928 Deane Phillips 



gradually infringed on by the cultivation of new land; in fact, accord- 

 ing to Elliot (176) this scarcity of pasture land and meadows, with the 

 resultant high price of hay, had begun to be felt even before the Revolu- 

 tion. All these things combined to make difficult the resumption of 

 the trade in horses on its former scale. 



Just what became of the large number of animals which had for so 

 long furnished a steady article of commerce is not very clear. The 

 very considerable shipments to the French islands, already noted, which 

 immediately followed the close of the Revolution, probably accounted 

 for such surplus of the ordinary stock as had accumulated; while the 

 demand for saddle horses on the part of the increasingly prosperous 

 Spanish planters of Cuba probably took many of the Narragansett 

 pacers (177). Then, too, the mere cessation of breeding new colts, as 

 the demand for export purposes lessened, would have had an immediate 

 effect on the numbers. But most important of all, doubtless, was the 

 breaking up of former pastures for the purpose of cultivating field crops 

 to supply the demand of Europe for provisions during the war between 

 France and England which began in 1793 and which soon forced prices 

 for such supplies to a high level. The effect of such a change in agri- 

 culture would be, on the one hand, to cut down the number of horses 

 that could be cheaply raised, and, on the other, to give ample oppor- 

 tunity for the employment in the new operations of the horses already 

 available. Finally, as the people from New England pushed westward 

 to the settlement of newer lands in New York and elsewhere, they also 

 probably drew off considerable numbers from the existing supply. 



Another event indicating the changed conditions in horse raising as 

 a New England industry during this period following the Revolution, 

 was the disappearance of the Narragansett pacers. This breed, so care- 

 fully developed and so noted in the annals of the time, at length became 

 extinct and is known at present onl}^ as a sort of legendary strain 

 whose connection with other American breeds, if any connection exists, 

 is mainly a matter of conjecture. 



The demand for the Narragansetts from the wealthy planters of Cuba, 

 when that island at length began to cultivate sugar extensively, has 

 been assigned by one writer (I. P. Hazard) as the chief cause for the 

 disappearance of the breed. He says in part: '* The planters became 

 suddenlj^ rich and wanted pacing horses ... to ride, faster than 



