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known to be imported into Virginia, New York, and other States both north and south, 
many of the earlier and later immigrants of those States being great admirers of horse 
quality. These later importations were closely interbred and widely distributed, and 
crossed on the common mares of the country. Thus a rapid improvement was made 
in the style and appearance of our horseflesh generally, as well as in their superior 
utility and value. So marked was that improvement that at the outbreak of the re- 
volutionary war our military officers were usually equipped with horses of superior 
blood, quality, and action. Indeed, many of the brilliant achievements of our revolu- 
tionary army owed a share of their success to the thorongh mounting of the cavalry, 
and the excellence of the horses ridden by the commanding and staff officers of the 
foot divisions and corps. 
Recovering from the calamities and poverty of the war, as the circumstances of our 
people improved, the study and cultivation of their horses rapidly increased, and the 
earlier years of the present century produced many animals which, in high breeding, 
style, and execution of their work, equaled those of any other country, either on the 
race-course, under the saddle, in the harness, or the draught. 
A brief notice of the various classes of horses now in approved use and cultivation 
among our American people may be germane to the subject; and first in order may be 
named the 
ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED, OR RACE-HORSE.— As originally introduced into the Amer- 
ican colonies, and since continued in our States, he has been the foundation of the 
highest excellence yet developed for all ordinary use, aside from the heavy and slower 
draught. About two hundred years ago, during the reign of Charles II, the race-course 
first began to attract the attention of the nobility and other wealthy aristocracy of 
England, and it has been continued down to the present time. As a consequence, 
speed, bottom, hardiness, and endurance were the qualities chiefly sought in the devel- 
opment of the race-horse. For centuries previous they had fine horses in England, yet 
they needed improvement, if possible, and choice selections were made from Egypt, 
Arabia, and the Barbary states for stallions, and sometimes mares, to infuse their good 
qualities into the English blood. Many crosses of foreign stallions were made on the 
native English mares, and no doubt decided improvements were derived from their 
use, but, after all, the size and more muscular qualities retained by the descendants of 
those crosses were mainly of the original English character, and have been perpetuated 
both in England and America to the present day. : 
Late in the last century, and occasionally down to recent years, we have received 
importations of choice stallions from Asia and Africa, near the Mediterranean coast; 
but in justice I must remark that although some of them were of the highest symmetry 
in form, action, and appearance, yet when crossed upon our well-bred mares, a superior 
impress on their descendants, except in few instances, has not been eminently notice- 
able. Did time permit, I might go into particulars within the limits of my own obser- 
vation, but the fact must remain with only a general remark of its truth. Whether 
the thoroughbred horse in the United States has been kept up to the standard of excel- 
lence at which he has arrived in England, or improved beyond him, an instance or two 
may determine. I have been unable to learn the best running-time of the race-horse 
in England, and therefore a current comparison between the speed of the American and 
English horse cannot be made. 
In the great national four-mile race of three heats, on Long Island, N. Y., in the year 
1823, between the stallions American Eclipse, bred on Long Island, N. Y.,and Henry, 
bred in Virginia, the first heat was taken by Henry, by a head only, in 7 minutes 374 
seconds. The other two heats were taken by Eclipse in 7 minutes 49 seconds and 8 
minutes 14 seconds, yet it was never exactly known what was the very best time 
Eclipse could make, only when matched with a nearly equal competitor, as he was 
ealled a lazy horse, and bore the whip freely. f 
The Kentucky-bred stallion, Lexington, on the New Orleans four-mile course, in the 
year 1854, won his race in 7 minutes 192 seconds. 
Fellowcraft, also a Kentucky-bred stallion, won a race on the four-mile course at 
Saratoga, in the year 1874,in 7 minutes 19} seconds. These are the two shortest races 
ever made, so far as records are given, thus leaving the American thoroughbred the 
peer of any others in the world.* } } : 
We may well suppose that the superiority of the thoroughbred horse in the combi- 
nations of speed, action, wind, bottom, and fineness of proportions has been fully 
determined, and that an infusion of his blood would be sought and worked into a large 
class of our miscellaneously-bred horses for other purposes than the race-course, or 
simply the gratifications of taste and pleasure. Among the most notable class of the 
thoroughbred crosses upon the better ones of miscellaneous character, is __ Jat 
THE AMERICAN TROTTER, which we claim as solely an American production, within 
the last forty years, in the highest development of his speed. A detailed history of 
* Since the above sentence was written, the horse Tenbroeck made a race at Louisville-Ky., in 7 
minutes 15} seconds, beating Fellowcraft 3} seconds.—L. F. A. 
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