52 



quickly than Colonel Liddell could cover the 

 distance in his coach with post-horses. The 

 barbarous methods of training cavalry recruits 

 at this period was attracting notice, as we 

 learn from a little work on Military Equita- 

 tion, by Henry Earl of Pembroke, which was 

 published in 1761. The writer refers to the 

 " wretched system of horsemanship at present 

 prevailing in the army," and refers to the 

 common method of putting a man on a rough 

 trotting horse, to which he is obliged to stick 

 with all his might of arms and legs." Most 

 of the officers, he says, when on horseback 

 are a disgrace to themselves and the animals 

 they ride ; and he proceeds to urge the adop- 

 tion of methods based on practical common 

 sense. 



GEORGE III. (1760-1820.) 



The laws concerning horses made by the 

 Parliaments of George III. have bearing on 

 the subject of breeding and improvement, 

 inasmuch as they deal with the horse as 

 taxable property. The turf, road, and hunt- 

 ing history of the reign is important, the first 

 particularly so, though the King himself took 

 little personal interest in racing. " Give and 

 Take" plates for horses from 12 to 15 hands 

 were in fashion during the latter part of the 



