MORAB
Reproduced in whole with the express permission of the International Morab Breeders' assn., Inc
The Official History of the Morab
Horse
A Breed:
The question most often asked about the Morab surrounds their status as
a breed. Some misunderstand and consider the Morab a part-bred while others
have termed them half-breeds. Morabs (the progeny of Morgan/Arabian breeding)
are neither half-Morgans nor half-Arabians, but rather are a very distinct
breed. Today's Morabs have proven over six generations that they transmit
their distinguishing characteristics with a high degree of certainty to
their progeny, putting the question of breed status to rest! Only foundation
stock or first generation Morabs can posses Morab registration, 1/2 Morgan
registration in the Archival Morgan Record (AMR), and 1/2 Arabian registration
in the Part Arabian Registry (IAHA). This makes first generation Morabs
triple registerable, plus the various color registries. Succeeding generations
of Morabs bred Morab to Morab are no longer registerable with either half
registry.
Morab history seems to have started in the
west. Lynn Beckford searched in the libraries and worked her way through
many Arabian and Morgan books to put the first documentation together,
and we are greatly in her debt! She said, "There was a concern with the
lack of documentation of the beginnings of the Morab breed as there was
very limited material prior to 1973 and I worked for five years on the
project." Members of the IMBA/IMR have added another three years of research
to Lynn's to produce this revision.
Arabian Registry:
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 reference was discontinued
with the formation of the International Arabian Horse Association in the
1940's. Unfortunately with that change in name and procedures (registering
and recording only purebreds), the earlier records are no where to be
found.
Morgan Registry:
With the 1857 book "The Morgan Horse" by D. C. Lindsley, the early Morgan
historian, came a lot more background. He discussed the needs of this
country relative to horseflesh and according to Lindsley, in New England
a person was rarely seen on horseback, preferring rather 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 was fast becoming the favorite means
of conveyance because of the many conveniences they offered. Protection
from the elements, the facility for carrying light packages and personal
baggage were some of the conveniences. These points combined with a light
carriage upon good roads, allowed a single horse to perform the work of
two horses under saddle, making this mode of transportation very popular.
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 you find many of the Morgan/Arab cross (Morabs) registered
in the American Morgan Horse Association registry prior to their 1/1/48
abolishment of their Rule 2 that allowed out crosses.
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 #69 in the Morgan registry. Golddust was
foaled in 1855 (bred by Andrew Hoke near Louisville, Kentucky), and sold
when a weanling for $100 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 Zilcaadi, 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 is described as being pure gold in color,
off hind ankle white, sixteen hands high and 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. In getting speed, he 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.
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 horse less carriage and in a very short
period of time the entire horse industry in this country changed dramatically.
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 Arab 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 bred Morabs by crossing his mostly Crabbett based Arabian stallions
Ghazi AHR560, Gulastra AHR521, Joon AHR439, Ksar AHR707, Rahas AHR651
and Sabab AHR710 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. 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 purchased the Morgan stallion Moncrest Sellman MHA7289
from another famous cattle ranch, the Sellman Ranch in Texas, to expand
his Morgan program. He bred him to the mare Pontez MHAF0195 (a Morab by
the Arab 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. To date we have traced 25 of our IMR registered
Morabs back to this breeding program, mostly through a combination of
stallion and mare tail mates. These Morabs are not only out west as we
might suspect, but the Midwest and Canada too. Rahas and Antman come up
more often than the other stallions.
Swenson - SMS:
Another Morab breeding program of interest was developed by the Swenson
Brothers near Stamford, Texas on their 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).
Fuller:
A very significant 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 had experimented with several horse breeds, however, the Morab was
the only one she felt could consistently fill the bill. It was from her
successful breeding program that Mrs. Irene Miller (her daughter), started
The American Morab Horse Association Inc. on July 19, 1973. This first
Morab registry was also called ' Morab Horse Registry of America', and
'Clovis' for the town she lived in. It was because of Mrs. Miller's efforts
that we have some of today's Morab breeding programs. The years since
have brought a reemergence and a new appreciation of the Morab breed for
its own fine qualities. The Morab breed owes its current success to Mrs.
Miller's dedication and belief in the breed. To many, she is known as
Mrs. Morab. Lynn Beckford had corresponded and spoken with her over a
period of time and she said of her, "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 personally supported the breed at numerous
horse fairs." With Mrs. Millers passing in 1980, the first registry seemed
to fade away!
Registry update:
(NAMHA) was founded. IMBA/IMR Life Member & Director, Carol Strong reports
... "It was in the late summer of 1984 when a group of Wisconsin Morab
enthusiasts met at the home of Gordon & Betty Weyrauch to form NAMHA.
Present at that meeting were at Fochs, Lynn Beckford, Phyllis Griffith,
Carol Stankiewicz (now Strong), and Jean Nutter (now Schultz), and of
course Gordon and Betty. The first NAMHA registrations were issued early
in 1985." While it was not able to obtain Mrs. Millers records, Carol
goes on to say, "The primary goal of NAMHA was to provide an organization
to register Morabs so the breed could continue to grow. The Registry was
to be based in Hilbert, WI at the home of Pat Fochs. It was agreed to
continue the policies of the Clovis registry regarding registration requirements,
and also to accept all Morabs already registered with Clovis into the
NAMHA registry." It continued to register on conformation/type or Morgan/Arabian
bloodlines and thought that distant Thoroughbred crosses were good. As
the breed began a bright resurgence in the mid to late 1980's, this registry
quickly grew apart from its breeders and founders. In 1987 the first Morab
breeders group was incorporated and the International Morab Breeders Association
(IMBA) offered breeder members marketing ventures, co-op advertising,
breed continuity, education, referrals, newsletters and regional and national
Futurity program potential. With NAMHA registration and correspondence
taking mostly 6 months to be responded to and calls going unanswered,
in 1992 IMBA created the International Morab Registry (IMR) to fill the
critically growing void. The IMR is a purebred registry, based only on
Morgan and Arabian pedigree but it does accept any Morab registered with
a prior registry in an effort to protect breed history and maintain breed
continuity. Over the first ten years of existence, the IMBA has grown
from the original six Incorporates to an organization of more than 75
active breeders and 200 associates on two continents. Besides using major
national and regional publications for articles and marketing ventures,
they introduced the Morab to the Internet with a professionally designed
informational web site (this very domain).
Epilog:
The distribution of both the Arabian and the Morgan registries CD-ROMs
in 1997 presented IMBA/IMR with a great deal of reference material of
great historical value, in a computer searchable media. It is just a matter
of time before the still fuzzy, unfocused historical picture of the Morab
is brought into a brighter and clearer framework. Only Pat Fochs remains
with NAMHA from the original Incorporates. Lynn Beckford's dreams were
never realized through NAMHA and she left Morabs completely after donating
all her historical material and her rights to the original "History Of
The Morab Breed" essay to the IMBA. She closed her original essay with,
"Yet I am even more excited about the history yet to be written by the
Morabs of today. I look forward to a well deserved bright future and recognition
for the Morab breed; a breed that through the span of the last century
and a half has done a great deal to either improve or help other breeds
grow." We couldn't agree with her more and the years have proved her points.
Thanks Lynn! The book "Morab Moments" has a great deal of historical detail
including charts, pictures, forms, pedigrees and much, much more about
the development, breeding and showing of the Morab. The book will be available
through IMBA/IMR in the spring of 1998.
For Registration information e-mail: imr@morab.com
For Morab information e-mail: imba@morab.com
-article based on a 1990 essay by Lynn
Beckford and rewritten with new research through 1997
-Luedke, for the IMBA/IMR
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