Silvery Moon Stables

Listed below are the branches and lines of the Morgan breed. All seven specific strans of Morgan blood have their own traits and genetic history.

Old Vermont breeding is the oldest bloodlines in the Morgan genetics. This type of blood doesn't really fit into any Breeding Branch nor has it revolved around any certain Morgan except Justin Morgan himself. Most Old Vermont-bred Morgans are the ones that are either great-grandchildren of Figure himself, or they have many many crosses to the Justin Morgan horse. It is very, very rare to come across this branch of Morgans anymore due to the fact that the modern Morgans have all the foundation stallions of the other branches, and they no longer are linked to Figure alone.

The best example of an Old Vermont Morgan is Knox Morgan (pictured to the left). Whenever you thouroghly search the bloodlines of an Old Vermont Morgan, you'll find Knox. He has no foundation Morgans of the main branches, while he also has at least 28 crosses to Justin Morgan. A few of his daughters have been mares brought up through Brunk breeding, which causes Knox to be in quite a bit of Brunk bloodlines. But the the most well-known Old Vermont Morgans are Knox Morgan and his son, Senator Knox as well as Archie O, the Headlight Morgan, and many other horse bred in the mid 1800's.

Daniel Lambert (pictured to the left) was a great-great granson of Justin Morgan and was said to be the most beautiful horse of his time. The Lambert line is known for their wonderful dispositions, beautiful movement, and a kind eye with a sturdy conformation. Not to mention beautiful Flaxen manes and tails, gorgous heads on their shoulders, and a bit of flair to boot. The greatest place to obtain a clean and closely linebred Lambert Morgan is through the famous farm, The Quietude Stud.

Lamberts come mainly come from Daniel Lambert, but the single sire that brought them there was Jubilee King (pictured to the right),who possessed five crosses to Daniel Lambert. From Jubilee King came his grandson, Criterion, who had nine crosses within his entire bloodline. Criterion was the founding stallion of the Quietude herd, which their stock, along with other Lambert breeders', is closely bred to. There, Criterion stamped his good looks and great temperment onto his children and grandchildren much like Figure had done with his get.

Certain people (myself being one of them) have a heard time attempting to tell the difference between the Lambert Family and Brunk line (explained below), since they share a similarity in lineage. More often than not, a Lambert Morgan is considered a Brunk if a breeder is not focused on breeding for this certain line, since some of the Brunks contain Jubilee King within their blood, but not as pure as the Lambert family.

In the past, I had distain for the "Lambert line", since at first I assumed that if Daniel was such a great trotter, he was more like a saddlebred, and not a true Morgan. But many others in the far past have thought the same way too, and so the line almost died. But some recognized his Morgan potential, and kept the line going. Criterion himself, thought not too much like Daniel Lambert, resembled more of the earlier ancestors, and the foals he's produced are, in truth, very beautiful and very athletic. Now, I give much applause to Daniel! And I give much applause for the Quietude Stud for preserving the line and producing over 200 "Clean-blooded" Lamberts.

The original group of Morgan horses purchased by Joseph C. Brunk were bred similarly to the old Lippitt foundation mares. These were Old Daisy and Lucy, both by Billy Bodette, one of the best bred stallions of his day with bloodlines that included Billy Root, Royal Morgan and the Hubbard horse. On mares of this type and breeding, Brunk first used Morgan Rupert by Ethan Allen 3rd and crossed him with Lucy to produce the fine stallion Senator, whom in turn was the sire of the great mare Senata, whose dam was Old Daisy. Later the stronger trotting lines of Daniel Lambert were added to increase both action and size. This branch is known for outstanding temperament, splendid action and great elegance. Brunk Morgans are probably best known by the great stallions Jubilee King and Flyhawk (pictured to the left).

True Brunk Morgans are hard to find these days, since most of them have been crossed with the Government family. A Brunk can also be a "half-Lambert", but a never really, truly a Lambert since they aren't purely from the line; they had been crossed with one or more different branches of the Morgan breed.

The main Foundation sires were bred by Robert Lippitt Knight, who concentrated the breed to it's purest, in which the Morgans included Ethan Allen 2nd blood. Today, "the Lippitt Morgan is a strain of Morgan horse, which has no 20th century outcrosses to other breeds. This careful attention to breeding has resulted in a family line, which carries the highest percentage of the original Morgan blood available today." Knight's breeding program was dedicated to these fabulous Morgan horses, with a proud herd of studs and mares with a high concentration of Figure's blood. And as a result, the Lippitt Morgans continue on the strength, hardiness, and beauty that Figure had been passing on from generation to generation..

Statement in quotations courtesy of Thornapple Farms' "What is a Lippitt?"

Back then, Morgans were a must as calvary horses. Given up to the US Government by Colonel Joeseph Battell after he spent years trying to preserve the strongest of the Morgan blood, they began breeding the Morgans for calvaly use and for the public. Later, the Government gave the breeding program to the University of Vermont, known as UVM in their Morgan prefix. The foundation sire of this breeding was the stallion Troubadour of Willowmoor (pictured to the left). Mostly all of the Government Morgans trace back to this stallion. The most common of Goverment foundation stallions is the bay General Gates (pictured to the right).

Governments have nice swift hindquarters and strong legs, which give them their ability to be a calvary horse. Their necks are fairly strong, but their throats aren't very thick, unlike their Lippitt counterparts. But their endless stamina and their muscle make them excellent for long, hard work and their flash and power is what catches the eyes of a judge in the show ring (if you examine the majority of today's top show sires, they are basically Government Morgans).

Rutilus Morgans are also known as Golden Crosses. They don't technically come from a single Morgan horse. They are widely called Golden Crosses because they are a blend of branches. The most well-known Rutilus Morgans is the crossing on Government and Lippitt lines. Seldom there are crosses of Government and Brunk, while Lippitt and Brunk and Government and 2WF are common. A combination of another branch and Old Vermont is very unusual. Example: If Old Vermont bloodlines are crossed with Government bloodlines, if the Government lines are strongly supplied with Government Morgans, that particular Morgan will not be truely Old Vermont-bred, due to the fact that A horse is no longer considered Old Vermont if it has been crossed with another branch. However, if both lines are well supplied with both Old Vermont and Government, then you have a Rutilus, which is very rare since Old Vermont breeders try to focus on Old Vermont bloodlines. Rutilus Morgans are called "Golden" Crosses becuase of all the advantages in conformation that one horse lacks (like a mare's weak legs or a stallion's not-so-great hindquarters). They are also called a golden cross for the bloodlines they carry, crossing and preserving two powerful bloodlines in a single Morgan.

There are many Rutiluses of all kinds out there, and the one that many show Morgan enthusiasts will recognize is the famous show stallion, Waseeka's Nocturne (pictured left). Nocturne's sire, Starfire, was a son (and grandson) of two out of the founding sires for the 2WF family, making him mostly Western Working. Nocturne's dam, Upwey Benn Quietude, is all Government, with Toubadour of Willormorr as her maternal grandsire and her paternal ganddam, Audrey. As far as I know, Nocturne is one of the earliest Rutilus Morgans of the Government and Western Working cross, but this cross is truly "golden" because of not only his conformation, but because of his fame throught the Morgan world as a beautiful sire and show horse.

Sometimes refered as 2WFs, these strand of Morgans do not decend from a common ancestor or were bred by one breeder. Instead, they were bred to work in Western Ranches, hence why they are called Working Western. 2WF Morgans decended from a group of Government Morgans that were shipped out West to improve the quality of the local mares that were either stocky Morgans or Quarter Horse mares that were crossed for refinement. They later used the Government stallions for the breeding programs in Kansas, California, Nevada, and Texas. The corner stone of 2WF Morgans, and the stallions that the modern 2WF Morgans can trace to, was when a man named Richard Sellman created a 40,000 acre ranch and used some Old Vermont Morgans along with the blood of the resulted cross between the local mares and the Goverment Breeding that was shipped to the west. 2WF Morgans are known for their good feet and legs, deep bodies, strong hindquarters, fast and covering gaits, stamina, and an intelligent, sensible, willing temperment with lots of heart and cow savvy. Sometimes 2WF Morgans can be mistaken for Quarter Horses because of their "stocky" appearance.

One of the most common stallions that Sellman used to found his 2WF Morgans was the chestnut stallion, The Admiral (pictured left). With a trotting stallion in his sire line... as his great grandsire (Daniel Lambert), his dam carried strong Old Vermont blood, and Admiral himself was a sturdy, well built horse. Many 2WF Morgans can trace many linebred lines to The Admiral as well as the bay stallion sired by General Gates, Red Oak. Admiral and Red Oak were not the only stallions; the other stallions that also help the founding of the 2WF Morgans were Plains King, Pride of King (pictured right), Highview King, Romanesque, Linsley, and Senator Graham.