428 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



ing business which developed, and the freight bill amounted to 

 $1,500,000 in a year. The wagons were called Conestoga wagons, and 

 the horses were given the same name. ^ With the coming of the rail- 

 road and the river boat, the Conestoga horses and wagons were quickly 

 displaced and no further efforts were made to breed heavy horses in 

 America until about 1870. The blood of the Conestoga was absorbed 

 into the common stock of the country and the type became extinct. 

 Thus we see that Colonial horse stocks were of three types only: (1) 

 the little saddle horse, (2) the Thoroughbred, and (3) the Conestoga. 



Origin of the roadster type. — With the opening of roadways, 

 vehicles were quickly brought into use, so quickly indeed that the so- 

 called roads over which they were driven were little more than clear- 

 ings through the woods with here and there a "corduroy" of logs to 

 make passable som.e marshy spot. The roads were first improved in 

 the more thickly settled parts of the country, and it was thus about 

 Philadelphia that the roadster type of horse was originated at the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century in response to the demand for a 

 horse suitable for road driving and harness racing. The Am^erican 

 Standardbred or roadster was derived from four sources: (1) the 

 English Thoroughbred, (2) the Norfolk Trotter, (3) the Arab and 

 Barb, and (4) certain pacers of mixed breeding. By selecting and 

 breeding for speed at the trotting and pacing gaits, the Standardbred 

 breed has been developed and today may be called a true breed, al- 

 though the individuals composing it show considerable divergence in 

 type. In Vermont the Morgan horse was developed. The Morgans 

 descended from one horse, Justin Morgan, whose sire was a Thorough- 

 bred, but whose dam was of unknown breeding. While often regarded 

 as a breed, they really constitute a family of the Standardbred. 



American Saddle Horse. — At the time roads were being improved 

 in the East, Kentucky and the West were still a country of bridle paths 

 only. The blue-grass region of Kentucky is splendidly adapted to the 

 production of light horses, and it was principally in that state and 

 Missouri that the American Saddle Horse breed originated and de- 

 veloped. Kentucky was settled in 1775, and as early as 1802 it was 

 said that "almost all of the inhabitants employ themselves in training 

 and ameliorating the breed of horses." The American Saddle Horse 

 originated from crosses of the Thoroughbred upon pacers of mixed 

 breeding which had been brought from Canada. Considerable Morgan 

 blood entered into the making of the breed also. Starting with these 

 materials, a type of saddle horse possessing great intelligence and 



^The name "Conestoga" is said to be derived from a small river in Lancaster 

 County, Pa., to which the Indians had given that name. — John Strohm: The 

 Conestoga Horse, U. S. Dept. Agr. An. Rpt., 1863, p. 175. 



