17 



tire in cutting the horse's tail ; he who was convicted of doing so, had 

 to feed the horse until the hair had grown out, and besides furnish the 

 owner with another horse for use. 



When the tail was cut with the dock, the culprit had to pay the en" 

 tire value, as such a horse was considered unfit for further service. 



Athelstan seems to have valued some of his horses very highly, he 

 mentioned in his will those, which were given to him by Thorbrand, 

 and a white horse donated by Lisbrand. These names were evidently 

 Saxon, but nothing further is known of them. 



The earliest information on the Anglo Saxon and the Welch, makes 

 no mention of the use of horses in the plow. In the tenth century a 

 Welch law prohibited farmers to plow with stallions, mares or cows. 

 On a piece of tapestry of the year 1066, a man is represented driving a 

 horse to a harrow, this being the earliest record of the use of horses for 

 farming purposes. William the conqueror greatly improved and en- 

 couraged horse breeding. He owed his victory at Hastings chiefly to 

 his superior cavalry, his favorite horse was of Spanish blood. His 

 suite, nobility as well as common soldiers, came from a country, where 

 agriculture had progressed more rapidly than in England. A consider- 

 able portion of the Kingdom was divided among these men and it is 

 undoubted, that however unjust the usurpation of the Normans may 

 have been, Englands agriculture and particularly the breeding of 

 horses gained by this change of her landed nobility. Some of the 

 Barons especially "Roger of Boulogne, Count of Shrewsbury" intro- 

 duced Spanish horses into their new possessions. The historians of 

 this period, as usual principally Monies, who knew nothing about 

 horses, give us very little exact intelligence on this subject. 



The Spanish horse was esteemed highly on account of its handsome 

 appearance and proud movements, and was sought particularly for 

 tournaments and occasions of pomp. The courage and agility of the 

 rider, could be most advantageously displayed on such a noble and 

 spirited animal. 



The first Arabian horse, or at least the first known of, came to Eng- 

 land under the reign of Henry the first, in the year 1121. Alexander 

 the first, King of Scotland, gave to the church of St. Andreas, an Arab- 

 ian horse, with rich equipments, Turkish armor, numerous precious 

 ornaments and a considerable dowry. It is said, that the lineage of 

 some horses, can be traced to this Arab, an assertion for which, how- 

 ever, the proofs are lacking. 



Henry the second imported horses of foreign blood, but nothing is 

 known of their origin. Maddock speaks of an increased expenditure 

 for the maintenance of the Kings horses, "which had recently come 

 from across the sea." 



About that time Smithfield became celebrated as a market for 

 horses. Of the method in which ordinary saddle and war horses were 

 tried there, Fitzstephen, as a contemporary, gives the following ac- 

 count : "W r hen there -was to be a competition among these or other 

 horses, which were strong and fast in their way, there was invariably 



