tgiue with negligent treatment; in fact the 

 mo a t useful class of animals for them and 

 their successors. Without nnich, if any, im- 

 provement, they now plentifully Inhabit Tex**, 

 California. New Mexico, aud Mexico proper. 

 They do not really belong to the class " Ameri- 

 can horee," as we now understand that classi- 

 fication. 



The Pettlers on our Atlantic coast. beginning 

 aboutthe year 1616, br.'Ught out the horses of 

 their own native countries' Hojiund, Gre^t Bri- 

 tain, Ireland. Sweden. Detimnrk, .France, and 

 Germany being thus luid under contribution. 

 Grpat variety of character was thus introduced, 

 and as their importers were men of narrow 

 means, the animals were probaoly not of ihe 

 choice-t kinds, either in blood or quality, but 

 very useful in the rude agriculture of the time. 

 As these horses shared the hardships and priva- 

 tions of their owners, no marked improvement 

 could be effected until the introduction of sup- 

 erior animal" by later immigrants. 



As the colonies grew in population and 

 strenarth, attracting increased attention from 

 the English government, under which they were 

 all ultimately combined, immigrants of wealth, 

 fficial dignitaries, and army officers brought 

 out many valuable horse-*, some few accounts 

 of which date back to the year 1700. Among 

 them were choice specimens of the draught 

 variety, as well as saddle-horses; but the road- 

 ster, as we now know him, was then undevelop- 

 ed, from the lack ot good roads and light vehi- 

 cles. Within a few years, however, after 1700, 

 several fine blond horses of both sexes were 

 known to be imported into Virginia, New York, 

 and other States both north and south, many of 

 the earlier and later immigrants of those States 

 being great admirers of horse quality. These 

 later importations were closely interbred and 

 widely distributed, and crossed on the common 

 mares of the country. Thus a rapid improve- 

 ment was made in the style and appearance of 

 our horseflesh generally, as well as in their supe- 

 rior utility and value. So marked was that im- 

 provement that at the outbreak of the revolu- 

 tionary war our military officers were usually 

 equipped with horses of superior blood, quality, 

 and action. Indeed many of the brilliant achieve- 

 ments of our revolutionary army owed a share 

 of their success to the thorough mounting of the 

 ca\alry, and the excellence of the horses ridden 

 by the commanding and staff officers of the foot 

 divisions and corps. 



Recovering from the calamities and poverty 

 of the war, as the circumstances of our people 

 improved, the study and cultivation of their 

 horses rapidly increased, and the earlier years 

 of the present century produced many animals 

 which, in high breeding, style, and execution 

 of their work, equaled those of any other coun- 

 try, either on the race-course, under the saddle, 

 in the harness, or the draught. 



A brief notice of the various classes of horses 

 now in approved use and cultivation among our 

 American people may be germane to the sub- 

 ject ; and first in order may be named the 



ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED, OR RACE-HORSE. 

 As originally introduced into the American col- 

 onies, and since continued in our States, he has 

 been the foundation of the highest excellence 

 yet developed for all ordinary use, aside from 

 the heavy and slower draught. About two hun- 

 dred years ago, during the reign of Charles II, 

 the race-course first began to attract the atten- 

 tion of the nobility and other wealthy aristoc- 

 arcy of England, and it has been continued down 

 to the present time. As a consequence, speed, 

 bottom, hardiness and endurance were the qua- 

 lities chiefly sought in the development of the 

 race-horse. For centuries previous they had 

 fine horses in England, yet they needed improve- 

 ment, if possible, and choice selections were 

 made from Egypt, Arabia and the Barbary states 

 for stallions, and sometimes mares, to infuse 



their good qualities into the English blood. Many 

 crosses of foreign stallions were made on the 

 native English mure-*, and no doubt decided im- 

 provements weie rteri\e<l from their use, but, 

 after all. the wize an'i more muscular qualities 

 retained by the descendants of those crosses 

 were mainly of the original English character, 

 jmd have been perpetuated both in England and 

 America to the pre-e it ay. 



Lrttein the lastcen'ury, and occasionally down 

 to recent yers. we hnve received importations 

 of choice stnl!i<irH from Asia and Africa, near 

 the Meditterr^nMHii coast; but in justice 1 must 

 rem.irk that although some of them were of the 

 highest s.\ mmet i y m form, action and appear- 

 ance, yet when crossed upon our well-bred 

 mares, a superior impress on their descendants, 

 except in few i-. stances, has not been eminently 

 noticeable. Did lime permit, I might go into 

 particulars within the limits of my own obser- 

 vation, but the fact must remain with only a 

 general remark of its truth. Whether the thor- 

 oughbred horse in the United States has been 

 kept up to the standard of excellence at which 

 he has arrived in England, or improved beyond 

 him, an instance or two may determine. I have 

 been unable to learn the best running time of 

 the race-horse in England, and therefore a cur- 

 rent comparison between the speed of the Amer- 

 ican and English horse cannot be made. 



In the great national four-mile race of three 

 heats, on Long Island, N. Y., in the year 1823, 

 between the stallions American Eclipse, bred on 

 Long Island, N. Y., and Henry, bred in Virginia, 

 the first heat was taken by Henry, by a head 

 only, in 7 minutes 37V6 seconds. The other two 

 heats were taken by Eclipse in 7 minutes 49 sec- 

 onds and 8 minutes 14 seconds, yet it was never 

 exactly known what was the very best time 

 Eclipse could make, only when matched with a 

 nearly equal competitor, as he was called a lazy 

 horse, and bore the whip freely. 



The Kentucky-bred stallion, Lexington, on the 

 New Orleans four-mile course, in the year 1854, 

 won his race in 7 minutes 19% seconds. 



Fellowcraft, also a Kentucky-bred stallion, 

 won a race on the four-mile course at Saratoga, 

 in the year 1874, in 7 minutes 19^ seconds. These 

 are the two shortest races ever made, so far as 

 records are given, thus leaving the American 

 thoroughbred the peer of any others in the 

 world.* 



We may well suppose that the superiority of 

 the thoroughbred horse in the combinations of 

 speed, action, wind, bottom and fineness of pro- 

 portions has been fully determined, and that an 

 infusion of his blood would be sought and work- 

 ed into a large class of our miscellaneously-bred 

 horses for other purposes than the race-course, 

 or simply the gratifications of taste and pleas- 

 ure. Among the most notable class of the thor- 

 oughbred crosses upon the better ones of mis- 

 cellaneous character, is 



THE AMERICAN TROTTER, which we claim as 

 solely an American production, within the last 

 forty years, in the highest development of his 

 speed. 



A detailed history of the trotter would require 

 many pages, for which no time can here be allot- 

 ted, and the horse literature of the country only 

 can give it. Suffice it to say, however, that his 

 descent has been largely drawn from the thor- 

 oughbred for many years back in his ancestry. 



Trotting horses of celebrity have been recorded 

 in the English periodicals of years ago, particu- 

 larly Bellfounder, who trotted 19*4 miles in an 

 hour ; but in the trotting horse, classed by him- 

 self, England, as compared with America, has 

 yet made no distinguished record ; and that the 

 American trotter has been most skillfully bred 

 and trained to his recent astonishing achiev- 



* Since the above sentence was wri'ten, the horee 

 Tenbroeck made a race at Louisville, Ky., in 7 minutes 

 15& seconds, beating Fellowcraft 3^ seconds. L. X . A 



