14 RACING. 



So says Whyte, but ' double ' in French is often used for an 

 ' entire ' horse as against 'ongre,' which signifies gelding. At 

 the same time a cob is often called a * double pony,' though not 

 entire. 



A ' curtal ' was a horse whose tail was cut or shortened. 



A ' gambaldyne ' horse was one of show or parade from 

 gambol, which is derived from the Italian ' gamba ' (leg). An 

 ambler is called a pacer now-a-days. 



An ' amblynge ' horse was one of much the same descrip- 

 tion, but whose more quiet ambling pace adapted him especially 

 to the use of ladies. 1 



Edward VI. , convinced that horses were now become more 

 valuable than they had been, was the first to make the stealing 

 of them a capital offence. By the i Ed. VI. c. 12 it is enacted 

 that ' No person convicted for feloniously stealing of horses, 

 geldings, or mares, shall have the privilege of the clergy.' 



The deficiency of this statute being observed, inasmuch as 

 it ran only in the plural to wit, horses, geldings and mares, a 

 doubt arose whether a person convicted of stealing one only of 

 each was not entitled to his clergy ; but in order to remove this 

 doubt, 'the statute of 2 & 3 Ed. VI. was promulgated, wherein 

 it is enacted, that ' all and singular person and persons feloni- 

 ously taking and stealing any horse, gelding, or mare, shall not 

 be permitted to enjoy the benefit of clergy, but shall be put 

 from the same.' 



Both these Acts of Parliament are therefore still in force, 

 the latter being only supplemental to the former. 



Till towards the termination of the reign of Elizabeth, only 

 saddle-horses and carts were used for the conveyance of persons 

 of all distinctions. Elizabeth rode behind her Master of the 

 Horse when she went in state to St. Paul's ; but this practice 

 was discontinued when Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, introduced 



1 There is no record of our ancestors having known that tying the fore and 

 hind leg on the same side teaches horses to amble or pace, though when 

 turned out on commons it may have been in use as a system for checking 

 horses. 



