Randallane Morgans - Northfield, Massachusetts

Randallane Morgans -- Northern Massachusetts -- stallion service ~ stock for sale - breeding Lippitt Morgan Horses & Chocolate Labs

The History of the
Lippitt Morgan...

Show above, Lippitt Trixie in the fall of 1939 at age 23

A bay colt, named Figure, became the foundation sire of the Morgan horse. Figure was better known as Justin Morgan, named after his owner, the teacher, song writer from Randolph, Vermont, who acquired him as an unpaid debt. This horse was such a prepotent and remarkable sire, that he still stamps his descendants today with his distinct type, beauty and versatile characteristics. The Morgan horse is the first American breed, and is the only one founded solely by one horse.

In 1910, Fullerton Phillips, a wealthy Pennsylvania gentleman, traveled to Vermont with a dream of raising Morgan horses. He discovered that the horses he was finding were leaner and rangier than his Morgan ideal. They were bred for speed in harness and had been crossed with other breeds. Therefore, these Morgans lacked the versatility, stamina, and overall beauty that he had come to admire and associate with the type and characteristics of the Morgan breed.

Phillips began his search for the older bloodlines and found his ideal lay mostly in horses from Vermont. He admitted to spending $200,000 on horses that he bought and on his breeding program. He would jingle the coins in his pocket to hasten his purchases.

In 1922, part of Phillips’ herd was grazing on a high pasture when a violent storm struck. Twelve of the thirteen horses, pastured there, were killed by lightning. The one survivor was so terrorized that she had to be destroyed. Eight horses remained and Phillips continued breeding his old-type Morgans but he never fully recovered from this tragedy. He died only five years later in 1927.
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The precious herd was dispersed, after 17 years of careful breeding. A local grain man carried this news to a gentleman named Robert Lippitt Knight. Here was a man who had a special love for old and rare breeds. He chose two stallions and four mares from the Phillips estate, and brought them to his Green Mountain Stock Farm in Randolph, Vermont. Later he added a few more mares to his herd. Most of the other Morgan owners were breeding their stock to horses of other breeds, trying to stay competitive with the changing wants and needs of the show ring as well as sale-ability, fashion and trends. Knight had no worries about such things. He had his own mission and had no concerns for what others wanted or needed. His mind was on conservation of the original bloodlines. Twenty-five years later, Knight dispersed his entire herd of horses, including his favorite stallion Lippitt Ethan Ash, but he soon realised his mistake. He missed what the horses had brought to his life, and found himself buying back most all of the horses that he had sold.

When Knight died in 1962, the culmination of a lifetime of breeding was dispersed at auction. The crowd of old-time Morgan lovers was large in Randolph, Vermont that day.

In 1971, a small group of people dedicated to the special and rare horses, got together to try to preserve this unique family of Morgans. They gave the name Lippitt Morgan to these horses in thanks to Robert Lippitt Knight’s contribution.

The Lippitt is a distinct horse that has no recent out-crosses to other breeds, resulting in the highest percentage of the Original blood available today. Therefore, Lippitts also possess more of the original type and qualities of their founder, Figure, otherwise known as Justin Morgan. They are celebrated for their versatility, willingness to please, disposition, type, and overall beauty that attracted Phillips, Knight and any of us as owners and breeders. All Lippitts trace back, on every line of their pedigree to the following foundation horses.

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