TilK AMERICAN HURSE. 33 



which have created in different sections and districts distinct 

 families, easily recognized, — as the horses of Massachusetts 

 and Vermont, admirable for their qualities as draft-horses, 

 powerful, active, and capable of quick as well as heavy work ; 

 the Conestogas, excellent for ponderous, slow efforts, in team- 

 ing and the like ; and the active, wiry horses of the West, well 

 adapted for riding, and being in most general use for American 

 cavalry purposes. 



It is evident, then, that the original stock of the unimproved 

 American horse is the result of a mixture of breeds; the 

 French, the Spanish, the Flemish, and the English horses 

 having all sent their representatives to some one portion at 

 least, of the United States and British Provinces, and proba- 

 bly still prevailing to a considerable degree in some locations, 

 though nowhere wholly unmixed — while, in others, they have 

 become so thoroughly mixed and amalgamated, that their 

 identity can no longer be discovered. 



In New York, for example, the early importations of tho- 

 rough blood, and the constant support of horse-racing, appear 

 to have so changed the original Dutch or Flemish stock, that 

 the characteristic of her horses is that of the English race, 

 with a decided admixture of good blood. In Massachusetts, 

 Vermont, and the Eastern States generally, the Cleveland bay, 

 and a cross between that and the English dray-horse blood, 

 with some small admixture of thorough blood, predominate. 

 In Pennsylvania, the most distinct breed appears to be of 

 Flemish and English dray-horse origin. In Maryland, Vir- 

 ginia, and South Carolina, English thorough blood prevails to 

 a great extent ; so much so as to render the inferior class of 



working horses undersized. In Louisiana, and many of the 

 S 



