AMERICAN BREEDS 127 



At recent Vermont State fairs and ITational horse shows some 

 very creditable classes of Morgans have been exhibited under the 

 auspices of this club. 



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y ^ - 'THE AMERICAN- SADDLE HOESE 



The development of this breed has been parallel in many 

 respects with that of the American trotter. Both are the result 

 of a Thoroughbred top cross on what might be termed a native 

 mare foundation, and in each case the descendants of one indi- 

 vidual have constituted a family which has dominated the breed. 

 Their respective histories are also more or less contemporaneous. 

 Denmark, the Thoroughbred whose progeny founded the Saddle 

 breed, was foaled in 1839, while Messenger reached this country 

 in 1788 and his great grandson Hambletonian was foaled in 

 1849. 



Evolution of the Saddle Horse — The chief differences which 

 influenced the evolution of the Saddle horse and the trotter are 

 those which concerned the native mares and the ends in view of 

 the breeders. The original American Saddle horse was born, of 

 necessity, on the frontier where horses' backs afforded the chief 

 means of transportation. The easy, lateral, ambling gait was 

 cultivated, and those horses which showed greatest aptitude in 

 this direction were selected for breeding. On the other hand, 

 road and vehicle construction progressed most rapidly in the 

 vicinity of the large Eastern cities, hence the breeding of the 

 trotter or road horses centered around ITew York City and Phila- 

 delphia, and the foundation was laid in mares which had proven 

 themselves best adapted to trotting in harness. While horses 

 were more extensively used for riding than for driving purposes 

 in this country during the earlier period, the Saddle breed, in 

 its present degree of development, is of more recent origin than 

 the Standardbred. Furthermore, selection in the case of the 

 Saddle bred horse has not been to a standard of performance 

 alone, but ideals in type, conformation, and quality as well have 

 been sought and are as clearly ma-rked in the prepotency of the 

 foundation families as is performance. 



