Whence the American Thoroughbred 9 



occasion of his second voyage to America, in 1493, 

 and the Indians were as much concerned over the 

 animals which the men from Columbus's ships 

 mounted to ride over the land as they were at the 

 appearance of the men themselves. When he 

 returned to Spain, the horses which Columbus 

 had brought in his ships remained. They were, 

 presumably, left somewhere in the Central Ameri- 

 can states. 



The first horse to be landed upon what we now 

 call American shores was brought to the coast of 

 Florida by Cabeza de Vaca. In 1527 this com- 

 mander landed at St. Augustine, Florida, and after 

 some exploration there turned loose his band of 

 Spanish animals. There was the genesis of the 

 ordinary horse in America. 



In 1609 a stallion and six mares were imported 

 into Virginia from England. In 1625 a few 

 horses were brought from Holland to New 

 Netherlands, now New York. In 1629 the first 

 equine to tread the soil of New England was 

 landed at Boston, from England. In 1678 the 

 plains of Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, and Illinois 

 were peopled with great bands of horses descended 

 from those landed by De Vaca and from wanderers 

 of the Virginia stock. Bancroft's History of the 



