GEXERAL VIEW OF THE FIELD. 11 



band of Virginia wild horses that wandered or was chased out 

 onto this sandy peninsula, and while there some great storm set 

 the mysterious ocean currents at work and cut off their retreat by 

 converting a peninsula into an island, and there they have lived 

 and multiplied ever since. 



The colonial horses of Virginia were of all colors and all very 

 small in size, as we would class them in our day. An examina- 

 tion of a great many advertisements of "Strayed," "Taken up," 

 etc., of the period of about 1750, clearly establishes the fact that 

 at that time the average height was a small fraction over thirteen 

 hands and one inch. More were described as just thirteen hands 

 than any other size, and they were nearly all between thirteen 

 and fourteen. From this same advertising source I was able to 

 glean conclusive evidence as to their habits of action, and found 

 that just two-thirds of them were natural pacers and one-third 

 natural trotters. Thus for more than a hundred years they had 

 retained the peculiarities of their English ancestors in the reign 

 of James I., in color, size, and gait. This in no way differs from 

 the description of the Chincoteague Island ponies of to-day. As 

 early as 1686 a law was enacted that all stallions less than thir- 

 teen and a half hands high found running at large should be 

 forfeited; but this, like Henry VIII. 'slaws in the same direction, 

 had failed to increase the average size of the horses. From the 

 indomitable passion for horse-racing which prevailed universally 

 among the colonists, we may safely conclude that some animals 

 were carefully selected and coupled with a view to the speed of 

 the progeny, both at the gallop and at the pace, but the great 

 mass were allowed to roam at large, and under such conditions 

 no variety or tribe of horses has ever improved in size, or indeed 

 in any other quality. 



The early horses of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, 

 afterward New York, were brought from Utrecht in Holland. 

 As we would look at them to-day, they were small, but they were 

 larger and better, and brought higher prices than the English 

 horses of the Eastern colonies or than the Swedish on the West. 

 It was conceded, however, that for the saddle they were not so 

 good as the New England horses, and hence it may be inferred 

 that they were not pacers. It is very evident, however, that the 

 two breeds were soon mixed, as the saddle was then the universal 

 means of travel, whether for long or short distances. During 

 the time of the Kevolutionary war a large accumulation of data 



