20 



horses. In 1911 this work was taken over by the Board of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries, which in addition is charged with the control 

 of the grant made out of the Development Fund for the improve- 

 ment of light horses aud ponies. (See p. 146.) 



THE HACKNEY. 



History of the Breed. The Stud Book records of the Hackney 

 commence with the Darley Arabian, but it is possible, and indeed 

 highly probable, that before his arrival from the East in 1706, 

 there was in the Eastern counties of England a more or less distinct 

 breed of trotting horses. Ridgway suggests that this original 

 trotting breed was descended from imported Friesland or Dutch 

 horses. From the Darley Arabian were descended in successive 

 generations, Flying Childers and Blaze the dams of both being 

 largely of Eastern breeding. Blaze, when mated to what is 

 described as a " Hackney " mare, bred Shales (699) who was foaled 

 about 1755. This horse, also known as the Original Shales, Shield's 

 or The Schale's Horse, may, perhaps, be regarded as the founder of 

 the modern Hackney. The breeding of his " Hackney " dam is 

 unknown (as is also that of many others of the early unregistered 

 mares) but it seems highly probable that she was by an Eastern 

 sire out of an English mare and there is no doubt that the Hackney 

 contains a considerable proportion of the blood now concentrated in 

 the Thoroughbred. 



Shales (699) had two very famous sons in Scot Shales (692) and 

 Driver (187). The former owes his fame chiefly to his sons Hue 

 and Cry (373) and Thistleton's Shales (702) and to his inbred 

 grandson and great grandson Marshland Shales (435) immortalised 

 by George Borrow in Lavenyro. 



From Driver were descended in direct line the three Fireaways,. 

 Jenkinson's (201), West's (203) and Burgess's (208), the Norfolk 

 Cob (475) and Bond's Norfolk Phenomenon (522) which five horses, 

 especially the last three, may perhaps be said to have played the 

 greatest part of any in the fashioning of the Hackney of the 

 present day. 



It is probable that Lincoln and Cambridge were the counties first 

 associated with the Hackney Breed, but it soon became a favourite 

 in Norfolk whence it spread North to Yorkshire and there, in after 

 years, acquired the title Yorkshire Hackney. At one time there 

 was undoubtedly some difference in appearance between the York- 

 shire Hackneys and those of the Eastern Counties each type 

 being in all probability bred to suit local tastes which varied some- 

 what. The horses of the former district showed greater quality 

 and were more bloodlike than the latter, which were thicker set and 

 more " cobby." There was, however, no real fundamental difference 

 between the two branches, both being of the same origin and 

 possessing the same cardinal features. To-day, though there may 

 be some representatives of the old Norfolk strain in existence, free 

 from the blood of horses which had been for some time bred in 

 Yorkshire, the titles Yorkshire and Norfolk Hackney in the main 

 signify a distinction without much material difference. On the 

 whole it would seem that Norfolk is entitled to be called the home 

 oi the Hackney. 



