In the 1960's LaVonne Houlton started to collect information on the old California Morgans.This project evolved into what would become the naming of another "family" of Morgans, the Western Working family. Others wrote about some of the history of these Morgans, Susan Graf, Gail Perlee and Laura Algranti. It became evident, especially in reading the information that Susan Graf compiled, that the western ranchers really were the ones that chose and developed the Western Working Morgans. The bloodlines were not planned, rather the horses were selected for certain criteria such as heavy bone, deep hips, quiet minds and stamina. It was the same criteria that all stockmen were using to select cow horses, only a few recognized that the Morgan horse had all the qualities that were needed.

The evolution of the Western Working Morgan started in the 1900's up until circa 1950 when most of the large ranches ended up being sold off and divided up. The bloodlines that came west primarily came from the old Government lines and actually had combinations of a lot of the eastern bloodlines, since that is where the concentration of Morgan horses has been for centuries. The selected studs were bred to whatever Morgan mares that were available and thus the start of a family, the original stock horse, the Morgan. Over time the family has evolved and lines have been crossed to non-working lines, and they are still Morgan horses. There is no such thing as 100% western working lines, there are too many gray areas to have a cut and dried definition. Traditionally, we refer to horses that have descended from the original Morgan ranch stock as western working lines, in spite of whatever job they do.

In conclusion, Western Working Morgans are a nebulous family, but they are all Morgan! The 2WF club celebrates the original western Morgans and looks forward to preserving and promoting these lines, no matter what the discipline or job.

Linnea Sidi
President, 2WF