12 THE ORANGE COUNTY 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



HORSE HAMBLETONIAN, 



THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE WM. M. RYSDYK. 



THE pedigree of this celebrated horse is familiar to almost 

 every horseman throughout the civilized world; indeed, per- 

 haps no single horse ever foaled has won from his own in- 

 trinsic merits such an extensive and enduring reputation. 



He was by Abdallah, the grandson of the renowned im- 

 ported Messenger; his dam the Charles Kent mare, and she 

 by imported Bellfounder. 



Abdallah was kept for mares at Chester, Orange County, 

 in the years eighteen hundred and forty-seven and eight, at 

 twenty dollars to insure a colt. In the latter year, Jona i 

 Seely, of the same town, owned this Charles Kent mare, and 

 bred her to the horse Abdallah. She proved with foal, and 

 on the fifteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, 

 gave birth to the colt which since has become so famous 

 throughon&vthe land under the name of Hambletonian. 



The mare, with her colt by her side, was sold by Mr. 

 Seely to the late William M. Eysdyk, for the sum of one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five dollars. The circumstances of Mr. 

 Rysdyk were at this time very limited, and it was only 

 through the assistance of friends that he was enabled to 

 effect the purchase even at the low figures named by the 

 owner. From the price paid we may readily infer that there 

 was nothing very attractive or extraordinary either in the 

 appearance of the dam or her foal. The colt, however 



