894 Deane Phillips 



to consider briefly the sources and the general characteristics of t-hese 

 first imported horses. 



In view of the lack of any direct evidence to the contrary, it is fair 

 to assume that the first shipments were mainly from England and of 

 the small nondescript type which at that time made up the bulk of 

 the English horses (30). There was, however, some admixture of other 

 blood. In the primary importation into the Massachusetts Bay colony 

 in 1629, three at least are mentioned specifically as " having come out 

 of Leicestershire " (31), which at that time was the source of a more 

 or less distinct type of horse of a sort better than the average (32). 

 The importation of Flemish mares also has been noted. AVallace con- 

 tends that these latter were not Flemish but were rather of a Dutch 

 type (33), but his conclusion is based merely on the fact that the vessel 

 cleared from a Dutch port — which does not seem a very valid reason 

 for controverting Winthrop's specific statement as to their Flemish 

 origin, especially since Flemish horses were well known at that period 

 as a distinct type. 



There is one other possible source of some of the New England horses 

 which deserves consideration, especially because it may tend to explain 

 in some measure the persistently small size of these horses, even when 

 carefully bred — as later they were in Rhode Island and Connecticut — 

 and, further, the constant occurrence among them of individuals pos- 

 sessed of a natural pacing gait. This possible progenitor is to be found 

 in the Irish hobbies, a race of small, hardy, wild ponies existing in 

 Ireland during the first part of the seventeenth century. These horses 

 were in great demand in England for saddle purposes, and were 

 exported thence in such quantities that they are said to have become 

 practically extinct in Ireland before the year 1634 (34). They were 

 well known in England, and their natural pacing gait made them 

 especially desirable in any place where travel was of necessity on horse- 

 back (35) ; it is not at all improbable, therefore, that some of them found 

 their way to New England, where they would have been especially 

 serviceable. There seems to be no direct evidence to this effect, but any 

 comparison of such fragmentary descriptions of the two as are available 

 discloses a rather striking similarity between these Irish hobbies and 



