The Equine Legacy: How Horses, Mules, and Donkeys Shaped America

Introduction

Imagine that you are a horse in the sixteenth century. Your first faltering steps as a foal are probably taken in Spain. As an adult, you are put aboard a ship to cross the ocean. For a month or more, you can’t run or graze as you were born to do. In all likelihood, you are kept in a sling for much of the voyage so that the movement of the ship does not harm you. Many of your fellow equine passengers do not survive the crossing as a result of illness or low supplies of water or food.¹

When the ship reaches the coastal waters of the New World, you are lowered or pushed overboard and led to swim ashore. Finally, there is solid ground beneath your feet. Even though your legs are wobbly from long inactivity and you are not in the best of health, you made it this far and will likely survive.

If you could see into the future, looking out over the horizon of this new land, you would know how important the members of your species would be to the people who brought you here, and to the multitudes to follow. As partners with humans, willing or not, you will provide the brunt of the power needed to settle this large land, to help those humans make it their own. For the better part of the next four centuries, these people will depend on you for just about every facet of their existence and progress.

Some of these humans will fall in love with you. Some will devote their lives to understanding and working with you, to caring for you the best way they know how. Others will see you as a machine, soulless, a commodity to be used up and discarded. But on the whole, most of them will not truly appreciate or understand how different their lives would have been without you, how much you gave to help them flourish, how crucial you were to their very way of life, even after they no longer needed you.

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

The Horse Latitudes mark the region of the Pacific Ocean where great numbers of equines perished on those early ocean voyages. Those who did survive were the progenitors of what became the workforce of a new nation.

By no means is this a definitive history of equines in America but rather an overview of the ways in which horses, mules, and donkeys were essential to the functioning and progress of the country, even to shaping the nation’s character.

When I first began researching this topic, I thought I’d be writing about horses only. It became apparent early on, however, that the mule and the donkey also played pivotal and heroic roles in American history. Unfortunately, they have generally gotten even less credit than the horse, and they have suffered from an almost irrationally bad reputation and a distortion of their characteristics. Stubborn? No, not really. They are simply not as eager to please people as the horse is. They also have a strong sense of self-preservation, know their limits, and, unlike the horse, will not easily exceed them on our behalf.

The mule is not only sterile but also of mixed race (the origin of the word mulatto)—born of a cross between a donkey and a horse. Both of those traits were viewed as unnatural. Robert Ingersoll, a popular nineteenth-century orator from Illinois, coined the phrase A mule has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity. This condemnation was often repeated in the following decades. Mules got none of the glory that some horses enjoyed. They haven’t won any Triple Crowns, and typically they aren’t featured on statues beneath a famous soldier, even though they were legion on the battlefield.

Donkeys have an even worse reputation for stubbornness. In addition, their distinctive bray made them ripe for ridicule, and their smaller size made them easy targets for mistreatment.

The truth is that all three of these equines played an essential role in America’s evolution from fledgling colony to world superpower. With the passage of time Americans have largely forgotten their contribution and equines have been given little credit in the story of American history. My goal is to make that contribution fully evident.

The organization of the book is topical and chronological within each chapter. The time period in the first five chapters covers the early 1800s through the mid-1900s, and, as often as possible, accounts from the people who were there when it happened tell the story. You’ll hear from presidents and other American icons, pioneers, explorers, soldiers, journalists, and everyday people.

The first three chapters cover how the equine met the needs of a growing population and facilitated economic growth in different sections of the country, including events and subjects that were unique to or prominent in those areas. Chapter 4 looks at the enormous equine contribution during wartime, focusing on the Civil War and World War I. Chapter 5 looks at the equine in lesser-known venues of entertainment. Chapter 6 discusses the humane movement, some of the people who helped equines the most, and the humane issues equines continue to face. Chapter 7 covers the ways in which equines are still serving today in the United States—some with a long history—and around the world.

Horses, mules, and donkeys did so much across this land that it is nearly impossible to do justice to every facet of their activities. I apologize in advance for anything important that I may have overlooked.

In The Dirty Life, author Kristin Kimball tells of her family’s experience starting and operating a cooperative farm using draft horses to work the land—a resurgent practice in recent years. Beautifully expressing the magic of the equine, she says, That such creatures exist moves me. That they labor for us, willingly and with heart, is miraculous. Indeed. That these amazing animals have so often accepted our direction and granted our wishes—while having more than a few reasons to deny us—is miraculous. The dog may be man’s best friend, but the equine has been mankind’s greatest ally.

If you have some interest in the epic role the equine has played in America, read on. I promise to keep to a steady pace and to provide you with a view of our past that you may not have been privy to before, one that will leave you with a deeper appreciation for the journey that the equine has carried us through so well.

¹ International Museum of the Horse, The Spanish Return Equus to Its Prehistoric Home, imh.org/exhibits/online/spanish-return-equus-its-prehistoric-home.

American Equine History Time Line

Highlights

8000 BC - Horses become extinct in the Americas.

AD 1492 - Columbus lands on the island of Haiti with 30 horses.

1519 - Cortés conquers Mexico. Spanish horses begin migrating north into what is now Texas and New Mexico.

1521 - Ponce de León lands in Florida with 50 horses.

1598 - Spanish begin founding missions in the Southwest, bringing many equines and other animals.

1607 - Seven horses arrive with the original Jamestown expedition.

1665 - First racetrack is built on Long Island by Colonel Richard Nicolls after capturing New York from the Dutch.

1680 - Pueblo Indians revolt against the Spanish, successfully expelling them for a time—many horses are left behind.

1775The midnight ride of Paul Revere—and his horse.

1803–1805The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory and find a route to the Pacific Ocean is a success—thanks to horses and American Indians.

1817 - Construction of the Erie Canal, the greatest technological challenge of its time, begins. Horses and mules help build it, and its use depends entirely on equine power. Approximately 16,000 horses and mules pull the canal boats by midcentury.

1827 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad incorporates, becoming the first railroad in the United States to offer transportation for people and commercial goods. The cars are initially pulled by horses.

1848 - California Gold Rush begins. Wells Fargo and Company is formed to capitalize on westward migration. It employs some 5,000 horses and mules.

1850s - Breeders start importing draft horses from Europe, including the Percheron, Belgian, Shire, and Clydesdale.

1860s - Horses begin pulling fire-fighting wagons and continue to do so for approximately the next 60 years.

1860–1861 - The Pony Express delivers the mail west. By 1912, 40,000 postal routes are served by horse and wagon.

1861–1865 - Civil War—1.5 million horses and mules are killed, wounded, or die from disease.

1866 - First major cattle drives begin in Texas. Each drive is accompanied by an average of 100 horses, or 10 horses per cowboy.

1866 - Henry Bergh forms the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, modeled after the British RSPCA.

1872–1873 - The Great Epizootic—an equine influenza affects horses in 33 states and brings some cities to a virtual standstill.

1873 - The first mounted police unit is formed in Boston.

1875 - Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, opens in Lexington, Kentucky.

1877 - Black Beauty is published in London. Anna Sewell, the author, dies five months later.

1889 - The Ryerss Infirmary, the first retirement home for workhorses, opens in southeastern Pennsylvania. It is still in existence today.

1890 - New York City Street Railway Services use 12,000 horses for urban transportation.

1890 - Black Beauty is published in the United States by the American Humane Education Society.

1900 - Urban horse populations reach their peak. An estimated 2 million wild horses roam the western territories.

1903 - The Teamsters Union, representing men who drive vehicles pulled by teams of horses, is formed. Even today, its logo depicts a wheel and two horses.

1914–1918 - World War I—more than a million horses and mules are shipped overseas, and few return.

1918 - US horse population reaches its peak of approximately 21.5 million. Mule population is 5.5 million.

1959 - After wild horses in the west are hunted to near-extinction, Congress passes the Wild Horse Annie Act, prohibiting the use of mechanized vehicles and airplanes to round up wild horses and burros.

1969 - North American Riding for the Handicapped Association is formed.

1971 - Congress passes the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, assigning protection and habitat on federal lands in over 300 areas.

2004 - The Burns Amendment removes the ban on slaughter of wild horses from the 1971 act.

2008 - The last three slaughterhouses in the United States are closed. Horses continue to be shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

2011 - NARHA—North American Riding for the Handicapped Association—changes its name to Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl) to reflect its expanded reach in equine-assisted activities and therapies.

chapter 1

The Legs of Progress in the East

To a Horse

O horse, you are a wondrous thing!

No horns to honk, no bells to ring

No license buying every year

With plates to screw on front and rear.

No sparks to miss, no gears to strip

You start yourself, no clutch to slip

No gas bills mounting every day

To steal the joy of life away!

Your inner tubes are all ok

And thank the Lord, they stay that way

Your spark plugs never miss or fuss

Your motor never makes us cuss

Your frame is good for many a mile

Your body never changes style

Your wants are few and easily met

You’ve something on the auto yet!

—Anonymous

Though we don’t know the author of this little poem, we can be sure that he had at least one horse he was quite fond of and was none too happy at the prospect of trading him in for that metal contraption first known as the horseless carriage. He was by no means the only person who felt this way. Winston Churchill said, The substitution of the internal combustion engine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind. When President Theodore Roosevelt was offered an automobile during an outing in the nation’s capital, he replied, The Roosevelts are horse people.

Some citizens were in downright denial that the horse could ever be supplanted from his ever-present place in society. In 1909, the Breeders Gazette wrote, The horseless age has existed in the daily papers for many years. It has existed nowhere else and never will be found anywhere else. The horse is in no more peril of extinction by the automobile than he is of being driven into oblivion by the airship. We are no nearer to the horseless age than the manless age.

The transition from horse to motor didn’t happen overnight. Horses and automobiles continued to share the streets for some time even after the auto was in vogue. Nonetheless, when Henry Ford opened his motor car assembly plant in 1908, the stage was inevitably set for one of the most profound transitions in American history. The magnitude of this transition can only be felt by looking back.

Though the ancestors of the equine once roamed North America, scientists tell us that they went extinct here more than 8,000 years ago and only returned in the sixteenth century as the utilitarian companions of the Spanish and, later, the French, Dutch, and English. Although horses and their cousins, mules and donkeys, proved themselves to be indispensable on this continent since their return, the period of greatest impact—when the equine served us in so many different ways—was from approximately 1850 to 1920. Some of the events discussed here began earlier, and some extended later, but this period, which came to be known as the Heyday of the Horse, is the main focus of our exploration.

The first step in understanding these important events is to get a feel for the era in which the equine was so prominent.

American Life During the Heyday of the Horse

Consider the following features of life at about the turn of the last century, when the wave of the horse age was approaching its crest:

Most homes did not yet have electricity, a radio, a telephone, a television, air conditioning, or an automobile.

The US population was 76 million, about one-fourth of what it is today.

Thirty-three percent of the population lived or worked on farms compared to 2 percent today.

There was one horse or mule for every three to four people in the country.¹

The New York City Railway companies alone employed about 12,000 horses, back when railway meant, for the most part, a horse-drawn vehicle.²

Diseases that have been all but eradicated today—scarlet fever, tuberculosis, whooping cough, and others—were not uncommon.

There were no federal child labor laws; Social Security and Medicare did not exist; health insurance was rare.

During this era, the pace of living was slower. Life was more difficult in some ways but perhaps better in others. The horse was a staple of American life, as familiar and woven into the fabric of society as the car or truck is today. It would have been rare for anyone in this era to step outside the door and not see a horse at some point during the day. More likely, people of this era saw many from sunup to sundown. Horses were everywhere. They were a part of the sights, sounds, and activities of everyday life.

A good percentage of the population had to learn how to handle, care for, and ride or drive a horse. Some people, of course, developed better equestrian skills than others. Mark Twain, in his classic style, expressed the trepidations of many when it came to climbing in the saddle:

I am one of the poorest horsemen in the world, and I never mount a horse without experiencing a sort of dread that I may be setting out on that last mysterious journey which all of us must take sooner or later, and I never come back in safety from a horseback trip without thinking of my latter end for two or three days afterward.

Towns and cities smelled of hay and manure. The clip-clop of hooves and the sound of horses whinnying were as common as the humming of engines is today.

Now, with a basic feel for the time period, we begin to look at the specific ways in which history was written on the back of a horse in the eastern section of the country.

The Erie Canal and the Empire State

I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal,

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

She’s a good old worker and a good old pal,

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

We’ve hauled some barges in our day

filled with lumber, coal and hay

And we know every inch of the way

from Albany to Buffalo.

These are some of the lyrics to the most popular—but not the only—song about the Erie Canal, which indicates the canal’s significance in its time. Written in 1904, when the canal was reaching the end of its use, the song remained popular and has been recently recorded by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger.

Three hundred sixty-three miles across the state of New York, from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, the Erie Canal was eight years in the making. Construction began in 1817, when the West was anything west of the Appalachian Mountains. The waterway allowed people and products to move more easily at a time when good roads were practically nonexistent and the mountains were a barrier to movement. Via the Great Lakes, travelers and goods could proceed all the way to Chicago.

The canal also allowed goods to flow from the west to more populous cities in the east. In 1833 alone, more than 20,000 boats went through the lock at Schenectady, New York.³ The canal made New York the Empire state, the commerce capital of the nation and, perhaps, the world.

Mules and horses labored to build it the same way they always labored to build roads and canals—by hauling away the dirt, rocks, foliage, and debris that were removed; by hauling in building materials; and by dragging the smoothing implements that would lay the foundation for the road or waterway. Teams of six horses pulled massive tree-stump removers, excavating up to 40 stumps a day. Ten thousand laborers and 5,000 horse and mule teams dug out the canal 4 feet deep and 40 feet across.

Once completed, the function of the canal was entirely dependent upon the equine. Mules and some horses towed canal boats by means of a connecting rope while they walked on adjacent tow paths. By the 1870s, approximately 16,000 horses and mules and 28,000 men and boys were towing goods and people along the greatest technological achievement of its time. ⁴

The future president James Garfield worked as a mule driver on a canal when he was a boy—his presidential campaign slogan was from the tow path to the White House. He fell into the canal 14 times in the space of four