The Lippitt Morgan Horse Registry engraving of a Morgan horse The Lippitt Morgan
Horse Registry, Inc. Protecting & preserving the original Morgan horse
The register

The Eight & Seventeen

Eight stallions. Seventeen mares. Every living Lippitt Morgan carries nothing — in any line, in any generation — but the blood of these twenty-five animals.

The line of descent

From Figure, through Woodbury, to the book.

The Lippitt Morgan traces to Woodbury Morgan 7, Justin Morgan’s most famous son — the largest of them, a dark rich chestnut of 14.2–14.3 hands, and the one who carried the highest degree of his sire’s bold, fearless nervous energy. Frederick A. Wier judged that it was Woodbury’s branch of the stock “which has mainly contributed to establish the very extensive reputation and celebrity which the Vermont Morgan horses have so justly obtained.”

Woodbury’s line ran through Gifford Morgan, his most noted grandson, and Hale’s Green Mountain Morgan 42, his most popular great-grandson — the horse whose image appears on every AMHA registration certificate to this day. From that stream of old Vermont blood came the cornerstone sire, Peters’ Ethan Allen 2d 406, and it is closeness to him that defines the foundation animals below.

To qualify for the foundation list, an animal had to meet three tests:

First
Be a registered Morgan.
Second
Carry as close a cross to the cornerstone, Peters’ Ethan Allen 2d 406, as possible.
Third
Have produced at least one direct line of descent evidenced in the present Lippitt population.
Nineteenth-century engravings of Justin Morgan 1 and his son Woodbury Morgan 7
Justin Morgan 1 & Woodbury Morgan 7period engravings, from the archive
The 25 Foundation Stock

The whole gene pool, on one page.

Stallions — eight
NameRegister №
Croydon Prince№ 5325
Rob Roy№ 4483
Donald№ 5224
Bob B.№ 5282
Welcome№ 5702
Sir Ethan Allen№ 6537
Sealect№ 7266
Bilirubin№ 7462
Mares — seventeen
NameRegister №
Bonnie Jean№ 0343
Trilby№ 02532
Polly Rogers№ 02109
Susie№ 03786
Lucille№ 01547
Lippitt Trixie№ X04695
Rose of Sutton№ 02232
Croydon Mary№ 02900
Bridget№ 02852
Jenny Woodbury№ 03258
Emily№ 03036
Lippitt Sallie№ 04565
Evelyn№ 0684
Lucinne№ 04542
Hippolyta№ 03222
Hannah№ 03196
Nancy№ 03553

Register numbers as recorded in the American Morgan Horse Register. All Lippitt Morgans must trace to these twenty-five in every line.

The generations between

The book, kept by hand and by heart.

Between the foundation animals and the foals of this spring stand a century of horses and the breeders who refused to let the type drift. A few of the names every Lippitt pedigree leans on:

Vintage photograph of the Lippitt stallion Lippitt Billy Ash under saddle
Lippitt Billy Ash(Ashbrook × Lippitt Sallie)
Vintage photograph of the Lippitt mare Lippitt Miss Nekomia with her handlers at a stable door
Lippitt Miss Nekomia(Lippitt Moro × NE Komia)
Black-and-white photograph of the Lippitt stallion Dyberry Bob standing in show pose
Dyberry Bob(Lippitt Billy Ash × Lippitt Miss Nekomia)
Black-and-white photograph of the Lippitt stallion Sam Twilight standing in profile
Sam Twilight(Lippitt Sam Twilight × Lippitt Hannah)
Black-and-white photograph of the Lippitt mare Sweet Success standing in a field
Sweet Success(Moro Hill’s Adonis × Moro Hill’s Emelyn)
Black-and-white photograph of the Lippitt stallion Winloc Major Gifford standing at a fence
Winloc Major Gifford(Winloc Sir Arthur × Ransomvale Mariah)
Black-and-white photograph of the Lippitt mare Ashwood Jess's Pride standing in a field
Ashwood Jess’s Pride(Ashwood Majestic × Ransomevale Bridget)
Archival black-and-white photograph of the Morgan stallion Ashbrook standing in profile
AshbrookArchival photograph
The fixed pattern — Vermont State Fair, 1911
“We should stand up for the ancient Morgan type because it was better than any modern or ancient amendment of it… Our pattern is therefore fixed already. That is our standard. We are not groping for something that has never existed… We are united on a clearly defined object. We can succeed even if all other Morgan breeders fall.”
H. S. Wardner, on breeding to the pattern of Hale’s Green Mountain Morgan 42 — the horse on every AMHA registration certificate