DRAFT BREEDS 93 



THE BRITISH BREEDS 



Horse history in Great Britain dates back to 55 B.C., the date 

 of the Eoman Conquest. Csesar's description of the chariot 

 manoeuvres, by which his advance was opposed, would indicate 

 the existence at that time of a horse, diminutive in stature, hut 

 drafty in build, whose feats of handiness were remarkable. 

 British coins, issued in the first century, confirm this opinion 

 by the powerful tj^e of horse struck on the metal. 



During the seventh century horses came intO' use for riding. 

 The chief demand was for the mounting of infantry forces, as a 

 means of transportation only, the idea of cavalry or any form of 

 fighting from horseback being suggested later by the JSToi-mans. 

 As the soldier's chain armor at this period was heavy and the 

 marches were hard, a large, stout horse was required. 



Later (1300) when plate armor began to replace chain, and 

 the horses themselves were protected, the effectiveness of weapons 

 having been increased, the weight imposed upon them became 

 still greater and size more essential. Horse breeding was 

 given most careful consideration by the Throne. The use of 

 small stallions was discouraged and even prohibited by royal 

 edict. The condition existed until modified methods of con- 

 ducting warfare, incidental to the invention of gimpowder 

 (1650), led to the discarding of armor and consequently of 

 war horses of this type. 



Advent of Draft Horses. — Up to the eighteenth century 

 draft work had been done principally by oxen or by inferior 

 horses, not fit for service in war. After the beginning of that 

 century, with its relegation of the war horse from the battlefield 

 to become a humble beast of burden, the real era of the draft 

 horse began. In the latter part of the eighteenth century two 

 distinct types of cart horses are mentioned by Young, the Large 

 Black Old English horse and the Suffolk Punch. 



Thus the British draft breeds have had a long period of 

 development, the primary motive of which was war, not work. 

 During, or even before, the first century, horses possessed some 

 of the same characters which are now dominant in these breeds. 



