Hale's Green Mountain Morgan Horse Weathervane

Circa 1909: Measuring approximately 34.25"H (including modern museum stand) x 32"L x 7.5"D, this large and exceedingly scarce full bodied weathervane in its untouched orginal weathered surface depicts the Morgan horse by which all other Morgans are measured, Hale's Green Mountain Morgan, 42 A.M.H., who was sired somewhere between 1832 and 1834 in Vermont, right about the time the famous Morgan racehorse Blackhawk was born. In the Spring 2014 issue of the American Morgan Horse Association newsletter Out of the Archives!, there is is interesting article entitled "The Founders," which begins: "The original 'Morgan Horse Club' was founded... in 1909, on September 23, at an organizational meeting held at the Vermont Sate Fairgounds in White River Junction, Vermont.... An invitation to attend had been issued by Maxwell Evarts (President of the State Fair Commission), A. Fullerton Phillips, C. C. Stillman (Secretary and Treasurer of the newly formed club), and Henry Wardner, who was chosen as President. Wardner had weathervanes made in the image of Hale's Green Mountain 42 as gifts for directors of the club. Fifteen of these weathervanes were known to exist." This was, to be sure, quite a generous undertaking on Mr. Wardner's part.

We don't know how many of these fifteen weathervanes have survived, but we do know that another example was donated in 2008 to the University of Vermont's Morgan Horse Farm and is in use there today. These vanes are considered holy grails in Morgan horse circles. Remarkably, the surface on this outstanding example has survived in exceptional undisturbed condition with much of its original gilding intact above the original sizing and the barest hint of verdigris patina beginning to appear. It is obvious that the vane was used outdoors but could not have remained in operation for more than a year or two before it was retired and miraculously preserved. There is a minor seam separation, probably in the making, on the front of the proper right rear leg and a miniscule in the making hole on the proper left eyelid that we mention only for the sake of accuracy. This is an extremely fine weathervane that rarely appears on the open market, and it serves justice to this magnificent Morgan horse who stood 14.2 hands tall and weighed 1,100 pounds and, as Brenda L. Tippin contends in her article "Hale's Green Mountain Morgan," which appeared in the June/July, 2017 issue of The Morgan Horse, "whose bold and fearless style of action under saddle, combined with fire, spirit, and perfection of form, made him, at once, the center of attention anytime he was ridden onto the grounds at countless fairs and military musters." It is no wonder Mr. Wardner chose Hale's Green Mountain 42 as the model for his thoughtful, symbolic gift to the fledgling club's governing body.