The New York herald., 1921-01-02
MAKING AMERICAN
TROTTING HORSE
National Association Secretary
Tells How Breed Originated
in Vicinity of New York.
by w. H. GoCHER.


The American horse dates from 1889
when De Soto landed in Florida. He
had 237 cavalry horses as we'll as
number of pack horses and mules. After
De Soto's death the horses which had
not been killed by the Indians were
turned loose in the forest. Their de-
scendants became the wild horses OF
the Western prairies
The first horses arrived In New Eng
land in 1629, when twenty-five were
landed in Boston. Six or seven also
arrived at Salem that year. Plymouth
did not have any horses until 1882. In
1896 when Thomas Hooker and his CON-
pany moved to Connecticut they took
their horses with them.
The Rhode Island colony. started In
1886, took an active interest in horses
1t produced the Narragansett PAGERS
which were used for the saddle and
racing. In 1921 the Rev. James Nc
Sparron stated in his diary that he
had seen some OF them pace mile IN
a little more than two minutes and a
great deal less than three. These horses
were exported to the West indies, Vir-
ginia and adjoining States They never
became popular In New York. where
the first American racecourse was es-
tablished In 1865, and over which the
Dutch horses were raced.
The Colonial legislatures passed a
number of laws against racing. In 1747
Maryland, at the suggestion OF the
Quakers, passed an act against pacing
and running races In Talbot county. In
174S New Jersey limited pacing. running
and trotting to certain days. The term
trotting in this act is the first reference
to that way Of going in American an
nails In 1749 Rhode Island prohibited
racing under penalty of forfeiting the
horse and a fine of f25. In 1878 Con-
necticut adopted a like measure, but re-
duced the fine to 40 shilliRgs.
Messenger and Bellfounder.
After the Revolution the horse inter-
ests began to improve The Engnsh
stations which remained In the coun-
try were bred to the native mares
while others were imported. Messenger
was among the latter. Also with the
introduction Of vehicles for travel the
PAGERS began to disappear. They did
not become prominent again for over
half a century.
Between 1925 and 1880 n few New
York gentlemen decided that it would be
possible to establish q breed OF trotting
horses Prior to that date a Boston man
imported a horse which had consider
able to do with founding the leading
trotting family of to-day. kirk Boot.
the father Of this man, landed in Bos-
ton In 1775. He came from Derby, Eng
land. Blood had been shed at Lexington
and Bunker Hill that year. state OF
war existed, but when the English troops
withdrew from Boston Boot remained.
In few years he was n prosperous mer-
chant and In time took his sons, John,
Kirk and James. into partnership.
James was a bachelor. He made
number of trips to England. While there
in 1922 he purchased the Norfolk trotter
or hackney Bellfounder and shipped him
to Boston. This horses name appears In
the pedigrees of all but five OF the trot-
ters that have cut down the record from
2 80 to l :5S. Uhlan, the fastest, having
six crosses to Bellfounder.
The brothers b. T. and Timothy I.
Nissan Of New York were among those
who were interested in the new type OF
horse. They were merchants and had
occasion to go to Philadelphia and Bos-
ton in their business. During Phila-
delphia trip b. T. Kissam purchased the
trotting mare Amazonla. After driving
her for a time he sold her to his uncle.
John Tredwell of Salisbury Placs. l.. l.
He bred her to Mambrino. a son OF Mes
senger. and in 1929 she produced ABB
daliah. This was the first step toward
founding the Hambletonian family OF
trotters. In 1929 or 1880 Timothy 7.
Nissan made the second step by going
to Boston, where after seeing Bellfound-
er trot to saddle he leased the horse and
shipped him to New York.
Advent of Hambletonian.
Bellfounder stood at Poughkeepsie In
1881. He was In Orange county for the
next two years. In 1888 John Jackson
made the third step when he bred the
mare One Eye. by Bishops HANDLE
tonian, out OF Silvertail. by Messenger.
to Bellfounder. She produced filly
which Peter Seeley purchased as four
year-old. He took her to Long Island,
where she trotted to saddle at that age
In 2:43 and 2:41. This was fast In
1888. The worlds record was then
:3115 for horse OF mature age.
After this performance the filly was
sold to q New York banker whose name
and identity are not known. He used her
as a road mare. She was injured In run
away and sold to Charles Kent. He bred
her to Webbers Tom Thumb. While she
was in foal Jonas Seeley made the fourth
step when he bought the crippled mare
and led her back to Orange county. This
was the Charles Kent mare. Her firN
foa1 was Belle, the dam or Green's
Bashaw, one Of the foundation sires OF
Iowa. In 1S46 and 1S48 the Charles
Kent mare produced fillies by Abdallah:
Both of them died. In 1s4s she dropped
colt by the same horse. Seeley sold
him with his dam to William M. Rys-
dyk OF Chester. N Y. for s125.
In 1852 Rysdyk and his neighbor,
Samuel Roe. took their Abdallah colts
to New York and exhibited them at tho
American Institute Fair. The Roe colt
was a four-year-old. He was known as
Abdallah Chief. while Rysdyk named
his colt Hambletonian. After the fair