80 THE HORSE OF AMERICA.. 



From the time of the Romans in Britain, horse-racing has been 

 a popular and favorite amusement of our ancestors, and from that 

 time horses have been bred for special purposes. The "Great 

 Horse/' as he was called, was bred for war, parade, and show, 

 and was large enough and strong enough to carry a knight in 

 armor. The smaller horses were bred for the race or the chase, 

 others for the saddle on account of their easy, gliding motion, and 

 the comfort of the rider, while others, again, were stout of back and 

 limb and able to carry burdens. In regard to the speed of the 

 horses bred for that purpose, Mr. Gervase Markham, the second 

 Englishman who undertook to write a book on the horse, has 

 given us some very interesting and valuable information. He 

 brought out his work in the latter part of the sixteenth century, 

 and it passed through several "enlarged and improved" editions. 

 In the edition of 1606 he says: 



"For swiftness what nation has brought forth the horse which excelled the 

 English ? When the best Barbaries that ever were in their prime, I saw them 

 overcome by a black Hobbie, of Salisbury, and yet that black Hobbie was over- 

 come by a horse called Valentine, which Valentine neither in hunting nor 

 running was ever equalled, yet was a plain English horse, both by syre and 

 dam." 



From this we must conclude that some horses from the Bar- 

 bary States had been brought over previous to 1606, which doubt- 

 less antedated the arrival of King James' Arabian. This is the 

 horse known as the Markham Arabian, and is in the above list of 

 foundation stallions. In speaking of the Arabian horses as a 

 breed, the Duke of Newcastle remarks as follows upon this 

 particular representative of that breed: 



"I never saw but one of these horses, which Mr. John Markham, a 

 merchant, brought over and said he was a right Arabian. He was a bay, but a 

 little horse, and no rarity for shape, for I have seen many English horses far 

 finer. Mr. Markham sold him to King James for five hundred pounds, and 

 being trained up for a course (race), when he came to run every horse beat 

 him." 



The duke then goes on to speak of the staying qualities of the 

 Arabians: 



" They talk they will ride fourscore miles in a day and never draw 

 the bridle. When I was young I could have bought a nag for ten pounds that 

 would have done as much very easily" 



