MOSTLY MORGAN
The American Saddlebred is closely related not only to the Quarter Horse and Standardbred, but also to the Morgan. Some of the earliest Saddlebred progenitors are Morgans.
Jowett’s Copperbottom is an own son of Justin Morgan, foaled in 1809. He is a half-brother to the more famous Woodbury, Bulrush and Sherman Morgan sons of the famous foundational horse, and shares with Sherman Morgan the bright-red chestnut coloration common in Spanish-Caribbean stock. Copperbottom’s dam may have been that, or else a Narragansett Pacer with some Spanish in her background. My reconstruction is based on contemporary descriptions and woodcuts. Note the heavy, waved mane and tail characteristic of the Morgan, along with the well-shaped neck, excellent shoulder and “waterspout” carriage of the tail.
The pedigree of Brinker’s Drennon, another stallion on the Saddlebred progenitors list, is a 50-50 mix of Morgan and Thoroughbred, and my reconstruction is thus based on a photograph of a modern Morgan with similar breeding. Brinker’s Drennon is by Davy Crockett, a grandson of Justin Morgan with tail-female Narragansett Pacer. He is out of an untraced Thoroughbred mare; an educated guess based on time and place of breeding would make her a granddaughter of the influential Sir Archy. Foaled in 1842 and standing 15:2 hands, he sired a few horses now considered to be Morgans, but added about 80 names to the Saddlebred registry.
Cabell’s Lexington is known from a cracked and clumsily retouched contemporary photograph; nonetheless, it is still useful and it has great value because it is the oldest photo of a horse on the Saddlebred progenitors list. My reconstruction has removed rider and tack. Foaled in 1863, Cabell’s Lexington is of largely Morgan extraction: sired by Gist’s Black Hawk, a grandson of Black Hawk 1833, out of a mare by one of the Tom Hals descended from Justin Morgan. He also has a couple of Canadian lines and the tail-female to Blackburn’s Whip, the popular ambler-galloper who appears many times in Saddlebred and Quarter Horse pedigrees.