THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE. 5 



and few in a hill," and spoke of him in the most disparaging 

 terms. 



During this time, however, there were in England horses 

 which could hold their own against all foreign importations. 

 For this statement Gervase Markham is our chief authority. 

 He may possibly have been imbued with a certain amount of 

 patriotic admiration for home products, but this is what he 

 wrote : " Again, for swiftness, what nation hath brought forth 

 that horse which hath exceeded the English ? when the best 

 Barbaries that ever were were in their prime, I saw them over- 

 runne by a black hobbie at Salisbury, yet that hobbie was 

 more overrunne by a horse called Valentine, which Valentine 

 neither in hunting nor running was ever equalled, yet was a 

 plain bred English horse both by syre and dam." 



It is interesting, too, to note the description of the English 

 horse as given by the same expert. " Some former writers," 

 he says, " whether out of want of experience, or to flatter 

 novelties, have concluded that the English horse is a great 

 strong jade, deep ribbed, sid-bellied, with strong legges and 

 good hoofes, yet fitter for the cart than either saddle or any 

 working employment. How false this is all English horsemen 

 knowe. The true English horse, him I meane that is bred 

 under a good clime on firme ground, in a pure temperature, is 

 of tall stature and large proportions ; his head, though not so 

 fine as either the Barberie's or the Turke's, yet is lean, long, 

 and well fashioned ; his crest is hie, only subject to thickness 

 if he be stoned, but if he be gelded* then it is firm and strong ; 

 his chyne is straight and broad, and all his limbs are large, 

 leane, flat, and excellently jointed." 



A horse with a lean head, a good chine, and flat legs has 

 certainly the attributes of a good one. As already mentioned, 

 the Markham Arabian was invariably beaten on a race course ; 

 and it is important to bear all these matters in mind now that 



* The practice of castrating horses is said to have been first practised in 

 the time of Henry VII. 



