THE BLACK STOCK. 269 



hoofs, an excessive thick mane, and the fetlock not 

 only profusely clothed with long hair, but a fringe 

 of the same passing up the back of the legs to the 

 knee-joints. There are studs of a lighter form, 

 still retaining the characters of the type, but suffi- 

 ciently elegant to have served formerly, and we 

 believe again latterly, for occasional remounts in 

 our heavy cavalry regiments ; the head, however, is 

 not so well qualified for the saddle as for draught, 

 and it is from crossing the old English and Norman 

 blood with Flemish mares that we have obtained 

 our present splendid 



English Draught Horse. This class of horses, if 

 it was not already imported in the Saxon era, was 

 certainly introduced by the Flemish associates of 

 William the Norman, who, in company with their 

 Earl, obtained a large portion of the landed spoil at 

 the conquest. Agricultural improvement, intro- 

 duced from the same province at a subsequent 

 period, no doubt increased the number of the large 

 breed in England, so superior to the indigenous 

 ponies : there are occasional indications of the fact 

 in the Flemish archives during the Plantagenet 

 dynasty. At present, in the west of England, the 

 black breed of horses is far from improved ; but in 

 the midland counties, the Lincoln and Staffordshire 

 studs produce those broad-chested bulky animals 

 so conspicuous in London, but slower even than the 

 Flemish. 



The Clydesdale are of a similar origin, but in 

 many cases preferable, because they have greater 



