describes these horses as of a class adapted 

 to the "purposes of war and the exhibition 

 of public assemblies.'' 



There is nothing; to tell us when horses 



o 



were first used in agriculture in England ; 

 the earliest mention of such, some consider- 

 able research has revealed, is the reference 

 to " four draught horses " owned by the 

 proprietor of an Essex manor in the reign 

 of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066). 

 Under the Norman and Plantagenet kings 

 the plough appears to have been adapted for 

 draught by either oxen or horses. The 

 former undoubtedly were the more generally 

 used, and continued in use until compara- 

 tively recent times in some parts of the 

 country. 



One of the pieces of tapestry worked in 

 Bayonne in 1066 shows the figure of a man 

 driving a horse harnessed to a harrow. This 

 is the earliest pictorial evidence we possess 

 of the employment of the horse in field labour. 



The Conqueror and his followers came 

 from a country in which agriculture was in 

 a more advanced state than it was in Eng- 

 land, and it cannot be doubted that the 

 Normans did much to promote the interests 

 of English husbandry. 



