DIFFERENT BREEDS OF HORSES. 423 



seal, which bears the inscription, S. Edwardi : Reg : 

 Angl : Ad : Recogn : Debitor : Apud : Gloucester : 



Connected with this period, it may be noted that a few 

 years ago a large number of shoes were collected on the 

 farm of West Nisbet, Berwickshire, which is supposed to 

 be the site of the battle of Nisbet Muir, fought in 1355, 

 between the English and Scots. No description has been 

 given of these relics, save that they were of an uncom- 

 monly small size ; ' and I have been unable to trace their 

 whereabouts, though in all probability they were consigned 

 to the metallurgical operations of the village blacksmith, 

 and converted into defences for the hoofs of the larger and 

 more peaceably designed steeds of the 19th century. 



As has been repeatedly noticed, the shoes worn by 

 horses appear to have varied greatly in size after the Nor- 

 man conquest; a circumstance due, no doubt, to the in- 

 troduction of larger breeds from the continent at different 

 times. What these breeds of horses were it is difficult to 

 say in some instances. From the size of the shoes previous 

 to the conquest, we infer that the horses were small — 

 from 12 to 14 hands high. The Normans had extensive 

 breeding studs in Normandy, and no doubt improved 

 their horses by crossing them with the Barb and Spanish 

 races, and these would also be the breeds imported to 

 England. For some time previous to his invasion, Wil- 

 liam had been buying the best horses of Spain, Gascony, 

 and Auvergne,^ and these, we may take for granted, ac- 

 companied him. The size of their hoofs would not, how- 

 ever, be much larger than those of the breeds already in 



' Trans. Socy. Scottish Antiquaries, vol. iii. 

 " Guill. Pictav., apud Scrip. Franc, xi. 181. 



