50 THE BEEEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



In America, the horse-shows, the growth of recent years, 

 as distinct from the usual live-stock shows, were factors 

 that did more to popularize the Hackney than any other 

 influences. The high-lifting action of the Hackney, 

 both fore and aft, made a very attractive feature of the 

 shows; and that, coupled with the growth of the high- 

 stepping fad, gave the breed a strong impetus, although 

 their genuine merit as heavy-harness horses has outlived 

 this. The possession of stoutness of form with this 

 action has adapted them particularly for heavy harness 

 and heavy vehicles. 



47. History in America. Aside from the first im- 

 portation to America of Bellfounder (55), in 1822, by 

 James Booth, of Boston, the next importation of note was 

 the stallion Fordham, a son of Denmark, brought over in 

 1881, by Hillhurst Stock Farm, of which Senator Cochrane, 

 of Quebec, Canada, was proprietor. Then comes the 

 era of the horse-show, when extensive importations were 

 made, chiefly into the New England states and Canada, 

 with scattering importations into Ohio, Wisconsin, and 

 other states. The largest of these importations was 

 made in 1890 by Seward Webb, of Vermont, who imported 

 thirty-one horses, four of which were stallions. About 

 this time, there was a lull in the profitableness of breeding 

 Standardbred trotters, which put many horses of this 

 breeding on the market that otherwise would have been 

 retained in the breeding stud. Attention was drawn to 

 the fact that many horses of Standardbred trotting lines 

 were competing with the Hackney, especially in the high- 

 stepping classes, in the show-ring. They were more or 

 less freaks, with the high stepping exaggerated by heavy 

 shoeing and training, but they sometimes made a more 

 popular show than the Hackney, by being able to go 



