Book VII. VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 951 



finer breeds from the Arabs, Turks, and the Barbary states, which they still preserve with some care as 

 stallions: some good specimens are also obtained from Spain. In a general point of view, however, the 

 German horses are more fitted for the manege than for racing or hunting; in which qualities they are 

 inferior to the Hungarian" and Transylvanian horses. The horses of Bohemia are not distinguished by 

 any eminent qualities. The Hussars and Transylvanians are accustomed to slit the nostrils of their 

 horses, under a notion of giving their breath a free passage, and improving their wind, as well as to render 

 them incapable of neighing, which, in the field, would be often inconvenient. The Croatian horses are 

 nearly allied in qualities and character to the Hungarian and Bohemian : these, as well as the Poles, are 

 remarkable for being, as the French term it, bvgut, or keeping the mark in their teeth as long as they 

 live. 



6226. The Polish horses are hardy, strong, and useful, but they are generally of a middling size. In the 

 marshy parts of Prussia, and towards the mouth of the Vistula, there is a breed of tall strong horses, re- 

 sembling those of Friesland, but of inferior value. 



6227. The horses of Russia are not much regarded by other nations. They are small but hardy, and 

 capable of enduring great fatigue. Great attention is, however, paid to such as are very fast in their trot ; 

 and such a breed is much encouraged for trotting matches on the snow and ice. Those of the Turkish 

 breed are handsome and finely shaped, but too slight and weak for heavy cavalry. The Kalmuck horses 

 are somewhat higher than the Russian common horses, and are so lasting and constitutionally strong as 

 to be able to run three or four hundred English miles in three days. They subsist, summer and winter, 

 solely upon grass in the great deserts which are between the rivers Don, Volga, and Yaik, where they are 

 collected in great herds of four hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand. They are excellent swimmers, 

 and pass the river Volga, where it is from one mile to two miles broad, with great ease. 



6228. The horses of Sweden are low and small, and the Norway breed may be comprehended under the 

 same description, but they are strong, hardy, and active. Denmark, and also Holstein and Oldenburg, 

 boast a large variety of horses, which has long been esteemed as peculiarly adapted for heavy cavalry and 

 carriage uses, though they are apt to fail with respect to elegance of limb and symmetry of parts ; their 

 heads being large, their shoulders heavy, their backs long, with croups too narrow to correspond with 

 their fore parts. In the Islands of Feroe there is a race of horses of small growth, but strong, speedy, 

 and very sure-footed. They are never shod, and feed abroad without shelter both summer and winter. 

 In Suderoe, one of these islands, they have a peculiarly swift breed, of great use to the inhabitants, who 

 catch their sheep, which are wild, by hunting them with a dog, pursuing them at the same time with 

 their horses. The horses of Lapland are small of stature, but active and willing ; thoy are used only in 

 the winter season, in drawing sledges over the snow, and transporting wood, forage, and other necessaries ; 

 but in summer they are turned into the forests, where they form separate troops, strictly confined to their 

 own quarters. 



6229. The British varieties of saddle horse may be reduced to the racer, the hunter, the 

 improved hack, the old English road horse, the galloway, and the pony ; the two latter 

 of which we shall consider in another place. 



6230. The race horse {fig. 819.) is descended 

 nearly in a direct line from the Arabian, the 

 Persian, and the Barb. In an agricultural point 

 of view, this celebrated breed might at first sight 

 appear of little importance ; but it is probable, 

 that to the amusement afforded by it to the rich 

 and powerful, we are indebted for the principal 

 improvements in every other variety of this most 

 valuable animal. Races or courses were very 

 early a part of British sports ; and it is natural to 

 suppose that, on this account, endeavours would 

 be made to improve and enlarge the breeds of the 

 native horses. Roger de Bellesme, Earl of Shrews- 

 bury, is the first on record who imported a Spanish 

 stallion, the progeny of .hich was afterwards ex- 

 tolled by Michael Drayton, in his Poly-olbion ; 

 and, it is probable, the first amelioration of the 

 native breeds was derived altogether from horses 

 brought from Spain and the southern parts of 

 Gaul. In the reign of Henry IV., public ordinances were made favourable to the improvement of the 

 breeding of horses, which would tend still further to extend the search after better specimens. There is 

 reason, however, to believe, that the courses of those times were little more than ordinary trials of speed 

 between the indigena;, or these slightly improved breeds; and it was not until the days of Henry VII. and 

 VIII., that the true eastern blood was collected in any considerable quantities. During these reigns, 

 however, it becoming very general to import stallions from Arabia, Barbary, and Persia, a new and hijj^Iy 

 improved race rapidly extended itself. This improvement was carried subsequently to its acme by an 

 equally careful selection of mares as of horses ; and thus we find king James importing a set of mares of 

 the purest blood, significantly called the royal mares. From these periods, the breeding of the race horse 

 was pursued with the utmost care, as well in regard to purity of blood, as in the increase of his bodily 

 powers, by the most nutritious food and duly apportioned exercise, during his training for the courses, 

 then becoming so fashionable in England. Thus has been produced a breed unrivalled throughout the 

 world for symmetry of form, swiftness of progression, and durability under exertion. The accounts on 

 record of feats performed by some of our horses on the turf are truly astonishing. Bay Malton ran at 

 York four miles in seven minutes and forty-three seconds. Childers, known by the name of the flying 

 Childers, moved through a space equal to eighty-two feet and a half in a second. After these Eclipse, 

 Highflyer, Matchem, Hambletonian, and others, have contributed to keep up the reputation of the 

 English racer. 



6!i^31. Climate has a great influence over the form of animals, and that form is found indigenous to each 

 which best fits it for the purposes required of it. In the arid plains of the east, where herbage is scarce, a 

 form is given which enables its brute inhabitants to readily transport themselves from one spot to another j 

 and as in every situation the flesh of the horse is greedily sought after by the predatory tribes, so here, 

 where those are peculiarly strong and active, the horse is formed peculiarly agile and swift to escape their 

 attack, as well as peculiarly light, that his weight might not sink him in the sandy plains, nor his bulk 

 retard him in his flight. Removed, however, to more temperate climes, where vegetation affords by its 

 luxuriance more nutriment, and where the restrictions of danger have ceased to operate, we no longer 

 see him equally small and slender; but, with equal capacity for swift progression, we find him expanded 

 into a form capable of keeping up that progression with a durability unknown to the original breeds from 

 which he sprang. Symmetrically formed as we now see him, he at once evinces his claim to great speed. 

 His bony skeleton exhibits a base founded on the justest geometrical principles, presenting a series of 

 lengthened levers acting by means of a condensed muscular and tendinous organization of great power, 

 on angles capable of great flexion and extension ; while his pointed form fits him to cleave that atmo- 

 sphere, from which his deep chest enables him to draw by extensive inspirations wind and vigour to con. 

 tiiiue his exertions. Purity of blood, bv which is meant the result of confining to particular races or 



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