Roaming Free

The wild horse is thought to have originated in North America several million years ago.

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They migrated to Eurasia and back and eventually died out on this continent about 11,000 to 13,000 years ago. Christopher Columbus brought domesticated horses to the Virgin Islands in 1493 and then Mexico by 1519. There are still debates about whether or not the modern horse is native to the continent.

There is no debate, however, about the importance of the horse in the development of America from their adoption by the Native tribes of the Plains and the West to the horses brought by settlers on the East Coast.

The domesticated horse has been, literally, the workhorse for American farmers. Joel Babb painted The View from the Knoll, Morrill Farm, Sumner, Maine, in 2011 when it was “one of the few working farms left

in Sumner…It is exciting to spend time painting on a working farm, where the seasons and the weather are so important to the life of the farm…Painting on the farm you begin to understand the farmer’s perspectives, his love for the land and the life, and the dedication of his whole family.”

Although working farms are disappearing, the Amish continue to maintain their traditional ways with sturdy draft horses pulling their farm machinery and even-tempered saddlebreds pulling their iconic buggies on busy, 21st-century roads.