INTRODUCTORY. 



during the Egyptian famine, and it was probably very simi- 

 lar to the Arabian Horse of the present day. 



From the earliest ages known to historians, horses were 

 used for war in chariots. To the early Greeks the art of 

 riding w^as unknown down to the year B.C. 500. At the 

 time of the Grecian supremacy, however, horses were used 

 for the chariots, and about the year 450 B.C. we read of 

 riding and cavalry in Greece Proper. 



If we turn to Eoman history, we learn that in the early 

 Eegal times, and in the first centuries of the Eepublic, 

 cavalry was the most important weapon of the military 

 armament. 



The ancient Britons used horses for their chariots in their 

 wars against the Komans, and representations of horses 

 occur on some of the early British coins. 



Athelstan made an enactment to prevent the exportation 

 of horses, and imported running horses from Germany, and 

 also horses from Spain, in order to improve the native 

 breed. 



King John paid much attention to breeding horses for 

 agricultural purposes, and, according to Youatt, we are in- 

 debted to this monarch for our Draft Horses. 



Edward IH. improved the breed by mixture with lighter 

 horses of Spanish breed. From this time, owing to the 

 great care taken in breeding, races were regularly esta- 

 blished in various parts, and enactments were made by 

 various sovereigns from time to time, in order to secure 

 excellence. 



In the Protectorate of Cromwell, horses were introduced 

 from Morocco and the South East ; and by this means 

 elegance of form and swiftness were added to the stoutness 

 which had hitherto characterized the English horse. 



The original colour of the horse was a dun-brown. 



Thus artificial selection by man, in addition to the action 



