Morgan (horse)
| Morgan | |
|---|---|
Morgan: Brauner with silver dapple. |
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| Important data | |
| Origin: | USA, 18th century |
| Main breeding area: | United States |
| Distribution: | outside of the USA low |
| Stick measure : | 145-160 cm |
| Colors : | mostly browns, foxes and black horses, more rarely palominos and falcons |
| Main application area: | Riding, driving and show horse |
The Morgan is an American horse breed that goes back to the stallion Figure .
Background information on horse evaluation and breeding can be found under: Exterior , interior and horse breeding .
Exterior
The Morgan Horse is a well-proportioned horse with a good saddle position, a muscular back with good ribs and depth of chest. The high erection of the horses and a beautiful neck line are striking. Her head is noble and dry with a straight profile and a broad forehead. The mouth is medium in size with small, firm lips. Wide nostrils and large, clear eyes with a clever and lively expression are typical of this breed of horse. The shoulder is sufficiently long and sloping and turns into a usually not very pronounced withers. Morgan Horses are known for their healthy, dry joints, their cannon bones are stable and short, and their hooves are strong and round. Most Morgan Horses walk without a shoe. The size of the Morgan Horse is between 145 and 160 cm. You will often find a lot of admiration for lush long hair. All colors are represented in the Morgan Horse, but the dark colors predominate, as light colors have not been recognized by the American breed association AMHA for a long time. In the meantime, palominos or buckskins are quite popular, but not very common in numbers. Mold and piebald occur occasionally. The Morgan Horse is a versatile all-round horse that is used for many areas of sport and leisure, such as dressage, jumping, trail riding, endurance riding, western riding and riding therapy. In the USA there is a breeding direction that places particular emphasis on a very high forehand action in order to present it with spectacular gaits at shows, similar to the American Saddlebred. Driving has always been a domain of the Morgan Horses, where they are very successful and often attract the attention of spectators due to their noble appearance.
interior
The Morgans are mostly noble and lively horses, intelligent, with quick comprehension and a good-natured, gentle character. You are curious and love variety. Since they are very people-related and sensitive, dealing with them is very easy if you treat them with respect. The Morgans show strong nerves and reliability in many situations. When training, they show willingness to work and are eager to do their thing. Particularly noteworthy is their versatility, to which they have now drawn for 200 years.
Breeding history
The small, brown stallion "Figure" was born in Massachusetts in 1789 and was to become the progenitor of America's oldest horse breed. His ancestors included thoroughbreds and Arabs, and Welsh Cobs, Berbers and Frisians are also believed to be among his ancestors.
As a young stallion, "Figure" came into the possession of the teacher and composer Justin Morgan in Vermont, who had a knack for good horses and soon recognized the potential of this 1.42 m tall stallion. Figure was used for field work as well as for horse races on the village street and even outshone the achievements of draft horses in train competitions.
"Figure" was strikingly beautiful, correctly built and well proportioned with a high erection and lively expression. He embodied a very special type and although he was very temperamental, he had an affable, gentle character. He passed on all these traits so that his offspring always proved to be willing to work, versatile, persistent and quick, no matter which mare was brought to him.
Word quickly got around about the quality of this stallion and soon there was only talk of Justin Morgan's horse and so the breed got its name. Thus, the Morgan Horse breed can be traced back to only one stallion.
Around 1840 the Morgans dominated the trot and gallop racing scene and with the conquest of the West, numerous Morgans reached the western United States by trek or ship. They were used for work on the ranches and developed their own line, the "Western Working Morgans". Even with the cavalry, numerous regiments were mounted on Morgans, because the positive properties such as the ability to regenerate quickly and high resilience were highly valued.
Today the Morgan Horse proves to be a versatile all-rounder and is used in sport, as a carriage horse, in dressage, in jumping, in western disciplines, but also proves its ability as a trail riding horse, endurance horse or therapy horse.
In Europe, too, the lovers of this horse breed are increasing. England and Sweden have the largest population of Morgans, but the number is also steadily increasing in Germany. The Morgan Horse is slowly finding more and more fans in other European countries such as Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The demand for this special horse breed is now quite high, so that many morgan foals find their new owners quite soon. It is seldom possible to acquire a three-year-old or already trained Morgan Horse, as the owners very rarely part with their Morgan Horse.
See also
Web links
- Morgan Horse ( Memento August 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- History of the Morgan Horse ( Memento from April 25, 2019 in the Internet Archive )