STUD BOOK. 43 



ting velocity; the jockeys, inspired with the thoughts of 

 applause and the hopes of victory, clapping spurs to their 

 willing steeds, brandishing their whips, and cheering them 

 with their cries." 



This is a quaint and amusing picture of the dawning 

 spirit of horse-racing. Crossing was evidently an acknowl- 

 edged accomplishment, and personal flagellations between 

 competing jockeys not unfrequently resulted from excess of 

 emulation. Fertile indeed must have been their imagin- 

 ations if they dreamed that their racing frolics would, in 

 process of time, grow into an important national speculation; 

 much less could they have anticipated that their unsophisti- 

 cated pastimes were the embryo of that fame which has been 

 acquired by England through the medium of the race-horse. 



This description, with the exception of the cries, might 

 have formed part of the record of a modern race at Epsom 

 in the columns of a morning paper; so national is the English 

 sport of horse-racing, and so unchanged are its characteris- 

 tics in all but the existing gambling system, which has been 

 incorporated with the efforts of the noble animal to reach the 

 goal iirst. 



The Crusades now followed; yet, though the opportuni- 

 ties of improving the English breed was necessarily great, 

 from the facilities with which the finest Oriental horses might 

 have been obtained, no advantage seems to have been taken 

 of them. A gloomy and superstitious fanaticism solely 

 occupied the minds of the warriors, and to this all useful 

 purposes were sacrificed; the English horses were none the 

 better for their experience, though they must frequently have 

 felt the superiority of the Oriental breed in actual warfare. 



King John paid great attention to the improvement of 

 horses for agricultural purposes, and to him we are indebted 

 for the origin of our (fraught-horses. He chiefly imported 

 Flemish horses, and such was his anxiety to possess the finest 

 stock from these, that he would accept strong horses as rent 

 for Crown lands, and as fines for the renewal of leases. His 

 personal stud was both numerous and excellent 



Edward HL was the first among our monarchs who 

 thought the subject worthy of serious attention. He was a 

 zealous patron of the course, and in his reign English horse- 

 breeders began to cross the heavy native breed with horses of 

 a lighter structure and greater speed. The king himself 

 purchased a considerable number of Spanish horses, the off- 

 spring of the Arabs, which had been introduced into their 

 country by the Moors. The effort was eminently successful. 



