'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.
'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 by H. C. Merwin

"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.
American Horses and Horse Breeding
by John Dimon (Hartford, CT: by author, 1895)

"Ethan Allen was the sire of many good and fast horses, but his crowning effort in the stud was the producing of that most noted of all Morgans - as the sire of speed - Daniel Lambert, who was foaled in 1858, bred by W.C. Clark of Ticonderoga, N.Y., and was one of the most beautiful all-around horses that ever lived. In trotting action he was simply perfect, and in his prime was called the most beautiful horse in America.
In color he was a beautiful shade of chestnut, with one white hind foot and a star, with mane and tail of a lighter color - flaxen - of extraordinary fineness and beauty. He had very fine limbs, neck, and head. He sired many fine speed-producing stallions, among which are Motion, Ben Franklin, Abraham, Aristos, and others of note."

Types and Breeds of Farm Animals by Charles S. Plumb (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1906)

"Among the thirty-six producing sons and daughters of Ethan Allen no one attained such distinction as did Daniel Lambert, himself the sire of thirty-eight trotters. The sire of the dam of Daniel Lambert was Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian. Later years have shown that the Hambletonian and Morgan families could be bred together to very great advantage."

The Horse in America by John Gilmer Speed (NY: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905)

"Ethan Allen was the sire of a great many colts and fillies, but being kept in training the better part of his life he never had so good a chance as some other horses to become famous as an ancestor. Through his sons, Honest Allen and Daniel Lambert, his name and that of his sire have been kept very much alive in the records, for his descendants have been fleet in the track and most successful in the show ring. His daughters and granddaughters have also done him proud, proving the excellence of the Morgan blood as brood mares. It is only when we get to his generation that the chroniclers take much notice of the importance of the females in perpetuating the Morgan type and family...."
The Horse: His Breeding, Care, and Treatment in Health and Disease by Henry C. Merwin (Chicago: A.C. McClure & Co., 1917)

"In some families the horses and in other families the mares seem to be superior; and certain sires are known as "brood-mare sires," because their daughters are very successful in breeding - more so than their sons. Among trotters, for example, Mambrino Patchen, Daniel Lambert, Nutwood, and Arion are recognized as brood-mare sires, and mares descended from them are valued accordingly. A great brood-mare sire, it may be added, is always a horse of great nervous energy."

"Roundness of form and beauty of action - these are the qualities which the Morgan has largely contributed to the trotter. High action was not a characteristic of the original Morgan, nor is it by any means a characteristic of all Morgan horses today, but it is found in several branches of the Morgan family, and most of all in the Lamberts. Daniel Lambert was a son of Ethan Allen, his dam being Fanny Cook by Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian. He was foaled in 1858, and was a beautiful chestnut, with mane and tail very light in color, and soft in texture. He was a horse of commanding style and magnificent carriage. For many years he was kept in the vicinity of Boston, but late in life he was brought back to Middlebury, Vermont, where he had been raised. On this occasion the whole town turned out, with a brass band, to welcome him home, and there was a procession through the village streets. "The old horse," relates an eye witness, "kept time to the music, and was the proudest creature that ever walked on earth.”

The Lambert horses are very distinctive-- high-headed, high-spirited, high-stepping. "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. Daniel Lambert is rated as a "Broodmare Sire," and Lambert mares figure prominently in the pedigree of many fast trotters."