I've always been fascinated by horse stories through history, and though I make my living as an historian, I've never felt the itch to dig into a particular story myself.
Since I moved (back) to Vermont in 2012, that itch has been slowly growing as I read and researched and grounded myself in the Green Mountain state's history.
I've been doing quiet background reading for some time now, and I'm ready to officially launch this project on this blog.
I'm going to research the story of the first Morgan horse, Figure. So many talented people have written so much about him, but the deeper and more closely I read, the more amazed I am at how little analysis, research, and historiography has been applied to the sources about his life. There is no single, overall, scholarly history, and I'd like to see if I can do one.
In subsequent posts, I'll examine some of the questions that fascinate me about Figure's story, which is so tied up in American history, Vermont history, equine history, genetics, politics, myth, legend, and some really basic questions about how humans interact with horses.
In the meantime: welcome! Please feel free to contact me at any time by leaving a comment on a post.
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