SADDLE HORSES. 161 



waving his hat and shouting with triumph ; but pres- 

 ently, recollecting himself and his deaconship, he 

 went up to the successful jockey and exclaimed, with 

 every indication of anger, " Martin Scott, you young 

 reprobate, you have stolen my horse, and if you do 

 not immediately return him to the stable, and give 

 him a good rubbing down I shall report you to your 

 father." And thus the Deacon won a horse race, and 

 still preserved his standing in the Church. Never- 

 theless, although riding steadily declined from this 

 time on, New England furnished some excellent cav- 

 alry in the Civil War, mounted chiefly on Morgan 

 horses which out-travelled and outlasted the larger 

 but less enduring animals ridden by the cavalry regi- 

 ments of the West. 



The Narragansett pacer being extinct, and the Mor- 

 gan trotter undeveloped as a saddler, the only riding- 

 horse born and bred in the United States is now to 

 be found in Kentucky. Kentucky, from the very 

 beginning of her history, has been noted for well-bred 

 horses, especially in the " Blue Grass " district. A 

 scientific person of reputation who made a stud} T of 

 that region tells us that there are certain products of 

 the land which indicate infallibly the geological forma- 

 tion. Whenever, he relates, he met a tall, handsome 

 girl, with a good color in her cheeks, he knew that 

 he had struck the Blue Grass belt, with its lime- 

 impregnated soil, and there was no need to pound 

 the rocks with his hammer, or curiously to inspect 

 the earth. The girl was sufficient evidence of lati- 

 tude and longitude ; and with her went rolling fields 

 of rich pasture, substantial barns, and paddocks full 

 of high-born colts and brood mares. The State was 



11 



