The Lippitt Morgan Horse

An Endangered Breed Within a Breed

Sep 20, 2009

Lippitt Morgans are a foundation gene pool of fewer than 2700 bloodstock that carry a high percentage of the blood of the breed's progenitor, the Justin Morgan horse.

The Morgan horse is a uniquely American breed of horse, descended from one prepotent stallion named Figure who lived in the latter part of the 18th century. Figure was owned by a singing master and psalmodist of Randolph, Vermont named Justin Morgan, who acquired the horse when Figure was two years old.

Figure was not a big horse but he was powerful, smart, and agile. He was also a fast road trotter. The stallion easily won road races after a day of logging. This horse's stamina and courage were unmatched.

Such a horse was in demand as a stallion and it was found when he bred that he reproduced himself, a trait known as being prepotent. This prepotent stallion founded a breed known as the Morgan Horse and Figure himself became known as Justin Morgan, after his owner's name.

Over the 200-plus years since Justin Morgan's day, the Morgan horse has met with changes within the breed, one of these being a marked saddlebred influence among the show ring lines. This has resulted from outcrossings during a time in the early 20th century when the breed's stud book was "open," (that is, allowing registration of part-bred horses). Continued selective breeding since to develop a certain "modern look" has produced a Morgan that differs from the original Morgan form.

Establishment of the Lippitt Morgan as a Distinct Class of Morgan Horse

The word "Lippitt" comes from the breeding line of a wealthy independent Morgan breeder of the first half of the 20th century named Robert Lippitt Knight, who used "Lippitt" as the prefix title in the names of his registered horses. Knight sought to breed Morgans that portrayed the conformation and traits of the old Justin Morgan horse.

But the current Lippitt Morgan horse of the Morgan breed is not necessarily of those horses that descend from Mr. Knight's breeding, though they could be.

The keystone of the Lippitt Morgan is an early stallion named Peters' Ethan Allen 2nd, no. 406 in the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) Registry. In the early 1970s a group of dedicated Morgan breeders were concerned that the core characteristics originally carried in the prepotent Justin Morgan horse would be forever lost to the breed in the dilution of so much outcrossing..

Tracing horses back to the very early days is not easy, but Peters' Ethan Allen 2nd was an established known stallion that carried a high percentage of Figure's blood and his desirable traits. Using Peters' Ethan Allen 2nd as a benchmark the Lippitt Morgan founders recognized a standard to ensure as high a purity of foundation bloodline of Justin Morgan as possible to be preserved in present and future horses.

The standard they defined to qualify as a foundation horse of high percentage of the foundation Morgan blood is the following. They called this foundation horse profile the "Lippitt" Morgan in honor of Mr. Knight.

To be recognized as a Lippitt Morgan the founders of this Morgan sub-breed detemined the horse must be:

The Lippitt Morgan Foundation Bloodstock Ancestors

The following horses are the Lippitt Morgan foundation gene pool for the line of descent noted in no 3 of the Lippitt Morgan definition. If at least one of these 25 horses does not appear on each line of a Morgan's pedigree then the horse will not qualify as full Lippitt Morgan bloodstock. The number beside each horse's name corresponds to its AMHA Registry number.

Lippitt Morgans are Relatively Few in Numbers, thus Endangered

The Lippitt Morgan is an exceptional performance horse in virtually all venues and also is an all-round family horse. Its versatility makes it attractive to many types of horse owners. In size Lippitt Morgans generally range from 14 to 15 hands, but some individuals are taller while retaining type. The smaller size versions make excellent competitors in pony divisions for dressage and combined driving.

The Lippitt Morgan bloodstock also provides a vessel of good old Morgan blood for modern breeders to infuse into their breeding programs.

However, relative to the Morgan breed as a whole there are not many Lippitt Morgans. In current market conditions for the horse world at large, breeding is down in general, which means even fewer numbers are being produced.

By any calculation the Lippitt Morgan is an endangered gene pool within the Morgan breed. Fortunately, foundation bloodstock still exists, for now.

The copyright of the article The Lippitt Morgan Horse in Horse Breeding is owned by Linda Ashar. Permission to republish The Lippitt Morgan Horse in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.