"All The Pretty Little Horses" is thought to be originally African-American. Here are some old versions of the song that were sung by black people on plantations in the South. The first version is from Texas.

Notes

Here are several more versions from Texas:

Hushaby,
And don't you cry,
My sweet, pretty little baby.
When you wake, you shall have cake,
And oh, the pretty little horses.
Four little ponies you shall have,
All the pretty little ponies,
White and gray, black and bay,
Oh, the pretty little horses.

Another from Texas:

Go to sleepy, little baby,
Go to sleepy, little baby.
Mammy and daddy have both gone away
And left nobody for to mind you.
So rockaby,
And don't you cry.
And go to sleepy, little baby.
And when you wake
You can ride
All the pretty little ponies.
Paint and bay,
Sorrel and a gray,
And all the pretty little ponies.
So go to sleepy, little baby.
Rockaby
And don't you cry
And go to sleep, my baby.

Another Version from Texas:

Go to sleep, little baby,
Go to sleep, little baby!
When you wake,
You shall have
All the pretty little ponies.
All the ponies in the lot
Belong to Mammy's little baby!
Black and bay,
White and gray,
All belong to Mammy's baby.

Go to sleep, little baby,
Go to sleep, little baby!
When you wake,
You shall have a little cake,
And all the pretty little ponies!
Hushaby, and don't you cry,
Go to sleep, little baby!
Black and bay,
White and gray,
All belong to Mammy's baby!

Here's a version that was sung on a Mississippi plantation:

Go to sleep, little baby.
Daddy run away,
An' lef nobody with the baby!

Daddy an' Mammy went down town
To see their pretty little horses.
All the horses in that stable
Belong to this little baby!

One more version:

Go to sleep, little baby,
When you wake
You shall have
All the mulies in the stable.
Buzzards and flies
Picking out its eyes,
Pore little baby crying,
Mamma, mamma!

Thanks and Acknowledgements

All of these versions of "All the Pretty Little Horses" and the score come from "On The Trail of Negro Folk-Songs" by Scarborough, Dorothy (1925).