538 THE HISTORY OF THE HORSE 



to the increase of British stock and to the improvement of tlie native 

 breeds. AVilHam, at the battle of Hastings, rode a Sjmuish charger, and 

 the Bayeux tapestry depicts some of the equine tyjjcs that were imported 

 on this occasion; all the boats of the invading army are full of horses. 

 " Every knight has a small pony, on which he rides without armour, 

 whilst the great war-horse is led by a squire." Thus history records 

 certain exact equine types that were landed on these shores by William. 

 His charger, most likely, was a Spanish jennet, and the cavalry on both 

 sides were small, even those that were yoked to the chariots; but the 

 great horse upon which the knight entered the combat made his first 

 appearance on the British coast at Hastings. From this importation the 

 tournament horse arose, and, centuries after, the heavy cart-horse. The 

 great horse was strictly a war-horse, and was used also for parade and 

 for display, but light horses were employed in the chase. The Conqueror, 

 who was devoted to this pastime, laid many villages waste in order to 

 secure large ojjen plains for his favourite pursuit of hunting, and no 

 doubt the chase was the cradle in which the future racer was primarily 

 nursed. At this period Eoger de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, in order 

 to improve the existing type of horse then in the country, introduced 

 Spanish stallions into his Welsh estate of Powisland. The excellent 

 qualifications of these animals are recorded liy Giraldus Cambrensis, and 

 their praises are celebrated by the poet Drayton. The Norman nobles who 

 settled in England distributed both large and small horses throughout their 

 newly acquired po.ssessions, and during the Plantagenet dynasty horses 

 from the East and from Lombardy were landed on these shores. Beranger 

 describes these horses as being adapted " for war purposes and exhibition 

 of jjulilic assemblies, of which horses are always an essential and orna- 

 mental part". As yet horses had not been attached to the plough, oxen 

 having been employed in the art of husbandry, and even up to a very 

 recent period the horse had been exempted from this service. At the 

 time of the Norman Conquest the horse had been employed in agri- 

 cultural labour, however, as the Baj'eux tapestry gives a picture of a man 

 driving a horse drawing a harrow. In the reign of Henry I two horses 

 of Barbary were imported into this country, one being presented to the 

 king and the other to the church of St. Andrews, by Alexander the First 

 of Scotland. This is the first notice we have of Oriental horses having 

 been imported into Great Britain. Youatt says that some authors have 

 asserted that from these two horses sprung the English thoroughbred, 

 a statement which he thinks " is devoid of foundation". This may or 

 may not be the case, but if they Avcre Barbs or Arabians they certainly 

 were of the right breed from which race - horses could be produced. 



