Morgan horses are utilized in Western and English riding. There is just one breed standard for all horse bloodlines and disciplines, hence breed standards lack adaptability.
Morgans began with Figure. An English Thoroughbred may have sired the 1789 Massachusetts-born figure.
Other subfamilies exist, but Lippitt, Government, Brunk, and Western Working are the main lineages. Each family may trace its ancestry to 1800s and 1900s breeding operations.
The Morgan Horse Club was its original name. Like many US breeds, the stud book was debated open or closed in its early days.
Morgans are average-sized horses of 14.2-16 hands. Despite being purebred, not all Morgans meet this height criteria and are excluded from the official registration.
The 1990-founded Rainbow Morgan Horse Association supports purebred Morgans with distinctive coat colors and develops breeding lines from them.
Massachusetts and Vermont have Morgan horses as state animals. Because this breed's history is so related to these two states.
Morgan horses have shaped US writing from children's books to poetry to movies. The poem The Runaway by Robert Frost describes a Morgan colt scared of snow.
The Morgan breed does not require a gait, but some horses do. Gaited Morgans can pace, rack, and foxtrot, although they are unusual.