52 FOREIGX BREEDS OF HORSES. 



expedition, liowever, with which these Httle animals proceed is surprising, 

 when we consider the smallness of their size, which hardly exceeds that 

 of a pony. The road being universally good throughout Sweden, they 

 frequently do not relax from a gallop from one post-house to another,' 



THE FINLAND HORSES 

 Are yet smaller than the Swedes, and not more than twelve hands high. 

 They are beautifully formed and very fleet. They, hke the Swedes, are 

 turned into the forests in the summer, and must be fetched thence when 

 they are wanted by the traveller. Although apparently wild, they are 

 under perfect control, and can trot along with ease at the rate of twelve 

 miles in the hour. 



Fish is much used, both in Finland and Lapland, for the winter food of 



horses and cattle. 



THE NORWEGIAN HORSE 

 [s larger than the Swedish or Finland, but is equally hardy and m^anage- 

 able, and a,ttached to its owner, and its owner to it. The roads in Norway 

 are the reverse of what they are in Sweden : they are rough and almost 

 impassable for carriages, but the sure-footed Norwegian seldom stumbles 

 upon them. Pontoppidan speaks of their occasional contests with bears 

 and wolves, and chiefly the latter. These occurrences are now more 

 matter of story than of actual fact, but they do sometimes occur at the 

 present day. When the horse perceives any of these animals, and has a 

 mare or foal with him, he puts them behind him, and then furiously attacks 

 his enemy with his fore-legs, which he uses so expertly as generally to 

 prove the conqueror ; but if he turns round in order to_ strike with his 

 hind-legs, the bear closes upon him immediately, and he is lost. 



Of the horses of the islands of Fekoe, still belonging to the Danish 

 crown, Berenger speaks in terms of much praise. He says that ' they are 

 small of growth, but strong, swift, and sure of foot, going over the 

 rouo-hest places Avith such certainty that a man may more surely rely 

 upon them than trust to his own feet. In Suderoe, one of these islands, 

 they have a lighter and swifter breed than in any of the rest. _ On then- 

 backs the inhabitants pursue the sheep, which are wild in this island • the 

 pony carries the man over places that would be otherwise inaccessible to 

 him— follows his rider over others— enters into the full spirit of the chase, 

 and even knocks down and holds the prey under his feet until the rider 

 can take possession of it.' 



THE HOLSTEIN AND MECKLENBURG HORSES. 



Returning to the Continent, and having crossed the Baltic, we meet 

 with a horse as different from those which have just been described as it 

 is possible to imagine. The horses of Holstein and Mecklenburg, and 

 some of the neighbouring districts, are on the largest scale. Their usual 

 height is sixteen, or seventeen, or eighteen hands. They are heavily 

 made ; the neck is too thick ; the shoulders are heavy ; the backs are too 

 lono-, and the croups are narrow compared with their fore-parts : but 

 thefr appearance is so noble and commanding, their action so high and 

 brilliant, and their strength and spirit are so evident in every motion, that 

 their fliults are pardoned and forgotten, and they are selected lor every 

 occasion of peculiar state and ceremony. 



Before, however, we arrive at the native country of these magniticent 

 horses, we must glance at the attempt of one noble individual to improve 

 the genera] breed of horses. In the island of Alsen, separated from the 

 duchy of Sleswick by a narrow channel, is the noble habitation ot the 

 Duke of Augustenbourg. His stud is attached to it, and under the im- 



