282 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



deemed a weak nation in some respects, and 

 when we study the history of Rome at about 

 that period we find the weakness to have been 

 in a measure attributable to Rome's shortage of 

 horses during the greater part of that long spell. 



Coming to what has been termed the Arabian 

 period, history proves beyond all doubt that the 

 spread of Islam was due partly to the Arabians 

 having at about that time become possessors of 

 many horses. 



Indeed had the Franks not owned a great 

 number of exceptionally fine horses by about 

 the beginning of the sixth century A.D., who 

 can say that the Saracens would not, after the 

 year 732 A.D., have vanquished the larger portion 

 of Western Europe ? 



Again, what chance of victory would the 

 Normans have had at Hastings had Harold's 

 forces been mounted on horseback ? For when 

 we remember the valiant way that Harold and 

 his men fought it is easy to believe that the 

 Normans would have been completely routed 

 had they too been fighting on foot and not on 

 horseback, in which case the entire history of 

 this country would very likely have been dif- 

 ferent. 



