The Horse of America in His Derivation, History, and Development

by John Hankins Wallace

The early horses of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, afterward New York, were brought from Utrecht in Holland. As we would look at them to-day, they were small, but they were larger and better, and brought higher prices than the English horses of the Eastern colonies or than the Swedish on the West. It was conceded, however, that for the saddle they were not so good as the New England horses, and hence it may be inferred that they were not pacers. It is very evident, however, that the two breeds were soon mixed, as the saddle was then the universal means of travel, whether for long or short distances. During the time of the Revolutionary war a large accumulation of data bearing on the size and action of the horses of that period goes to show that the average size had then increased to fourteen hands and one inch, and in gait fifteen both paced and trotted, nine trotted only, and seven paced only. It is not pretended that these data represent the horses of the early colonial period, but only of the period above indicated. Strains of larger breeds had been introduced, but the little New England pacer had made his mark on the habits of action.

In 1665, the next year after the Dutch had surrendered the country to the English, Governor Nicolls established a race-course on Hempstead Plains and offered prizes for the fleetest runners, and his successors kept up annual meetings on that course for many years. This was the first official and regularly organized race-course that we have any trace of in this country. These meetings seem to have been well supported from the very first by both town and country, and as the people were then practically all Dutch, it is a fair inference that the horses engaged in the races were Dutch horses. This was before the English race horse had reached the character of a breed, and a hundred years before the first of that breed was imported into New York. From this beginning many tracks were constructed or improvised in and about the city, upon which racing at all forms and at all gaits has been carried on to the present day. When honestly conducted the sport has always been favorably received by reputable people; but at successive periods it has degenerated into a mere carnival of gambling that placed it under a ban.

The horses of the New England colonies fill a very important place in the horse history of the country. This is especially true of a remarkable tribe of swift pacers, produced in Rhode Island and known throughout the whole country as the “Narragansett Pacers.” To the description of these a special chapter will be devoted. The first horses imported into New England reached Boston harbor in 1629 and were sent direct from England by the proprietary company in London. The same year a small consignment reached Salem. The next year about sixty head were shipped to the plantation, but many of them were lost on the voyage. In 1635 two Dutch ships landed at Salem with twenty-seven mares and three stallions, and were sold there at remunerative prices. Other shipments followed, no doubt, that have not been noted. In 1640 the colonists seem to have been supplied with all the horses they needed, for that year they shipped a cargo of eighty head to the Barbadoes. From these importations into Boston and Salem, all the New England colonists received their supplies. The field specially gleaned to determine the size and gaits of the Massachusetts horses covered the years 1756-59, from which it appears that the average height was then fourteen hands and one inch; and as to gait, just three-fourths were pacers and one-fourth trotters. In comparing this average size with the Virginians of the same period we find that the Massachusetts horses were about one hand higher, which would indicate the influence of the early Dutch blood. Besides this we must make some allowance for a possible different habit of estimating size.

When the plantation was made at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, the planters brought their horses and other domestic animals with them. In 1653 the General Court, at New Haven, made provision for keeping public saddle horses for hire, and all horses had to be branded. After passing over a period of more than a hundred and twenty years we find that in 1776 the average size of the Connecticut horse was thirteen hands and three inches, thus ranging below the other New England colonies. At that period it is found that the ratio of pacers and trotters was as fifteen pacers, or trotters and pacers, to four that trotted only. The very interesting experience of two English travelers, mounted on Connecticut pacers, in 1769, and their enthusiasm about their superlative qualities, will be found in its place.

The colony of Rhode Island was planted in 1636 by Roger Williams and his followers, and eleven years later they obtained their charter. Their supply of horses came wholly from the colony of Massachusetts, and in a short time the new plantation became greatly distinguished for the superiority and speed of its pacers. From the official report of the colony for 1690, we learn that horses constituted their leading item of exports, and that they were shipping horses to all the colonies of the seaboard. At that early day the fame of the Narragansett pacer extended through all the English colonies, and probably also through the French plantations on the St. Lawrence. All trade with Canada was strictly prohibited, but in the then condition of the borders how could such regulation be enforced, if a Frenchman, with a bale of peltry, wanted to exchange it for a Narragansett? Freed from the Puritan restrictions of New England, of that day, the Rhode Islanders developed the speed of their pacers by racing them, and thus the best and fastest of all New England were collected there. In 1768 the average height of the Narragansetts was fourteen hands and one inch, which shows them to have been about three and a quarter inches higher than the Virginia horses of the same period. They were not all pacers, for out of thirty-five there were eight that did not pace, and some others that both trotted and paced. A full account of these famous pacers will be found in the chapter on the Colonial Horse History of New England, and that on The American Pacer and his Relations to the American Trotter.

William Penn did not visit his princely gift from Charles II. until 1682, and it was then under the government of the Duke of York. In giving a description of things as he found them he remarks: “The horses are not very handsome, but good,” and this is all he says of them. Knowing that Pennsylvania, in the early part of this century, produced larger and heavier horses, than any other portion of the country, it was a great surprise to me to find the undoubted proof that a hundred years earlier she had produced the smallest and the lightest horses of any of the colonies. In the first half of the last century the average size of the horses of Eastern Pennsylvania was thirteen hands one and a quarter inches, and they were remarkably uniform in size. This was one-quarter inch below the average of the Virginians. Of the twenty-eight animals examined as to gait, twenty-four of them were natural pacers, three both paced and trotted, and a single one trotted only. Finding these two facts of uniformity of size and uniformity of gait together, we are prepared for another fact that follows, viz., in Philadelphia the pacers were more popular and fashionable than in any other city, so far as we can learn, and they were selected with great care and bred for their speed, and that speed was highly tested on the race-course. They were breeding for speed without much regard to size, and hence the uniformity.

It has not been discovered that the colonists of New Jersey made any direct importations of horses from England. Their original supplies were obtained from New York on the one side and Pennsylvania on the other. From these sources, therefore, we can form a correct estimate of the size and gaits of the Jersey horses, without going into particular investigation. The only object, then, in referring to this colony is to prove that before 1748 all kinds of racing had become so common in the colony as to be a nuisance. Consequently the legislative authority passed an act in 1748 for the suppression of “Running, Pacing and Trotting Races.” This was in strict harmony with the well-known condition of things in Philadelphia and vicinity very early in the century. If there had been no pacing races there would have been no legislation suppressing them.

The horses of the colony of Maryland would necessarily partake of the characteristics of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from which she probably received her supply. There seems to be no evidence of direct importation. This colony was really the first, in point of time, to legislate for the suppression of pacing races. In 1747, one year before New Jersey, an act was passed forbidding pacing races in certain locations at certain times, and the avowed object was the protection of the Friends in holding their yearly meetings. Here, then, we have historic evidence that the three colonies of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Virginia had frequent pacing races, and legislative evidence that Maryland and New Jersey had quite too many pacing races, early in the last century. It follows, then, that the other colonies indulged their sporting fancies in pacing races also.

The colonies of North and South Carolina obtained their supply of horses from Virginia, and they possessed the same characteristics as the parent stock. The first permanent settlement in North Carolina was in 1653, but before this it had become the refuge of Quakers and others fleeing from the proscriptions that prevailed in Virginia against all who did not conform to the English church. South Carolina received her charter in 1663, at a time when horses were beginning to run wild in Virginia. In 1747 thirty horses were advertised in which the size was given, and the average is within a small fraction of thirteen and a half hands high, and in this number two were given as fifteen hands, which was a very large horse for that day. The gait is given in only twelve cases—ten of which were pacers, one paced and trotted, and one trotted only.

The chapter on the “Early Horse History of Canada” is very brief. It was not till the year 1665 that the first horses were brought over from France, and as they came from ancient Picardy, right across the Channel from England, it is reasonable to assume that they partook of the same characteristics as the English horses, and that many of them were pacers. Another theory of the origin of the Canadian pacer is the probability of clandestine trading with the New Englanders. Among the many impossible stories about the breeding of Old Tippoo, the greatest sire of Canada, the truth seems to come to the surface at last, and there can be no reasonable doubt that he was got by “Scape Goat.” However much or little dependence can be placed upon many of the claims of fast pacing stallions coming from Canada, it must be conceded that some of these claims seem to be well founded, and that the pacing element has been greatly strengthened by blood from the other side of the border.