsay's Arabian out of a Running Horse dam. It is most probable that the dam of Sportsman Mare and Sportsman's own dam, being Connecticut Valley bred Running Horse stock contained some Dutch cob as well- this was very common in this breeding population in that era. Sportsman was stood by Justin Morgan a few times, so he did a breeding circuit into western Massachusetts as well as in Connecticut.

So then Figure was a product of our New England/New York Running Horse operations and is then a snapshot of the quality light horse of New England in that day. He was tremendously pre-potent and had amazing ability- he was a champion sprint racer with tremendous stamina as well which he surely got from his Running Horse/Thoroughbred genetics, but he also was renowned for his draught strength as he was able to out-pull all others in his area, which reflects his cob heritage.

However, we can see in his pedigee (which is the map of the genetics) the extraordinary vigor and amazing potency he possessed is the result of the reintroduction and sex balancing of specific bloodlines. Wildair was strongly of English Running Horse type himself, possessing the short coupled, high headed conformation that was a contrast to the longer lined and taller Turocman types. His sire Cade is out of a Hobby mare (by Bald Galloway) and most of the dam lines in True Briton run right back to the Royal Mares (Hobby Mares of the Sedbury, Darcy and Helmsley studs). When our American Running Horse genes met up with other lines of their original ancestors it created an explosion of potency. We can see this same dramatic effect occurring when the key sire Janus was introduced to our Running Horse mares in the Virginia racing hub. The English Thoroughbred of that era was still very close to its Running Horse genetics.

So then Figure was a genetic Running Horse powerhouse- the little horse that could do it all. Now for sport horse breeders the bloodlines in the Morgan we will want to target are those that reinforce his sport heritage. We can see historically that when he was bred back to Running Horse dams he produced his most talented bloodlines. For example his best son lines, such as Woodbury Morgan who is out of a Running Horse dam and Sherman Morgan who is out of a Narragansett Pacer (New England Running Horse). These lines produced the best road horses being those that could travel at speed for long distances. But when bred to farm types- like the Canadian Horse or the Dutch cob he then got sturdy cob types who were more useful at log, draught and farm work- Bulrush Morgan is an example.

In contrast fine saddle horse types were developed when the Running Horse genetics were reinforced. We see this in his son Copperbottom 1809 who was out of an Narrgansett Pacer dam (RH), this created a 3/4 RH genotype and Copperbottom- who was a fast pacing racer who ran 4 mile heats, went on to sire a dynasty of fine gaited saddle horses. (You will see Copperbottom in the lineage of General Gates found in the connecting article).
Then there is the magnificent Black Hawk, a super star in his day, and a significant bloodline for sport even today. He is 3/4 Running Horse.

This is a great sport line which arose when Figure's cob type son Sherman Morgan (who is a quandary himself as he throws to his cob side even being 3/4 RH)- but when he was bred to a Running Horse mare from the old Nova Scotia Colony racing stock he produced Black Hawk- the most successful of his sport bloodlines. He sired a family of excellent trotting horses and his bloodlines are found in the background of our Standardbred, Saddlebred, Tennessee Walker and Missouri Fox Trotter as well as in the Morgan.

This is your key to Morgan sport horse breeding- you must encourage the lighter sport lines, by reinforcing and building them up- but the result will be worth the effort. Which one of you wouldn't want to produce a Black Hawk type today?

When our government went looking for the perfect cavalry horse at the turn of the century (1906) it was Black Hawk's descendants that proved they were the right stuff.

The government program should be of interest to every domestic sport horse breeder. It held its breeding stock to a level of excellence few breeding programs have equaled before or after. They culled extensively, basing their choice of stock on a extreme performance standard. The horses all had to prove themselves at basic saddle work (dressage), but they also were tested in jumping and they had to complete a 300 mile endurance ride! Those lines that could not hold up were removed. The result was horses of immense stamina, toughness and versatility. This program stayed in place until 1950. Many of those Morgan stallions were used in the cavalry remount program.

The cavalry program favored Thoroughbred stallions (93%) but a significant number of the performance tested Morgans were welcomed also (35), as well as hundreds of Morgan, American Saddle Horse and Standardbred mares. The Remount bred stock later had a huge positive impact in the upgrading of the western horse industry.

Of interest also is that another successful breeding program was set up using the Morgan. This was at the Livestock Experimental Station in Montana where they had great success with Thoroughbred-Morgan crosses, producing large well conformed athletic mounts.

For us- the sport horse breeders, to ignore this resource found in the government program descendants would be silly. They are bloodlines that are concentrated and proven in what we need and they are right here in our modest Morgan horse of today-waiting for you to ignite the genetics all over again. Pure-bred Morgans are winning today in all disciplines. They can also be extremely useful to those sport horse breeders who have largely Thoroughbred bloodlines as a typesetter. They can bring gains in temperament, style and versatility. Our sport cavalry horse of the 1930s had reached such a level of excellence that it won multiple medals in all three Olympic disciplines; gold, silver and bronze in Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. The sport horses our cavalry were riding were 1/2 to 3/4 Thoroughbred- the other portion was Morgan, Standardbred and American Saddle Horse. History has shown this is a winning combination.

Amateur sport participants will delight in the Morgan also because it never lost its sweet temperament, it actually likes people, and the modern Morgan is usually between 15 to 15.3 hands tall, sturdy also and able to carry weight with ease.

A note of caution here: as in other of our domestic breeds there have been some strains developed for the 'show ring" that have produced a type that is not faithful to the original Morgan. In the Morgan this movement began around 1948 when strange selection processes, severe training methods and the bringing in of other breeds allowed them to change the Morgan type into a high-strung horse with elevated gaits and also with conformation faults- such as poor legs and feet and swayback showing up in this specialized type. You will want to avoid this strain- this is not the type for success in Olympic style sport; your true sport gold will be found in the old style Morgan.