United States

Horse/Light Horse

Pony

    The six bay stallions, with one chestnut and one pinto, plus seven mares (five grays, one bay, one chestnut), with which Hernando Cortés set out to conquer Mexico in 1519, were the first horses to be seen on the mainland of the New World for thousands of years. No wonder those handsome, Cuban-born offspring of Old Andalusian jennets--which were descended from ancient Iberian mares much crossed with Barbs and Arabs of the Moorish invasion--at first struck terror into the hearts of Indian braves. Those horses and the ones that followed made possible the subsequent discovery and conquest of the North American continent.
    The Indians were quick to recognize the worth of these strange creatures, and they began acquiring as many as possible by barter and thieving. They proved superb horsemen, but used the best stallions for riding and took no care over breeding, so that their horses degenerated into a mixed-bred, called the Cayuse, the Indian pony of today.
    While Mustangs were spreading throughout the West, the eastern settlers were importing many different breeds from the Old World. Horses that, by selective and crossbreeding and under the different climatic and geographic conditions, also founded the essentially American breeds of today.
    Cleveland Bays, Hackneys, Shires, Clydesdales, and Suffolk Punches, as well as Welsh, Shetland and Connemara ponies, are all to be found in the United States. All these, in common with Belgian, Dutch, French, Scandinavian (such as Finland, Norway and Sweden) and other European breeds, have slowly evolved into Americanized versions of the originals. There are also fine studs of Arabian horses, where the larger animals, even up to 16 hands, are preferred.
    A Suffolk Punch of any color other than chestnut would point to crossbreeding, as would a bay Percheron but, despite many theories and some prejudice, the ultimate importance of a horse's coloring lies principally in the eye of the beholder. In America there are several color types, each with its own society, although few, as yet, breed true.
    In the 400-odd years since horses made their reappearance in America as mounts of the Spanish explorers, four new major breeds have originated that are strictly American natives. They are the Morgan--bred in New England; the American Saddle Horse and the Tennessee Walking Horse--whose origins go back to the plantations of the Old South; and the harness-racing Standardbred.
    In the Carolinas is a wild strain of pony, the Marsh Tacky. It is a fairly refined type, and may--as the story goes--be descendants of Thoroughbreds that turned to the wild after the Civil War.
    The American Cream Horse and the Colorado Ranger are other noteworthy mentions among American breeds.
    The Chickasaw horse is a breed developed in the early eighteenth century in South Carolina and Georgia. Named after the Chickasaw Indians--the first Indians with whom the English colonists came in contact. The Chickasaw breed descended from the horses introduced by the Spaniards into Florida, similar to the way in which the Mustang descended from the escaped horses of the Spanish explorers of the western U.S. Evidently, the Chickasaw was only of pony size, since it is said that few of them were over 13.2 hands (54 inches) in height. They were used both for riding and for draft.
    The Colorado Ranger is a spotted breed established in 1938 in Denver, Colorado. The "leopard spotting" consists of small spots of any color on a white, cream, or grey background. In one type the body is dark and the hips or croup white, as in the Appaloosa. The breed is said to have originated in 1894, when two stallions--one a grey Arabian and the other a leopard-spotted Barb--were presented to General U. S. Grant by the Sultan of Turkey. These horses were sent to Beatrice, Nebraska, for stud service. Another leopard-spotted Barb constituted the third foundation sire of the American breed. The Colorado Ranger should not be confused with the Appaloosa, even though some individuals may exhibit similar coloration. The Appaloosa originated in central Asia, and the Colorado Ranger from the leopard-spotted horse of Morocco.
    The Conestoga horse is said to have been the first native American breed of draft horse. It appeared in Pennsylvania sometime between 1700 and 1730. It was used largely for drawing the Conestoga freight wagon, a vehicle which was designed during the same years. While the origin of the Conestoga horse is unknown, it is believed to have been bred from horses of draft type that were imported into New York. Long before 1900, the Conestoga breed had been absorbed and disappeared.
    The Narragansett Pacer was a breed of horses developed early in the 1700s on Point Judith and neighboring stud farms in Rhode Island. Although pacers, they were generally ridden under the saddle, and were said to neither tire themselves nor their riders. Sometime about the mid-1800s the breed came to an end. It was believed to have originated from a stallion imported from Spain.