CHAPTEE II 

 FOEEIGN HOESES 



Arabians. 



IN buildinfT up our horses to the magnificent standard 

 to which they have attained, it may well be asked 

 where we should be now without the assistance of 

 Eastern sires, and more especially of the Arabian. Our 

 indigenous stock appears to have been a wiry, small 

 horse — the type, no doubt, of our present mountain 

 ponies — and on that foundation has been superimposed 

 the blood of Arabians and Barbs, and frequently also 

 that of the Spanish genet. Eastern blood has certainly 

 been imported continually since the arrival of the 

 Romans, who are credited with holding race-meetings 

 in Yorkshire. Baron von Oettingen states in " Horse 

 Breeding in Theory and Practice," p. 11 : " Horse-racing 

 as a popular amusement was indulged in even in the 

 times of the Romans, and during the four years which 

 King Severus passed at York (206-210 a.d.) the Roman 

 soldiers arranged races with Arabians at Wetherby, near 

 York." Such a race-course would be conveniently 

 situated within reach of their great stations at York, 

 Aldborough, and Tadcaster, though it is not to be 

 supposed they would make any fine distinction between 

 Barbs and Arabians, but would probably include all 

 Eastern horses under one designation. No doubt the 

 steeds remained, and died, in Britain, and never 

 returned to Rome ; and since they would almost certainly 

 eventually be used for breeding, they must have exerted 

 a considerable influence on the common stock of the 



