The Englishman, when mounted on his “bonesetter,” is compelled to have his stirrups short so that he can rise and fall with every revolution the horse makes on the trot to save himself from being shaken to death. This up and down, up and down, tilt-hammer seat, if it can be called “a seat” at all, is one of the most ungraceful things, especially for a lady, that can be conceived of in all the displays of good and bad equestrianism. The English have been compelled to adopt it because they have no trained saddle horses, and a lot of brainless imitators about our American cities have followed them because “it is English, you know.” If the English had pacers and horses trained to the “saddle gaits,” they never would have anything else, and the tilt-hammer “seat” would disappear from Rotten Row and everywhere else. CHAPTER IX. COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY—NEW YORK. Settlement of New Amsterdam—Horses from Curaçoa—Prices of Dutch and English horses—Van der Donck’s description and size of horses—Horses to be branded—Stallions under fourteen hands not to run at large—Esopus horse—Surrender to the English, 1664—First organized racing—Dutch horses capable of improvement in speed—First advertised Subscription Plate—First restriction, contestants must “be bred in America”—Great racing and heavy betting—First importations of English running horses—Half-breds to the front—True foundation of American pedigrees—Half bushel of dollars on a side—Resolutions of the Continental Congress against racing—Withdrawal of Mr. James De Lancey—Pacing and trotting contests everywhere—Rip Van Dam’s horse and his cost.