A complete one-stop shop breed book featuring the Arabian, Morgan and Morab horse breeds for every horse lover.
Mary Lou Wells presents an exciting look at the Arabian, Morgan and Morab Horse. Centuries ago the Arabian horse revolutionized ancient warfare and became one of the world's most important breeds. Separate types and substrains arose separated by miles of difficult terrain and selectively bred by Pharoahs, tribes and those who loved the purebred Arabian. Exports from their native lands gave rise to most other light breeds of horse. Morgan horses which became another subtype celebrated as America's first breed of horse survives until today. It later helped found America and build the American West and until now their true origin has been clouded by confusion and controversy! Together with the Morab they helped develop other American breeds such as the American Quarter Horse, Standardbred, Saddlebred, Tennessee Walking Horse, Missouri Foxtrotter and others! Find out how and why truth is both stranger and more fun than fiction as long held myths and hidden facts in American and Canadian history are exposed!
Written for the professional or novice the book has something for every reader. It includes a detailed history on the origins of all three breeds and their vital importance to Europe and North American settlers. It also includes sports and recreation, Morab show standards, health care and genetic issues, responsible breeding practices, in-depth conformation analysis, colors, markings and breed standards of each breed. It also includes a breeding and foaling guide and details why every breeder must research and have basic knowledge of the animals they are breeding. It explains how to get superior animals with each breeding. This is a “one-stop” breed book for Arabians, Morgans and Morabs. Every horse lover needs a copy of this book!
Excerpt
Exerpt from chapter 3
Morab beginnings
As we’ve seen, it was during the middle of this developmental period of selective breeding that the Morgan horse arose and that the Arabian came to be highly regarded as forming the foundation of improved blood horse lines on both continents.
With the advent of the Justin Morgan horse it was common to breed “Oriental” (Arabian) blood with the founding Morgan and his descendants in addition to Thoroughbred and Trotting stock to achieve a horse capable of serving the needs of the people in New England. All one needs to do is look through books and catalogs written in the 1800’s and early 1900’s to see where horse breeding was headed before the popular advent of the automobile.
Horses were heavily used as transportation, being ridden but more often driven. Racing was a popular pastime and there was a large demand for horses to assist on farms and cattle ranches. The Arabian bred blood horse and the Morgan stock were highly valued and propagated to serve these purposes. They proved to be stylish carriage horses, strong work horses and horses of great racing ability while having the endurance for travel over great distances.
The highest demand in these early years was for speedy and elegant road and trotting horses. In that regard the Morgan and related families saw the most development and selective breeding. As was happening with other early breeds, Arabians contributed to the development of the horses of the Americas including the Morgan and saw several Arabian bred subsets develop. Arabians were heavily used to refine these horses and to add greater speed and endurance. Gentleman's driving clubs abounded and the road horse prospered. As cars came into existence the focus gradually shifted to racing and recreational riding and the breeds adapted or disappeared.
The earliest records of the Arabian-Morgan cross as a separate type rather than a contributor to other breeds, appear in the Arabian Horse Club registry. This registry existed prior to the Arabian Horse Association and Registry. The Arabian Horse Club of America, Inc. began in 1908 and while many of the early records are spread throughout multiple volumes and breed books, some horses may still be found preserved in pedigrees of modern registered Morgans and in Arabian farm catalogs from the late 1700‘s to 1800‘s. By looking at the limited records which have survived we can readily see that the Morab has long been a highly valued horse.
Our modern designation of Morab did not originate in those years however. Instead, the first registering of the Morgan-Arabian mix was called an “Americo-Arab.” The Americo-Arab encompassed multiple related families and although the most well-known Americo-Arab group was founded by Randolph Huntington’s program of Arabs Trotters and Morgans, the Morgan-Arabian cross played a large part in their brief rise to fame.
In the first Arabian stud book (revision III) of the Arabian Horse Club of America which was published in 1913, the Morgan-Arab horses carried, in addition to other families, a specific Arabian cross designation that reads:
“Family ‘D’ Morgans - Part 1. The produce of Registered Morgans of proved genetic potency.”
They were listed within the Arabian part bred registry and first were lumped together in type and title with Thoroughbreds, Trotters, Saddle Horses and Clay bred horses who had some Morgan breeding but later were absorbed into Standardbred pedigrees. This combining into one designation occurred because they were closely related at that time. There were apparently multiple revisions of the first rules of registration.
In a subsequent volume of the stud book published in 1918 the part-bred section had been dropped completely, stemming from the second revision of the earlier volume. Registering of the mixes was either rejected by the USDA (Dept. of Agriculture) or by the Club in favor of more restrictive records as that section is X‘d out of the proposed rules. In spite of this, the Club agreed to keep the records of the half-breds where possible.
In 1927 Volume III was published and the registration of part Arabians was taken back up again although some rules of registration were changed. At that time the part-bred section was split into three sections under Rule 3 which amended the designations to “Anglo-Arab” which were the product of Arabians and English Thoroughbreds (basically the English Arabian), “Americo-Arab” which included all the former designations of Americo-Arabs or their get being largely Clay Trotting stock with Arabians and “Norse-Arab” which were purebred Norse ponies with Arabians.
I’ve encountered many non-human creatures on my life’s journey.
I have found each and every one of these animals to be a unique and wondrous being.
Animals have truly brought fullness to my life. Some of them have also brought de
