MASON (Richard).
The Gentleman's new Pocket Farrier comprising a general Description of the noble and useful Animal the Horse, together with the quickest and simplest Mode of Fattening, necessary Treatment while undergoing excessive Fatigue, or on a Journey … also a conci
THE FIRST STUD BOOK FOR THE WHOLE OF AMERICA
MASON (Richard).
The Gentleman's new Pocket Farrier comprising a general Description of the noble and useful Animal the Horse, together with the quickest and simplest Mode of Fattening, necessary Treatment while undergoing excessive Fatigue, or on a Journey … also a conci
“The earliest example of an American stud book printed in America” (Henderson).
Although first printed in 1811, Mason’s Pocket Farrier did not originally contain any form of stud-register. A stud-book solely for Virginia was added to the fourth edition, and the fifth was the first to include a stud-book for the whole of the United States.
The purpose was “to bestow on posterity a list of some of our most celebrated blood horses and mares, as well as those that have been imported: has added with all the care, the object so well merits, an American Stud Book, that such as may wish to breed from a particular stock, may trace the pedigree, in a way more satisfactory than vague report.” The register includes prominent early American thoroughbreds, notably with entries for Sir Archy (1805–1833) and his imported sire Diomed (1777–1807). The plates depict horses in various modes of work and activities, including “A Virginia Race Horse.”
Not in Dingley; cf. Mellon, 132 (fourth edition); Henderson, Early American Sport, p.171.
