1883.] THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 229 



(published in New Haven), from the war of the Revolution down 

 to 1817, column by column, advertisements and all, and noted 

 every item pertaining to live stock. I tabulated certain facts per- 

 taining to horses several different years between 1787 and 1802, 

 height, colors, foot marking, gaits, etc., of all the stallions, horses 

 for sale, strayed, stolen, etc. Some of the data may interest you. 



Thus, in 1787-1789, of seventy-eight horses advertised (ten of 

 them stallions), the height of forty were given; only two of them 

 were above fifteen hands, and the average height of all was four- 

 teen hands; bay was the most common color, black next. The 

 next two years, of twenty-nine horses, ten were black ; the average 

 height of the twelve whose height was given, was thirteen hands 

 three inches, and so on. In describing horses, the gait was often 

 given. In the four years, 1788 to 1791 inclusive, the gaits of 

 seventy-five are stated. Of these we have "natural trotter," 

 twenty-seven; "trots all," "natural to a trot," "trots well," "fast 

 trotter," "trots and canters," and "square trotter," fifteen; total 

 trotters, forty-two of the seventy-five. There are fourteen "natural 

 pacers," six "trot and pace," or "trot, pace, and canter," the others 

 have varied or mixed gaits. In 1796 and 1797, of thirty-five 

 horses whose gaits were stated, twenty-six were described as trot- 

 ters; two as pacers; and seven both trot and pace. In 180'2-1804, 

 of sixty-nine horses thus described, fifty-four were natural trotters; 

 five were natural pacers, and ten both trot and pace. A writer in 

 Wallace's Monthly, July, 1879, p. 425, has noted that in the Con- 

 necticut Courant, published at Hartford, various Dutch horses, 

 1765, 1798, etc., are described as trotters. 



A stallion called "Game Leg" was advertised in the Connecticut 

 Journal of April 30, 1788, by William Fowler of North Guilford, 

 and described as seven years old, bright chestnut, and "supposed 

 to be the swiftest trotter in Guilford." This is the earliest "trot- 

 ting stallion " that I know of. There are many indications that as 

 early as the close of the Revolutionary War, there was consider- 

 able attention paid to trotting-horses in Connecticut and New 

 York, and perhaps also the other States north of Philadelphia. 



Horses were extensively bought for shipment to the West 

 Indies, New Haven being an important port of shipment. The 

 animals were brought here from the interior of the State, and 

 from the adjoining States. I now live in a house built by one of 

 the horse-shippers of a previous generation, and the large barns 



