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Show AAorgan Horse Typically American Government Runs Unique Breeding Farm in Vermont By DAI KH AGE Sews Analyst and Commentator. WASHINGTON, D. C Some time ago the world was star-tied star-tied to learn from Pravda, the official communist party newspaper news-paper in Moscow, that it was a Russian who discovered "wireless" "wire-less" (as radio was called in its youth), and as if that weren't enough, it was announced later by the same authority that the electric light, which poor Thomas Edison certainly thought he had something to do with, was likewise a Russian invention If I ever read, as some day I fear I shall, that ice-cream sodas and hot-dogs were first discovered on a pleasant afternoon by some mysterious Muscovite as he sat dreaming on his buck steppes, I shall announce that bortsch and vodka are American products and that the Volga boatmen were simply a prodigal local of the CIO maritime union I Meanwhile, however, I am re-? minded by the department of ngri- -.-' ..., culture that one F ""V "1 thing wnien ls as $ ': r ' ' 5 American as th I Amr'ca and i;.VF-l.J which no for i :, VfkJ signer had bet- rSVl ter try to appr( F?9' XjT prlate as a I 1 A I home grown I product, is the Th III Morgan horse. Vr Justin Morgan Zgjf&kir Is immortalized ,n bronze and A VAll J vou can see m wotw9BI today standing Baukhage on hls Pedestal before the main stable of the United States Morgan urse farm which covers about ,000 acres of rolling, wooded coun-ry coun-ry two miles north of Middlebury, -. The original farm of 400 arret was presented to the United Stales department of agriculture agricul-ture by Joseph Battell. Colonel Battel!, had long - been an ad ' mlrer and breeder of Morgan horses, and had founded the American Morgan register. The farm was established In 1907. The area wan Increased by an - additional gift of about 35 acres by Colonel Battel! In 1908, and by purchase of about 550 acres ' . front Middlebury College In 1917. The land, underlain with limestone, Is well adapted to the production of horses. In the selection of foundation breeding stock... and in planning subsequent motings. emphasis was placed Upon size and quality, and ability to perform the three gaits, walk, trot and canter These points "yTr 1 - , i' Morgan brood mares, with their foals, run In one of the pastures of the department of agriculture's V. 8. Morgan horse farm near Middlebury, Vt. continue to be emphasized. Also, every effort has been made to pre-serve pre-serve adequate muscling and depth of body, and to preserve and enhance en-hance desirable temperament. The stocky stallion, original of the post-mortem effigy was named for its owner, a singing schoolmaster, schoolmas-ter, was foaled in 1703 and died In 1821. He (I mean the stallion not the schoolmaster) had a romantic career and he Is the progenitor of the breed, which as the department of agriculture says, is one of the few breeds of horses developed In the United States. Justin was a "small, active animal of great power and endurance, with the reputation rep-utation of being able to outwalk, outrun, and outpull any other horse in Vermont and the neighboring states." He had the power to transmit these qualities, says the department, depart-ment, to his three known sons and the United States government Is doing Its share to perpetuate the characteristics for which his ilk Is known: "beauty, easy keeping, soundness, endurance, and spirit coupled with gentleness." The first time I ever went to Vermont Ver-mont I was attracted to these plucky little horses. Later I learned more about the Morgan horse. He weighs less than 1.000 pounds, he is not over 14 hands high, round-barrelled, with powerful chest and leg muscles, a proud head and a stout heart. He has done a lot to develop the state of Vermont and his adventures ad-ventures have carried him far afield. In a Actionized but remarkably remark-ably accurate story of "Justin I." Marguerite Henry tells how the boy Joil, who "gentled" Justin as a colt, later lost track of him and finally found .him again and how Joel. In his cavalry uniform with a sprig of evergreen In 'his helmet sat proudly on his diminutive mount when President Monroe re- ... viewed the Green Mountain boys when they came back from the War of 1812. The author has Joel say about Justin afterward: "He was just a little work horse that cleared the fields and helped Vermont grow up. Come to think of it, he's like us. He's American . . . that's what he Is, American." The Morgan horse helped other states and territories grow up, too, for their equine brotherhood went West with the emigrating farmers, and more than one American soldier sol-dier was proudly mounted on a Morgan as he went Into battle. General Gen-eral Custer rode off on a Morgan horse when he went out to flf-nt the Indians, a whole regiment of cavalry cav-alry had Morgan mounts In the Civil War. Breeding Program It U ne'er Way Now, "The Morgan horse breeders" breed-ers" Dr. McFee of the animal husbandry hus-bandry division of the department of agriculture told me, "have given more attention to the traits desirable desir-able In a riding horse." (Forty descendants de-scendants of Justin became famous as trotters. Some of you remember such names as Ethan Allen, Black Hawk and Dnn Patch.) At the Morgan farm today usually about forty-five horses are under test. According to the official description, descrip-tion, the breeding program there calls for "the measurement of each youngster at one year of age. at two years, and at three years. All are trained under saddle and in harness and, are put through controlled con-trolled performance and endurance trials when about three years old. The data thus obtained form the permanent records of the individuals individ-uals They are used also in studies of sire and dam inheritance and as criteria for formulation the ita tioni breeding program. For the tests f three-year olds the depart-ment's depart-ment's horse specialists have devised de-vised specific trials to measure the walking and trotting gaits and the horses' endurance in harness and under the saddle." Always versatile, the Morgan was as chipper when he went to the meeting house on Sunday pulling the surrey with the fringe on the top as It was weekdays when It could drag a log to the sawmill which often took a team of its big brothers to budge. And where buggies re still used, you'll often find a Morgan between the shafts. He la used on the trail, too, for his forte. these days seems to be under the saddle. The Morgan horses have found homes far from the shadow of their native Green Mountains and today the stock probably is Increasing more rapidly in California than anywhere In the East I regret to say that on my last trip to Vermont Ver-mont this summer, though mighty Mount Mansfield looked up at the heavens with the same stern profile that it did when I first panted, pack-laden to its top. the maple-sugar maple-sugar tasted as good (though It cost too much), the mist still held the peak of Ktllingon as gently as ever In its graceful fingers. But I missed the quick tattoo of those small strong hooves on the hard highways, high-ways, and the silhouette of an arched neck against the sky above a mountain pasture. I'm glad that Uncle Sam Is doing his part in the shadow of Justin's statue, to perpetuate the breed that Is "Just like us," as Joel said: American. |