402 



THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC 



[CH. 



of the fine-headed horses of Libyan type, whose skulls have 

 been discovered by Mr Coffey. From this it would follow that 

 Sanson's E. c. Mbernicus is not a separate species, or variety 

 of horse, but only a derivative from the Libyan. 



In the black Irish Hobbie that beat the best Barbs of the 

 day, in the black Connemara ponies, in the black Hebridean 

 ponies without hind callosities, and in the dark-coloured High- 

 land ponies we seem to have lineal descendants from the black 

 horses, like that of Cuchulainn, which were almost certainly 

 sprung from the same stock as the black horses of Brittany, 

 Auvergne, and Ariege. On the other hand, as there is good 

 evidence of the presence of grey horses in Northern Spain at 

 least two centuries B.C. (p. 256), and it has been made probable 

 that the grey Camargues of Provence are descended from the 

 ginni, which were identical with the horses of the Gauls of the 

 La Tene period, and as there is also good reason to believe that 

 the grey Percheron is of great antiquity in France, and that 

 both it and the Camargue owe their e.Kcellence to Libyan blood 

 (pp. 322, 325), we may reasonably conclude that Cuchulainn's 

 grey steed was, like its black comrade, of Libyan ancestry 

 derived through Gaul. These imported horses would be larger 

 and stronger than the native Irish horses, whose own ancestors 

 had been brought to Ireland at an earlier period. 



As already stated, the Irish horses of the present day are the 

 best in the world, and as it is in horses of the hunter type that 

 Ireland especially excels, and as these are certainly not spiung 

 from the unalloyed Irish Hobby, it is most desirable to trace 

 the history of modern Irish horses. Without doubt the best 

 representatives of the old Irish Hobbies at the present hour are 

 those ponies of Connemara which have not been adulterated by 

 the Clydesdale blood introduced by Scotch farmers during the 

 second half of the last century, or by the Hackney stallions 

 which, by a blunder begotten of historical ignorance, were 

 introduced by the Congested Districts Board some years ago. 

 As we have already seen, it has been generally held that the 

 Irish Hobby was the outcome of Spanish blood (either derived 

 from horses saved from the wrecked ships of the Armada) 

 or directly through England (as believed by Sir W. Gilbey) or 



