COLONIAL HOESE HISTORY NEW ENGLAND. 129 



the fact. The records show they were Dutch ships, and that on 

 a given day they sailed out of the Texel, a Dutch port, far away 

 from Flanders. I think, therefore, we are safe in concluding 

 they were "Dutch mares," and they should be so designated. 

 Just about this period they were bringing Dutch horses from 

 Utrecht, in Holland, to the Dutch colony at New Amsterdam, 

 and it was well known in Holland as well as in New England that 

 the Dutch horses brought much better prices in New England 

 than the English importations. It is probable, further, that 

 these Dutch traders were looking out for a choice of markets, as 

 between New England and New Netherlands. These mares were 

 valued at thirty-five pounds each, the record says, but we are not 

 informed as to the price that was really paid for them. There is 

 a very wide discrepancy between the figure at which these mares 

 were "valued" and the cost of the mares that were brought from 

 England. The English company charged the colony six pounds 

 each for the horses sent from there, and ten pounds freight. 



I have labored assiduously to get at such data as would afford 

 a safe basis upon which to determine the size and other qualities 

 of these Dutch horses. They were larger than the English horses 

 of that period and they were more muscular, with greater weight 

 of bone. They were, doubtless, better adapted to the various 

 offices of the "general purpose" horse than their English con- 

 temporaries, in every respect, except the saddle. There is no 

 distinctive evidence that they were pacers or could go any of the 

 saddle gaits, in their own right. It is probably safe to conclude 

 that the original importations would not average more than four- 

 teen and a half hands high, and very likely the exact truth, if it 

 could be reached, would place them below that figure rather than 

 above it. The process of reducing the size commenced as soon as 

 they arrived: for the English horses had saddle qualities which 

 the Dutch did not possess, and everybody wanted a saddle horse. 

 Still the Dutch blood was highly prized, and a hundred and fifty 

 years afterward it was no uncommon thing, especially in the 

 valley of the Connecticut, to meet with the advertisements of 

 stallions seeking patronage on the strength of "Dutch blood." 

 This, for a time, was a puzzle to me, but as we consider the horse 

 interests of the region of the Hudson and the Mohawk Valley 

 extending eastward and that of eastern Massachusetts extending 

 westward along with the current of emigration, it is not difficult 

 to understand how the blood of the Dutch horse should have be- 



