2o 



former Regents. A more liberal policy finally stopped this absurd in- 

 terference in the affairs of agriculture and commerce. 



Up to the reign of Henry the seventh at the end of the fifteenth cen- 

 t hit, little has been recorded about horse breeding. He maintained the 

 law prohibiting the exportation of stallions, but mares aged over two 

 years and of a value less than six shillings and eight pence, cotild be 

 exported. In order to prevent the mixing and degeneration of the 

 breed, which was caused by the fact, that in the autumn, animals of 

 all kinds and of both sexes, were turned out together on pasture, the 

 King forbade the turning out of stallions, which had in consequence 

 that all inferior specimens were altered and only the best ones were re- 

 tained for breeding purposes. A gait which at that time was particu- 

 larly well liked, was pacing. A contemporary says, that th£ English 

 horses were rarely made to trot, but that they excelled in the comfort- 

 able gait of pacing ; the front feet were held together by chains and 

 the hind feet were provided with shoes, which at the toe had a long 

 projection, to teach them to pace. 



Henry the eighth, who was fond of display and splendor, favored 

 the breeding of excellent horses. He limited the size, under which no 

 horse was to be kept : the lowest measure for a stallion was fifteen 

 hands, and for a mare thirteen, and even before the horses had their 

 full growth, no stallion under fourteen and one half hands could be 

 turned out on pasture or in the forest, where mares were at large. 

 Once every year the authorities had to inspect both forest and pasture 

 and not only stallions, but mares and geldings, which were considered 

 unfit for breeding or other purposes, had to be killed. He also ordered, 

 that each deer park should contain a certain number of mares at least 

 thirteen hands in height, and all his prelates and noblemen, and all, 

 "whose wives wore velvet bonnets" had to keep stallions for riding, of 

 at least fifteen hands. These decrees expired with the tyrant who 

 issued them. 



The oldest English treatise on agriculture and the treatment of 

 horses and cattle appears under Henry the eighth. It was written by 

 Fitzherbert, the judge of the civil court at Westminster and contains 

 much valuable instruction. The title of this book, which has now be- 

 come very rare, is "Book on agriculture". It appears that mares wefe 

 not then generally used for farming, and the author says, "a farmer 

 should not be without mares and stallions and particularly if he plows 

 with horses, he should have both, and use the male horses for draught 

 and the mares to bear colts, in order to keep xip the stock, and some- 

 times one may use mares for work, when they are gently treated." 



It was easy to f orsee the results caused by the tyrannic edicts of 

 Henry the eighth ; horse breeding did not materially improve, and 

 decreased decidedly in quantity. 



When England, under Queen Elizabeth, was menaced by the in- 

 vincible fleet of Philip the second of Spain, the Queen could in her 

 entire Kingdom raise a cavalry of only three thousand men, and 



