542 THE HISTORY OF THE HORSE 



14 hands high; those failing to obey this hiw were subjected to heavy 

 penalties. Every clergyman holding a benefice of £100 per annum, and all 

 those whose wives wore French hoods or velvet bonnets, were liable to a 

 fine of £20 unless they kejDt one stallion " and kept and rode upon stallions 

 not less than 15 hands high". Edward VI passed a law prohibiting the 

 importation of stallions less than 14 and mares less than 13 hands high, 

 and horse-stealing was made a felony. It is certain, therefore, that in 1550 

 great attention was bestowed by Englishmen in attempting to secure a 

 better type of horse than had jDreviously existed in the country. Yet the 

 progress to perfection was very gradual, since we learn from Blundeville, 

 who lived in the days of Elizabeth, that two classes of horses existed, 

 "very indifterent, strong, slow, heavy-draught horses, or light and weak". 

 Moreover, it is a notorious fact that during this reign horses were scarce. 

 Whether this was owing to the destruction of the " unlikely tits " or some 

 other causes cannot be determined, but history informs us of the scanty and 

 meagre display the British cavalry made at Tilbury Fort when assembled 

 there to be inspected by Elizabeth; and Carew in his History of CornwaU 

 suggests that it was to the wholesale slaughter-laws of Henry VIII that the 

 almost total loss of small horses was attributable, " formerly so common in 

 that part of England and Wales ". 



During the Plantagenet and the Tudor periods two classes of horses 

 existed in England, "running horses" as they were called, and war or tourna- 

 ment chargers; but the great horse of the past was as inferior to the Shire 

 horse of to-day as the Barbs and Araliians of the Stuart epoch would be 

 to the thoroughbreds of this era. During the reign of the first Tudor the 

 demand for great horses was on the wane ; battles being fought with artillery 

 rendered heavy armour defenceless, and led to the employment of armour 

 of a lighter description. This, however, w-as only partially adopted, and 

 then more for ornament than use. Ladies of high rank who had been 

 accustomed to ride by the side of gentlemen on pillions soon discontinued 

 this practice after the appearance of carriages, which were introduced by 

 the Earl of Arundel in 1580. Heavy horses, no doubt, were primarily 

 attached to these cumlnous vehicles. Their novelty attracted the attention 

 of the rich, which ultimately led to better designs in the construction of 

 coaches, and as they were made to decrease in weight the demand for 

 lighter horses increased. During Elizabeth's reign the days of the tourna- 

 ment were drawing to a close, consequently one of the incentives to the 

 propagation of heavy hoi'ses was vanishing away. Whether the discon- 

 tinuance of this pastime or the introduction of carriages assisted in causing 

 the decrease in the horse supply which was noticed in the scanty display of 

 cavalry at Tilbury Fort, it is impossible to determine. We know that at 



