WILLIAM RUFUS (1087-1100). 



It was probably during the reign of 

 William Rufus that the first endeavour to 

 improve the British breed of horses was 

 made. Giraldus Cambrensis informs us 

 that Robert de Belesme brought Spanish 

 stallions to his property in Powysland, 

 Central Wales, and that to these importa 

 tions many years afterwards the district 

 owed its reputation for a superior stamp of 

 horse. The results of this enterprise were 

 certainly of a lasting character, for "a 

 Powys horse " occurs among the purchases 

 made by Edward II. (1272-1307), indicating 

 clearly that the locality still produced a good 

 stamp of animal. 



HENRY I. (1100-1135). 



King Henry I. would appear to have 

 taken an interest in the work of horse-breed- 

 ing. The scanty existing records of his 

 reign contain mention of a visit paid in 1130 

 to the royal manor at Gillingham, in Dorset- 

 shire, by a squire " with a stallion to leap 

 the king's mares." In this king's reign the 

 first Arabs were received in England from 

 Eastern Europe, in the shape of two horses, 

 with costly Turkish armour, as a gift. One 



