CHAPTER XV. 



THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE. 



'The saddle gaits conie only from the pacer Saddle gaits cultivated three hun- 

 dred years ago Markhain on the saddle gaits The military seat the best 

 The unity of the pace and trot Gaits analyzed Saddle Horse Register 

 Saddle horse progenitors Denmark not a thoroughbred horse. 



IN the preceding chapters the pacer has been considered from 

 the standpoint of his antiquity, history, speed at the pace, and 

 his contributions to speed at the trot. We now come to consider 

 him as the founder of the best and most delightful type of saddle 

 horses in the world. This estimate of his quality and value had 

 a solid foundation in the judgment and habits of our ancestors at 

 an early period in our history. When our patriotic forbears 

 entered upon the struggle for independence, they were fully 

 alive to the necessity of foreign sympathy and aid. For this 

 purpose agents were sent abroad to enlist the good feelings and, 

 if possible, secure co-operation of foreign governments, especially 

 that of France. Mr. Silas Dean was sent to Paris, and in a com- 

 munication to the secret committee of Congress, under date of 

 November 28, 1776, he writes: "I wish I had here one of your 

 best saddle horses, of the American or Rhode Island breed a 

 present of that kind would be money well laid out with a certain 

 personage." This was probably intended as a present to Marie 

 Antoinette, or some other person having great influence at court. 

 It further indicates that "the American or Rhode Island Saddle 

 Horse" was at that period, in Mr. Dean's opinion at least, the 

 best in the world. (See Dean Papers, New York Historical 

 Society, Vol. I., p. 377.) 



To the man of average intelligence and candor on horse sub- 

 jects it certainly is not necessary to enter upon an elaborate dis- 

 cussion to show that the saddle gaits come from the pacer, but a 

 certain class of writers, who neither declare nor attempt to prove 

 their position, constantly imply that the saddle gaits came from 

 the "thoroughbred." As it is better, therefore, to make every- 



