THE HORSE 83 



harnessed forms, the observant eye detects indications of this 

 masterful blood. 



The Norman strains of horses retain certain interesting 

 indications of their ancient lineage and occupation. As 

 appears to be common with old breeds, the stock is readily- 

 maintained. It breeds true to its ancestry, with little 

 tendency to those aberrations so common in the newly 

 instituted varieties. When crossed with other strains, the 

 effect of the intermixture of this strong blood is distinctly 

 traceable for many generations. In their mental habits these 

 creatures still appear to show something of the effects of their 

 old use in war ; it is a valiant race, less given to insane fear 

 than other strains, and, even under excitement, more con- 

 trollable than the most of their kindred. So far as I have 

 been able to learn, they seem singularly free from those wild 

 panics which are so common among our ordinary horses. It 

 does not seem to me fanciful to suppose that these qualities 

 were bred in the stock during the centuries of experience 

 with the confusion of battle-fields and tournaments. 



The horse, in common with the other domesticated 

 animals varying readily in the hands of the breeder, under- 

 goes a certain spontaneous change which in a way corre- 

 sponds to the physiography of the region in which it is bred. 

 At first sight it may seem as if these alterations are due 

 to the admixture of previously existing varieties, or to the 

 institution of peculiarities by some process of selection. I 

 am, however, well convinced that these variations are in good 

 part due to a direct influence from the environment. Thus 

 in our high northern lands there is a distinct and spontaneous 

 reduction in size of the creatures, which attains its farthest 

 point in the Shetland pony. Again, as we go toward the 



