520 THE HOKSE. 



blemish should be on the ears or tail ! The buyer was to 

 have a certain time allowed him to ascertain whether the 

 horse was free from three diseases, namely, three nights for 

 the staggers, three months for the wind, and a year for the 

 glanders. Whoever borrowed a horse and rubbed the hair 

 off, so as to gall the back, was to pay 4d. ; if the skin was 

 forced into the flesh, 8d. ; if the flesh was forced to the bone, 

 16d. No horse was to be used in the plough ; but he was to 

 be brought up as a serving horse or palfrey, and his price 

 was then to be 120d. Horses can only be supposed to have 

 been valuable from the smallness of their numbers when such 

 absurdities could have become the laws of even the pettiest 

 province. When the Normans conquered and partitioned 

 Wales, other horses than those of the country could not fail 

 to be introduced. Roger de Bellesme, afterwards Earl of 

 Shrewsbury, is said to have brought the Spanish Jennet to 

 his estate of Powisland, to which circumstance has been as- 

 cribed the reputation which the horses of that part of Wales 

 once possessed. But whatever changes may have taken 

 place in the ancient horses of Wales, it is plain that many 

 of those which now possess the country are of mixed lineage. 

 In the higher country, indeed, considerable numbers of ponies 

 are reared, which may be supposed to be pure with respect 

 to their descent from the pristine race. They are much 

 neglected, but are usually superior to the ponies of the 

 Highlands of Scotland, having better shoulders, finer limbs, 

 and superior action. They tend to the lighter colours of 

 brown or bay, have good feet, and are sure-footed. But the 

 progress of cultivation has caused a class of larger horses, 

 suited for draught, to be reared in all the less elevated dis- 

 tricts ; which, though useful, hardy, and true to their work, 

 are far inferior in symmetry to the race of the mountains. 



In the forest of Dartmoor is reared a race of ponies, of 

 coarse inelegant figures, but hardy, sure-footed, and capable 

 of undergoing extreme drudgery ; and in the high lands of 

 Exmoor is a similar race, but of somewhat smaller size. 



