GOLDFINCH, BT LOP. THE PROPERTY OF JOHN TURNER, ESQ.

Acquired great celebrity as a Hunter in the Marsham or Joliife Hunt. 1770.

AS HE WAS, AS HE IS, *

JAMBS IRVINE LUPTON, F.R.C.V.S.,

AUTHOR OF " THE EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE HORSE,"
ETC., ETC.

. H. AlJ^N&ba,,J|, W.
, n�, PA^lbMi&L.

(AH rights reserved.)

LONDON:
PBINTED BI ST. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.

RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT TE UTRECHT

The present booklet has been written with the intent
to prove that of late years the English nation has failed
in the production of one of its most important commodi-
ties, and the means by which a further extent of this evil
can be remedied has been suggested.

The race-course has caused the excessive creation of
thorough-breds. Why should not the general-utility
horse possess a suitable arena whereon to exhibit his
speed and endurance at other paces than the gallop ?

The demand for such horses in a commercial point of
view is not sufficiently attractive to create the much-
needed supply; but were trotting courses instituted in
this country similar to those in America then the supply
would, in a very few years, exceed the demand.

The illustrations which accompany this small volume
are intended to point out the classes of horses which
existed during the various periods of the world's history,
and especially those common to Great Britain during the

past and present centuries ; from which the public will be
able to judge whether we possess such good horses now
as we did one hundred years ago.

As Englishmen it is our duty to do all in our power to
prevent the decline and fall of the British utility horse,
for such certainly will take place unless we bestir our-
selves to energetic action in supplying a commodity
which we now in great measure obtain from foreign
sources. Is it not a national disgrace that England of
the past, which supplied Europe with her best horses,
should now be dependent upon Continental countries for
her useful supplies ?

Reader! Assist in rescuing us from an impending
national calamity ? It can be accomplished by the
adoption of means similar to, if not identical with, those
detailed in the following pages.

JAMES IRVINE LUPTON.

Dunstable House, Richmond, Surrey.
May 27th, 1881.

GRECIAN HORSE. FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. V. CENTURY B.C.

HORSE. STATUE OF M. AtJKF.lIUS. II. CKNTI'KV.

NJRMAK HORSE. BAYEfX TAPESTRY IX. CENTCRY.

ENOUGH H0R3E. TOOKNAMENT JLOIL. XVI. CESTDET.

The three following plates are exact re-
productions from the work of the Earl of
Pembroke on "Military Equitation," &c.
They represent Cavalry horses of about the
year 1750, and also some of the processes of
breaking them in.

CAVALRY HORSE. A.l*. 1750.

CAVALRY HORSE. A.D. 1750.

CAVALRY KOESE. A.D. 1750.

It may be startling to assert that The general

within thirty years continental countries
Avill produce better general utility
horses than Great Britain, but it is
true ; and even during the past season
half the carriage-horses in London have
emanated from foreign sources.

Lord Rosebery's Committee which sat Scarcity of

in 1873 to inquire into the cause of England.
horse scarcity, although it elicited some
valuable information, never did a single
witness throw any light upon the sub-
ject, for the simple reason that the true
cause was never recognised.

The demand There is no doubt that at this time

byconti- fa_e demand for horses exceeded the

America. ^suPPtyi ^and that the demand was re-
sponded to by continental countries and
our American brothers, and although
such horses assisted us in our life-
traffic, they were deficient in quality
and lacked that form which a century
past had taught Englishmen to admire.
But since this date the foreign horse has
improved, and this improvement has been
obtained not with foreign material but
by importation of equine material from
these shores. Good stallions and mares
have been sent to Germany, France, &c.
in order that these countries might grow
for us the very commodity we wanted
and which we refused to manufacture.
We exported to foreign countries that

which we should have retained for home
use. At the present moment we possess
the best breeds of horses in the world,
whether they be thorough-breds, nags, or
cart-horses ; but in the production of
general utility horses we are allowing
other countries to overtake us.

How is it that we allow this state of Minns of

things to exist ? Create a demand and
the supply will be forthcoming, so long
as the producer of the supply is well
paid for his pains. Many English far-
mers assert that it pays them better to
breed sheep than horses, and we know
that many horse-breeding establishments
have proved failures. But this is no
reason why the future of businesses in
this direction should not pay if properly
conducted.

The race- The propagation of the race - horse

represented, brought grist to the mill of the late Mr.

fhe^enerai°^f Blinkiron ; such animals as he produced

utility horse. , , , -. ,

only possessed a large money value be-
cause the gambling table allured men to
bid high prices for stock descended from
celebrated winners, and by no means the
class of animal wanted to make good the
equine deficiency complained of in 1873.
The evidence elicited at the Rosebery
Committee proved beyond doubt that
England possessed then more horses than
she had at any previous period; and yet
more horses were needed, or how could
there have been a scarcity. The want
existed in the numerical deficiency of the
general utility horse. The thorough-breds
had increased, according to Admiral Rous,
both in size and numbers since the com-

mencement of the century. And other
authorities gave opinions upon the sub-
ject ; but in giving them, it would appear
from the evidence before us, only took
under their consideration the English
thorough-bred. The general utility horse The general

° o J utility horse

escaped their attention, or was deemed ^d°es_not

unworthy of that notice which it was Reserves! *
the ostensible duty of the committee to
have considered.

The truth appears on the slightest re-
flection how it is that the race-horse rules
dominant in the minds of horsemen, and
why the utility horse does not command
that attention which, in a national point
of view, its importance demands.

In the breeding of thorough-breds for
racing purposes the youngsters represent
certain items with which every racing

man who buys one hopes to gain a prize;
in fact, the idea of gain being excluded
from the calculation such animal would
hardly find a buyer, or at any rate, he
would fail to realise the heavy prices
usually obtained unless the race-course
loomed in the distance.
Gambling a J?_ov the past two hundred years the

of'Sefaf⁰¹¹ ^^ave °^ racing, or more properly, the
tendency to gamble, has prompted Eng-
lishmen to breed horses for the turf,
animals required only to exhibit one pace,
viz. to gallop; the walk, the trot, &c,
not being a qualification demanded from
racing stock. The race-horse must gal-
lop; and to obtain this end the fastest
galloping parents have been selected
from year to year as the progenitors of
our thorough-bred horses. And this is

the seclusive breed that Englishmen for
the past half-century have devoted all
their energies and money to propagate.
Had one-fourth of this money been ex-
pended in improving the general utility
breeds of horses, we should not now have
to be dependent upon foreign importation
for our useful supplies. But does the
British thorough-bred assist us in our
everyday life traffic ? Does he represent
an important item in calculating our na-
tional prosperity? Not so much as many The merits of

^x t- �/ o the racer and

would have us believe, especially if we Jf^^⁸⁹impartially take into consideration the
qualifications which the race-horse, as a
beast of burden, lacks when placed in
juxtaposition with commoner breeds.
The British thorough-bred is, without
doubt, the fastest galloper in the world.

He is, moreover, capable of great en-
dui'ance if not overweighted, and is
conspicuous in certain specimens for
great beauty of form, and indirectly re-
presents an important element in the
future improvement of coarser breeds.

But do these recorded qualifications
alone give assurance that such an animal
would constitute a useful labourer? A
horse to be a good hack should walk
well and trot with ease, and if in har-
ness must lift his legs from the ground
and step brightly. Does the thorough-
bred, as a rule, so comport himself ?
Certainly not ! He usually daisy cuts
in his walk and trot, and many a Welsh
pony bred on the mountains would ex-
hibit greater form at these paces, with
weight too on his back or behind him in

The actions
of the race-
horse enume-
rated.

a vehicle. The racer again could not
compete with the van or cart-horse for
strength ; he could not draw heavy
carts laden with weighty commodities,
at such work he would not last a
week. As a weight-carrying hunter and JeigMre.

brougham-horse he sometimes puts m an _burdens.
appearance, when his size, strength, and
good shape, command a price only to be
reached by the very rich. The thorough-
bred horse very seldom exhibits, un-
fortunately, the qualifications required to
carry sixteen stone, or to draw a ton ;
yet many half-bred animals possess that
physical development which renders them
capable of such performances. And it is
this breed which we are much in want
of and which the foreigner, from British
material has supplied, and consequently

the one the Englishman of the future
ought to propagate,
incentives to J_n foreign countries the lust after

horse^on the *^^e possession of territory has prompted

man to breed horses for war purposes,
and in places where large armaments are
the order of the day large supplies of
horses are demanded, and these of the
best quality. The foreigner had noticed
in the past the value of the English
cavalry and artillery, and to how great an
extent the excellence of his horses had
contributed to success in the field. He
had learnt how England had propagated
these breeds, and in British markets has
purchased equine goods to be made up,
by judicious selection, with those in his
own country, which has resulted in the
production of some of the best general

utility horses in the -world. These have
formed the backbone of more than one
great military organisation in Europe,
and, in emergencies, have enabled
them to take the field well prepared;
whereas England, not long ago, when war
seemed not far distant, was compelled to
hunt up supplies from outside sources.

A lesson has constantly been taught us, Supply not to

and yet we have failed to recognise its ^yofneed.
importance at the proper moment; late in
the day necessity has forced us to ener-
getic action in procuring that which we
should have already possessed. The
demand has created the supply, but at
the same time the demand has caused
the supply to increase in value, and the
nation has been obliged to pay larger
prices for her troop-horses than would

have been the case had she been suffi-
ciently well supplied so as to have been
prepared.
The breeding The root of this evil and the so-called

of thorough-
breds for scarcity of horses is to be found in the

purposes. extensive propagation of thorough-breds
for the sole purpose of racing. On the
continent, on the other hand, a good
supply of horses is always kept up, be-
cause racing with them is a pastime
and not a business. Their extensive
military organisations create a demand
for useful horses, and therefore their
business operations are directed in at-
tempting to propagate general utility
horses.

It seems strange that the wealth
of horse - loving Englishmen should be
concentrated upon the production of

one select breed of horses, and that
only because they are conspicuous as
fast - gallopers � that English intellect
should be absorbed in breeding horses
capable of running successfully at a very
early age over short distances, sometimes
not exceeding half a mile.

Is this COUrse Calculated to improve Short race-
courses pro-

our breeds of horses ? Racine; was esta- ductive of

blished to improve the breeds of horses,
and large sums of money are voted yearly
in royal grants for races in which
thorough - breds alone figure. Is this
system likely to operate successfully in
procuring the extension and improvement
of our commoner breeds? The blood-
horse is master of the situation within
the arena of the race-course, whereon he
only exhibits one action; only is eminent

at racing speed; and all other paces, and
they are many and varied, which belong
to low class breeds, never seem to have
entered into the consideration of British
No arena for horsemen ? Consequently good walkers

exist m f_ag� trotters, and weight-carrying hacks

have never been supplied with an arena
whereon their respective qualifications
could have been tested, although such
animals have assisted and continue to as-
sist us in the operations of our extensive
commerce. France and Germany devote
their energies to propagate this very

The purpose
for which
foreigners
buy English
horses.

breed which we discourage. They re-
cognise�as every horseman of experience

does�the great value of the English
thorough-bred, and in this country select
our best types and give a higher price
for English sires than we do. But they

do not buy them with a view to produce
race-horses, but to cross with native
mares of their respective countries in
order to obtain general utility horses.

American horses surpass all English American

breeds in trotting, and our brothers
possess more horses as beasts of burden
than we do. They purchase our tho-
rough-breds, and by judicious selection
and crossing have produced animals of
high ■ courage and endurance, which
qualities have been derived from English
stock.

In Germany everything seems to be
rendered subservient to the development
of a powerful mihtary organisation. For
the equipment of a large army, it is
necessary that the cavalry transport and
artillery should be placed upon a firm

.iluiii i umtiiiiiH^Mi

footing, and above all things that horses
attached to these branches of the ser-
vice should possess quality and sub-
stance. These properties she ensures
by importing English blood-horses to
The improve- improve the quality, which she mates

foreign horses -^th coarser native breeds, exhibiting

meXmof⁶ substance; and in proof that this system
blood, has answered we have only to re-

member that during the past few years
German horses have found their way
into this country, and some of the best
steppers in London during the past
season were bred on the continent. So
good are many that it requires more
than a good judge to determine their
foreign extraction.

France of late years has imitated Eng-
land in instituting races ; but this in

comparison with the "all the year round"
racing practised here is of a very limited
nature, and moreover France does not
concentrate all her energies upon this
particular, but like Germany obtains
British thorough-bred blood to mix with
her native stock in perfecting a power-
ful military system.

It is impossible to exactly indicate The torses

from what sources our early breeds of

horses originated, but it is necessary

in order to establish the accuracy of the

above recorded assertions to investigate

the history of the past. We know that

the Greeks indulged in equine exercises,

conducted on horseback and in chariots,

and that rhey ranked as the highest

public games; but we fail to learn from

Greek authors the size of the horses

used for war or amusement. The monu-
ments and wall paintings which have
been left to posterity by ancient Greece,
afford us only slight assistance in our
The size of attempt to determine the size of horse

Grecian horse. _whi_ch _was _m the habit of performing at
Olympia, Cythia, and Isthmia. In an
Etruscan graveyard a wall-painting was
discovered which represents horses har-
nessed to chariots, about to enter the
hippodrome, in which the horses are
much larger than the vehicles, in fact,
are out of all proportion with them, and
so are many horses and carriages simi-
larly depicted by Greek artists.

The sculptors of the period produced
statues of horses, which were conspi-
cuous for their beauty of design and
correct anatomical delineation, which

points to the fact that the ancient Grecian

Grecian horse, if small, possessed ele-
gance of form and propoi'tion which at
this day would be considered indicative
of quality.

By ancient authors the war steed is
constantly mentioned. Tacitus describes
the celebrated breed which existed in
Argolis, and the surrounding pastures
are described by Homer as affording
grazing ground for a fine breed of horses.
The ancient kingdom of Thessaly was Ancient

famous for its horses, which from the °^� ^Gre°ian

descriptions given, were evidently of
large size, as the fiction of the Cen-
taurs is allowed to have originated from
them. Diodorus Siculus] states that Ma-
cedonia in ancient times " abounded in

horses above all other countries in

Greece," that in the royal stud near Pella
three hundred stallions and thirty thou-
sand mares were kept. Horses were
evidently more highly esteemed by the
ancients, and were given as presents and
often demanded as tribute.

Strabo informs us that the Cappado-
cians paid an annual tribute to the Per-
sians " of one thousand five hundred
horses, two thousand mules, and fifty
thousand sheep."

The exact type of horse the ancients
possessed, and the height and size to
which such animals grew, we are un-
able exactly to determine. Researches
in the subject direct our attention to the
shoes excavated from Roman and other
tumuli, when the size of the shoe found
indirectly allows us to indicate the size

of horse for which it was forged. Most Size of shoe

of these shoes of the oldest type are small ^lndirectiy

and seem to have intended for the hoofs
of ponies or mules. The shoes dis-
covered in one century wei*e smaller than
those discovered during the next, and from
this fact it can be deduced that if the
horses' feet grew larger their general
bodily development increased in size,
proportionately with their hoofs.

The Germans or Cimbri are repre-
sented by Tacitus as a race of big men
possessed of great bodily strength. Cre-
sar considered " their bodies grew large
and robust because their animal spirits
had not been exhausted in their youth,
by learning, study, or other troublesome
occupation." Certain it is that they
seldom cultivated the soil or engaged in

trade pursuits, but devoted their lives
almost exclusively to martial exercises
and hunting, in performance of which
they necessarily required large horses to
carry them ; and in Bavaria and other
localities in the German states horse-
shoes larger than those found in Roman
tumuli have been discovered. At the
same time the shoes usually found in
Fatherland give evidence that the Ger-
mans, like the Romans, possessed for
the most part only a small race of horses,
although unusually large horse - shoes
have been excavated from regions bor-
dering on the banks of the Rhine, and
from this it may be conjectured that large
horses to a certain extent were used by
this nation for military exploits and
smaller ones for hunting and everyday use-

From the foregoing it will be recog-
nised that from the early Roman down to
subsequent periods, the size of the horse
increased, and this doubtless was effected
by the admixture of the large type of
horse which existed in mid-Europe with
the smaller breeds.

From the earliest times to the present Extension of

day the requirements of barbarous and Jas operated

cruel war have instigated men to obtain improvement
powerful horses for martial purposes, and
this, together with the extension of civi-
lisation, has caused the equine tribes
throughout the world to increase both
numerically and in coi'poreal develop-
ment.

If we pass from the days of ancient
Greece and Rome, we soon meet with an
incentive to the production of large

horses in the tournament. The Troy game
practised by the Roman youth is de-
Troy game, scribed by Virgil to be an equestrian
exercise, and was the forerunner of the
tournament, a pastime in which large
horses, weighted with armour and heavy
riders, contended. It is impossible to
determine the exact date of the first
tournament. Mcetas states that the
Emperor Emanuel Comeninus " invented
tilts and tournaments at the siege of
Constantinople." Nithard mentions the
exhibition of an equestrian pastime simi-
Thetouma- lar to the tournament exhibited in Ger-

instituted. _many before the Emperor Louis and his
brother Charles the Bald, about the
year 842. He recounts how knights
of different nations formed into two
equal divisions rode against and other

wise engaged each other as if in
battle.

The Germans claim to have been
the originators of these sports in 936.
The French assert that Geofry of
Previlli in Anjou, who was killed at
Gaunt in 1066, was the first to invent the
tournament. But from whatever coun-
try it derived its origin large horses
must have been required to carry heavy
men weighted with armour ; conse-
quently it is certain that weight-carry-
ing horses at the dates above indicated,
were somewhat numerously represented.
The tournament was not, however, es-
tablished in England until sixty years
after the Norman conquest, but at the Large horses

same time William and his followers ^mandy-
brought over with them from Normandy

large horses. The Bayeux tapestry re-
presents the boats of the invading army
full of horses. " Every knight has a
small hack on which he rides without
armour, whilst his great war-horse is led
by a squire."
The Bayeux From the character of this picture

we learn that the large war-horse and
small nag were contemporaries of the
Anglo-Norman period. The tournament
charger was not of the same powerful
breed as those which represent our
wagon horses of the present day. They
were animals not sixteen hands high and
possessed little more stamina than a
brougham - horse of to-day. The small
nag was also a mere pony. Its primary
origin might have been derived from
Greek or Roman sources ; but it was

nevertheless larger and superior to the
native breeds of Great Britain, and con-
sequently well adapted, through the me-
dium of judicious selection of parents, to
create a larger type of animal.

The history of the past fails to
give information sufficiently distinct to
enable us to determine the exact type
the original British horse assumed ; but The original

from the slight evidence which can be
brought to bear on the subject it would
appear that the native breed of Great
Britain found their representatives in
a race of small ponies, in many in-
stances not higher than twelve hands if
so much, as the horse-shoes found in
Roman and Saxon tumuli prove.

In early times, the Romans, Danes,
Saxons, and Norwegians, in making their

incursions upon this country, brought
with them horses which, by admixture,
doubtless stamped their impress upon
the native stock, and so primarily paved
the way to the permanent improvement
of the British horse; for when Caesar
Caesar's landed in England he wrote of the coun-

British ^,y _ag a j)j_ves equum," &c, and well he

might, for in addition to a cavalry force
he was opposed by four thousand chariots
which, he narrates, were managed with
great dexterity, and inflicted consider-
able loss upon the invaders.

When the English resumed the arts of
peace the possession of horses, from a
national point of view, was considered of
great importance, for we find that Athel-
stan prohibited their exportation.

History reveals therefore the fact that

previous to the Norman Conquest
horses were numerous in Britain, and
that the natives were skilled equestrians.
From this epoch to the period of the
Norman Conquest no authentic infor-
mation can be obtained relative to the
condition of the English horse; but im-
mediately after the Conquest history
comes to our assistance and distinctly
tells us the various phases through which
the British horses have passed in attain-
ing their present excellence. Previously
to this period it would seem that no
large war-horse had ever set hoof upon
these shores ; but after the death of
Harold every Norman knight in Eng- Horses of

land was the owner of a large war-steed, ^knig^hta-
and, although the tournament at this
time was not a national institution, the

war-steed represented the progenitor of
the horse about to be used in the tilting
yard and the hunting grounds, to pre-
serve which William laid desolate many
villages of England, necessitated the
propagation of horses larger than ponies,
and we may assume that from the com-
mencement of the Plantagenet dynasty
an improvement in the British breeds of
horses began.
Horses The nobles who accompanied Wil-

England by liam the Conqueror brought with them

many horses, both war-steeds and small
horses. These animals, when distributed
throughout their various and newly ac-
quired possessions, furnished the means,
by intermixture with native breeds,
whereby a general improvement was
effected. "One of these nobles, Roger

de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, is
particularly celebrated for introducing
Spanish stallions into his Welch posses-
sions.

The tournament on the continent had
become a pastime for warriors ; in Eng-
land the love of hunting the deer re-
tarded for some years the institution of
the tournament. The hunting field,
fortunately, gave an impetus to the pro- Worses¹⁰"

.. p i i , i from Loin -

pagation of large horses to carry heavy _Dara_y _an(j

men, and with the tournament a further
incentive occurred in causing the ex-
portation of large horses from Lom-
bardy and Flanders to these isles.

The account we have of the first
tournament in England was during
Henry II.'s reign, and FitzStephen in-
forms us that on every Sunday in Lent

The first _a tournament was held in Smithfield,

England. where young Londoners, mounted on
war-horses, rode into the fields and there
performed a variety of warlike evolu-
tions, armed " hastilibus ferro demptis;"
and the tournament ruled supreme on
the continent and in England until the
reign of Elizabeth, soon after which
date the race-course gradually pushed
out of existence this ancient pastime.

intermixture The large horses in England during

breeds. ^he days of the tournament were not

largely represented, but a sufficient
number were kept by knights and others
so as to cause by intermixture with
smaller animals, the gradual increase
in the size of the British horse ; and
these continental horses even during the
days referred to did not exhibit the

quality the smaller horses possessed ;
consequently it was from other sources
that improvement in the smaller breeds
was commenced.

The Crusades offered an opportunity The horses

to the warriors who left this country for Saracens,
the Holy Land to note the excellence of
the horses ridden by the Saracens ; and
on their return to this country many
Asiatic horses found their way to Eng-
land, and became the progenitors of that
stock whose descendants, in the days of
the first Stuart, and later on, were able
to contend on the race-course.

The advent of the Crusaders' foreign
horses to England was the first step
which led to the introduction of greater
quality to the English light-bred horses

and to the improvement of heavy types;

and is the first authentic record in es-
tablishing the fact of the importation of
an exact type of horse. These were
Asiatic horses which were purchased by
British warriors, or taken in battle, and
most likely were selected for their good
forms and qualities, and came from the
same or similar stock through which the
importation importations of Charles II. descended.

horses. They were Eastern horses�were Barbs,

Turks, Arabs, and Persians, and many of
these types in the East have retained their
splendid characteristics through a thousand
years. They were, as they are now, small,
that is, not more than fourteen hands
and a half high, but it was due to these
animals that the English pony increased
in size, and the charger gained quality.
On the continent years previously to

the Crusade period, the Turks had been
celebrated for their breed of horses, and
various authentic accounts have reached
us relative to the beauty and fleetness
of the Turkish horse. It is needless to
recount the fabulous story of the mares
belonging to the prophet Mahomet ; but The horses of

^fo ° ^ ^r ' Mahomet.

suffice it to repeat that the Eastern horse
was celebrated for his eminent qualifi-
cations in prose and verse six hundred
years after the Christian era. This
establishes the fact that in Central Asia
and Southern Europe Mahomet and his
army were supplied with a goodly array
of splendid horses, horses destined through
their descendants to improve the coarser
types of the equine race throughout
Europe, and for England in particular.

The horses brought to this country

by the crusaders had most likely de-
rectly descended from the stock with
which Mahomet and his followers had
waged war, and this, taken into conside-
ration with other facts soon to be ex-
posed, proves that it was from the
Quality in ail Eastern horse England originally derived

of British the quality now to be noticed through-
horses
obtained from out the whole range of her equine

For the tournament, the light Arab
looking horses imported by the crusaders
would have been useless. For this pas-
time heavy horses were imported, and it
was from intermixture between these two
types that quality was obtained and great
size conserved. Upon such steeds the
warriors of old faced their enemies in the
battlefield and on the titlting ground

encased in armour so weighty that it
sometimes demanded the assistance of
two squires to mount them.

Chargers of great size were imported
by the Anglo-Normans, Plantagenets,
and Tudors, from Flanders and Lom-
bardy, and Chaucer thus sings the praises
of this equine type:

For it so high was and so broad and long,
So well proportioned for to be so strong,
Eight as it were a steed of Lombardy.

Before the great horse the race of
ponies gradually receded ; the small ani-
mals were mated with imported weight-
carriers, and thus the standard of height
was raised from eleven to fourteen if not
fifteen hands, for we find that during the Laws passed
reign of Henry VIII. a law was passed the breeding

which enacted that no stallion less than horses.

fifteen hands and no mare less than
thirteen hands should run wild in the
country. A colt two years old and
under eleven hands and a half high was
not permitted to run on any moor, forest,
or common where mares were pastured,
and at Michaelmastide the neighbour-
Orders to ing magistrates were ordered to drive all

small horses forests and commons and not onlv to

^tlta-" destroy such stallions but also "all un-

likely tits, whether mares or foals." It
was further ordered that all prelates and
nobles, and all those " whose wives wore
velvet bonnets, should leap and ride
upon stallions not less than fifteen hands
high, and in Edward VI.'s reign a law
was passed prohibiting the importation
of stallions below fourteen hands and
mares below thirteen hands high.

It is certain, therefore, that in 1550
great attention was bestowed by English-
men in securing a better type of horse
than had previously existed, although
the progress to perfection was very
gradual, as we learn from Blunderville
who lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth Horses of

that two classes of horse existed in the rising Eliza-
beth s reign.

country � " very indifferent, strong,
slow, heavy draught horses, or light and
weak;" and it is, moreover, a notorious
fact that during this reign horses were
scarce. Whether this was caused by the
destruction of " the unlikely tits," during
her father's reign and afterwards, cannot
be determined. But history informs us of
the scanty and meagre display the British
cavalry made at Tilbury Fort when assem-
bled there to be inspected by Elizabeth.

During this reign private matches

were often run for; and ladies of high

rank who had been accustomed to ride

by the side of gentlemen on pillions,

which practice was soon discontinued

Introduction after the introduction of vehicles to
of carriages.

carry people by the Earl of Arundel,
1580.

Lumbering horses were first attached
to these primary heavy carriages. The
then novelty caused most of the nobles
and the rich " to set their Pickfords,"
which ultimately led to better designs
in the constructions of caiTiages, and to
an increased demand for active horses.
So great, we learn, was the demand for
carriages, and horses to draw them, that
a Bill was introduced into the House of
Lords "to restrain the superfluous and

excessive use of coaches;" and although
the Bill was never passed, an inspection
of former statutes for the promotion of
an improved breed of horses was ordered,
which resulted in causing the perpetu-
ation of the antiquated custom of pillion
riding. But there is no doubt that the
introduction of carriages acted as a
powerful incentive to the propagation of
active horses. The pillion was suited
to the back of a heavy, slow animal, but
not to that of an active nag, the kind of
horse whose services were sought alike
for the carriage and the chase.

Battles being fought with artillery,
rendered heavy armour defenceless, which
was consequently reduced to a light de-
scription, was only partially adopted and
then more for ornament than use. The

man with a light breastplate and helmet no
longer needed a cart-horse to carry him.
As the weight of armour decreased, the
ponderous and inactive chai'ger lost his
occupation, and was superseded by a
more agile animal.

During Elizabeth's reign the tourna-
ment was on the wane, and the insti-
tution of private race meetings, ultimately
to be followed by public ones, gave the
finishing stroke to the old pastime and
an extra impetus to the propagation of
horses adapted for racing purposes.

It was not, however, until James I.
ascended the throne that horse-racing was
legally established, in which pursuit this
monarch took great interest, and was
the first to introduce into England a
horse known to be a pure Arabian stal-

The occupa-
tion of the
tournament
horse on the
wane.

lion, which he purchased of a Mr. Mark- First recorded

ham for five hundred guineas. We pos- °* *S ^Ariibian

sess no record of this animal's produce,
but the fact proves that the promoters
of racing recognised in the Eastern horse
the type of animal they required to im-
prove the common stock, although the
great qualifications of such horses had
then only been partially established; for
we find Gervase Markham praises the
English-bred horse of this period as
being superior to those of other countries:
" I do daily find in mine experience that
the virtue, goodness, boldness, swiftness,
and endurance of our true-bred English
horses is equal with any race of horses
whatsoever," and accuses those of igno-
rance who have made assertions to the
contrary.

" The true English horse is tall of
stature and large proportions ; his head,
though not so fine as the Barbarie or the
Turkes, yet is lean, long, and well-
fashioned," &c.

Again, " For swiftness what nation
has brought forth that horse which has
exceeded the English? TV hen the best
Barbaries that ever were in their prime,
I saw them overrune by a black hobbie
at Salisbury, and yet that black hobbie
was overrunne by a horse called Valen-
tine, which Valentine neither in hunting
or running was ever equalled, yet was a
plain-bred horse both by syre and dam.
Again, for infinite labour, as long en-
durance, which is to be desired in our
hunting matches, I have not seen any
horse to compare with the English. He

Markham's
opinioD of
the " true-
bred " Eng-
lish horse of
this period.

is of tolerable shape, strong, valiant, and
durable."



		11
	THE HORSE.	11
	THE HORSE.

utility horses in the -world. These have formed the backbone of more than one great military organisation in Europe, and, in emergencies, have enabled them to take the field well prepared; whereas England, not long ago, when war seemed not far distant, was compelled to hunt up supplies from outside sources. A lesson has constantly been taught us, Supply not to ^J ° hand in the and yet we have failed to recognise its ^yofneed. importance at the proper moment; late in the day necessity has forced us to ener- getic action in procuring that which we should have already possessed. The demand has created the supply, but at the same time the demand has caused the supply to increase in value, and the nation has been obliged to pay larger prices for her troop-horses than would



	12
	12	THE HORSE.
		THE HORSE.

have been the case had she been suffi- ciently well supplied so as to have been prepared. The breeding The root of this evil and the so-called of thorough- breds for scarcity of horses is to be found in the racing J purposes. extensive propagation of thorough-breds for the sole purpose of racing. On the continent, on the other hand, a good supply of horses is always kept up, be- cause racing with them is a pastime and not a business. Their extensive military organisations create a demand for useful horses, and therefore their business operations are directed in at- tempting to propagate general utility horses. It seems strange that the wealth of horse - loving Englishmen should be concentrated upon the production of



	18
	18	THE HORSE.
		THE HORSE.

used for war or amusement. The monu- ments and wall paintings which have been left to posterity by ancient Greece, afford us only slight assistance in our The size of attempt to determine the size of horse the ancient Grecian horse. _whi_ch _was _m the habit of performing at Olympia, Cythia, and Isthmia. In an Etruscan graveyard a wall-painting was discovered which represents horses har- nessed to chariots, about to enter the hippodrome, in which the horses are much larger than the vehicles, in fact, are out of all proportion with them, and so are many horses and carriages simi- larly depicted by Greek artists. The sculptors of the period produced statues of horses, which were conspi- cuous for their beauty of design and correct anatomical delineation, which



	22
	22	THE HORSE.
		THE HORSE.

trade pursuits, but devoted their lives almost exclusively to martial exercises and hunting, in performance of which they necessarily required large horses to carry them ; and in Bavaria and other localities in the German states horse- shoes larger than those found in Roman tumuli have been discovered. At the same time the shoes usually found in Fatherland give evidence that the Ger- mans, like the Romans, possessed for the most part only a small race of horses, although unusually large horse - shoes have been excavated from regions bor- dering on the banks of the Rhine, and from this it may be conjectured that large horses to a certain extent were used by this nation for military exploits and smaller ones for hunting and everyday use-



	24
	24	THE HOKSE.

horses in the tournament. The Troy game practised by the Roman youth is de- Troy game, scribed by Virgil to be an equestrian exercise, and was the forerunner of the tournament, a pastime in which large horses, weighted with armour and heavy riders, contended. It is impossible to determine the exact date of the first tournament. Mcetas states that the Emperor Emanuel Comeninus " invented tilts and tournaments at the siege of Constantinople." Nithard mentions the exhibition of an equestrian pastime simi- Thetouma- lar to the tournament exhibited in Ger- ment instituted. _many before the Emperor Louis and his brother Charles the Bald, about the year 842. He recounts how knights of different nations formed into two equal divisions rode against and other



		iZW

	*?.;"�

GOLDFINCH, BT LOP. THE PROPERTY OF JOHN TURNER, ESQ. Acquired great celebrity as a Hunter in the Marsham or Joliife Hunt. 1770.



LONDON: PBINTED BI ST. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.

	RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT TE UTRECHT

		2671 277 2





					PREFACE.

		The present booklet has been written with the intent to prove that of late years the English nation has failed in the production of one of its most important commodi- ties, and the means by which a further extent of this evil can be remedied has been suggested. The race-course has caused the excessive creation of thorough-breds. Why should not the general-utility horse possess a suitable arena whereon to exhibit his speed and endurance at other paces than the gallop ? The demand for such horses in a commercial point of view is not sufficiently attractive to create the much- needed supply; but were trotting courses instituted in this country similar to those in America then the supply would, in a very few years, exceed the demand. The illustrations which accompany this small volume are intended to point out the classes of horses which existed during the various periods of the world's history, and especially those common to Great Britain during the



			IV PREFACE.

		past and present centuries ; from which the public will be able to judge whether we possess such good horses now as we did one hundred years ago. As Englishmen it is our duty to do all in our power to prevent the decline and fall of the British utility horse, for such certainly will take place unless we bestir our- selves to energetic action in supplying a commodity which we now in great measure obtain from foreign sources. Is it not a national disgrace that England of the past, which supplied Europe with her best horses, should now be dependent upon Continental countries for her useful supplies ? Reader! Assist in rescuing us from an impending national calamity ? It can be accomplished by the adoption of means similar to, if not identical with, those detailed in the following pages. JAMES IRVINE LUPTON. Dunstable House, Richmond, Surrey. May 27th, 1881.



	2
	2	TEE HORSE.

The demand There is no doubt that at this time responded to byconti- fa_e demand for horses exceeded the nental coun- America. ^suPPtyi ^and that the demand was re- sponded to by continental countries and our American brothers, and although such horses assisted us in our life- traffic, they were deficient in quality and lacked that form which a century past had taught Englishmen to admire. But since this date the foreign horse has improved, and this improvement has been obtained not with foreign material but by importation of equine material from these shores. Good stallions and mares have been sent to Germany, France, &c. in order that these countries might grow for us the very commodity we wanted and which we refused to manufacture. We exported to foreign countries that



		THE HOKSE. 3 which we should have retained for home use. At the present moment we possess the best breeds of horses in the world, whether they be thorough-breds, nags, or cart-horses ; but in the production of general utility horses we are allowing other countries to overtake us. How is it that we allow this state of Minns of supply. things to exist ? Create a demand and the supply will be forthcoming, so long as the producer of the supply is well paid for his pains. Many English far- mers assert that it pays them better to breed sheep than horses, and we know that many horse-breeding establishments have proved failures. But this is no reason why the future of businesses in this direction should not pay if properly conducted. 1 *



			THE HORSE. 5

		mencement of the century. And other authorities gave opinions upon the sub- ject ; but in giving them, it would appear from the evidence before us, only took under their consideration the English thorough-bred. The general utility horse The general ° o J utility horse escaped their attention, or was deemed ^d°es_not ¹ ' receive the unworthy of that notice which it was Reserves! * the ostensible duty of the committee to have considered. The truth appears on the slightest re- flection how it is that the race-horse rules dominant in the minds of horsemen, and why the utility horse does not command that attention which, in a national point of view, its importance demands. In the breeding of thorough-breds for racing purposes the youngsters represent certain items with which every racing



			6 THE HORSE.

		man who buys one hopes to gain a prize; in fact, the idea of gain being excluded from the calculation such animal would hardly find a buyer, or at any rate, he would fail to realise the heavy prices usually obtained unless the race-course loomed in the distance. Gambling a J?_ov the past two hundred years the barrier to the of'Sefaf⁰¹¹ ^^ave °^ racing, or more properly, the tendency to gamble, has prompted Eng- lishmen to breed horses for the turf, animals required only to exhibit one pace, viz. to gallop; the walk, the trot, &c, not being a qualification demanded from racing stock. The race-horse must gal- lop; and to obtain this end the fastest galloping parents have been selected from year to year as the progenitors of our thorough-bred horses. And this is



		7
	THE H0RSJS.	7
	THE H0RSJS.

the seclusive breed that Englishmen for the past half-century have devoted all their energies and money to propagate. Had one-fourth of this money been ex- pended in improving the general utility breeds of horses, we should not now have to be dependent upon foreign importation for our useful supplies. But does the British thorough-bred assist us in our everyday life traffic ? Does he represent an important item in calculating our na- tional prosperity? Not so much as many The merits of ^x t- �/ o the racer and would have us believe, especially if we Jf^^⁸⁹impartially take into consideration the qualifications which the race-horse, as a beast of burden, lacks when placed in juxtaposition with commoner breeds. The British thorough-bred is, without doubt, the fastest galloper in the world.



		9
	THE HOESE.	9
	THE HOESE.

a vehicle. The racer again could not compete with the van or cart-horse for strength ; he could not draw heavy carts laden with weighty commodities, at such work he would not last a week. As a weight-carrying hunter and JeigMre. . � move hea'v brougham-horse he sometimes puts m an _burdens. appearance, when his size, strength, and good shape, command a price only to be reached by the very rich. The thorough- bred horse very seldom exhibits, un- fortunately, the qualifications required to carry sixteen stone, or to draw a ton ; yet many half-bred animals possess that physical development which renders them capable of such performances. And it is this breed which we are much in want of and which the foreigner, from British material has supplied, and consequently



			10 THE HOKSE.

the one the Englishman of the future ought to propagate, incentives to J_n foreign countries the lust after the breeding

horse^on the *^^e possession of territory has prompted

	continent.
		man to breed horses for war purposes, and in places where large armaments are the order of the day large supplies of horses are demanded, and these of the best quality. The foreigner had noticed in the past the value of the English cavalry and artillery, and to how great an extent the excellence of his horses had contributed to success in the field. He had learnt how England had propagated these breeds, and in British markets has purchased equine goods to be made up, by judicious selection, with those in his own country, which has resulted in the production of some of the best general



			THE HORSE. 13

		one select breed of horses, and that only because they are conspicuous as fast - gallopers � that English intellect should be absorbed in breeding horses capable of running successfully at a very early age over short distances, sometimes not exceeding half a mile. Is this COUrse Calculated to improve Short race- courses pro- our breeds of horses ? Racine; was esta- ductive of ^e evil. blished to improve the breeds of horses, and large sums of money are voted yearly in royal grants for races in which thorough - breds alone figure. Is this system likely to operate successfully in procuring the extension and improvement of our commoner breeds? The blood- horse is master of the situation within the arena of the race-course, whereon he only exhibits one action; only is eminent



				14 THE HOBSE.

	at racing speed; and all other paces, and they are many and varied, which belong to low class breeds, never seem to have entered into the consideration of British No arena for horsemen ? Consequently good walkers trotting races exist m f_ag� trotters, and weight-carrying hacks have never been supplied with an arena whereon their respective qualifications could have been tested, although such animals have assisted and continue to as- sist us in the operations of our extensive commerce. France and Germany devote their energies to propagate this very

The purpose for which foreigners buy English horses.			breed which we discourage. They re- cognise�as every horseman of experience
The purpose for which foreigners buy English horses.
		does�the great value of the English thorough-bred, and in this country select our best types and give a higher price for English sires than we do. But they



		THE HORSE. 15 do not buy them with a view to produce race-horses, but to cross with native mares of their respective countries in order to obtain general utility horses. American horses surpass all English American ^L ^& trotters. breeds in trotting, and our brothers possess more horses as beasts of burden than we do. They purchase our tho- rough-breds, and by judicious selection and crossing have produced animals of high ■ courage and endurance, which qualities have been derived from English stock. In Germany everything seems to be rendered subservient to the development of a powerful mihtary organisation. For the equipment of a large army, it is necessary that the cavalry transport and artillery should be placed upon a firm



				.iluiii i umtiiiiiH^Mi

					16 THE HOESE. footing, and above all things that horses attached to these branches of the ser- vice should possess quality and sub- stance. These properties she ensures by importing English blood-horses to The improve- improve the quality, which she mates ments among foreign horses -^th coarser native breeds, exhibiting obtained ' ° meXmof⁶ substance; and in proof that this system blood, has answered we have only to re- member that during the past few years German horses have found their way into this country, and some of the best steppers in London during the past season were bred on the continent. So good are many that it requires more than a good judge to determine their foreign extraction. France of late years has imitated Eng- land in instituting races ; but this in



		THE HORSE. 17 comparison with the "all the year round" racing practised here is of a very limited nature, and moreover France does not concentrate all her energies upon this particular, but like Germany obtains British thorough-bred blood to mix with her native stock in perfecting a power- ful military system. It is impossible to exactly indicate The torses * of Greece. from what sources our early breeds of horses originated, but it is necessary in order to establish the accuracy of the above recorded assertions to investigate the history of the past. We know that the Greeks indulged in equine exercises, conducted on horseback and in chariots, and that rhey ranked as the highest public games; but we fail to learn from Greek authors the size of the horses 2



		THE HORSE. 19 points to the fact that the ancient Grecian monuments. Grecian horse, if small, possessed ele- gance of form and propoi'tion which at this day would be considered indicative of quality. By ancient authors the war steed is constantly mentioned. Tacitus describes the celebrated breed which existed in Argolis, and the surrounding pastures are described by Homer as affording grazing ground for a fine breed of horses. The ancient kingdom of Thessaly was Ancient descriptions famous for its horses, which from the °^� ^Gre°ian ' horses. descriptions given, were evidently of large size, as the fiction of the Cen- taurs is allowed to have originated from them. Diodorus Siculus] states that Ma- cedonia in ancient times " abounded in horses above all other countries in 2 *



			20 THE HOESE.

		Greece," that in the royal stud near Pella three hundred stallions and thirty thou- sand mares were kept. Horses were evidently more highly esteemed by the ancients, and were given as presents and often demanded as tribute. Strabo informs us that the Cappado- cians paid an annual tribute to the Per- sians " of one thousand five hundred horses, two thousand mules, and fifty thousand sheep." The exact type of horse the ancients possessed, and the height and size to which such animals grew, we are un- able exactly to determine. Researches in the subject direct our attention to the shoes excavated from Roman and other tumuli, when the size of the shoe found indirectly allows us to indicate the size



		THE HORSE. 21 of horse for which it was forged. Most Size of shoe indicates of these shoes of the oldest type are small ^lndirectiy J ^r size of horse and seem to have intended for the hoofs of ponies or mules. The shoes dis- covered in one century wei*e smaller than those discovered during the next, and from this fact it can be deduced that if the horses' feet grew larger their general bodily development increased in size, proportionately with their hoofs. The Germans or Cimbri are repre- sented by Tacitus as a race of big men possessed of great bodily strength. Cre- sar considered " their bodies grew large and robust because their animal spirits had not been exhausted in their youth, by learning, study, or other troublesome occupation." Certain it is that they seldom cultivated the soil or engaged in



		THE HORSE. 23 From the foregoing it will be recog- nised that from the early Roman down to subsequent periods, the size of the horse increased, and this doubtless was effected by the admixture of the large type of horse which existed in mid-Europe with the smaller breeds. From the earliest times to the present Extension of civilisation day the requirements of barbarous and Jas operated * * beneflcially cruel war have instigated men to obtain improvement powerful horses for martial purposes, and this, together with the extension of civi- lisation, has caused the equine tribes throughout the world to increase both numerically and in coi'poreal develop- ment. If we pass from the days of ancient Greece and Rome, we soon meet with an incentive to the production of large



			THE HOKSE. 25

		wise engaged each other as if in battle. The Germans claim to have been the originators of these sports in 936. The French assert that Geofry of Previlli in Anjou, who was killed at Gaunt in 1066, was the first to invent the tournament. But from whatever coun- try it derived its origin large horses must have been required to carry heavy men weighted with armour ; conse- quently it is certain that weight-carry- ing horses at the dates above indicated, were somewhat numerously represented. The tournament was not, however, es- tablished in England until sixty years after the Norman conquest, but at the Large horses from Nor- same time William and his followers ^mandy- brought over with them from Normandy



			26 THE HORSE.

		large horses. The Bayeux tapestry re- presents the boats of the invading army full of horses. " Every knight has a small hack on which he rides without armour, whilst his great war-horse is led by a squire." The Bayeux From the character of this picture tapestry. we learn that the large war-horse and small nag were contemporaries of the Anglo-Norman period. The tournament charger was not of the same powerful breed as those which represent our wagon horses of the present day. They were animals not sixteen hands high and possessed little more stamina than a brougham - horse of to-day. The small nag was also a mere pony. Its primary origin might have been derived from Greek or Roman sources ; but it was



			28 THE HOKSti.

		incursions upon this country, brought with them horses which, by admixture, doubtless stamped their impress upon the native stock, and so primarily paved the way to the permanent improvement of the British horse; for when Caesar Caesar's landed in England he wrote of the coun- opinion of British ^,y _ag a j)j_ves equum," &c, and well he horses. . might, for in addition to a cavalry force he was opposed by four thousand chariots which, he narrates, were managed with great dexterity, and inflicted consider- able loss upon the invaders. When the English resumed the arts of peace the possession of horses, from a national point of view, was considered of great importance, for we find that Athel- stan prohibited their exportation. History reveals therefore the fact that



		: THE HORSE. 29 previous to the Norman Conquest horses were numerous in Britain, and that the natives were skilled equestrians. From this epoch to the period of the Norman Conquest no authentic infor- mation can be obtained relative to the condition of the English horse; but im- mediately after the Conquest history comes to our assistance and distinctly tells us the various phases through which the British horses have passed in attain- ing their present excellence. Previously to this period it would seem that no large war-horse had ever set hoof upon these shores ; but after the death of Harold every Norman knight in Eng- Horses of ' o o the Norman land was the owner of a large war-steed, ^knig^hta- and, although the tournament at this time was not a national institution, the



			30 THE HOBSE.

		war-steed represented the progenitor of the horse about to be used in the tilting yard and the hunting grounds, to pre- serve which William laid desolate many villages of England, necessitated the propagation of horses larger than ponies, and we may assume that from the com- mencement of the Plantagenet dynasty an improvement in the British breeds of horses began. Horses The nobles who accompanied Wil- brought to England by liam the Conqueror brought with them the Normans. many horses, both war-steeds and small horses. These animals, when distributed throughout their various and newly ac- quired possessions, furnished the means, by intermixture with native breeds, whereby a general improvement was effected. "One of these nobles, Roger



			32 THE HORSE.

		The first _a tournament was held in Smithfield, tournament in England. where young Londoners, mounted on war-horses, rode into the fields and there performed a variety of warlike evolu- tions, armed " hastilibus ferro demptis;" and the tournament ruled supreme on the continent and in England until the reign of Elizabeth, soon after which date the race-course gradually pushed out of existence this ancient pastime. intermixture The large horses in England during of various breeds. ^he days of the tournament were not largely represented, but a sufficient number were kept by knights and others so as to cause by intermixture with smaller animals, the gradual increase in the size of the British horse ; and these continental horses even during the days referred to did not exhibit the



			36 THE HORSE.

		by the crusaders had most likely de- rectly descended from the stock with which Mahomet and his followers had waged war, and this, taken into conside- ration with other facts soon to be ex- posed, proves that it was from the Quality in ail Eastern horse England originally derived of British the quality now to be noticed through- horses obtained from out the whole range of her equine Eastern horses. breeds. For the tournament, the light Arab looking horses imported by the crusaders would have been useless. For this pas- time heavy horses were imported, and it was from intermixture between these two types that quality was obtained and great size conserved. Upon such steeds the warriors of old faced their enemies in the battlefield and on the titlting ground



		37
	THE HOBSE.	37

encased in armour so weighty that it sometimes demanded the assistance of two squires to mount them. Chargers of great size were imported by the Anglo-Normans, Plantagenets, and Tudors, from Flanders and Lom- bardy, and Chaucer thus sings the praises of this equine type: For it so high was and so broad and long, So well proportioned for to be so strong, Eight as it were a steed of Lombardy. Before the great horse the race of ponies gradually receded ; the small ani- mals were mated with imported weight- carriers, and thus the standard of height was raised from eleven to fourteen if not fifteen hands, for we find that during the Laws passed reign of Henry VIII. a law was passed the breeding of large which enacted that no stallion less than horses.



		38 THE HORSE. fifteen hands and no mare less than thirteen hands should run wild in the country. A colt two years old and under eleven hands and a half high was not permitted to run on any moor, forest, or common where mares were pastured, and at Michaelmastide the neighbour- Orders to ing magistrates were ordered to drive all slaughter small horses forests and commons and not onlv to and " unlikely �' ^tlta-" destroy such stallions but also "all un- likely tits, whether mares or foals." It was further ordered that all prelates and nobles, and all those " whose wives wore velvet bonnets, should leap and ride upon stallions not less than fifteen hands high, and in Edward VI.'s reign a law was passed prohibiting the importation of stallions below fourteen hands and mares below thirteen hands high.



			THE HORSE. 39

		It is certain, therefore, that in 1550 great attention was bestowed by English- men in securing a better type of horse than had previously existed, although the progress to perfection was very gradual, as we learn from Blunderville who lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth Horses of ^J England that two classes of horse existed in the rising Eliza- beth s reign. country � " very indifferent, strong, slow, heavy draught horses, or light and weak;" and it is, moreover, a notorious fact that during this reign horses were scarce. Whether this was caused by the destruction of " the unlikely tits," during her father's reign and afterwards, cannot be determined. But history informs us of the scanty and meagre display the British cavalry made at Tilbury Fort when assem- bled there to be inspected by Elizabeth.