Horse Raising in Colonial New England 915 



needed supplies for the sugar plantations. Also, in Jamaica and in 

 Santo Domingo, in spite of their own abundance of livestock, numerous 

 instances are recorded of their continued importation throughout the 

 period (128). Lasth^, the demand for saddle horses was a continuous 

 and important one in all the sugar colonies and, further, was a demand 

 which grew with the general increase in the wealth of the planters. 

 In short, it would seem that whatever decrease in the demand for 

 horses may have resulted from the shift in the center of sugar produc- 

 tion and changes in the method of manufacture, such decrease was 

 fully balanced by the mere aggregate of the demand from the steadily 

 increasing number of the plantations and the extensiveness of their 

 operations. 



Throughout the whole period from 1700 to 1775, therefore, there 

 existed in the West Indies a ready market for horses which was taken 

 full advantage of by the New England colonies, following the begin- 

 ning already made in this sort of trade before 1700. During the later 

 period, however, the trade was not confined to the British islands, as 

 formerly, but had extended to those belonging to the Dutch and the 

 French as well; it was better organized and on a much more extensive 

 scale; and, though interrupted in various ways from time to time, it 

 had come to be an important part of the commerce of New England and 

 remained so until the War of the Revolution. 



DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL HORSE RALSING FROM 1700 TO 1775 

 The steadily widening market for horses which was opened up dur- 

 ing the period from 1700 to 1775 has just been described. It is apparent 

 also, from the evidence given, that New England took full advantage 

 of the opportunity for exporting horses which was thus presented. 

 There noAV remains to be considered the resulting development which 

 took place in New England itself during this same period, whereby 

 the raising of horses on a commercial scale became an important 

 industrj^ 



For the beginning of this development no exact date can be set, but 

 early efforts along this line before 1700 have already been indicated — 

 as, for example, the plans of John Hull and his associates in the Pet- 

 tiquamscut Purchase in Rhode Island. Most of the early shipments of 

 horses to Barbados and the other British colonies prior to 1700, how- 



