The Arabian breed is the purest breed in the world and oldest pure strain of horse. This ancient breed has been used to help formulate almost every known light horse breed in the world.  Arabian influences can be seen in breeds from Thoroughbred to Welsh. The Arabian played a vital role in forming such truly American breeds as the Quarter horse and the Morgan.  The Morgan, in turn, heavily influenced such as the Saddlebred, Standardbred, and some of the gaited breeds.  

The Morgan breed originated with a singular stallion named Figure (or Justin Morgan as he was better known).  This one stallion is thought to have been a sport, which is a horse that is unusually genetically strong with his characteristics. So strong in fact, that mares of a vast variety of different breeding and type were bred to him and the resulting offspring bore a very strong resemblance to their sire. The truest test of a sport is whether the grand get, great grand get and further future generations bear the same resemblance to this initial horse. It is quite astonishing to compare the Morgans of today to the woodcuts and prints of Morgans in the early founding years of the breed. It is no less than miraculous that one horse would pass on his characteristics with such reliability.

Of course as with many of today's breeds, much Arabian blood can be found in the foundation or forming structure of the early records.  This holds true in the Morgan breed.  Since the Morgan originated from one horse, many other outside horses were used to create the numbers that formed the Morgan breed as we know it today.  This is what is called an "open book" -  the registry book was open to the breeding of outside horses to create the Morgan breed.  Horses that were sired by Justin Morgan were bred with other horses of different types and breeding. Eventually the books were "closed" meaning that no more outside bloodlines other than those registered and approved as Morgans would be allowed in. This is the only way to form a breed from scratch. 

Many references are made in the early records to Arabians being used on Justin Morgan's descendants. Arabian characteristics can be seen in Justin himself and it is widely thought that he himself carried a good amount of Arabian blood. Were these early Arabian/Morgan crosses Morabs?  No, because the Morgan breed was not yet established as a breed and the books were not closed. It would not be until the Morgan was established as an independent registered breed, not utilizing any other blood than from registered Morgan to registered Morgans that the cross with the Arabian breed can be truly considered a Morab.  This is illustrated by the fact that many registered Morgan horses in the early formation years of the Morgan breed were bred to purebred Arabians and the offspring registered as Morgans. This was just the process of the forming of the Morgan breed. One such example is the registered Morgan Golddust he is by a registered Morgan stallion Vermont Morgan and out of an Arabian daughter of an imported Arabian stallion Zilcaddie. This horse was most noted for his golden palomino color, his outstanding trotting record, and his unequaled beauty.  Likewise in the Quarter horse breed we see much Arabian as well as Morgan influence. Arabian and Morgan crosses were noted in early Quarter horse records. One such example is the horse Rey Boy.  This horse was owned by the Hollywood star "Wild Bill" Elliot.  Rey Boy was registered as a Quarter horse and was by the Quarter horse Billy by King and out of a half Morgan and half Arabian mare.

Many references are made to the early remount horses used by the United States as being Morgan horses crossed with thoroughbred or Arabians. These horses were well suited to the tasks that required a surplus of endurance.
For more than 100 years the Morgan / Arabian cross was utilized to build other breeds but it was not realized as a breed by itself. The coining of the actual word "Morab" gave birth to the breed. William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper personality coined the word Morab and it is him that we can thank for our beginning. Mr. Hearst crossed his Morgan mares to the Arabian stallions Tsar and Ghazi to create versatile horses for his California ranch. So well suited were these horses to the rough and varied terrain that their popularity spread from there. Although there was now a name for the Arabian/Morgan cross, there was still no organized registry for them at that time.

With the formation of the first Morab registry, increased awareness for the Morab began. Small groups and shows arose in the western regions and then throughout the Midwest which boasted the highest concentration of the breed. Now there are movements to establish good numbers of Morabs throughout the entire U.S.

The Morab excels at almost every discipline, hence the MHA slogan "The Versatile Breed". The Morab started in the open show industry and the endurance market. So well suited are the Morabs to endurance that many have shined through the years. The Morab has also been called the "King" of the open show ring. These horses are well known for competing in a variety of disciplines and it is not uncommon for one horse to compete in Western, Hunter, Harness, and Country Pleasure at one show. With the number of Morabs growing nationwide, the Morab is now seen in the dressage ring, eventing and combined driving events and well as hunter and jumper events. As with any new breed, there was much organizational conflict but the breed has survived and flourishes today.

The national accepted breed standard for the Morab breed is 25%/75% which means that the registerable Morab must remain within this bloodline guidelines. The most common cross is the 50/50 which has one Arabian parent and one Morgan parent. A 50/50 could also result from the cross of a 50/50 Morab onto a 50/50 Morab, or called a second generation Morab. It is the goal of the breed to raise the numbers of second, third, forth, etc. generations bred Morabs as this will give us the real breed standard look.

Many questions arise to the pedigrees of registered Morabs and one should be careful when they purchase a Morab that it's pedigree meets the breed standard if they wish to register the horse with the Morab Horse Association. Some Morabs were registered with other Morab registries that could not document and prove their lineage, these horses cannot be accepted within MHA as registered purebred Morabs, but can be accepted into the Partbred registry. MHA does not register Morabs of unknown lineage into it's purebred registry so any MHA papered Morab in the purebred registry would be guaranteed as being up to the 25/75% documented standard.