HORSES IN SCOTLAND. 435 



Alexander III. had several establishments for rearing 

 horses, to be used in hunting as well as in war.' 



I cannot find any record of the price of shoes in 

 Scotland at this period. It is merely mentioned that in 

 1488, a dozen horse-shoes, two plough-irons, and the iron 

 mountings of two ploughs which had been stolen, were 

 valued at twenty shillings.'' And in the Thane of Caw- 

 dor's Western Journey in 1591, there is an entry in his 

 journal of expenses to the effect, that at Glasgow, one of 

 the items in the host's bill was ' giffin to the smyth for 

 your broun geldin s schoun xiij s iiij d.^ 



The English statutes of the reign of Edward VI. 

 (1547-52) give us an approximate idea of the size of the 

 horses commonly in use in England and Scotland. The 

 stallions allowed to be imported into England for breed- 

 ing purposes were to be fourteen hands high, and the 

 mares fifteen hands. 



So important did Henry VIII., the father of Edward 

 VI., consider the possession of large and good horses, that 

 he devised a law by which it was intended that none but 

 these should be kept in the country, fixing a standard of 

 value for that purpose, and regulating that the lowest 

 stallion should be fifteen hands high, and the mares 

 thirteen hands ; and before they had arrived at their full 

 growth, no stallion at two years old, under fourteen hands 

 and a half, was permitted to run on any forest, moor, or 



' C. Innes. Sketches of Early Scotch History, p. 131. Edinburgh, 

 1862. 



* Acts of the Lords of the Council in Civil Causes, p. 106. 



^ C. Innes. Sketches of Early Scotch Domestic History. Edi''>- 

 burgh, 1 86 1. 



28* 



