COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY PENNSYLVANIA, ETC. 



weight. It is safe to conclude that in the latter part of the last 

 century breeding animals of large size were brought over the 

 water, for we can hardly conceive of their being descended from 

 the little pacers preceding them only fifty or sixty years. 



The Pennsylvania horses of the first half of the last century 

 were remarkably uniform in size, and from a large number of 

 cases in which the size is given I find the exact average was 

 thirteen hands one and one-quarter inches. Of the twenty-eight 

 animals in which the habit of action is given, twenty-four were 

 pacers, three both paced and trotted, and just one is given as a 

 natural trotter. Here we have two very striking facts the low 

 stature and the uniformity of the pacing gait. These horses 

 average a quarter of an inch below the Virginians, the next low- 

 est, and a higher ratio of pacers than in any other colony. There 

 must have been some reason or reasons for this, and I will sug- 

 gest two which strike me as probably effective in producing these 

 results. The earliest settlers in Southeastern Pennsylvania were 

 the Swedes. They brought their horses with them from the Old 

 World, and they were undoubtedly pacers, but I have no means 

 of determining anything about their size. This may be an im- 

 portant factor in determining the uniformity of the gait, as well 

 as the diminutive size. The other consideration that I will 

 present is the fact that the pacer was more fashionable in and 

 about Philadelphia, then the leading city of the continent, than 

 in any other section or portion of the colonies. It is a fact that 

 seems to be fully established, that early in the last century the 

 breeding of pacing horses was carried on in the region of Phila- 

 delphia, with much spirit and intelligence, and that pacing 

 stallions for public service were carefully selected for their shape- 

 linesss and speed. It is also a fact that all horses that could not 

 pace were, in the public estimation, classed as basely bred. 



The Swedes and Finns planted a colony on the west bank of 

 the Delaware in 1638, and as they were an industrious and 

 thrifty people they prospered and extended their plantation up 

 the river as far as Philadelphia. This territory was then claimed 

 by the Dutch of New Netherlands, and they overcame the 

 Swedes in 1655, and ten years later they in turn had to surren- 

 der to the English. Of the early Swedes, the Rev. Acrelius 

 wrote and published, in the Swedish language, a very valuable 

 account of his people. In speaking of their horses he says: "The 

 horses are real ponies and are seldom over sixteen hands high 



