THIRD PHASE OF ITS CAREER 199 



especially in the history of our own nation. For, 

 as we have seen, from very early times down to 

 the period of the Norman Conquest the nations 

 that had not horses had almost without exception 

 been forced to take a secondary place in the 

 world's progress. 



From the period of the Norman Conquest down 

 to the beginning of the accession of the House of 

 Stuart — indeed, as we shall see presently, almost 

 down to the period of the Commonwealth — the 

 improvement and development of the horse as an 

 "arm" in warfare had gone practically hand in 

 hand with the improvement in the training of men 

 to fight in battle. And from then onward, that 

 is to say from the beginning of the period of the 

 Stuarts and the Commonwealth, down to the 

 present day, the horse has been connected with 

 history in the capacity of charger or war horse, 

 hunter or pleasure horse, and thoroughbred or 

 race horse. 



Let me state at once, then, that it is not my 

 intention to describe at length, or even to mention 

 by name, all the more or less famous horses that 

 have been owned by the more prominent or dis- 

 tinguished men at any time within the last three 

 hundred years, for such a collection of names, or 

 of descriptions, would not be likely to prove of in- 

 terest to the modern reader: In addition com- 

 paratively few of the records concerning these 

 animals bear the impress of truth. 



