CHAPTER X 



THE HACKNEY 



The word " Hackney* ' has long been in use in Great Britain. The 

 Norman invaders in the eleventh century brought from France 

 the term Haquenee or Hacquenee, which is derived from the 

 Latin equus, horse. As early as 1 303 this word is said to have 

 come into active use. This same century Chaucer in his writings 

 refers to the hakeney or hacknay, spelling it both ways. Prior to 

 the eleventh century it is supposed that the word "nag" (from the 

 Anglo-Saxon knegan, neigh) was the common term in reference 

 to the saddle horse of light type. Since those early days the 

 words "nag" and "Hackney " have been in common use. 



The early British home of the Hackney was mainly located in 

 eastern and northeastern England, in the counties of Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, and York. The people in this region have for centuries 

 greatly patronized the saddle horse or roadster. In the fifteenth 

 century trotting horses were highly esteemed, and one of the 

 family of Berney in Norfolk placed on one of his horses an esti- 

 mate equivalent to $350. 



The original Hackney stock was subjected to variable influences. 

 The Romans no doubt introduced horses from southern Europe, 

 and these must have bred with the native English stock. Fol- 

 lowing them came Scandinavian intruders, and it is assumed that 

 Norwegian ponies were used in the mixture, giving British horse 

 stock both speed and endurance. The abundance of trotting 

 horses in sections occupied by Danish settlers would indicate 

 the popularity of this type. Besides the commingling of different 

 strains of blood, some enactments on horse breeding and develop- 

 ment took place by royal decree as far back as 1495, when Henry 

 VIII was on the throne. In 1558 Ralph Blundeville, of Norfolk, 

 produced the first English book on the horse, which he designated, 

 The Foure Chief est Offices belonging to Horsemanship. 



63 *" 



