Have you ever heard of Justin Morgan? If not, you need to read the book
Justin Morgan had a Horse. After having been given a small colt as payment from a debtor, Justin noticed his colt was something special. It never got very tall, but could outrun, out-pull, and out-trot any other horse.
A true story that took place in Vermont back in the early days of America. This little colt became the father of a breed of horses, we know them as Morgans.
During the 1800s a certain wealthy man took it upon himself to establish the Morgan breed. He built a beautiful barn (that you see pictured here) on his Vermont estate and set out to find and maintain all breeding records connected to Morgan horses. Later, he deeded the farm to the State of Vermont.
My wife and I recently toured the farm in Vermont. (If you ever get up in that part of the country add this to your list of things to do!) We thoroughly enjoyed our tour
Above: One of the UVM college girls attends to the horses under her care. Below: Every year UVM raffles off a foal. I purchased a few tickets and if I win this little gem named "Yankee" I will bring him home to my mares Karma and Coke. We can start our own new bloodlines, and maybe a whole new breed of horses!
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| This little colt is "Yankee" |
You may wonder what this has to do with Amish horses. It so happens that many Amish use Morgan horses as buggy horses. Several Amish farmers in my home community have Morgan stallions that are often crossed with Percheron mares. The resulting "cross" is a very durable, all-purpose horse, which can be used to pull a buggy or plow a field. One of our neighbors has a whole line of black horses. Huge black Percherons, middle-sized crossbreds (that can be used in the fields with his Percherons or on a buggy,) and smaller Morgans that can be ridden or hitched to a cart.
Morgans are the perfect Amish Horse
I posted a few more pics for your enjoyment, as well as the link (at the very bottom of this post) for this Morgan Farm which is part of the University of Vermont, but located near Middlebury. You can click on the link and find out more accurate details about this farm and the Morgan Horse Breed.
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| One of the college girls let me take a closer look at a mare |
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| My wife takes in the view of a few Morgan mares and foals |
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| More of the farm's mares and foals in a nearby field |
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| This is not the original mansion, but the hired men's quarters. Imagine what the mansion was like! |
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| Our tour guide |
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