No. 11. 



The Connamara Horse. 



353 



T r 'iij'Jf L 



THE CONNAMARA HORSE. 



From Professor Low's Illustrations. 



This beautiful gelding, thirteen and a half hands high, the property of John Bindon Scott, 

 Esq., of Cahircon, is from the county of Galvvay. His colour a golden dun, with black mane 

 and tail — one of the most valued amongst a breed of horses whose pedigree dates from the 

 true Andalusian Horse of Spain. The horses of Spain have been referred to, as having con- 

 tributed to form the mixed races of the British Islands; but it is not generally known that a 

 race of horses of Spanish descent, nearly, if not altogether pure, exists in the countries bor- 

 dering on the English Channel; the tradition is, that from the wrecks of the numerous ships 

 belonging to the Spanish Armada, on the coast of Wales, the western coast of Ireland, and 

 that of Scotland, even to the Orkney Islands — along which they were driven by the storm 

 which annihilated the boasted fleets of Spain in the year 1588 — great numbers of horses and 

 mares escaped to the rugged and desolate country, to which they had been brought for a far 

 different purpose — to act as a body of cavalry on their descent: these have continued to breed 

 in many places in wild herds, and their isolated situations have contributed to preserve them 

 an unmixed race to the present day. They are generally from eleven to thirteen and a half 

 hands high, depending much for their size on tlie nature of the pasture and exposure to 

 which they have been restricted; and although some of them have become ragged in their 

 forms and appearance, many still preserve the character of the Andalusian race, peculiarly 

 "Vght in the head and neck, delicate in their limbs, and of the most elegant colours, of which 

 tie chestnut still prevails. They run wild and neglected in these countries of mixed bog 

 and rock, where they may be seen sweeping along in troops amongst the rugged masses of 

 limestone, by which they become hardy and surefooted to a proverb. It is said, when they 

 are to be captured at the age of three or four years, they are driven into bogs and haltered, 

 there being then no difficulty in making a selection; and many individuals are obtained &t a 

 very trifling expense, becoming at once so docile, that it is customary to mark them with a 

 burning-iron, to dock their tails, shoe them and ride them, all on the day o\' catching. 



It must lie rcganlod as reninrkatile that thrse liorsrs stioiilit retain the cliararlcrs of lluir race fur so long a 

 period, in a coiinlry so very dilfiirent from tbat \> hence they were derived ; but they have merely becunie smaller 

 than tlie original race, are sniiie\%hat rounder in the croup, and covered in tin ir natural state ^^ith shajrgy hair 

 — the necessary effict of a climate the most hiiiiiid in Eiiropn. From more ncj;lect of selection of the parents in 

 breeding, some ar:; become ugly; still, however, cnr.f ruling in many points to the original ty|.e; wliile in our 

 own country may ba found horses of this peculiar breed, tliuir ancestors having been brought over by the riifter- 

 ent ships trading hither; and from care in their selection — it being reasonable that a captain, determined to 

 bring over a horse, should select the best for the ])iirpnse — and the genial nature of the climate, they attain to 

 that state of perfection, that many pairs of •' goljen duns" may be found of superlative beauty, and that wouIJ 

 eominaad in Enjiand the liighest prices. 



