2i3 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



fin-bade (lie exportation of horses under any pretence, except as presents to monarchs. Tlii.s circum- 

 stance suffices to prove tliat the British, or rather English horse, was then valued on the Continent. 

 It ap] tears also that while Athelstau desired to preserve the native breed, he endeavoured to improve 

 it ; and we are informed that he received several German running horses, that is, horses famed for 

 .-peed, t'n.in Hugh ( 'apet of France. 



The Saxons held the horse in high estimation, and the banner of the king of Kent displayed a white 

 horse as the royal cognisance. The Norman conquest was productive of changes in our English breed, 

 ivMilting from the introduction of the Spanish horse by some of the barons on the estates they had 

 acquired by the right of the sword. For a long time oxen alone were used for the plough ; but 

 towards the tenth century horses were sometimes employed. The earliest notice of their use in field 

 lal)our is said to be on one of the pieces of tapestry worked at Bayeux, in the year 1066 ; it has the 

 figure of a man driving a horse, to which a harrow is attached. 



The Crusades brought the English into contact with the noble horses of Arabia; and there is 

 little doubt that many of these were employed in our country for the further improvement of the 

 breeds. Two horses of Eastern origin, and purchased at Cyprus, were possessed by Richard Conir de 

 Lion, and are celebrate 1 as unequalled for swiftness. In the reign of John, who, as Eapin observes, 

 "had scarcely one valuable qualification," chosen horses were introduced, by his direction, from 

 Flanders, for the purpose of improving the breed of draught horses; and that monarch himself formed 

 a very large stud of the most su}>erb horses to be found. During subsequent reigns, Spanish 

 barbs, Loinbardy war-horses, and heavy Flanders, were obtained. Thus gradually three sets or breeds 

 of horses became established, exclusive of the pony, which from time immemorial has inhabited the 

 districts of Wales, the mountainous parts of Scotland, and the Shetland Isles. Before the invention 

 and oidinary use of fire-arms, knights and horse-soldiers were clad in heavy mail, oppressive to the 

 wearer, but more so to the horse, which was also to a great degree protected in the same manner, 

 especially on the head, chest, and neck. The principal requisite of the war-horse was strength, not, 

 however, to the exclusion of a certain degree of fleetness. The old war-horse, therefore, was a powerful, 

 bony animal, of high spirit, and able to endure great fatigue ; that his figure and action were noble we 

 have abundant testimony. . 



Besides the stalwart breed of the war-horse, there was evidently a lighter race, fitted for 

 ordinary purposes a race of moderate stature, and in which fleetness and strength were more equally 

 combined. Horses of this kind were termed running horses ; they were used as hacks, and also 

 for running races, a sport practised at Smithfiekl as early as the time of Henry II. Similar trials of 

 speed were periodically conducted at other places. In the reign of Henry VIII., and especially of 

 Elizabeth, regular race meetings were established at Chester, Stamford, and elsewhere ; but the horses 

 were merely active and fleet hacks, and unlike the racers of after times. 



Another breed was heavier and slower, and was used for the purpose of draught. This breed, 

 overlooked by the nobles, would necessarily vary in its qualities, as circumstances might influence it ; 

 but, in proportion as the war-horse and hack improved, so this breed would indirectly be affected. 

 Its perfection is attributed to the introduction of the heavy Flanders horse. 



Our ancestors, it should be remembered, did not travel in carriages, or carry their goods in carts ; 

 their horses conveyed themselves and their merchandise. In the reign of Elizabeth, some persons 

 were robbed in open day, within the hundred of Beyntesh, in Berkshire; "they were clothiers," it is 

 said, "and yet travailed not with the great trope of clothiers; they also carried their money openlye 

 in wallets upon their saddles ;" showing in both instances their want of prudence. 



James I. introduced the Arab horse for the specific object of improving the facer ; and one 

 wliich lie purchased from a merchant, named Markham, for the then enormous sum of .500, has 

 been highly celebrated. In the time of Charles I. Turkish and Barbary horses of great value were 

 introduced, nor was the racing stud altogether neglected by Cromwell. Under Charles II. a new 

 impulse was given to the sport, and many L'arbary and Turkish horses were acquired for the purpose 

 nf still further improving the racer ; and in the reign of Anne, the introduction of the celebrated 

 Arabian horse by Mr. Darley, and hence called the Darley Arabian, contributed to the establishment 

 i.f a breed of horses of pure blood and unequalled fleetness. 



The 1'arl. y Arabian was bred in the deserts of Palmyra, and from him, as their sire, have sprung 



