50 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
In America, the horse-shows, the growth of recent years, 
as distinct from the usual live-stock shows, were factors 
that did more to popularize the Hackney than any other 
influences. The high-lifting action of the Hackney, 
both fore and aft, made a very attractive feature of the 
shows; and that, coupled with the growth of the high- 
stepping fad, gave the breed a strong impetus, although 
their genuine merit as heavy-harness horses has outlived 
this. The possession of stoutness of form with this 
action has adapted them particularly for heavy harness 
and heavy vehicles. 
47. History in America. — Aside from the first im- 
portation to America of Bellfounder (55), in 1822, by 
James Booth, of Boston, the next importation of note was 
the stallion Fordham, a son of Denmark, brought over in 
1881, by Hillhurst Stock Farm, of which Senator Cochrane, 
of Quebec, Canada, was proprietor. Then comes the 
era of the horse-show, when extensive importations were 
made, chiefly into the New England states and Canada, 
with scattering importations into Ohio, Wisconsin, and 
other states. The largest of these importations was 
made in 1890 by Seward Webb, of Vermont, who imported 
thirty-one horses, four of which were stallions. About 
this time, there was a lull in the profitableness of breeding 
Standardbred trotters, which put many horses of this 
breeding on the market that otherwise would have been 
retained in the breeding stud. Attention was drawn to 
the fact that many horses of Standardbred trotting lines 
were competing with the Hackney, especially in the high- 
stepping classes, in the show-ring. They were more or 
less freaks, with the high stepping exaggerated by heavy 
shoeing and training, but they sometimes made a more 
popular show than the Hackney, by being able to go 
