57 



were much addicted to the use of horses 

 which had been taught by artificial means 

 the gait known as ambhng ; the amble, as 

 Ralph Holinshed tells us in the edition of his 

 Chronicles published 1586, was much easier 

 and more agreeable to the rider than the 

 trot. Writing of English horses, Holinshed 

 says : — 



" Such as serve for the saddle are commonly 

 gelded and are now grown to be very dear among us, 

 especially if they be well coloured, justly limmed [well 

 shaped] , and have thereto an easy ambling pace. 

 For our countrymen seeking their ease .... 

 delight very much in these qualities, but chiefly in 

 their excellent pace .... it is moreover very 

 pleasant and delectable in his [the rider's] ears in 

 that the noise of their well-proportioned pace doth 

 yield comfortable sound as he travelleth by the way." 



Trotting horses, however, were considered 

 more serviceable than amblers. Blundeville, 

 whose book on horsemanship was first pub- 

 lished in 1558, says: "It is not meet for 

 divers respects that horses for service [war] 

 should amble." Hence the' obligation im- 

 posed by the Statute ■XiZ of Henry VHI., 

 c. 5, which was made in 1542, upon persons 

 of various degrees to keep stallions of the 

 trotting breed. 



Every Archbishop and Duke was com- 

 pelled by this Act to " have, find, sustain 

 and maintain," seven stoned trotting horses 



