INTRODUCTION. 143 



paired while Henry VII. sat on the throne, for he 

 prohibited the exportation of stallions, and even of 

 mares, unless they were above two years old and 

 under the value of six shillings and eight-pence; 

 by which, it may be, was meant the unimproved 

 pony breed. "We think this the only intelligible 

 way of explaining an order, which could otherwise 

 be easily evaded. 



Henry VIII., with ostentatious propensities, was 

 anxious to possess a valuable breed of horses, and 

 his connexions with Charles V. evidently facilitated 

 the acquisition. In the tournaments and processions 

 of which drawings and engravings remain, the grey, 

 golden bay, and deep bay Andalusian and Asturian 

 breeds may be represented : he was not, however, 

 satisfied with his own stud ; his arbitrary temper 

 devised a law, by which it was intended none but 

 good horses should be kept, fixing a standard of 

 value for that purpose, and regulating that the 

 lowest stallion should be fifteen hands high and the 

 inares thirteen hands ; and before they had arrived 

 at their full growth, no stallion at two years old, 

 under fourteen hands and a half, was permitted to 

 run on any forest, moor, or common where there 

 were mares. At Michaelmas tide, the neighbouring 

 magistrates were ordered to " drive " all forests and 

 commons, and not only destroy such stallions, but 

 " unlikely tits," whether mares, geldings, or foals, 

 which they might deem not calculated to produce a 

 valuable breed ; he moreover ordained, that in every 

 deer-park a certain number of mares, in proportion 



