Horse Raising in Colonial New England 905 



covered that there were certain areas in Rhode Island and in Con- 

 necticut which were much better adapted to the raising of livestock of 

 all kinds than the region first settled (86). These more favored areas 

 were found mainly in the upper valley of the Connecticut River, 

 along the shore of Long Island Sound, and about Narragansett Bay in 

 Rhode Island. Here plenty of level, well-watered pasture lands were 

 found, swamp grasses which made good hay were abundant, and in many 

 places the grazing areas were intersected with salt-water ponds and 

 lagoons which served to separate pasture land from cornfields far more 

 effectively than any fence could have done. The damages and end- 

 less difficulties resulting from free range in other less favored sections 

 made this last-named feature one of no mean advantage in the raising 

 of livestock and in the improvement of the breed. The few cattle, sheep, 

 and horses which the first settlers in these regions brought with them 

 were soon augmented by others, and before long the obvious agri- 

 cultural advantages of the new areas were being used to their full 

 extent. 



With the coming of the demand for shipment to the West Indies, 

 horses and cattle were soon being raised for export in these more favored 

 districts. Some horses were apparently being shipped from Newport 

 as early as 1656, but there is some question as to whether this particular 

 shipment did not consist of horses stolen from Massachusetts instead 

 of animals raised on Narragansett Bay (87). In 1677, however. Cap- 

 tain John Hull wrote to one of his partners in the Pettiquamscut Pur- 

 chase in Rhode Island, proposing to build a stone wall across Point 

 Judith Neck, " so that no mongrel breed might come among them,*' 

 and to raise a breed of '' large and fair horses and mares " for ship- 

 ment to the West Indies (88). This plan appears to have been put 

 in operation, for not long afterward Hull wrote to a resident of the 

 district, a certain William Hefferman, accusing him of stealing horses 

 and rather tartly offering to give him some horses that he might have 

 no further need to indulge in such practices (89). By 1680 horses were 

 being shipped from Rhode Island in sufficient quantities to be men- 

 tioned by Governor Sanford in his reply to the inquiries sent out by 

 the Lords of Trade and Plantations, in which he states that " the princi- 



