492 THE HORSE. 



and is still found with its pristine characters. These elegant 

 little horses were greatly valued over Europe. They are 

 stouter than the Barbs, but have much of the same graceful 

 and easy action. They are gentle, spirited, and capable of 

 long and rapid journeys. They were used as Palfreys in the 

 middle ages, arid numbers of them being brought to England, 

 they were mingled with the native races. 



France has long produced a vast number of horses for 

 war, for the chase, for the saddle, and for carriages of every 

 kind. The native horses of France vary in strength and 

 size with the fertility of the districts in which they have 

 been naturalized. In the countries of abundant herbage 

 they tend to the massy form characteristic of the great 

 horses of Northern Europe. In the southern districts, and 

 generally in those in which the production of herbage is 

 scanty, they assume a lighter form. But besides the charac- 

 ters acquired from the nature of the districts in which the 

 horses are naturalized, there are other characters imprinted 

 by mixture of foreign blood. French writers divide the horses 

 of France into those of the Common and those of the Fine 

 race ; the latter having had their characters communicated to 

 them by means of foreign blood. The largest and most power- 

 ful horses of France are produced in Normandy and Picardy. 

 The best for the saddle used to be derived from Limousin, but 

 the horses of Limousin are now greatly degenerated. In the 

 year 732, a mighty army of Saracens penetrated even to 

 the walls of Poictiers, where they were totally routed by 

 the heroic Charles Martel. It is perhaps to the horses 

 then left in the country, that those of Limousin and the 

 neighbouring districts owe that lightness of form which dis- 

 tinguishes them. Towards the mouth of the Rhone is like- 

 wise a race of agile horses, having the characters of Barbs, 

 from which they are probably descended. But the native 

 horses of France may be generally described as destitute of 

 that elegance and lightness of action which characterize the 

 horses of southern lineage. Astonishing pains, however, 



