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'THE STORY OF DANIEL LAMBERT'
THE QUIETUDE STUD / The Morgan Horse 1995
Roberta Grimes
He was among the finest horses ever to stand on grass, the handsomest Morgan his century had seen and the king of roadsters when a stylish horse was the sine qua non of a successful man. He sired well over a thousand foals, each a prized near-replica of himself, and he was thought to have been the best brood mare sire in New England history, perhaps in world history.
His name was Daniel Lambert, and he came by his quality as good horses generally do--from the blood of both sire and dam. His dam, Fanny Cook, was a mare of ancient royal pedigree, tracing back to the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk--her pedigree remarkably similar to the supposed pedigree of Justin himself.
Daniel Lambert's sire, Ethan Allen, was considered the best son of Black Hawk; Black Hawk was the best son of Sherman; and Sherman the best son of Justin. If motorized wheels had never been invented, his name would still be on every lip as the founder of the most useful and prolific family of Morgan horses; but as it is, his line nearly died. That it has not died, and that a hundred and thirty-seven years after his birth, Daniel Lambert is again enjoying fame is a tale of patient human devotion and the ultimate survival of quality bloodstock.
Now, seven generations since Daniel Lambert a thirty-four-year old Lambert stallion, Criterion, still enjoys the summer grass in West Virginia. Like Daniel, he is a bright chestnut with a lighter mane and tail, but it isn't really Daniel he resembles most. Put his photograph beside an old woodcut and you'll see the spitting image of Sherman Morgan, that legendary finest son of Figure.
Susan and Shannon Hanley didn't set out to resurrect a Morgan family. During a period of job burnout in the early seventies, they did what so many dream of doing: they sold their house near Manhattan and bought a 183-acre farm in West Virginia. With a daughter and a son, then ten and eight, they set out to make their living farming, raising sheep and cattle at first, and then, before long, breeding Morgan horses.
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'THE AMERICAN TROTTER'
S.W. Parlin 1905
When in his prime no horse could be found that equaled him in beauty of conformation, elegance of style, grace of carriage and poise, ease and elasticity of gait, excellence of quality and fineness of finish combined. He was of the Morgan pattern, stood strong fifteen hands in height, and was a horse of substance. He had a neat, bony head, large expressive eyes, set well apart, short lively ears always carried erect, a clean-cut throttle, handsomely arched neck of good length, well set upon strong oblique shoulders, which gave him an upheaded, lofty appearance. His back was of medium length and very strong, ribs well sprung from the spine, giving him a round barrel which was also deep, of good length and well ribbed back to the hips. His loin was broad and well muscled, coupling strong and smooth, hips long and smoothly turned; croup rather straight, the whirlbone and tail set high, quarters stongly muscled, hocks well let down, forearms long, broad and muscular, cannons short, bones of the leg of good size in proportion to weight of body. His hind leg was fairly straight, but the lower part was joined at the hock at something of and angle, giving the leg a conformation like that found in many speedy trotters. His pasterns were short and strong, his feet well shaped and of the right size to harmonize with his limbs and barrel. The Morgans were the handsomest horses in the world, and Daniel Lambert in his prime was the handsomest of the Morgan tribe. Few horses have ever lived that possessed greater power of stamping their likeness uniformly upon their offspring and imparting to them the ability to perpetuate their good qualities through succeeding generations than did this renowned son of Ethan Allen. Daniel Lambert's success in transmitting his physical beauty was remarkable, and the finish and elegance which a strain of his blood imparts is one of its most valuable traits.
A Portfolio of Great Sires of the Late 19th Century 1896
"A man can live two or three years in twenty minutes, driving a horse like that!' I once heard a fur-clad New England enthusiast exclaim as, with a jingle of bells and a clattering of hoofs on the floor, as his Lambert mare dashed into the stable after an hour or two of impromptu racing on the snowpath."
H. C. Merwin
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