22 THE HORSE. 



The Conestoga horse is found in Pennsylvania, and the middle States — 

 If.ng 111 the leg and light in the carcase — sometimes rising seventeen hands : 

 UJicd principally for the cairiage ; but when not too high, and witi suffi- 

 cient substance, useful for hunting and the saddle. 



The Ejiglish horse, with a good deal of blood, prevails in Virginia and 

 Kentucky ; and is found, to a greater or less degree, in all the States. The 

 Americans have, at different times, imported some of the best Englisii blood. 

 It has been most diligently and purely preserved in the Southern States. 

 The celebrated Shark, the best horse of his day, and equalled by {ew at 

 any time, was the sire of the best Virginian horses; and Tally-ho, a son 

 of Highflyer, peopled the Jerseys. 



In the back-settlements, and in the south-western States, is a horse re- 

 sembling the wild horse of the Pampas, already described, and evidently 

 of the same oricrin. 



CHAPTER III. 

 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH HORSE. 



The earliest record of the horse in Great Britain is contained in the his- 

 tory given by Julius Ca'sar of his invasion of our island. The British 

 army was accompanied by numerous war-chariots, drawn by horses. Short 

 scythes were fastened to the ends of the axlctrees, sweeping down every 

 thing before them, and carrying terror and devastation into the ranks of 

 their enemies. The conqueror gives a most animated description of the 

 dexterity with which the horses were managed. 



What kind of horse the Britons then possessed, it would be useless to 

 inquire ; but from the cumbrous structure of the car, and the fury with 

 \s Inch it was driven, and from the badness or nonexistence of the roads, 

 they must have been both active and powerful in an extraordinary degree. 

 Caesar deemed them so valuable, that he carried many of them to Rome ; 

 and the British horses were, for a considerable period afterwards, in great 

 request in various parts of the Roman empire. 



Horses must at that time have been exceedingly numerous in Britain, 

 for we are told that when the British king, Cassibellaunus, dismissed the 

 main body of his army, he retained four thousand of his war-chariots for 

 the purpose of harassing the Romans, when they attempted to forage. 



The British horse now received its first cross; but whether the breed 

 was thereby improved cannot be ascertained. The Romans having estab- 

 lished themselves in Britain, found it necessary to send over a numerous 

 body of cavalry to maintain a chain of posts and check the frequent insur- 

 rections of the natives. The Roman horses would breed with those of the 

 country, and, to a greater or less extent, change their character ; and from 

 this lime, the English horse would consist of a compound of the native and 

 those from Gaul, Italy, Spain, and every province from which tlie Roman 

 cavalry was supplied. Many centuries afterwards passed by, and we have 

 no record of the character or value, improvement or deterioration, of the 

 animal. 



It would appear probable, however, that Athelstan, the natural son of 

 Alfred the Great, and the second in succession to him, paid seme atten- 

 lion to the improvement of the horse ; for having subdued all4he rebellious 

 portions of the Heptarchy, he was congratulated on his success by som( of 



