896 * ■ Deane Phillips 



Another difficulty met with as a result of open-range conditions was 

 that of deterioration of the breed. AVhatever may have been the source 

 of the New England horses, it is clear that the promiscuous breeding of 

 the semi-wild animals on the commons could not be conducive to the 

 perpetuation of their best characteristics, although it may have resulted 

 in a certain hardiness by weeding out the ones unable to stand the rigors 

 of this wild life. At any rate, efforts were made before long to prevent 

 the breeding of the obviously unfit. In 1668 the court in Massachusetts 

 Bay declared : ' ' Whereas, the breed of horses is utterly spoyled whereby 



that useful creature will become a burden be it enacted that no 



stone horse above two years old be allowed on the commons or at liberty 

 unless he be of comely proportions and fourteen hands in stature " (39). 

 The owner of a horse found in violation of this statute was to be fined, 

 and later the amount of the fine was raised. Plymouth (40) and Con- 

 necticut (41) passed similar limitations, the minimum stature in the 

 latter case being set at thirteen hands. These restrictions seem to have 

 been fairly well enforced but could obviously result in little improve- 

 ment of the breed as long as complete open-range conditions prevailed. 



One of the perplexities in all these cases of damages, after horses and 

 cattle had become numerous, was for the person whose premises had been 

 invaded to recognize whose animal it was that had done the damage. 

 The same difficulty was met Avith in fixing the fines for undersized 

 stallions found running at large. Often these horses and cattle were 

 even strays from a neighboring town, which made the problem still 

 more complicated. This led to the passage of acts compelling the brand- 

 ing of all animals with both the mark of the private owner and that of 

 the town of his residence. The general court in Massachusetts Bay 

 passed such an act in 1647, and in its records are enumerated the marks 

 of thirty-three different towns under its jurisdiction at the time (42). 

 In 1656 the New Haven colony compelled horses to be branded (43), 

 and the other Connecticut towns did the same in 1665 (44). Rhode 

 Island had a similar provision (45). In the latter plantation in 1686, 

 thirty wild and unmarked horses were ordered caught and sold and 

 the proceeds employed to build a prison and stocks (46). This was 

 the usual fate of unbranded animals or persistent strays. In 1661 the 

 court at Plymouth, " on complaint of some that certain horses or horse- 



