THE HORSE. 161 



There were horses in Britain when Caesar landed with his 

 Romans ; ponies in the hilly wooded districts, others of larger 

 and stronger build on the rich pastures of the lowlands. The 

 Normans imported those solemn ponderous beasts one sees in 

 the Bayeux tapestry, and later, the Crusaders brought back 

 with them from their wild pilgrimage some Eastern strains, 

 'genets' as they were then called, and still are called in Spain. 

 From the earliest days our kings had made horseflesh their 

 care. Before the Norman rule, Athelstan had forbidden 

 English horses to be sent out of the country except as presents, 

 and one of the few good acts recorded of John is his impor- 

 tation of a hundred Flemish stallions. Edward III. tried to 

 make the breed lighter and speedier by the infusion of a 

 Spanish strain ; but it does not seem as though all this care 

 had been very efficacious, for in his French campaigns that 

 king found such difficulty in mounting his cavalry that he had 

 to send for large drafts from Hainault. Nevertheless of some 

 kind or other horseflesh was growing in our islands, in quantity 

 if not in quality, and to such an extent that Richard II. com- 

 pelled the dealers to fix their prices at a minimum value. In 

 Henry VII. 's reign the practice of gelding first came into use in 

 consequence of the vast herds of horses that were kept at grass 

 together. The eighth Henry took the matter in hand with his 

 usual vigour. He passed an Act of Parliament for the im- 

 provement of the breed of horses, the preamble to which ran 

 to this effect : 



Forasmuch as the generation and breed of good and strong 

 horses within this realm extendeth not only to a great help and 

 defence of the same, but also is a great commodity and profit to 

 the inhabitants thereof, which is now much decayed and diminished 

 by reason that in forests, chaces, moors, and waste ground within 

 this realm, little stoned horses, and nags of small stature and of 

 little value, be not only suffered to pasture thereupon, but also to 

 cover mares feeding there, whereof cometh in manner no profit or 

 commodity. 



This Act made it law that no entire horse above the age of 



M 



