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Morgans, anyone?

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morgans
10K views 50 replies 38 participants last post by  WSArabians 
#1 · (Edited)
I've gone through pages and pages of this breed forum, searching for something relating to the Morgan horse. I found Friesians aplenty, Warmbloods galore, more Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas than I could count, and even a few Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds thrown in the mix. But through all these pages, the most I could find of my favorite breed of horse in the entire world, were a couple of crosses. And even those seemed to be talking more about the non-Morgan half! Unless, of course, I went back almost a year in threads...But that seems a little ridiculous.

Not to sound rude here, but I find it a little of a shock to be on a horse forum and not find more people who want to discuss Morgan horses. They're such an amazing breed with so many good characteristics and interesting personalities. They're the foundation for many of the breeds that I saw in such great numbers in my search, even. They're versatile, eager to please, and full of spirit. What's not to talk about (and love..)?

Of course, I'm a bit biased, being head over heels in love with my own Morgan gelding. But can you tell me you'd be any different if your horse's breed was sadly overlooked?

So I've started this thread, in the hopes some fellow Morgan lovers (or people who are just curious about them, or know something about them, or anything really) will pop in and have a chat. Let's see what happens, eh?

-Kura
 
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#2 ·
I love Morgans!!!! They sure are sturdy little boogers :D

Doncha feel bad about Morgans not being brought up much...saddlebreds aren't brought up much either, and they are my fav. breed ;-)

I've known quite a few Morgans - from a great little trail horse named Trouble, to a flop-eared lesson saint, to a snappy park horse - - all very great horses!
 
#3 ·
Now that you mention it, I noticed there weren't many Saddlebred threads either...A shame. They're beautiful too, even if I don't know much about them...

But yay! Another Morgan lover. :D I suppose you could say I'm a bit new to the breed, since I don't know very many of them personally, but I've admired them all my life. Used to collect every Morgan book I could find, when I was little. :)
 
#5 ·
Morgans have always been on my "A" list.

Even though I grew up in QH/App country, Morgans were revered by the older generation, and could do no wrong:)

My grandpap raised Welsh/Morgan crosses; my cousin and I started handling them from birth, and trained them to ride and drive.

Grandpap's little Morgan/Cross chestnut mare was a single-footin' fool. Sadly she never passed that on to any of her foals.

Babe was 33 when she passed --- she jumped the fence chasing a deer out of her pasture and was hit by a car. It was after dark and she couldn't be seen until it was too late:cry: This was back in the early 70's when horses didn't have that long of a life. She had a good gene pool and Grandpap gave her the best of care:)

Back in my youth, two of my Keeper horses were Morabs - one was Egyptian Arab/Lippett-bred Morgan.

Had I been able to find a gaited Morgan 18 years ago I probably wouldn't have my Tennessee Walkers. It was go gaited or never ride again in the manner I was used to riding.

What many folks don't know is that the Foundation Mare of Record for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed was a black MORGAN mare by the name of Maggie Marshall. She was a granddaughter of Figure.

Your avatar is only a head shot of your Morgan and he is gorgeous. Where's the rest of him? :D
 
#6 ·
I love morgans! I'd never really payed much attention to them until recently while I was thinking horse breed that would make a nice next horse. I've considered everything from drafts to Arabs to gaited horses. At the moment I'm pretty much tied between the gaited horses and Morgans... I can definately find more Morgans in my state. I think they're beautiful and I love their versatility! They're so strong for their size. I don't knoe much about them though :/
 
#7 ·
I'm so happy to see so many people here showing how much they love Morgans. :D It's so interesting to hear how people've gotten involved in them...

walkinthewalk, That is so interesting! I had no idea about the Foundation Mare of Record, and that is wonderful, how you grew up with such wonderful Morgan crosses. :) And as for the rest of my boy, he's a bit chubby at the moment from a little too much grass. xD I've got a few pictures of him in full hanging around my computer, though. I'll get them here eventually. He's the old style of Morgan, closer to Justin Morgan's type.

confetti, What do you want to know about them? I can tell you a lot, and I'm sure other people would be glad to chip in with what they know too. :)
 
#8 ·
I love Morgans, too!! They're a breed that are like close to home for me 'cuz it's my mom's favourite breed since... forever!! But that also makes me VERY picky. I have my mother's standards...I can't stand the "new" or "sport" type that basically look like Arabians. I like the old fashion, Justin Morgan, Lippitt, built-like-a-Ford Morgans! :D
 
#9 ·
I had a great uncle who thought the morgan was the prefect horse, He was the person who got me into horse. i love QH's, but I have alot of respect for Morgans.

As a side note, Morgans were the favorite mount of the Northern Cavalry units in the Civil War.
 
#11 ·
I love Morgans, but unfortunately have never seen one in real life. I live near a racetrack so I see heaps of Standies and TB's every single day, in training, etc. But no Morgans!! :( They are so beautiful, and I really want one. Just one question: are they considered gaited? Because I've seen them on youtube with really high trots. Is that a natural trot or is it taught?
 
#13 ·
Very true.

I didn't really know much about Morgans until a stallion came to our riding school for a training visit.

Oh. my. goodness. He was BEAUTIFUL. He is a buckskin, but I've never seen anything like him. His coat is like..... liquid gold... it's amazing. There's a few pictures of him on this website:

Wilga Park Morgans

Ever since, I've been madly in love with Morgans - you're very lucky to own one!!! :D
 
#14 ·
I LOVE Morgans also!! I used to show them in the morgan circuit, I did Western and Hunt seat but I was only in walk-trot at the time. But it was still fun!
I have a morgan mare but I just use her for trail riding now, and my goodness she has the biggest personality at the barn! she is definetely no dead-head :)
 
#15 · (Edited)
Morgans are gaited and there is a gaited Morgan Horse registry. Back in the Old Days, the Singlefoot was the gait typically associated with a Morgan.

http://www.msfha.com/

Singlefoot means there is a point in time, during the intermediate gait, that only one hoof is on the ground:)

Here's a bit of history on the gaited Morgans.
The Gaited Morgan Horse - The Gaited Horse Magazine

Just as happened with the Appaloosas, people tried very hard to breed the gait out of Morgans because it just didn't suit them:cry:

Happily there are folks trying to save that gait, thus the MSFHA link above:)

I also prefer the "Old Model" Morgans, but I prefer the Old Model Arabs and Tennessee Walkers too - lol lol

I like to see a lot of thick bone and heavy hooves. If they look like a China Doll with the tiny hooves to match ------ well------ that can't be good over their entire life span, especially if they end up being trail horses later in life:?

The Tennessee Walker in my avatar was 16 when that picture was taken. It's obvious he is a "solid built" horse. He is so solid, I once had a man ask me how I "taught that Quarter Horse to gait" - lol lol lol We've been buds since he was coming three; he is now 21 and has equine metabolic syndrome, so his hard trail riding days ended a few years ago.
 
#17 ·
I used to own a purebred morgan gelding. Me and that horse went everywhere together. Unfortunatly I moved away from home and he was sold from the family farm. My mom still has his dam and a few other relatives. I only have pictures of my old guy and his half brother (crossed with a paint) Sorry the pictures are not very good quailty, they are old.

Here is my Morgan gelding...









The Morgan Cross gelding...



 
#19 ·
I didn't really know about the gaited Morgans either! That was very interesting. Mine's not gaited, but that's alright. I use him for Dressage, so it would complicate matters a bit if he was...
I believe they do teach some of those high trots, though? I can't exactly remember, but I'm not positive that's entirely a gaited thing...I could be wrong, of course. I'm not very interested in the Saddleseat Morgans, so I don't know much about them...
That's a lovely gelding, FehrGroundRanch. :D He seems like a sweetie.
 
#23 ·
I'm sooooo glad this thread popped up in the search engine! Hooray for the Morgan horse :) Ever since the book Justin Morgan I wanted a morgan horse. After 32 years my dream came true, a gorgeous 13.3hh Lippitt Morgan mare. I've had my little mare for 5 years now and am head over heels in love with her. :)
 
#24 ·
At a show I once saw this beautiful bay Morgan mare, High Pride. Very strutty and proud animals. I'm not sure whether it was a gaited Morgan or just the normal, but I really like Morgans. They can also be very strong for their size too. LOL

I'm glad you brought this forum up, kura. It is good to see there are others out there. I never really hear that much about Morgans.
 
#26 ·
My trainer owns a morgan that I ride on sundays so I can get the "kinks" out of him after his week of beginning riders. I have known and ridden him for atleast 4 years, I used to get to ride him alone when he was too dangerous for most beginners (nervous and tempermental, the other students needed a martingale and direct supervision). He is 22 or 23 and still going strong. I did Training 4 with him this spring to get him working and we got 2nd place out of 10, he was quite happy to be the center of attention and to get some real work. He was the horse I learned to jump on, but now he doesn't jump because of his age and he can be difficult to handle at times over jumps. Someone who visited the barn said he loved how he looked like a classic morgan, though I know little of the breed. His half-brother is in the barn and is doing very well in eventing, his other half-brother and mother are at another barn near me (mother is retired, age 31!). I will post some pictures of him on here as soon as I get home.
 
#30 ·
Okay, I don't have any really good pictures of him, but here are a couple. He is old, swaybacked, chubby, shaggy, short necked, and club footed, but he is an amazing horse in his own right.

(excuse my awfulness in this picture)
 
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