The Morgan Horse

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The Morgan horse began with one sturdy little stallion, named Figure, foaled in 1789. Barely, over fourteen hands, he was said to have been able to best other horses at every gait, as well as out pull them. Supposedly sired by the Thoroughbred stallion, True Briton, Figure was out of a mare thought to be of Wildair breeding (traced back to Arab and Barb roots of Thoroughbreds).

Figure was acquired as a colt by Justin Morgan, a businessman, farmer, musician/composer, who moved his family to Vermont the year before Figure was foaled. His little bay colt became a fine stallion that possessed such dominant genetic traits that he passed them on to successive generations of his offspring. Those distinctive traits are still strongly displayed in today’s Morgan horses. Figure was such an influential breeding stallion in the Connecticut Valley area that he became known as the Justin Morgan horse. According to the American Morgan Horse Association, no other American breed can trace its pedigrees back as far as the Morgan horse can to the same foundation horse. A breed registry was created in 1909 to preserve and develop these traits.

Morgans are extremely versatile and excel in many different disciplines. Morgans are used in both western and English disciplines of all types, excel in the show ring, make excellent carriage horses, are great endurance horses, and make wonderful family horses. Morgans of bygone days were sturdy enough to turn forests into fields, but stylish enough to provide transportation after their draft work was done. Morgans were also used as artillery horses and as cavalry mounts. Hundreds of Morgans were used in the Civil War.

Morgans are generally easy keepers and have good longevity. Figure lived to the age of thirty-two. He died in 1821 only from a kick by another horse. The wound was left untreated and he succumbed to infection. In a time when working horses had hard, and likely shorter lives, a Morgan horse was a good investment.