North American Horse Encyclopedia

The Galloway was a small, compact horse from Scotland that were know for being good pacers. They were gentle, easy to ride and never tired. They were often used for racing. It is the ancestor of the American Saddlebred horse

The American Saddlebred horse can trace its roots to the easy gaited Galloway and Hobbie horses which were shipped to North America from the British Isles in the 1600s. These hardy little horses thrived and grew in the new environment; through selective breeding the Narragansett Pacer was developed and named for Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay area where many were raised. T

Before they were all gone, Narragansett mares were crossed with Thoroughbreds, which the colonists began importing from England in the early 1700s. By 1776 during the American Revolution, a horse simply called the American horse had become a recognized type. It had the size and beauty of the Thoroughbred, but retained the ability to learn the easy riding gaits. These animals were used for riding, to pull the plow during the week, the carriage on Saturday night and for other work. They were prized for a pleasant temperament, eagerness, strength and stamina.

Gervase Markham in 1660 wrote: "Also in Scotland there are a race of small nagges which they call Galloways or Galloway nagges which for fine shape, easie pace, pure metall and infinit toughness are not short of the best nagges that are bred in any country whatsoever; for soundness in bodie they exceed the most races that are extant, as dayly experience shows in their continuall travellings, journeyings and fore-huntings."

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) wrote in his "Tour Through Scotland": "Besides the great number of sheep and runts, as we call them in England, which they breed here; they have the best breed of strong low horses in Britain, if not in Europe, which we call pads, and from whence we call all small truss-strong riding horses Galloways. These horses are remarkable for being good pacers, strong, easy goers, hardy, gentle, well broke, and above all, that they never tire, and they are very much bought up in England on that account."

There is absolutely no disputing the fact that Galloway horses existed, nor is there any disputing the fact that they were the predecessors of modern racehorses in the UK, but what became of the Galloways? Over hundreds of years, many metamorphosed into what we now call Thoroughbreds. To complement the size and speed of our diminutive Scottish horses, breeders in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries began importing stallions, including the Byerley Turk, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Darley Arabian. These three bloodlines, which were undoubtedly bred to Galloway mares, remain to this day. Where does that place the Classic winners and Grand National heroes of our time... horses like Shergar and Mill Reef, Desert Orchid and Red Rum? The answer is simple; they may all be descendants of the Galloways.