FOUNDING AND FORGING THE BREED
IN LESS THAN A DECADE, THE SADDLEBRED EMERGED AS AMERICA'S FIRST INDIGENOUS EQUINE BREED AND THEN WAS MERCILESSLY TESTED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF WAR. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS SEMINAL PERIOD COINCIDED WITH THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY. VIRTUALLY NO PHOTOGRAPHS EXIST OF THE SIRES THAT ARE CONSIDERED MOST IMPORTANT IN THE EARLY BLOODLINES. AND JUST A VERY FEW PHOTOGRAPHS EXIST OF BATTLES DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR (THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES IN THE SOUTH), AND THESE SHOW NO DETAIL OTHER THAN MURKY SMOKE TO GIVE THIS IMPORTANT PERIOD ITS DUE.
BEFORE 1908, WHEN DENMARK WAS DESIGNATED THE SOLE FOUNDATION SIRE, THERE WERE 15 THOROUGHBRED SIRES CONSIDERED IMPORTANT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BREED. FEW, IF ANY, PHOTOGRAPHS EXIST OF THESE HORSES, AND WHAT CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATIONS SURVIVE ARE DUBIOUS AS TO THEIR ACCURACY. IN 1986, THE AMERICAN SADDLEBRED MUSEUM COMMISSIONED NOTED EQUINE ARTIST JAMES WALLS, A LIFELONG STUDENT OF THE BREED, TO ILLUSTRATE EACH HORSE BASED ON EXTENSIVE ORIGINAL RESEARCH. UNTIL SUCH TIME AS MORE ACCURATE ILLUSTRATIONS BECOME AVAILABLE, THE MUSEUM CONSIDERS THESE IMAGES "REASONABLE FACSIMILES." IN ADDITION, TWO-PERIOD PORTRAITS CONSIDERED ACCURATE ARE EMPLOYED TO DEPICT OTHER EARLY SADDLEBREDS.
DURING THE WAR, PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHERS MATHEW BRADY AND ALEXANDER GARDNER PRODUCED AN ASTONISHING VOLUME OF WORK UNDER THE MOST TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES. GOOD AS THEY WERE, HOWEVER, TECHNOLOGY HAD NOT ADVANCED TO THE POINT OF FREEZING MOVING IMAGES. AND BECAUSE THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOUTHERN FORCES CAME SO QUICKLY, NO PHOTOGRAPHER WAS PRESENT AT APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, VIRGINIA, FOR THE SURRENDER OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA. SADDLEBREDS, HOWEVER, PLAYED EXTENSIVE ROLES IN BATTLE AND WERE WITNESSES TO ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST FAMOUS CAPITULATIONS. PERIOD ENGRAVINGS SERVE TO ILLUSTRATE BOTH EVENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BREED. FURTHERMORE, IN THE SADDLEBRED BREEDING AND SHOW WORLD, MANY HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS ARE HEAVILY RETOUCHED.
FROM THE BOOK "IMAGES OF AMERICA, KENTUCKY'S SADDLEBRED HERITAGE".
BY: JAMES KEMPER MILLARD
COURTESY OF THE LOCAL LIBRARY
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