East Visits West: Earl Krantz of the United States Morgan Horse Farm in California, Autumn 1946

Morgans at El Rancho Poco, Monrovia/Duarte, California,
probably in the late 1940s to mid 1950s.

In February 1947, The Morgan Horse Magazine published an article by Earl S. Krantz, then head of the United States Morgan Horse Farm near Middlebury, Vermont.  He called it "Morgan Travelogue." (I'll put a link to an archived copy of  the entire issue of the magazine at the end of this post.)

Krantz detailed his Autumn 1946 trip across the United States, visiting Morgan horse breeders in Vermont, Illinois, Kansas, and California, "and a few en route," and commenting on their horses. Krantz outlined the reasons for his travel on behalf of the Morgan Horse Club:

When he got to Southern California, Krantz mentioned the Morgan horses being bred by:

Mary Smith, Camarillo

Dr. C. C. Reed, Compton

Dr. Leonard J. Brunie, Pasadena

Keith Morse, Arcadia

Hugh Logan, Glendale

O. C. Foster, Calabasas

E. W. Roberts, Los Angeles 

Merle Little, Monrovia/Duarte

Krantz spent a couple of paragraphs describing the activity of the Morgan Horse Association of the West, which had 75 active members. Krantz reported that when the group met in November 1946, 60 members who owned about 400 registered Morgans were in attendance.

"For the first time in Morgan history all major and many minor bloodlines are being gathered into one area in sufficient numbers of make possible greater selective breeding," Krantz wrote. "Even though the interests of these breeders may vary in the use of Morgan saddle horses for pleasure, for parade, for stock or ranch purposes, a blending of bloodlines is sure to be made with greater uniformity of type and usefulness."

In Merle Little's estate collection is a photo of Krantz visiting Merle in Monrovia/Duarte. I'm not sure if this has ever been published before. 

A rubber stamp on the back of the 8x10" original shows that Merle had called upon one of the best-known horse photographers in the area of that day, John Williamson, to document Krantz' visit.

From left to right: Earl Krantz; Cal Secrest, on an unidentified Morgan (note the hackamore bridle); Merle Little; Merle's stallion Senor Morgan 8647.

The young Cal Secrest (who, I believe, worked at El Rancho Poco), wrote a note accompanying the photograph: "Merle was very proud!! of this visit by Mr. Krantz. I [Cal] was 17 years old in this picture."

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Here's the entire issue in PDF form:

https://www.morganhorse.com/upload/photos/7671_February1947TMH.pdf