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

by John Hankins Wallace

From the foregoing it will be seen that the new element, brought out in the history of this horse is the statement that he was owned at one time by Mr. Rylander, of Long Island. There were two brothers of this name, and they imported a great many horses, but never before had I heard their names connected with Winthrop Messenger. This carries us back to a period in the history of the horse before he was taken to Oneida County.

Colonel Stanley, a prominent banker of Augusta, and at one time a leading horseman and stage proprietor, bought Messenger of his kinsman, Hayward, and owned him some seven years. He says the horse was brought to Maine as early as 1816, and that his Uncle Hayward had certificates that he was got by imported Messenger, out of a mare well-bred and part of imported blood.

In a communication from Mr. Sanford Howard, who had been prominently connected with the breeding interests of the country for many years, the following description is given:

“I saw him several times, first in 1828. In the latter years of his life he stood mostly at Anson, on the Kennebec River, and I think died there about 1831 [he died at Dixfield]. He appeared like an old horse when I first saw him, older, perhaps, from being much afflicted with grease, which had become chronic, and at length had almost destroyed his hoofs; so that the last time I saw him he was nearly incapable of locomotion. His feet and legs looked like those of an elephant. This trouble was transmitted to his offspring through several generations (though not invariably so), and constituted, perhaps, in connection with, in many cases, a flat foot and low heels, their greatest defect.

“Mr. Hayward states, in concluding his letter, that he has no doubt the horse he took to Maine was got by imp. Messenger. The remark is probably elicited by intimations that he might have been gotten by a son of Messenger. I presume Mr. Hayward’s belief was well founded. As imported Messenger did not die until the 28th of January, 1808, there is no discrepancy between that event and the age of Mr. H.’s horse. At the same time I must admit that Maine Messenger hardly looked like a half-blood horse. He was pretty large, rather short-legged, thick-set, with heavy mane and tail, very hairy legs, long hair on his jaws, and was heavy coated (in winter) all over his body. These characteristics were sometimes accounted for by saying he was probably out of a Dutch mare, meaning such mares as the Dutch farmers of New York kept. I never heard of any claim being set up for his speed in trotting, and I presume he was never tried at running. He was strong and plucky, and the story was told at Winthrop that on an occasion when all the stallions of the neighborhood were brought out to be shown, they were put to a trot in sleighs for half a mile or so, and Messenger was beaten. Whereupon his owner proposed that the horses should each draw a sled with six men on it up to Winthrop hill, and be timed. It was done, and Messenger beat them all. I think the first of his offspring that became noted for fast trotting was a gelding called Lion, taken to Boston by a well-known horse dealer by the name of Hodges, of Hallowell, Maine. He was sold, I think, for four hundred dollars, which made quite a sensation among the Kennebec farmers who had any stock of the same sort. I do not recollect the rate of speed this horse showed, but a mile in three minutes was then considered wonderful, and probably this was about his rate. Other horses of the stock were soon brought out as fast travelers. I remember a friend of mine showing me some young horses he was training, and I rode with him after several of them. They were natural trotters, and would do nothing but trot, even under severe applications of the whip. But I think the second generation from Mr. Hayward’s horse were generally faster trotters than the first. They were also generally handsomer horses, not so rough looking. Nearly all the horses of this stock which have acquired a reputation in Massachusetts, New York, etc., as fast trotters, had not more than a quarter of the blood of the horse that Mr. Hayward took to Maine, and consequently had not more than an eighth of the blood of imported Messenger.

“The mares that produced these horses were of no particular blood. Various stallions had been kept in that section. Morgans from New Hampshire and Vermont, with an occasional change to the French Canadians, and now and then a quarter or half bred horse from New York or New Jersey.”

This excellent communication from Mr. Howard is especially valuable, as the conclusions drawn by an accurate and competent observer from a personal acquaintance with the original horse and his progeny. There are some inferences, however, that may be drawn from Mr. Howard’s letter that would be unjust to this distinguished animal. His general coarse appearance, in connection with which Mr. H. says, “he hardly looked like a half bred horse,” was a prominent feature in the family. Mambrino, a very high-bred son of old Messenger, was very coarse, and the same remark was often made about him. The quantity and length of his coat in the winter of his old age are not conclusive against his pretensions to a large share of good and pure blood. They are the results oftentimes of neglect and ill health. It is somewhere stated that the famous Sir Archy before he died looked exceedingly shaggy, his hair being fully three inches long. Mr. Howard expresses the opinion that “the second generation from Mr. Hayward’s horse were generally faster trotters than the first.” In many instances this, no doubt, is true, for it would be altogether contrary to the uniform laws which govern these things if development and use did not strengthen and intensify the instinct to trot in successive generations. If Mr. Howard is right, and we do not doubt he is, the increased capacity did not grow out of the dilution of the blood, but out of the strengthening of the instinct by culture and use. At the time Mr. Howard made this remark he evidently did not know that the famous old-time trotters, Daniel D. Tompkins and Fanny Pullen, were both immediately from the loins of Winthrop Messenger. In their day these two were classed among the best and fastest trotters that the world had then produced. The facts that both these animals were the immediate progeny of Winthrop Messenger were never brought to light for many years, and all I will say about them now is that they do not rest on shadowy traditions or suppositions, but are fully and circumstantially established.

In a letter written by Mr. Hayward, May 12, 1852, in speaking of the useful and everyday qualities of this horse’s progeny, he used the following language:

“The stock produced by that horse I consider superior, as combining more properties useful in a horse than any other stock I have ever been acquainted with, being good for draft, for carriage, for travel, for parade, or any place where horses are required. They had great bottom and strength, and were of hardy constitution. There are some horses in this town twenty-two years old, that were by a son of Winthrop Messenger, which I brought with me when I left Maine. They have always been accustomed to draw the plow and to perform other hard labor, and yet they have the appearance of young horses, and will now do more service than many horses of seven or eight years old.”

Among the several sons of imported Messenger whose names are conspicuous as the progenitors of great tribes of the most distinguished trotters I know of no one entitled to a higher place on the roll of fame, all things considered, than this one that went to Maine, and there laid a foundation that has made the State famous throughout the length and breadth of the land for the speed and stoutness of its trotting horses.