Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-12-26
HORSES IN EARLY AMERICA.
Little Valued by the ColonlstS--.Some Of the
First ImportationS.
BY J. w. INGHAM.

Horses are not natives of America.
Those running wild in South Ameri-
ca and Mexico are descendants OF the
animals brought over from Europe
by the first Spanish colonists, and
either escaped from captivity or were
purposely turned out to take care OF
themselves. The first horses i'm
ported into New England were
brought over in 1929, or nine years
after the landing of the Pilgrims at
Plymouth Rock. One horse and
seven mares survived the voyage.
Horses were not highly esteemed
nor much needed in America at that
time nor for hundred years after
ward. No racecourses or trotting
parks would have been allowed by
those stern old Puritans who first
settled in New England. and the roads
generally were so poor and rough
that speed on them was not desirable
or possible with safety to the We
found to be far better and more
pleasant for all kinds Of farm work,
and even for travelling on the road
and drawing the family to church.
Most Of the land was rough, rocky
and full Of stumps, so that oxen,
being strong, patient and slow, made
far better team than horses for
agricultural purposes, numbering and
clearing land. They were more
cheaply kept, needed little grain
when at work and none at all when
idle. They required no expensive
harness (only a cheap yoke and
chain) costing not more than 81,
and were quickly yoked. Under such
circumstances 1t Is OF surprising
that horses in America during that
we'll taken care of. A farmer was
r'uch more proud of a fine yoke of
red oxen, four years old. we'll
matched and we'll broken, than of
span of degenerate horses such as
were then common in the colonies.
They were seldom stabbed or
groomed; the colts under three years
old were wintered in the barnyard
In order (as it was supposedly to
make them tough and hardy.
Horses had degenerated to such
a. extent under bad treatment that
in 1868 the General Court or Legis-
lature, of Massachusetts enacted
law with this preamble: Whereas,
The breed Of horses in this country is
utterly spoiled, whereby that useful
creature will become burden, which
might otherwise be,cme beneficial,
and the occasion thereof is conceived
to be through the smallness and bad
ness of the stations and colts that
run in our commons and woods"
Then the law goes on to fix heavy
penalties against allowing "any full
grown horse over two years old to
run on any commons, roads or woods
unless he be of comely proportions
and of gooo size not less than
fourteen hands high" The select
men of the town were empowered.
and, under severe penalties, required
to see that the law was enforced.
This action of the General Court
of Massachusetts shows that the peo-
pie then believed that horses for the
best service can be too small, and
that they should not be less than four
teen hands high. This law was no
doubt effectual in making the peo-
pie raise better horses, for at that
fin,n ~; a1
and the commons and woods were the
main dependencies of the colonists
for stock feeding during eight
months of the year 1t Is probably
better known now than it was two
hundred years ago that the size of
animals depends in great measure
on the fertility OF the soil where they
are raised and the capacity Of pro-
ducing an abundant food supply. to-
gether with judicious care in feed
ing, watering and keeping young
stock growing all the time unchecked
from birth to maturity. Wherever
horses have been allowed to run
wild, browse in the woods or on
prairie grass. exposed to the cold
storms of winter unshetered and un-
fed t hey have invariably degene-
rated in size like the Indian ponies
and Mexican mustangs. There is
not much doubt that the diminutive
ponies of Shetland and Iceland were
descended from large horses taken
to those inhospitable islands CEN
fnrinc
vessels, but the scanty subsistence
with which they were provided and
the rigorous climate to which they
were exposed gradually dwarfed their
bodies to the present size.
The French who first settled in
Canada brought over fair sized
Percheron horses from France, but
a harsher climate and a scantier sup
ply of food caused gradual diminu-
tion in the size of their descendants.
They became much smaller than their
progenitors, but retained the shape
and build, and their courage and
hardness were increased.
The Germans who settled in the
SouhIiSo VI LducdslcE anu DSIhS,
Pennsylvania, brought over the heavy
draft horses of their fatherland. The
climate was as mild as that to which
the horses were accustomed, the soil
was as productive as along the Rhine,
the horses and their descendants
Jared sumptuously every day, and
the descendants of those German
horses first brought over average as
large, If not larger, than their ances-
tors. A breed was developed in Lam
caster County called the Conestoga
horses. They were not new breed,