Morgan horse is among the oldest horse breeds in the United States. It was named after Justin Morgan, his best-known owner.
Morgan horse played many roles in American history of the 19th century, being used as coach horses, harness racing, general riding animals, and cavalry horses during the American Civil War on both sides of the conflict.
Morgan’s horse inspired other major American breeds, such as the American quarter horse, Tennessee walking horse, and the Standardbred.
They were exported to other countries during the 19th and 20th centuries, including England, where the Morgan horse influenced the Hackney horse’s breeding.
The US Department of Agriculture founded the US Morgan horse farm near Middlebury, Vermont 1907 to perpetuate and develop the Morgan breed. The farm was then transferred to the University of Vermont.
The first breed registry was founded in 1909, and many organizations have been formed in the US, Europe, and Oceania since then. In 2005, there were estimated to be over 175,000 Morgan horses globally.
The Morgan horse is a small, elegant breed of color, commonly bay, black or chestnut. However, they come in several colors, including some pinto variants. The breed is renowned for its versatility, being used in both English and Western disciplines.
The Morgan is Vermont’s state animal, Massachusetts’ horse, and Rhode Island’s mammal. Popular children’s authors, including Marguerite Henry and Ellen Feld, have portrayed the breed in their books. Henry’s Justin Morgan horse was later made into a Disney movie.
Breeding characteristic
There is one breed standard for the Morgan species, regardless of the individual horse’s discipline or bloodline.
It has strong legs, an expressive head with a straight or slightly convex profile, and a broad forehead.
Other features include being compact and polished in structure, having wide, prominent eyes, well-defined withers, laid-back shoulders, and an erect, well-arched neck.
The back is short, with a long and well-muscled croup, and the hindquarters are strongly muscled. The tail is attached high, gracefully, and straight.
Morgan’s horse tends to be powerful, and the breed is well regarded as a simple keeper. The breed’s height ranges from 14.1 – 15.2 hands (57 – 62 inches, 145 – 157 cm), with some people above and below.
The gaits are animated, elastic, square, and collected, with flat front and rear legs, particularly the trot. A few Morgan horses are gaited, meaning an intermediate speed gait other than the trot, such as the rack, foxtrot, or pace, can be performed.
The United States Equestrian Federation states that a Morgan horse is distinctive for its stamina & vigor, character as well as eagerness, and a healthy natural way of moving.
The breed has a reputation for intellect, bravery, and a pleasant disposition. Registered Morgan horses obtain varieties of color that include Gray, roan, dun, silver dapple, and cream dilutions such as palomino, buckskin, cremello, and perlino are less common colors.
In addition, three patterns of pinto colors are also recognized, including sabino, frame overo, and splashed white. However, the tobiano trend has not been noted in Morgan horses.
One genetic disorder has been reported for the Morgan breed. This is myopathy of type 1 polysaccharide storage, an autosomal dominant muscle condition predominantly found in stock horse and draft horse breeds caused by a GYS1 gene missense mutation.
Morgan horses are one of the many dozen breeds found to have the allele for the disease, but its prevalence appears to be very low in Morgan horses relative to stock and draft breeds.
In one survey, less than one percent of randomly tested Morgan horses carried the allele for this condition, one of the lowest percentages among races in that study. Genetic disorders are also associated with two coat color genes in Morgan horses.
One is the Multiple Congenital Ocular Abnormalities (MCOA) hereditary ocular syndrome, initially called equine anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD). The abnormal development of specific ocular tissues is characterized by MCOA, which causes diminished vision.
Although it is usually of a mild form, the condition is non-progressive.
Breed History
All Morgan horses date back to a single sire of the foundation, a stallion, Figure, born in 1789 in West Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1792, Figure was given to a man known as Justin Morgan as a debt payment.
The name of this particular owner later came to describe the horse, and “the Justin Morgan horse” developed into the breed’s name. The Figure is estimated to have stood about 14 hands (56 inches, 142 cm) and weighed around 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
He was renowned for his prepotency, passing on his distinctive looks, conformation, disposition, and athleticism. His exact pedigree remains uncertain, but his parentage has been extensively discovered.
One historian states that the writings on the probability of his sire being a thoroughbred called Beautiful Bay will fill 41 detective novels and a membership application for the Liars’ Club.
In 1821, another horse kicked Figure, and later died of his injuries. He was then buried in Tunbridge, Vermont.
Although Figure was used as a breeding stallion record, only six of his sons are known to exist, and three became notable as the Morgan breed’s foundation bloodstock. Woodbury, a chestnut, stood 59 inches (150 cm) tall and stood at stud for several years in New England.
Bulrush, a dark bay the same size as the figure, was known for his stamina and pace in harness. Another chestnut stallion, a bit shorter than Figure, who was the sire and grandsire of Black Hawk and Ethan Allen, was best known as Sherman.
Born in 1833, Black Hawk became a founding stallion for Standardbred, American Saddlebred, and Tennessee walking horse breeds. He was known for his record of undefeated harness racing.
Another notable sire in the Morgan breed history is Ethan Allen, born by Black Hawk in 1849 and known for his speed in trotting races.
Breed development
The Morgan horse was remembered for their useful capabilities in the 19th century. They were used comprehensively for harness racing and pulling coaches due to the breed’s speed and endurance in harness.
They were also stock horses for light driving and general riding. Miners used the breed in the California Gold Rush (1848 – 1855), as did by the Army, for riding and harnessing horses before and after the American Civil War.
Shepherd F. Knapp, the Morgan trotting stallion, was exported to England in the 1860s, where his ability to trot inspired Hackney horses’ breeding.
Many Morgan mares may have been brought down to the West during this time and incorporated into Texan horse herds, inspiring the development of the American Quarter Horse.
The Morgan horse was also an ancestor of the Missouri Fox Trotter. However, in the 1870s, longer-legged horses emerged, and Morgan horses were crossed with other breeds. This caused the original Morgan style to vanish largely. Nonetheless, a few remained in isolated areas.
A volume of Morgan breeding stallions, published in 1857, was collected by Daniel Chipman Linsley, a native of Middlebury, Vermont.
In 1894, the first volume of the Morgan horse register was published by Colonel Joseph Battell, also a native of Middlebury, Vermont, marking the beginning of a formal breed registry.
In 1907, the US Department of Agriculture established the US Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge, Vermont, to perpetuate and develop the Morgan breed.
The breeding program aimed to produce safe, strong, well-mannered horses and capable of performing well under saddle or in harness. 1951, the Morgan horse farm was transferred (now the University of Vermont).
Military use
Both sides used Morgan horses throughout the American Civil War as cavalry mounts. Horses with Morgan roots include Sheridan’s Winchester, also known as Rienzi (a descendant of Black Hawk).
The Little Sorrel of Stonewall Jackson was alternately identified as a Morgan or an American Saddlebred, a breed heavily influenced by the Morgan horse.
Although Morgan horse enthusiasts have claimed that after the Battle of the Litt, the horse Comanche was the only survivor of the Custer regiment, this does not support the Army and other early sources.
Most sources say that Comanche was either of the “Mustang lineage” or a combination of “American” and “Spanish” blood.
The University of Kansas Natural History Museum, which has Comanche’s stuffed body on display, does not comment on his ethnicity. All sources agree that Comanche originated in the Oklahoma or Texas region, making his Mustang heritage more likely.
Families
Today, the Morgan breed has four main bloodline groups: the Brunk families, Government, Lippitt, and Western working families.
There are also smaller subfamilies. The Brunk family, especially noted for soundness and athleticism, can be traced to Joseph Brunk’s Illinois breeding program.
The Lippitt family can be traced back to Robert Lippitt Knight’s breeding program, grandson of industrialist Robert Knight and maternal great-grandson Christ Christopher Lippitt, founder of the Lippitt Mill.
Robert Lippitt Knight focuses on General Gates as the foundational sire of this line. When USDA participation ended, the University of Vermont purchased the farm, and most of its breeding stock, and the program is carried out today.
The Western working family has no traditional breeder or ancestor, but the horses are bred to be stock horses and work cattle.
Organization
The ‘Morgan Horse Club’ was founded in 1909 and later changed its name to the ‘American Morgan Horse Association.’ There was a debate within the registry membership during the 1930s and 1940s about whether the studbook should be open or closed.
This reflected similar disputes in other registries of US breeds. As a result of these debates, the studbook was declared closed to external blood as of January 1, 1948.
The US and Canadian registries signed a reciprocity agreement on the registration of horses in 1985. The registries made a similar agreement with the US and Great Britain in 1990. As of 2012, approximately 179,000 horses were registered during the association’s life, with over 3,000 new foals registered annually.
It is estimated that there are between 175,000 and 180,000 Morgan horses worldwide. Although they are most common in the United States, they are also found in Great Britain, Sweden, and other countries.
The most prominent organization for the breed is the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA). In addition to the AMHA, there has been a National Morgan Pony Registry since 1996, specializing in horses with fewer than 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm). Many other organizations concentrate on particular bloodlines within the Morgan breed.
These include the Rainbow Morgan Horse Association, which started in 1990, working with the AMHA to create and support unusually colored Morgan horses, such as those with the silver dapple and cream genes.
The Morgan Horse Association Foundation tracks those horses bred to mimic the stockier form seen in the late 1800s and early 1900s before mixing with the American Saddlebred.
