82 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



hundred pounds of metal. To serve this need it was neces- 

 sary to have a saddle animal of unusual strength, weighing 

 about three-quarters of a ton, easily controllable and at once 

 fairly speedy and nimble. To meet this necessity the Nor- 

 man horse was gradually evolved, the form naturally taking 

 shape in that part of Europe where the iron-clad warrior was 

 most perfectly developed. In the tapestries and other illus- 

 trative w^ork of that day, when the knight won tournaments 

 and battle-fields, gaining victory by the weight and speed 

 which he brought to bear upon his enemies, we can see this 

 splendid animal, in physical form, at least, the finest product 

 of man's care and skill in the development of the lower 

 species. 



With the advance in the use of firearms the value of the 

 Norman horse in the art of war rapidly diminished. This 

 breed, however, has, with slight modifications, survived, and 

 is extensively used for draught purposes where strength at 

 the sacrifice of speed is demanded. It is a curious fact that 

 the creatures which now draw the beer wagons of London 

 often afford the nearest living successors in form to the 

 horses which bore the mediaeval knights. It is an ignoble 

 change, but we must be grateful for any accident which has 

 preserved to us, though in a somewhat degraded form, this 

 noblest product of the breeder's art, which, even as much as 

 the valor of our ancestors, won success for our Teutonic 

 folk in their great struggle with Islam. A tincture of this 

 Norman blood, perhaps the firmest fixed in the species of any 

 variety, pervades many other strains most valuable in our 

 arts. The best of our artillery horses, particularly those set 

 next the wheels, are generally in part Norman. In the well- 

 known American Morgan, the swiftest and strongest of our 



