Striking the Superb Figure of the Morgan Horse

Justin Morgan was a teacher, composer, businessman, and horseman who acquired a small, rough-coated bay colt of relatively unknown lineage who was born in 1789. He named him Figure and he was a rather unremarkable horse that nobody wanted because he was too small, yet he became the foundation of an entire breed of horses recognized for quality and dependability.

The ancestry of this colt named Figure who founded the Morgan breed is unknown, but is thought to be of Dutch, Thoroughbred, or Arabian breeding. History's best guess is that his sire was True Briton, who was respected for his excellence and who sired quality horses. His unnamed dam was described as being of the "Wild-air breed” with her sire being a son of Church's Wildair by Wildair (Delancey's) out of a mare named Wildair.

There is quite an in-depth history and many stories about this particular little horse, including a Disney movie in 1972 called "Justin Morgan Had a Horse" that was based on a book of the same name. Figure's ability to out walk, out trot, outrun, and out pull other horses was legendary. For example, it is said that he pulled a log that no draft horse could budge, and that he outran the most winning racehorse central Vermont had ever known. From these anecdotes came the Morgan Horse owners' claim that "this horse can do anything", and apparently the breed does. Whatever equine discipline you can think of, the Morgan Horse will be found to be a part of it and likely excelling in it. Even when harness racing was popular in the 1800's, the world's fastest trotting stallion was Ethan Allen 50, Justin Morgan's great-grandson.

After Justin Morgan's death, Figure was passed on to new owners and in the tradition of the times, he became known by his former owner's name, Justin Morgan. He spent his life working on farms, hauling freight, and as a parade mount at militia trainings. Over a period of 30 years, the little horse remained sound in limb, stamina and sight, throughout a lifetime of two ordinary horses. He also had showy, ground-covering gaits with speed to spare at any one of them and was an extremely gentle horse around children.

Justin Morgan's most valuable asset was the prepotency of his genes. No matter what type of mare he was bred to, draft or light racing horse, his offspring inherited his image, his abilities and his distinguishing characteristics. And not only his offspring inherited the traits, but the prepotency also went through several generations. Today, every registered Morgan Horse traces back to Justin Morgan through his most famous sons Woodbury, Bulrush, and Sherman. Sadly, the little Justin Morgan died in 1821 from an untreated kick received from another horse, so his true longevity was never realized.

Morgan Horses were used as cavalry mounts and artillery horses. They were sensible under fire; could march tirelessly all day; could maintain their condition on unpredictable rations; and were loyal to their riders. The only survivor in the Battle of Little Big Horn was Keogh's Morgan-bred horse, Comanche. The First Vermont Cavalry was mounted entirely on Morgan Horses but of their more than 1200 horses, only 200 survived the war and in 1894, the first volume of the American Morgan Horse Register was published by Colonel Joseph Battell.

The American Morgan Horse Farm was established in Weybridge, Vermont in 1907, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the breeding and preservation of the Morgan horse. But it was not until 1909 that the Morgan Horse Club (MHC) was formed at the Vermont State Fair. In 1921, the MHC presented the Justin Morgan statue to the U.S. Morgan Horse Farm on the 100th anniversary of the death of Justin Morgan, and it is still exhibited there today.

The Morgan Horse ranges from 14.1 to 15.2 hands high with some individuals that are taller or shorter. They come in wide variety of colors, from bay, brown and black to silver dapple, roan, palomino, buckskin, dun, grulla, cremello, perlino, smoky cream, gray, flaxen, sabino, splashed white, and others.

The head is expressive with a broad forehead, large prominent eyes and a straight or slightly dished short face. The ears are short and shapely, set rather wide apart and carried alertly with mares having slightly longer ears. The throatlatch is deeper than other breeds. The neck is slightly arched with the top line of the neck being considerably longer than the bottom line and the stallion has more of a crest. The body of the Morgan Horse is compact with a short back and high-set tail that is carried gracefully and straight. The feet are in proportion to the size of the horse.

The Morgan Horse is distinctive for its stamina and vigor, personality and eagerness and strong natural way of moving. The Morgan walk is rapid, flat-footed, and has a four-beat elastic cadence with the accent on flexion in the pastern while the trot of the Morgan is a two-beat, diagonal gait that is animated, elastic, square and collected with the rear action in balance with the front action. The overall impression is a unique combination of draft-like substance, Arabian-like heads with a Saddlebred-like elegance.

The Morgan Horse is considered to be the oldest of all American breeds and was strong enough to contribute greatly to almost every other American light horse breed while retaining its own identity across two centuries. The American Saddlebred, the Quarter Horse, the English Hackney, the American Standardbred, and the Tennessee Walking Horse, among others, all owe much to the Morgan Horses in their own ancestry.


About Crystal Eikanger
Crystal Eikanger is a freelance writer, web designer, video editor and voice talent working as Ei-Kan Productions on www.rentacoder.com as well as other freelance sites. www.HorseClicks.com is a popular website filled with classifieds of horses for sale, horse trailers, tack, and horse related properties.

The Buckskin Horse is Not Just A Color

Although not a specific breed, the Buckskin is a common color found in many breeds of horses. In the simplest sense, a Buckskin horse should be the color of tanned deer hide with black points. Somewhat like the Siamese cat or the Himalayan rabbit pattern, but on a horse. In the more complex description, Buckskins are horses with a base coat color of either bay or brown that varies in shade from pale cream to a deep rich golden color, with dark legs, dark manes and dark tails that are either black or very dark brown. The coat may change shades with the seasons.

However, contrary to common beliefs, the Buckskin or Dun horses are not mere "colors" in the world of horses. Buckskins, along with Grulla and Duns, are noted for many qualities that are not characteristic of other types of horses. The color seems to be an indication of some superior genetic qualities that they possess. They have more stamina, more strength, more determination, harder feet, surer footing, better boning, and are generally hardier than other colored horses within the same breed. Buckskins were highly regarded by the cowboys of the early west and were used for pack, harness, and saddle and given a choice a cowboy would almost always choose the Buckskin or Dun horse.

The Buckskin horse traces its lineage through a direct line of Dun- or Buckskin-colored ancestors, which go as far back as the available recorded history. The Buckskin is thought to have originated from the now nearly extinct Spanish Sorraia of the Iberian Peninsula. There are also many indications that an ancient breed known as the Norwegian Dun or Norwegian Fjord from Scandinavia may also have obtained the Dun coloring from these same horses of Spain. Since the blood of both the Sorraia and the Norwegian Dun have filtered into nearly every breed found in the world today, Buckskin, Dun or Grulla may be found in nearly every breed that allows all colors of equines in their registries.

Discussion of the Buckskin however cannot be complete without a brief discussion of the genetics involved, although to anyone but a breeder who would like to either produce Buckskins or avoid them; it may be a bit confusing.

Those who studied genetics used to believe that the Dun horse was the result of a dilution gene, and that breeding Duns to Buckskins often resulted in the birth of an albino foal. However, this has been proven to be in error. It is the agouti locus that affects the shade of the Buckskin horses. Different alleles of the agouti locus seem to be responsible for the different shades of yellow through cream, as well as affecting the distribution of the dark pigment on the legs, mane and tail.

Smokey black horses are sometimes called black buckskins or, if in the UK, dilute blacks. These are black horses with a cream gene that may be very difficult to identify because they may look bay, brown, liver chestnut or even faded black. The CCr allele is a semi-dominant and dilutes red pigment to yellow when in the heterozygous form but it has only a very subtle effect on black pigment. The wild-type C+ allele is recessive since it needs to be homozygous for there to be no dilution of the base color at all. Buckskin and Dun genetics are thoroughly discussed on the Coat Color Genetics web site of the University of California - Davis Genetics Laboratory, as well as other horse coat color genetics sites.

The American Buckskin Registry (ABR) keeps track of these lovely colored horses. It was founded in the United States in 1962 and opened its registry not only to the Buckskin, but also to Grulla and Dun colored horses. It also includes the Red Dun with varying body shades of red, and the Mouse Dun or Coyote Dun, a slate color resembling a salt-and-pepper coloration.

Unlike some color breeds, the ABR will not enter any horse into its registry that shows signs of below-average conformation for its breed, regardless of the desired coloring. The mature horse is to stand at least 14 hands in order to be registered with the ABR.Ponies and horses showing a predominance of draft horse blood are not eligible.


About Crystal Eikanger

Crystal Eikanger is a freelance writer, web designer, video editor and voice talent working as Ei-Kan Productions on www.rentacoder.com as well as other freelance sites. www.HorseClicks.com is a popular website filled with classifieds of horses for sale, horse trailers, tack, and horse related properties.