BRITISH HORSE.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[BRITISH HORSE. 



-with these tended greatly to raise the fallen 

 character of the Euglish horse for activity, 

 spirit, strength, and beauty. After the Con- 

 quest came the Crusades, which brought the 

 Euglish into an acquaintance with the fine 

 horses of Syria and Arabia, and enabled many 

 of our barons to possess themselves of some of 

 these species. Kichard Coeur-de-Lion himself 

 purchased two of the breed at Cyprus, celebrated 

 for their speed and beauty. We are not aware 

 whether these ever found their way to Britain ; 

 but about fifty years later, in the reign of 

 Henry II., we have the first mention of an Ara- 

 bian horse having been introduced to this coun- 

 try. In order to carry the knight of the Middle 

 Ages, invested in all the pomp and panoply of 

 war, a strong animal was necessary. Accord- 

 ingly, spirit, as well as power to carry liis rider, 

 must have been amongst the principal quali- 

 ties requisite to be obtained in the war-horse; 



THE EN'GLTSH WAR-HORSK. 



and these would naturally force themselves 

 upon men as the first objects of cultivation. 

 52 



At this period the bead of the war-horse 

 was adorned with a crest, which, with his 

 flanks and chest, were either wholly or par- 

 tially protected by a mail covering. Indeed, 

 the body of the animal was, in some instances, 

 completely clothed in steel, and his bridle 

 decorated with every adjunct of splendour that 

 the purse of his rider could afford. Bells not 

 unfrequently formed a part of his equipment ; 

 than which, in the language of an old trouba- 

 dour, " there was nothing so proper to inspire 

 confidence in a knight, and terror in an 

 enemy." 



At the early part of the twelfth century, 

 Smoothfield, or Smithfield, begins to be spoken 

 of as a horse-market, a tournament field, and 

 a race-course. Here horses of every descrip- 

 tion were to be seen, from the mighty and ma- 

 jestic charger, down to the light and sleek, am- 

 bling palfrey. Smithfield, however, has long 

 since passed from the character of both 

 a field and a race-course. It is no 

 longer what it was ; and whatever may 

 be the glories of its reminiscences in 

 the mind of the metropolitan anti- 

 quary, it will soon cease to be remem- 

 bered as having been the busy locality 

 even of a cattle-market. 



Passing over the reigns of future 

 monarchs, many of whom laboured to 

 improve the breeds, we come to the 

 days of James I., who was a great 

 lover of field sports, and also a 

 great encourager, if not absolutely the 

 establisher of horse-racing in Scotland. 

 When he came to the English throne, 

 he brought, from his own country, the 

 same passion for sports ; and as he 

 was partial to racing, he determined 

 to try the Arab breed in this exercise. 

 Accordingly, he bought an Arabian, 

 for which he gave five hundred pounds, 

 but which was not very favourably esti- 

 mated by the then Duke of Newcastle, 

 who wrote a book on horsemanship, 

 and pronounced the pet ol James 

 worthless. Tiiis judgment so materially 

 damaged the Arabian in the eyes of 

 English breeders, that the Arab lost 

 caste immediately, and none of his 

 kind regained proper position for nearly a cen- 

 turv afterwards. 



