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A BREED
Though the
Morab’s official status as a distinct breed began as recently as 1973, with
the establishing of the first Morab registry, history shows that the appeal of
combining the mystical beauty of the ancient Arabian horse with the sturdy,
dependable beauty of the Vermont Morgan, traces back as far as the original
Morgan horse, Justin Morgan, who can be traced back to the Godolphin Arabian.
Morab
breeders and enthusiasts have become quite used to the questions of newcomers,
who often question the Morab’s status as a breed, rather than their just being
a nice purebred or part-bred horse. The
truth is even first generation Morabs are neither Half-Morgan or Half-Arabian,
but rather, a very distinct breed, with defined breed characteristics, that
combine and enhance the best traits of their parent breeds.
According
to the United States Department of Agriculture, Handbook #394, "A breed of
horse may be defined as a group of horses of common origin and possessing
certain, well-defined, distinctive, uniformly transmitted characteristics that
are not common to other horses ..." Today’s well-bred Morabs have proven
over six generations that they transmit their characteristics with a high degree
of certainty to their progeny; just like the Morgan, the Morab has proven to be
a highly prepotent horse.
A Morab
breeder for over 20 years, Linda Konichek states, “Most Morab breeders and
enthusiasts are people who have narrowed their choice of horse down to Morgans
and Arabians. We are in a position to say we love our Morgans for what they are,
and we love our Arabians for what they are, but we would not choose to go back
to breeding just one of those. We are totally happy with the Morab breed.
The Morab is not just a nice, crossbred horse.
We can, with incredible accuracy, predict what our second-and-third
generation foals will look like, and what traits they are likely to inherit.”
It
is this ability to transmit distinguishing characteristics to their progeny that
makes the Morab a distinct breed, rather than just another nice crossbred horse,
putting the question of breed status to rest!
Only foundation stock (first generation Morabs) can be triple registered,
being eligible for Morab registration, Half-Morgan registration in the Archival
Morgan Record, and Half-Arabian registration in the Half-Arabian Registry (IAHA).
In addition, many are eligible for registration in the various color
breeds and as American Warmbloods. Succeeding
generations of Morabs, bred Morab-to-Morab, are no longer registrable with
either half-registry, but continue to be registrable in these specialty
registries, as well as in the Morab registry.
More
than just a textbook history, today's breeders and owners are part of an
international family with a past, a present and a future.
Building a new breed is not easy but what is done today is based as much
on the past, as the future is based on a firm foundation of the present.
Learning the important milestones that have defined the character of the
breed has been important to its growth and development.
Morab
history seems to have started in the west. Lynn Buxton-Beckford was the original
researcher, and she searched in the libraries and worked her way through many
Arabian and Morgan books to put the first documentation together, so we are
greatly in her debt. She said,
“There was a concern with the lack of documentation of the beginning of the
Morab breed as there was limited material prior to 1973 and I worked for five
years on the project." Members
of the International Morab Breeders Association have added many more years of
research to
Lynn
's to produce this version.
ARABIAN REGISTRY
 Photo of Rahas... |
In the book, HISTORY
OF THE ARABIAN HORSE REGISTRY,
written in the early 1900's,
Lynn
tells us there was a provision for the get of the Arabian/Morgan crosses in the
early Arabian Horse Club Registry. This record was discontinued about the time
of World War I and prior to the formation of the International Arabian Horse
Association in the 1940's. Unfortunately
with that change in procedures, the
registering and recording only of purebred Arabians, and the starting of IAHA,
Half-Arabian Registry, those earlier records were no where to be found.
The Arabian has a unique skeleton
from other breeds, in that it has 17 ribs (other horses have 18); 5 lumbar
vertebrae (other horses have 6); and 16 tall vertebrae (other horses have 18.)
This skeleton finds it way into the Morab too, so there are two breeds with this
unusual skeletal structure.
MORGAN REGISTRY
 Photo of Flyhawk...
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With
the advent of the 1857 book THE
MORGAN HORSE, by
D. C. Lindsley, the early Morgan historian, a lot more background was filled in.
He discussed the needs of this country relative to horseflesh; according to
Lindsley, in
New England
, a person was rarely seen on horseback, preferring instead, to drive. This was
becoming the trend in the South as well, and with it, the age of the light buggy
was dawning. The buggy, fast became the favorite means of conveyance, because of
the many conveniences it offered, like protection from the elements, and the
ease of carrying light packages and personal baggage. Thus, as long as the roads
were good, a light carriage allowed
a single horse to perform the work of two horses under saddle, making this mode
of transportation very popular and economical.
A major part of Lindsley’s essay
was concerned with perpetuating and improving the Morgan breed, and stated where
mares of Morgan blood could not be obtained, mares possessing a strain of racing
or Arabian blood could be considered. Lindsley specifically recommended 1/8 to
1/4 Arabian blood as suitable, and one can find many of the Morgan/Arab cross
(Morabs) registered in the American Morgan Horse Association registry prior to
their January 1, 1948, abolishment of their Rule 2, that allowed outcrosses.
From the Lindsley essay came
information about the first volume of the MORGAN
HORSE REGISTRY written
by Colonel Joseph Battell. Battell continued on the work started by Lindsley,
but went one step further by taking on the task of documenting the Morgan breed
and publishing the first Morgan Stud Book which also contained a fairly complete
history of the Morgan breed.
GOLDDUST
Battell’s Volume I provided an
entire chapter devoted to the stallion named Golddust MHA70; a horse of great
merit, whose bloodlines reveal he was a Morab, registered as #70 in the Morgan
registry. Golddust was foaled in 1855 (bred by Andrew Hoke near
Louisville
,
Kentucky
), and sold when a weanling for $1,000 to L.L. Dorsey,
Eden
Stock Farm. His sire was
Vermont
Morgan MHA69, his dam the unregistered Hoke mare. The Hoke mare was said to be
by Zicaaldi, a chestnut Arabian stallion, presented by the Sultan to the United
States Consul, Mr. Rhind, and was then imported by him.
Golddust became an important sire of
the time and was retained by Mr. Dorsey for his career.
He was described as being pure gold in color, with white, off-hind ankle,
sixteen hands tall, weighing 1,275 pounds. It was reported he was never defeated
in the show ring at the trot or at the flat-footed walk, and that at the flat
walk he could cover six miles in an hour.
No
stallion of his day produced larger, more handsome, showy horses, or more
winners in the show rings and trotting races of the era. His get were exhibited
at all the prominent expositions and fairs with Goldsheen MHA4971 (by his son
Goldzil) winning his classes at the
St. Louis
World's Fair in 1904.
Golddust outperformed anything bred
before in
Kentucky
. Racing in 1861, Golddust defeated Iron Duke in a match race, best three out of
five heats, for a purse of $10,000. Besides being an animal of great beauty and
refinement, he was noted for endowing his offspring with extreme speed. Although
the Civil War and his own untimely death curtailed his stud career, he sired 302
foals and left 44 trotters of record. Speed of his get out ranks even the great
Hambletonian. In addition to their speed and racing quality, his get also
illustrated the style and beauty of their Morgan and Arabian lineage.
From an actual sales flyer, dated
June 12, 1878, “Fourteenth
Sale
of L. L. Dorsey’s High Bred Trotting Stallions, Mares, Geldings and
Fillies,” in his introduction, Mr. Dorsey states,” It is only by test and
comparison that we can arrive at relative merits of families of Horses.
The best breed of trotters are those that can win at 2, 3, and 4 years of
age, and that furnish the largest percent of fast horses from 6 to 8 years of
age. I have demonstrated or proved
that the get of Golddust, at an early age, possessed more natural speed and
endurance than any breed in America, by entering them for 12 years in colt
stakes, having won over three-fourths of the colt races in which they have
started, and having won first and second money, oftener than they have lost
first, since Golddust was 3-years-old. They
are the only breed that have challenged all others, at all ages, on even terms,
and in all the matches they could get, since Golddust was 3-years old, have won
over three-fourths. So great was
their success in colt stakes, that even the most prejudiced minds, several years
since, were willing to award them the palm for early speed and endurance, as
they had won at all points-at Boston, New York, Buffalo, and Chicago; in
Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa; at St Louis; at many points in Indiana and
Kentucky, and in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
They were for years shown at our leading fairs for style, speed, and
PERFECTION OF FORM, and were as successful when shown for style and perfection
of form…”
From Ina M. Ish’s article in THE
CLASSIC MORGAN HORSE MAGAZINE, “Where Have All the Golddusts Gone?”
“…Golddust was reputed to be very beautiful and he was known as one
of the very great sires of the country. Golddust
had a race record of 2:43 minutes for the mile.
He out-ranked the great Hambletonian as a speed sire. Hambletonian
sired more than thirteen hundred foals, only three colts made 2:20 time.
Golddust, on the other hand, sired only three-hundred –and-two-foals,
of which two made the 2:20 list. The
best of those was a mare Lucille Golddust who had a time of 2:16 and ¼.
She, in turn, produced Lucille’s Baby, who had a time of 2:20 and ½,
as well as producing Sprague Golddust, who had a time of 2:16 and ½!...”
A search through the IMR™ records
has found over 100 of today’s Morabs tracing their ancestor’s back to
Golddust. This connection goes through a series of stallion and mare tail mates,
but passes in great numbers primarily through the 103 progeny of Flyhawk
MHA7526.
TIME MOVES ON
With the advent of the carriage
horse, the country became very involved with speed and horses were not sold by
pedigree but rather by their racing time. It seems these horses were not only
raced on the tracks but in friendly matches on the country roads. This was a
fascinating time however, in the search for sheer racing speed, the Morgan
blood, and unfortunately, that of the Morab somewhat disappeared into the new
breed of Standardbred. Couple this with the advent of the horseless carriage,
and in a very short period of time the entire horse industry in this country
changed dramatically.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
Little more was found until the
1920's, following World War I. At that time the famed publisher William Randolph
Hearst had a superior Arabian breeding program and had a short-lived, but
important Morgan breeding program which included a program of breeding Morabs.
Hearst is credited with having coined the word "Morab" and some of his
Morabs were registered as Morgans with the "Sunical" prefix (his
Morgans had the "Piedmont" prefix), under the now extinct outcross
Rule 2 of the American Morgan Horse Association.
Hearst purchased 14 young mares from
Roland Hill (five yearlings and nine two-year-olds.) Twelve of them were
daughters of the Brunk-bred Pongee Morgan (Allen King x Galva). Three lines of
this stallion's heritage traced to Daniel Lambert 62. The other two young mares
were by Querido (
Bennington
x Artemisia). The dams of all of them were bred by Richard Sellman and sold to
Roland Hill. On June 1, 1931. Mr. Hearst purchased eight more
Querido daughters, and again the dams of all were Sellman-bred, Hill-owned.
Hearst purchased the stallions, Uhlan (
Bennington
x Poinsetta [by Troubadour Of Willowmoorl) and Mountcrest Sellman (Joe Bailey
[by Headlight Morgan) x Kitty E [by The Admiral.) These were to be the
heart of his Morgan breeding program.
Hearst bred Morabs by crossing his
mostly Crabbet or
Davenport
based Arabian stallions (left to right) Joon AHR439, Rahas AHR651, Sabab
AHR710, Gulastra AHR521, Kasar AHR707 and Ghazi AHR560, to his
Morgan mares.
Mrs. William Randolph Hearst II said
in her book,HORSES OF SAN SIMEON, that Hearst, "... found the produce were
excellent for work on his
California
Ranch." "He registered 110 horses in the AMHA, 18 of which were
Morabs", she said. Mrs. Hearst graciously granted MCN the right to
use material and pictures from her book. Quoted in an early American Morab
Horse Assn. Brochure, "According to A. J. Cooke of the Hearst Corp, Sunical
Div. … Hearst bred Morabs in the 1930’s and 1940’s for ranch work … and
were desirable for the large, rough mountainous terrain of the Hearst
Ranches." Hearst had the 900,000 acre Babicora Ranch at Temosachic,
Chihuahura,
Mexico
where we might find more Morabs but breeding records were not kept.
A direct lead to such breeding is
found in the pedigree of Monita Gift, MHAX0606 (bred by 0. C. Foster), Montabell
x Neita. Neita, described (AMHA
Register, Volume VI, p. 182)
as an "unregistered mare, bay, foaled 1935 or 1936, bred by Hearst Sunical
Land and Packing Corporation at their ranch in Mexico where breeding records are
not kept. There were both Morgans and Arabs on ranch at that time and this filly
is known to be at least half registered Morgan blood.
The sire is probably Morgan and the dam Arab and Morgan cross."
Hearst purchased Mountcrest Sellman
MHA7289, bred by another famous cattle ranch, from the Sellman Ranch in Texas,
to expand his Morgan program. He bred him to the mare Pontez MHAF0195 (a Morab
by the Arabian Antez AHR448 out of the Morgan Pondette MHA04523, producing the
Morab stallion Antman MHAX8318. Antman went on to sire 35 foals that were
registered with the AMHA.
The MCN honors Mr. Hearst's critical
contribution to the breed by naming its only cash award program after him, the
"Hearst Memorial Performance Fund," part of the Lifetime Achievement
Award Program.
SWENSON - SMS RANCH
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Swenson riding the Arabian, Ghabir |
Swenson riding the Morgan stallion,
Red Bird |
Another Morab breeding program of
interest was developed by the Swenson Brothers (Eric Pierson and Swen Albin
Swenson) near Stamford, Texas on their fathers (Swante M. Swenson) world famous
SMS Ranch. The purchase of Morgan stud colts Red Bird MHA6775 and Gotch MHA5979
(sons of The Admiral MHA4871), along with a band of seven Morgan brood mares
just prior to 1920, marked the beginning of the SMS expansion into Morgans. A
few years later three Government Remount Arabian stallions were added to the
stock and fine Morab cutting horses evolved. One example was a bay gelding
called Rey Boy (AQHA15810), foaled at SMS in 1943 and owned by Wild Bill Elliott
of
Hollywood
fame. Rey’s sire was the Quarter Horse Billy by King (P-234) but his dam was
a Morab sired by Niwad (Arabian) out of the daughter of an SMS Morgan Stallion (AQHA
registry).
The Swenson Land and Cattle Co.,
Inc., with land located in twelve counties of the Texas Rolling Plains (over
500,000 acres), was dissolved into four companies in 1978 under the names of SMS
Ranch Co., Inc., Tongue River Ranch Corporation, Throckmorton Land and Cattle
Company and Swen R. Swenson Cattle Co. The original SMS brand (with
backward S's) was adopted by Swen R. Swenson Cattle Company. In 1997 the
ranch board of directors brought back The Swenson Land and Cattle Co., Inc.,
name.
FULLER
A very significant breeding program
centers on Martha Doyle Fuller of
Clovis
,
California
. In 1955, in an attempt to breed a horse that could successfully compete on the
open show circuit, Mrs. Fuller developed a Morab breeding program. She
experimented for twenty years with several horse breeds; however, the Morab was
the only one she felt could consistently fill the bill, generation after
generation. It was from her breeding program that the first
Morab registry was formed.
Ilene Miller, her daughter, and
husband, James, founded the American Morab Horse Association Inc. (a closed
corporation where members had no vote) on July 19, 1973. This first Morab
registry was also called MORAB HORSE REGISTRY OF
AMERICA
, often shortened to “
Clovis
” for the town where it was located.
The first registration certificate
was issued on September 12, 1973, to Viajante Rojo, then owned by Mr. and Mrs.
John March of Vacaville, California. The MHRA issued Gold Seal
Certificates to Arabian and Morgan crossed Morabs with full pedigrees and horses
bred Morab-to-Morab (Premium Division), and Blue Seal Certificates (Permanent
Division) to those Morabs registered with missing documentation. At that
time, if they were registered at all, Morabs were only registered as
Half-Arabians, and often, no Morgan registration number or pedigree was listed,
as only the Arabian . Mrs. Miller
advertised extensively to find these early Morabs and get them in the Blue Seal
Division of the Registry so that they would not be lost to the breed.
In 1978 the MHRA established the 25/75 minimum/maximum blood limits for
Morgan/Arabian blood mix.
It was because of Ilene Miller's
efforts that we have registered Morabs and a tie from the past to some of
today’s Morab breeding programs. The years since have brought a re-emergence
and a new appreciation of the Morab breed for its own fine qualities. The Morab
breed owes its current success to Ilene Miller's dedication and belief in the
breed. To many, she was known as “Mrs. Morab.” Lynn had corresponded and
spoken with her over a period of time, and she stated, "I will say her
nickname was a well- deserved one. It was under her direction that two regional
Morab Clubs were formed, and her Registry, and Mrs. Miller, personally,
supported the breed at numerous horse fairs." With Ilene Miller’s passing
in 1980, the first registry began to rapidly fade away.
During this time, John and Pat Marsh,
along with David and Andrea Juricic, incorporated, THE HEARST MEMORIAL MORAB
HORSE REGISTRY, also in
California
(11/16/1976). Andrea Juricic, who was the Registrar, reports, "It
started October 26, 1976, was patterned after the Palomino Horse Association,
and registered fifty horses."
With
the retirement of the Marshes, and a move across the country by the Juricic's,
the Hearst Registry finally merged with the North American Morab Horse
Association, NAMHA, a Morab Registry, formed in Wisconsin, after Mrs. Miller’s
death. NAMHA accepted all horses
registered by “
Clovis
,” continued the same standards, and began registering as many Morabs as they
could find. The first Morab
registered by NAMHA was a mare named Lady Syrann on September, 9, 1984.
NAMHA
also continued seeking the early “Blue Seal Morabs,”so they would not be
lost to the breed, though it did not continue the Blue Seal Division, but
registered them as “hardship horses” and used an “X” in the pedigree of
Morabs with missing documentation; Lynn was active in this organization and
states that NAMHA actively advertised in the Arabian and Morgan newsletters, as
well as many horse publications, seeking these early horses, trying not to lose
any of the early Morabs in the breed.
Above information provided by Lynn
Buxton-Beckford, Andrea Juricic, Ted
Luedke and
early breed brochures.
Revised by Linda Konichek for the
International Morab Breeders Association, February 1,2005
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