ii8 HELLENIC HORSEMEN 



Games of b.c. 680. By b.c. 640 the ridden 

 horse had become of consequence enough to 

 share the great honours of the Otympiad, but 

 still the tactical use of cavalry was delayed. 

 Greece is a small rough country much broken 

 by sea channels, and no more suitable than 

 Scotland for the effective use of the mounted 

 arm in war. So, even as late as the Battle of 

 Marathon, the Persian Horse found the Hellenic 

 army afoot ; not until the fifth centur}-' was the 

 Greek Cavalry of any consequence. 



In the Greek statuar}^ of the Great Age we 

 see the Hellenic horses clearly as though they 

 lived. The chariot horse was a noble half-bred 

 carriage animal standing at least sixteen hands. 

 The cavalr}^ remount stood about fourteen 

 hands with a head of unmistakeable breeding 

 from the Bay, and a general chunky comfort- 

 able build which suggests the Dapple, but 

 certainly not the Dun who had served with the 

 heroes of the Achaean age. The Welsh pit 

 pony, used as a yeomanry remount, exactly 

 corresponds with Xenophon's careful descrip- 

 tion of the ideal cavalry horse. " A double 

 back," says he, " that is, when the flesh rises 

 on both sides of the spine, is much softer to sit 

 upon, and more pleasing to the eye than a 

 single one." That was before the days of 



