Amusing bits from a horse book & a story

@ElicBxn (63194)
United States
May 13, 2007 6:36am CST
I'm reading an old collect of horse stories called "The Big Book of Horse Stories" published in 1946 reprinted in 1959. The bits I'm going to talk about come from a "story" called "The Begats." This is actually not a story, rather a discussion about breeds, & foundation sires & stuff. So, apparently at some point the mare was considered nothing more than "a nest for the embryonic replica of the father." That sometimes: "She was merely a beguilement for a sire and an incubator for the father's colt." And my favorite line. "Before that, the mother needed to be nothing but a blond with pretty hips and an air of anxiety." Don't you know that these things would've never seen print today!!! I found them very amusing. Now, after this he went on to talk about the Morgan horse &, since this was about foundation sires & stuff, of course, Justin Morgan - the horse. There is a very famous story about a log. How they were trying to pull it with different horses & none had. "About dusk, Evans came down from his logging field, which was near by; and I told him the particulard of the drawing match. Evans requested me to show him the log; which I did. He then ran back to the tavern, and challenged the company to bet a gallon of rum that he could not draw the log fairly on to the logway, at three pulls with his colt." It goes on, including Evans saying that it wasn't heavy enough & putting "three of those least able to stand" on the log before the horse, Justin Morgan, pulled it. The writer kind of disbelieves the story, but I think that most of us who love a good horse story believe it. But mostly because Evans came down from working all day - he was sober, the rest had been drinking - and looked at the log. He probably recognized that the log was "nose down" into the dirt/mud & by putting the 3 men on it tilted it up so that it could then be pulled. It is very much more in line with the cleverness of the man and the willingness of the horse to pull the log after having worked all day. I got this old book on ebay so it probably will be very hard to find, but the Morgan horse story is one of the most famous of the stories connected to the breed.
2 people like this
4 responses
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
13 May 07
My mother in law is very horsey and in fact has actually managed to have her mare throw a foal who has gone on t do acceptably well racing. I will have to keep my eyes open for that book for her as she is now getting too old to ride or do anymore hunting, but she would probably enjoy the book very much! Thanks for sharing!
@horsesrule (1957)
• United States
14 May 07
Oh, my favorite, horse stories! Who is the author? I want to see if I have it already or if I need to find me a copy too! LOL. It sounds like a good book and I don't think I have it but I want to. Thanks.
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
14 May 07
Its a collection of horse stories, edited by Page Cooper, my copy is printed by Berkley books - that bit I was talking about was writen by Phil Stong. Right after that story is a Will James short story called "The Seeing Eye" GREAT story!
@gberlin (3836)
13 May 07
Thanks for the horse story. Walt Disney made a movie about Justin Morgan and his horse in the late sixties or early seventies.
@cdejac (98)
• United States
13 May 07
I have always loved the Morgan horse as one of my favorite breeds. I saw a Disney movie about the Morgan and how Justin Morgan discovered what a great little horse this is. It has a great disposition and I would recommend this breed for beginners. cdejac