COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY NEW YORK. 121 



from which the Dutch horses seemed to have complete immunity. 

 In 1647, Isaac Allerton, as agent, was authorized to sell twenty 

 or twenty-five of these horses to Virginia, and whether the 

 authorities were able thus to get clear of a bad investment does 

 not appear from the existing records. In a report to the home 

 company, made in 1650, I find the following prices were given at 

 that time: A young mare with second foal, one hundred and 

 fifty florins; stallion, four or five years old, one hundred and 

 thirty florins; milch cow, one hundred florins. The same report 

 makes a comparison by giving the prices of New England horses, 

 as follows: A good mare one hundred to one hundred and twenty 

 florins; stallion, one hundred florins; milch cow, sixty to seventy 

 florins. Neither horses nor cows were then allowed to be shipped 

 out of the province without permission of the council. 



Adrien Van der Donck wrote a description of New Netherlands 

 which was published 1656, in which he speaks of the horse stock 

 as follows: 



" The horses are of the proper breed for husbandry, having been brought 

 from Utrecht for that purpose; and this stock has not diminished in size or 

 quality. There are also horses of the English breed which are lighter, not so 

 good for agricultural use, but fit for the saddle. These do not cost as much as 

 the Netherlands breed and are easily obtained." 



From a large number of facts collected for the years 1777 and 

 1778 the horses then averaged about fourteen hands and one inch, 

 -and when compared with earlier data it is evident they had in- 

 creased in height. In the gaits of those advertised, fifteen both 

 paced and trotted, nine trotted only, and seven paced only. As 

 this was in the period of the Revolution, and right in the center 

 of hostilities, some allowance should be made for horses from 

 other colonies. 



The people of this colony, like those of all the others, branded 

 their horses and turned them out to seek their own living in the 

 summer season, and this resulted in many losses, and oftentimes 

 in much bad feeling. The Dutch were not accustomed, in the 

 "old country," to building fences around their crops high enough 

 and strong enough to keep out all the droves and herds of animals 

 running at large. In the line of improvement and increase of 

 size in their horses, they provided that all stallions running at 

 large, of two years and nine months old, must be fourteen hands 

 high or be castrated. This law was in force in 1734, and no doubt 



