FRENCH HORSES 291 



When was there such a thing as a distinct French riding 

 horse '? How i^x must we go back to find the famous breeds 

 of Auvergne and the Limousin, of Navarre and Perigord, in 

 their integrity and vigour '? 



These are questions which were scrupulously investigated 

 by a strong Commission ' which went into the whole ques- 

 tion of horse-breeding and remounts in 1873. The able and 

 attractive report drawn up by M. Edouard Bocher, who at 

 that time represented Calvados in the Senat, a great horse- 

 breeding district, is capital reading. The general conclusion 

 arrived at is summed up in one sentence of that Eeport : 

 ' Elles [the famous French strains] n'ont jamais ete que 

 I'objet de souvenirs et de regrets.' Even in Louis XIII. 's 

 reign a M. de Charnizay, in his ' Pratique du cavalier,' 

 anticipates M. Le Jeune and many subsequent writers of 

 authority, and bewails the absence of French-bred riding 

 horses. ' Our own best strains,' says M. de Charnizay, ' are 

 by this time either " abatp^rdies " or lost.' '^ 



If M. Le Jeune is thinking of a Limousin or a Navarrois 

 when he sighs the lack of native-born horses, he will find 

 himself, historically speaking, in the excellent company of 

 Louis XIV. The Preamble of the ' Arret du Conseil ' of 1665, 



' Commission chargee d'examiner la proposition de loi de M. Delacouv Bur 

 les Haras et les Remontes, Assemblee Nationale, annee 1873. The Loi Organique 

 des Haras, 1874, is based upon the Report of this Commission. 



- For what a Yorkshire show catalogue would style ' Road or Field,' we 

 were at this time little or no better off in England. Racing appears to have 

 flourished. The satirical writings of Bishop Hall give evidence of a turf 

 sufliciently scientific to ruin a promising nobleman like the Earl of Cumber- 

 land. But there are constant anxieties about the scarcity of what we now call 

 — the phrase rather suggests a treatise on Political Economy — ' general utility ' 

 horses. Coaches were introduced in Elizabeth's reign, and occasioned a sudden 

 demand for horses. The House of Lords rushed to the rescue, and suitably 

 debated whether it would be best to bring up the supply of horses to the new 

 coaches, or to bring down the coaches to the horses. Sir E. Harwood, an 

 authority in Charles I.'s time, laments the increasing scarcity of ' able ' horses, 

 and deprecates the growing popularity of racing, and the consequent breeding 

 of horses for speed and not burthen. 



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