Thornton Chard's Notes

Aimé Tschiffely - Long Rider

Thornton Chard's Notes to The Criollo Horse of South America.

Note 1. "The missing link has not been found" to upset the known facts that the original domestic horse in North and in South Amerca was a Spanish importation; but speaking in a broader sense, with the discovery in Northern Texas in 1899 of Equus Scotti, a species of fossil horse, the "near resemblance to the modern animal appears at a glance. The difference from the domestic horse is chiefly in proportions." (Evolution of the Horse by W. D. Matthew and S. H. Chubb. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. No 36 of the Guide Leaflet series - Feb. 1924, p. 12.) Equus Scotti is considered to complete the evidence of the various stages of the evolution of the horse, at any rate in North America. Interview Jan. 8, 1930, with S. H. Chubb.

Note 2. "There is abundant evidence to prove that in the late Quaternary, during and after the Glacial Period, but nevertheless many thousands of years ago, prehistoric man chased and killed wild horses, using their flesh for food and possibly their skins for raiment. This period was followed by a second, during which wild horses were captured, broken to rude harness and driven." [Mathew, W. D. and Chubb, S. H. "Evolution of the Horse. New York American Natural Hist. leaflet No. 36. 1924. p. 39.]
This note does not apply to the Western Hemisphere. Interview Jan. 8, 1930 with S. H. Chubb.

Note 3. De Soto, crossing parts of Alabama and Mississippi, on his expedition to the Mississippi River, in 1540, encountered opposition, at some places, with the Indians who suffered punishment and sought a parley. At Achese the Chief made a speech to De Soto saying: "Think then what must be the effect on me and mine, the sight of you and your people, whom we have at no time seen, astride the fierce brutes your horses, entering with such speed and fury into my country - things so altogether new as to strike awe and terror to our hearts." [The Narrative of the Career of H. de Soto in the Discovery of Florida by a Knight of Elva. Edited by Bourne. 2 volumes. New York. 1904. p. 55.)

Note 4. "The use of fire arms [by Cortez when he conquered Mexico in 1519] gave an ascendancy which cannot easily be estimated." "To all this must be added the effect produced by the Cavalry. The nations of Anahuac had no large domesticated animals, and were unacquainted with any beast of burden. Their imaginations were bewildered when they beheld the strange apparition of the horse and his rider moving in unison and obedient to one impulse, as if possessed of a common nature - and as they saw the terrible animal with his 'neck clothed in thunder' bearing down their squadrons and trampling them in the dust, no wonder they should have regarded him with the mysterious terror felt for a supernatural being." (p. 439.) [Prescott, W. H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. Edited by John Foster Kirk. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co. 1895. p. 439.]

Note 5. Ulrich Schmidt, an eyewitness of one of the fights that Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca - 2nd Adelantado of Buenos Aires 1541-44 - had with the Indians, says: "When the enemy saw the horses for the first time a great fear fell upon them, and they fled to the mountains as quickly as they could." [Hakluyt Society Vol. 81. Conquest of the River Plate. London. 1891. p. 147.]
"....; they (S. American Indians) had a great fear of the horses, and asked the Governor to tell the horses not to be angry with them; and in order to appease them they brought them food." [Hakluyt Society Vol. 81. Conquest of the River Plate. London. 1891. p. 117.]

Note 6. "In our earliest glimpses of the horse it is in the hands of those Aryans who came as nomadic raiders from the high plateaux of Persia (or thereabouts) to the rich settlements in the lowlands of Mesopotamia. From this country, in time, they drove out the first settlers, the Sumarians, probably because of the superiority which the possession of horses gave them. Here they met the Semitic raiders from the south, or Arabia, and in the new country of Mesopotamia both used the horse some time before 2000 B.C. At this date they were used, as an aid in conquest, to draw Chariots.... By 1500 B.C. the use of the Chariot had spread far and wide from this Mesopotamian centre to the peoples of India in the East, to Egypt in the South, to Northern Africa, and even to the much less cultured peoples of Central and Northern Europe, the Celts."

".... It was the possession of superior horses that made possible the remarkable spread of Mohammedanism by the hard riding, hard fighting armies of his immediate successors. (620-650 A.D.)" [Loomis, F. B. The Evolution of the Horse. Boston. Marshall Jones Co. 1926. p. 203-206.]

Note 7. ".... When the Greeks took possession of North Africa (Cyrene 630 B.C.) they found a superior breed of horses there." "When Hannibal went on his great expedition (228-221 B.C.) and took route via Spain, around the Mediterranean and down through Italy, he introduced into Spain large numbers of these North African horses. Undoubtedly the evolution of the fine Andalusian stock is due largely to this African strain. When the Spaniards came to America they brought a few of the Norse type with stripes and dun color and many of the Andalusian horses, carrying the Arab .... blood." [Osborn, H. F. Origin and History of the Horse. New York. Privately printed. 1905. pp. 15-16.]

Note 8. The late Spencer Borden in "What Horse for the Cavalry" (p. 42) describing the Hungarian, Lippizans, "next to the pure Arabs - the oldest established breed of horses," quotes the Director-in-Chief of all the Austro Hungarian Imperial Studs, thus: "We believe the horses bred in Hungary are the best cavalry mounts in the world. They are not too large and have a great proportion of Arab blood in them."
(p. 46): "The Archduke Charles, third son of Emperor Ferdinand I, laid the foundation for this stud (Lippiza) on the Karst highlands, as early as 1580 A.D." "The first material used at Lippiza for breeding were Spanish horses..."
(p. 47.) "The register of 1701 notes the arrival of the Spanish horse Cordova." "In 1717 other stallions of Spanish blood were brought to Lippiza, one from Italy, one from Denmark. In the same year came the stallion Lipp, from the stud of Prince Lippe Borckenburg. His numerous descendants were searched for during a century after that time, they proved so valuable, and were so highly esteemed. It was recognized as a fact that during these early days the Andalusian stallions were the best in the world. During the Sixteenth Century every important stud that could procure them made use of these famous horses. These animals were the produce of the native Spanish mares and the Barb (Berber) stallions - closely akin to Arabs - brought to Granada at the time of the Moor Maneys, who ruled not only Granada, but all Andalusia."

Note 9. As further evidence of the value of the Spanish blood the following is quoted:

"Apparently the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was the ill wind that indirectly benefited Newmarket so far as its horses were concerned, for there is no doubt that many of the horses rescued from drowning when the great vessels of the Armada were wrecked were sent direct to Newmarket," "where great surprise was expressed by all who beheld them at their exceeding swiftness."

"The horses brought ashore from the Spanish vessels probably were among the best that Spain at that time possessed, and several attempts were made by the Spanish to recover some of them."

"It was not long after this (1658) that the Duke (Buckingham) persuaded his royal pupil (later King Charles II) to import from Spain a number of exceptionally fine sires, for, as he said, Spanish stallions were quite unsurpassed, and in his opinion no other sort of stallion ought to be admitted into this country."

"... about the year 1635, 300 and 400 pistoles ($1200... -$1600...) was considered a moderate sum to pay for a well broken young horse."

"... that a Spanish horse called Il Bravo - was held as much as a Mannor [sic] of a Thousand Crowns a year, and that he hath known horses at 700, 800, and 1000 pistoles." [Tozer, Basil. The Horse in History. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1908. pp. 222-223-227-229.]

Note 10. In a letter to T. C. dated May 26, 1903, the late Randolph Huntington says: "Now you have no doubt seen it often talked by [the] - press, 'top crosses'! as this horse or that horse is a good or fashionable 'top cross,' [such people] failing to know that all building of any kind must, in order to last for ages, be upon solid foundations, - unless it be upon a solid foundation, it is a failure. In animal life, the foundation must be pure blood. - In the horse, ages tell us that the Arab and the Barb were [pure bred] - All [pure breds] are pure in one family blood and can be interbred in the closest possible manner in the wild state, or in and under domesticated care. All crosses go to extremes and degenerate; except periodically reinforced from their [original source] -"
"Close breeding is a test for purity of blood. I bred son to mother, daughter to sire, sister to brother, keeping my bloods pure in the one family, and can easily lay a foundation for created fixed types, different in form, character and quality. 'Top crosses' are but fools folly. - We import thousands of stallions and mares from England and France annually, of created fixed types, which we hasten to cross with our [mixed breeds', which crosses (to break and destroy) our - press term 'top crosses' -."

Note 11. "During the 17th Century speed was not the sole qualification of a race horse; it was required to have strength and endurance. From racing matured horses at long distances it was an easy transition to shorten the length of the course and increases the speed of the horse, besides which the element of gambling entered into the sport, and it soon happened that three year old horses were used in the races. It was found, however, that they could not "stay" the old four mile course so that of necessity the distances had to be reduced to accommodate the horses. The result of this policy is seen in modern horse racing in which two year old horses developed for speed alone take part in races less than half a mile in length." [(New International Encyclopaedia, New York, Dodd, Mead & Co. 1923, Vol. II p. 473]

Note 12. "For twenty years the Morgans held their popularity. It was only after [the] Civil War that their decadence began, when the craze for speed, started by the wonderful career of Dexter, caused everyone to turn his attention to the long striding trotters, represented by the descendants of Rysdyk's Hambletonian."
"Those were the years when Hambletonian stallions began to be taken to Vermont and bred on Morgan mares, hoping to produce fast trotters. The result was disastrous. Environment was against the violent cross. The breeders failed to get what they expected and spoiled what they had."
"Not until about 1890 did the supreme folly of the experiment thoroughly impress those who had known the excellence of the original Morgan stock, either from personal experience or the statement of those who had owned and driven them.
"At about that period classes began to be made for 'Morgans conforming most nearly to the original type.' It was then discovered that very few were left, and they were found only in those parts of Vermont, such as Caledonia County, in the neighborhood of St. Johnsbury, where the hills were so steep, and the roads so ill adapted to extreme speed, that none but the old fashioned type, with their short sharp trotting gait, with no sign of straddle behind, no inclination to pace, built low to the ground and substantial in form, could live." [Osborn, H. F. Origin and History of the Horse. New York. Privately printed.]

Note 13. The late Randolph Huntington in a letter to T. C. dated June 2, 1903, referring to the difference between the Arabian and the Barb says, "It took me eight years to get the true breeding of Gen. Grant's two horses. [Leopard and Linden Tree, presented to Gen. Grant by the Sultan of Turkey in 1879.] The press of the land called them both pure Arabs, and the General died believing them such; and I also did not know when I published the book [about them], although the very marked difference in the get of the two horses from virgin mares of same one affinity blood, and inter-bred to it at that, so astonished me, that I know in my own mind that the two stallions Leopard and Linden Tree were of very different family bloods. Both were gray, and stood the same height (14¾ hands) one was dappled gray, the other blue gray when they arrived."
"The difference between the get by the two horses from the same blooded mares [was so great] that I was astonished; so began a deliberate investigation with opportunities which my gained knowledge and widespread correspondence with the best informed old men in England, France, Russia, India and Harpott, Turkish Armenia gave me. It took eight years, but I got it through the most unheard of manner: The son of the Sultan's private secretary, now and for a long time Assist. Secretary with his father. He had graduated from the Euphrates College with an Armenian, standing second in a class of 84 to the Armenian, which Armenian was then made professor in that college and the two became bosom friends. The Armenian resigned and came to America in 1886. Andrew D. White, then president of Cornell, put me in communication with him, and he became an invited guest at my home.... During the Chicago Worlds Fair, he was private secretary to the Turkish Commission and was presented with the sword of honor by the Sultan."
"Through him and the Sultan's private secretary's son I got the origin of the two horses, Leopard being a pure Seglawi-Jedran (Arab) and Linden Tree a pure Barb..."

Note 14. Dr. Solanet, referring to the crossing of many foreign types of horses on the Criollo thereby increasing the height from 1.50 metres (14 hands 3") to 1.60 metres (15 hands 3") and otherwise mixing the blood so that one could not longer distinguish a dominant race or know to what type of the various mixed bloods these crosses belonged, said "At this time and for two or three generations of owners of these indefinite products, as well as those that did not show any new foreign blood, one did not realize their true origin, and, at times, considered them Criollos and in such belief came to place them in the lineage of the native race, believing them to possess pure blood."
"Therefore, it was necessary to bring forth again pure blooded Criollos; and during the various Buenos Aires expositions it was possible to form a clear idea about the purity of the animals exhibited. And one was able to note then, that from the first moment and constantly the great height was correlative of the examples showing traits of mixed blood, so that the study of the height gave us a valuable differential sign of races."
"A patient and long statistical measurement of height, through many years, from one end to the other of the Republic and neighborhood, and comparing this with a strict study of the proper points of the race, permits us to synthesize the different heights that separate the Criollo from the Argentine 'Mestisos': from 1.37 metres (13 hands 2") to 1.50 metres (14 hands 3") is the height of the native; from 1.50 metres up there is suspicion of mexture; more than 1.55 metres (14 hands 1") definitely mixed." (Translated from the Spanish La Alzada del Cabello Criollo by Emilio Solanet, published in Buenos Aires in 1925, page 8.)
"La Alzada del Cabello Criollo" is a very thorough study of the height of the native Argentine horse. T. C.

Note 15. W. S. Dixon, quoting Richard Wall, who wrote in 1756, says: "When ... two mares are nearly of an equal goodness at 9 stone (126 lbs.) for four miles, one of them 14 hands 2" (1.48 metres) and the other 15 hands 2" (1.57 metres) ; consequently the lesser must be of a much greater symmetry than the greater." Then Dixon comments, "That is, balance is of more importance than mere height, a fact it is well to bear in mind." ("The Influence of Racing and the Thoroughbred," by William Scarth Dixon, p. 11.)
"The weight of Arabians ranges from 800 lbs. to 1000 lbs (363-453 kilograms)" From The Horse of the Desert, by W. R. Brown - p. 66.

Note 16. "Herr Ziwza remarked: 'It is not possible for big horses to have the perfect proportions we find in the small ones. There is no difference of opinion among the officers of the Austro-Hungarian army in favor of the small ones.' [Borden, Spencer, What Horse for the Cavalry? Fall River, J. H. Franklin Co. 1912.) Quoting the Chief of the Imperial Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

Note 17. "In a personal communication Dr. E. W. Nelson of Washington informs me that when domesticated cattle and horses, which always have more or less white or spotted individuals among them, are permitted to revert to a wild state for a long period, they almost always breed back to a general uniformity of color such as characterizes any wild species." [Hadwen, S. "Color in Relation to Health of Wild and Domestic Animals" Journal of Heredity, Dec. 1926, Vol. 17, No. 12. Foot note p. 45.)

Note 17a. In his classification of the several original races of horses by coat color, C. H. Smith, writing in 1841, allots his fourth stirps to the dun. He says: "The dun is typical of the generality of the real wild horses, still extant in Asia, and the semi-domesticated, both there and in Eastern Europe." ["Horses," by Charles Hamilton Smith. Naturalists Library, Vol. VII, p. 274.)
In another place Smith refers to the middle-sized and striped dun as the "indelible type of the dun."

Note 18. "All domesticated breeds of the horse show, at one period or another in life, either directly or through reversion, that they were similarly striped (like the zebra), so the probabilities are that the ancestors of the modern horse were striped animals, and we see in a few transition forms how a striped animal can gradually be converted into a non-striped animal. In the true Burchell [zebra], inhabiting not a forest regions but a sandy open region: the stripes have faded entirely out of the lower limbs; Another Burchell, showing the under spaces of the body assuming a muddy brown tint, which would naturally compare with the bay color of our horses. We observe that this tine harmonizes with the brownish tint of the desert background. In this harmony of color we have the true significance of the origin of the simple bay coloring of our modern horses." [Osborn, H. F. Origin and History of the Horse. New York. Privately printed. 1905.]

Note 18a. The Greeks and the Romans had numerous dun colored horses. [Tozer, Basil, The Horse in History. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908. p. 67, 81.) It is a matter of history that Rome possessed nearly the whole of Spain for 600 years, followed by the Goths (700 A.D. among whom were the Swedes [Power, George. Musulmans in Spain and Portugal], whose horses are dun colored. There are dun colored horses in Arabia (though considered cross-bred [Brown, W. R. The Horse of the Desert. New York Derrydale Press. 1929. p. 67], also among the Berbers [Irving, Washington. The Alhambra. Pp 237-239] so that with the invasion of Spain by the Musulmans the proportional number of dun colored horses was again increased.
After careful study scientists have concluded that the dun coat color in horses is dominant to, at least, bay, black and chestnut. [Azara, Felix de, Voyages dans l'Amerique Méridionale. Paris. 1809, p. 132.]
It is, therefore, easy to understand, that, when the Spanish horse was brought by the Conquerors to South America, the dun color was prevalent and survived in the wild state to become the "classic coat color" of the Criollo.
The reason that the Spanish horse was considered the best horse in Europe for at least two centuries was principally because he was largely of Arabian and Barb blood. That he possessed a mixture of other bloods is evident in several characteristics, among them the dun coat color, so prevalent in the Criollo, but never found among the pure bred Arabians. [Irving, Washington. The Alhambra.]

Note 19. "Watching the habits of mustangs was with me a frequent source of interest. Their breeding season was the early spring months, and then the stallions were in continual combat. Every old stallion would be busy fighting the young stallions, including the yearlings, out of his "manada," and the young stallions would be maneuvering to steal a mare or so each; in addition to fighting off these young upstarts the old stallions had to guard against each other. The strongest and the best stallions kept the most mares. Thus, under conditions undisturbed by man, the breed would have a tendency to improve, selective breeding rather than inbreeding being the natural tendency." [Dobie, J. Frank, The Vaquero of the Brush Country. The Southwest Press. Dallas, Texas, 1929. p. 241-2.]
The above applies with equal force to the wild Criollos of the Pampas. Just why this writer opposes selective breeding breeding against inbreeding I do not know. Selective breeding would not preclude inbreeding, either in the domesticated or wild state; in fact if the few superior old stallions kept the most mares inbreeding would be greater than if the mares were distributed equally among all the stallions; besides, there is no stigma on inbreeding where the blood is pure as in the primitive state. The value of this writer's comment that "the breed would have a tendency to improve" is in the "survival of the fittest" stallions and that they kept the most mares. T. C.

Note 20. "I am glad to see your Endurance Test winner is the same as last year. You don't want tall horses you want well balanced horses for long arduous tasks. When I was at Lady Wentworth's I saw a stallion about fourteen hands, three inches. He was under fifteen hands - that was a model weight carrier. I told Lady Wentworth that if I had been 25 years younger I should have asked her for the favor of a day's hunting in the Shires on him; saying I thought I should be there or thereabouts on him. Her reply was that if hounds ran hard there would not be many in the same field with him."
From a letter to Maj. C. A. Benton dated Jan. 1, 1926, from William Scarth Dixon referring to the U. S. Endurance Test of 1925.

Note 20a. Referring to the remarkable agility of the S. American native horse, Springfield [Springfield, Rollo, The Horse and His Rider, New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1908], quoting Darwin says: "In Chili a horse is not considered perfectly broken till he can be brought up standing in the midst of his full speed on any particular spot; for instance on a cloak thrown on the ground; or until he will charge a wall, and rearing scrape the surface with his hoofs. I have seen an animal bounding with spirit, yet merely reined by a forefinger and thumb, taken at full gallop across a courtyard, and then made to wheel around the post of a veranda with great speed, but at so equal a distance that the rider with outstretched arm all the while, kept one finger rubbing the post; then making a demivolt in the air, with the other arm outstretched in a like manner, he wheeled around with astonishing force in an opposite direction.

Note 21. "The Criollo pony had his day (see last par.) and when he was used by the Argentine players the game flourished there perhaps more than it does now, but with the first raising of the standard height of ponies to 14.2 hands (1.48 metres) the small but useful Criollo native was left behind by the introduction of thoroughbred blood, although there are many signs today in Argentine breeding that the little native pony has been often called upon in the development of their present high class polo pony."
"This piebald pony [Tobiana, half-bred] with his power and extreme speed, played by Mr. Hitchcock, has become perhaps the best known to the United States public today."
"The first Argentine bred and Argentine trained polo ponies to attract attention were those brought to England in 1895 by the Buenos Aires team which played with great success that year in London tournaments. Several of the ponies brought over made their mark in first-class polo and Mr. Scott-Robson's Langosta, although a half-bred pony, stood out especially that year and was played in England for many years afterward by the famous Rugby team."
"A pure Criollo pony, Orsino, that was brought to England with this team and the pony, Daiman, which later played in England both also attracted the attention of English players and English breeders of the polo pony. The Argentine team that visited England in 1897 was mounted entirely on Argentine ponies and many of these that were left in England later became well known. About the first Argentine pony to attract attention in the United States was the flea-bitten, gray pony, Cinders. This mare was ........ played ............. in the international matches at Hurlingham in 1921. Cinders (half-bred) was a mare of great quality, stamina, and hardiness, and since her day the long list of superb Argentine ponies that have come to this country have had a good share in the development of the game here." [Bent, Newell. American Polo. The MacMillan Co., New York. 1929. pp 213-18-19-20]
Mr. Bent describes most interestingly and in great detail, in his chapters on "Breeding the Polo Pony" and "Breeding the Argentine Polo Pony," how for a number of years thoroughbred sires, to give more finish and speed, have been used on pony mares of several breeds but always with a playing record.
That the pure Criollo is still played successfully in the Argentine, and by winning teams, and that the mares are graetly valued and extensively used as dams for the highest type polo ponies, are facts well known and recently brought to my attention by that internationally known Argentine trainer of polo ponies, Mr. Tom Nelson. - T. C.

Note 22. Speaking of the regular system of testing in the Hungarian State stock farms which are the source of all their army horses, the later Spencer Borden [Borden, Spencer. What Horse for the Cavalry? Fall River. J. H. Franklin Co. 1912] writing in 1912, says:
"On each of the four big Government stud farms there is a regularly equipped race track with stables. Mezohegyes has two, one for running, one for trotting. Babolna and Kisler have one each for running races. Fogaras has one for trotting. "Having been trained from October to May, the young mares are all raced, and raced for all they are worth."
"The running races are not sprints; they are all for 3000 meters (1-7/9 miles), and with 60 to 63 kilos (120-126 pounds) on the backs of animals racing. Mares that can carry the weight and do one mile and seven furlongs in about 3 minutes 50 seconds are sent to the stud when the racing is over. Those that do not come up to the standard, for any reason, are sent to the Budapest Tattersalls in October and sold to the highest bidder."
"The trotting races at Mezohegyes and Fogaras are equally severe. The mares are raced, not in pneumatic tyred sulkies, but in substantial carts, for 20 kilometers (12½ miles). If they cannot do the trick in an hour they go to the auction sales. If they can trot 12½ miles in about 54 minutes they go into the stud."
"Another feature of the Hungarian system is worthy of note. No animal is allowed to be idle. All are broken to saddle, all the mares are broken to harness. If a mare in the stud fails, for any reason, to produce a foal in any given year, she is bred again, and put to work while carrying her foal. If she proves a persistent non-breeder, she is sold at auction." (pp 64-66.)

Note 23. Among instances of the earliest arrivals of Spanish horses in the Argentine are the following:
"We also brought from Hispania on board the fourteen ships, seventy-two horses and mares." This was at the time of the founding of Buenos Aires 1535.
In 1540 de Vaca arrived from Spain with 400 men and 30 horses. [Hakluyt Society, Vol. 81. Conquest of the River Plate. London. 1891. Pp. 7, 35.)
Vera y Aragon, early Governor of Buenos Aires, imported cattle and sheep - "These animals and the horses multiplied." [The Pan-American Union Bulletin No. 4. "Buenos Aires." Washington. 1923.]
"Indeed, the population of the country with such animals (horses, mules, cattle, sheep and goats) was usually enforced by a clause in the royal concession to the pioneer. This importation, however, was intended to serve as an immediate means of subsistence, rather than as a commencement of a purely pastoral era. As a proof of this, the first horses, cattle and other animals that tasted the grass of the Pampa were not introduced directly from Spain. [This statement "not introduced directly from Spain" is not borne out by the records, through probably true of some later arrivals. - T. C.] They filtered through to the Southwest after a lapse of a number of years from Peru by way of Bolivia, neither of these countries, when compared with the rich plain of the Argentine, possessing any pastoral possibilities whatever." [Koebel, W. H. Argentina Past and Present. London. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd. 1910. p. 3.]

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