THE CANADIAN CONTRIBUTION

“His back and legs were, perhaps, his most notable points. The former was very short, the shoulder-blades and [hip] bones being very long and oblique, and the loins exceedingly broad and muscular. His body [as measured from point of breast to point of buttock] was rather long, round, and deep, close-ribbed up; chest deep and wide, with the breast-bone projecting a good deal in front. His legs were short, close-jointed … very wide, hard and free from meat. [He had] muscles that were remarkably large for a horse of his size; and this superabundance of muscle manifested itself at every step. His hair was short and at almost all seasons soft and glossy. He had a little long hair about the fetlocks and for two to three inches above the fetlock, on the back side of the legs; the rest of his limbs were entirely free from it. His feet were small but well-shaped [in other words, his feet were not huge and flattened, like those of draft horses]; and he was in every respect perfectly sound and free from blemish.”

Linsley makes several points in the above description that are worth highlighting because they are clues to Figure’s ancestry:

(1) He had exceedingly long, oblique shoulders. (2) He had a very short back. (3) He had a long pelvis, broad loins and powerful hindquarters.

(4) The hairs of his mane and tail were straight, as in Thoroughbreds, rather than wavy or curly as typical of horses of Iberian descent and of the Canadian horse.

These characteristics are startling echoes of the outstanding and unusual conformation of the Godolphin “Arabian” (“Foundation Sires and Dams,” EQUUS 449), one of the three most important male ancestors of the

While True Briton Jr. was Figure’s sire, his dam was a Canadian mare. Contemporary descriptions make her a horse of 14 to 15 hands, fully 1,100 pounds., heavy-limbed, thickmaned and lightly feathered. It is certainly germane that Justin Morgan’s parents resided in Quebec, so that there can be no doubt that he knew the merits of the Canadian horse and had . This photo from 1898 shows the stallion “Le Blond” with owner George Savoie. This horse’s fetlocks appear to have been shaved, for no hairs show even though the photo was taken in winter. easy access to them. Recent DNA studies confirm the close affinities of the Morgan to the Canadian horse.

The resemblance of the Morgan to the Canadian (sometimes called the “Old Canadian”) is striking. Note the thick mane and tail with wavy or curly hairs, shapely and somewhat cresty neck, long shoulder, prominent breastbone and excellent feet. They carry a little feather about the I took this photo of a Canadian gelding owned by Amy Sinteros. Besides contributing significantly to the ancestry of the Morgan, we will encounter this important breed again in future installments detailing the history of the Tennessee Walking Horse and American Standardbred.