HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED. 53 
has been experienced, which it will take some years to recover. The 
Cossack horses are mere ponies or galloways, and would have no chance 
in a charge of cavalry, being reserved for lighter duties, which they are 
admirably fitted to perform. 
NORWEGIAN AND SWEDISH HORSES. 
Iv Norway the horses are aimost all of a colour, midway between 
cream and dun, with black manes and tails, and a black stripe along the 
back. Several stallions of this breed were introduced into Wales about 
forty or fifty years ago, and these peculiar markings are still prevalent 
there. They are of good shape, very safe, and possessed of clean but not 
very high action. 
Tur SWEDISH HoRSES are smaller than those of Norway, and of all 
colours. They are chiefly used in harness, being driven in a carriole with 
very long shafts, so that the body is suspended midway between the horse 
and the wheels. This gives it a very uneasy motion, which requires some 
time to accustom the rider to it. When larger carriages are required, four 
of these little creatures are put to them, and they will gallop a ten mile 
stage within the hour. 
CHAPTER VL 
THE ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED HORSE. 
GENERAL HISTORY—THE ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED HORSE OF 1750—HIS ORIGIN—TUE 
MODERN THOROUGHBRED—INCREASE OF SIZE AND SYMMETRY—COMPARATIVE STOUT- 
NESS—EARLY MATURITY—OBJECT OF ENCOURAGING THE BREED—ESSENTIALS IN 
THE THOROUGHBRED—PURITY OF BLOOD—EXTERNAL FORMATION—HEIGHT—COLOUR 
—COAT, MANE, AND TAIL—THE THOROUGHBRED HUNTER AND STEEPLECHASER. 
GENERAL HISTORY. 
WE HAVE NO RECORD of the existence of the horse in England until the 
time of the Roman invasion of the island, when we know that large 
numbers were found here ready to oppose the landing, and used both in 
chariots and as cavalry. But this country never became remarkable for 
her breed of horses until after the time of the Stuarts, who paid great 
attention to this animal, and caused numbers of Arab stallions and 
mares to be imported. In the time of Henry the Eighth, the want of 
good horses was so much felt, that an Act was passed, forbidding any 
entire horse of a greater age than two years, and less than fifteen hands 
high, to be turned out in any common or waste land in the counties of 
Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Buckingham, Huntingdon, Essex, Kent, 
Hampshire, Wiltshire, Oxford, Berkshire, Worcester, Gloucester, Somer- 
set, Bedfordshire, Warkwickshire, Northampton, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staf- 
fordshire, Lancashire, Salop, Leicester, Hereford, Lincoln, and North or 
South Wales. In other counties the limit was put at fourteen hands, but 
for what reason I am not aware. Small weedy mares and foals were also 
ordered to be destroyed ; and the owners of horses infected with a con- 
tagious disease, who turned them out, were fined ten shillings. Still, the 
deficiency was so great, that in the time of the threatened invasion by 
the Spanish Armada, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, only three thousand 
