6 LIGHT HORSES : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



we are approaching a period at which the modern thorough- 

 bred may be said to have been invented. 



Continuing our notice of imported Eastern horses, we find 

 that in the reign of Charles I., Sir Edward Harwood laments 

 the scarcity of strong horses, giving as the reason that light 

 and swift horses were bred for the purpose of racing ; and, 

 though Sir Edward may have been in error in supposing 

 that strong horses fit for the cavalry soldier were scarce, his 

 testimony to the existence of race horses helps us to under- 

 stand that light horses were being bred with considerable care. 



In this reign (Charles I.) the Duke of Buckingham brought 

 over to England a horse known as the Buckingham Turk, 

 which, from being sold to Mr. Helmsley, acquired the better 

 known name of the Helmsley Turk. He does not appear to 

 have been raced; but, as will hereafter appear, to have left 

 his name in the Stud Book. The sad events in this country, 

 which culminated with the execution of the King, not unnatu- 

 rally retarded the breeding of horses ; but Cromwell was clear 

 enough to perceive that the country at large would benefit by 

 the public attention being drawn to the importance of having 

 suitable light horses for the cavalry ; and so he kept his own 

 stud and race horses ; and, having at his elbow a Mr. Place, by 

 reputation a skilful breeder and his stud master, he became 

 possessed of the White Turk, imported by Mr. Place, in con- 

 nection with whose descendants we shall have something to 

 say presently. 



Without going at undue and unnecessary length into the 

 history of the English horse and the history has been written 

 by many pens an attempt has been made to show, in the first 

 place, how the native horses were probably altered in type, by 

 being crossed with the different foreign horses which have from 

 time to time been brought over to England ; and, secondly, that 

 there appears to have been in England a breed of horses, to 

 wit, those described by Gervase Markham, which were, at 

 any rate fast enough to beat the Eastern horses pitted against 

 them. 



