Breeding of Hunters and Roadsters. 
339 
broug:]it under tlie control of man, tlieir condition is improved 
or made worse, according^ as the artificial system has been well 
carried out, — that is, with the consciousness that every infringe- 
ment on Nature's laws by man calls for compensating art and 
labour to devise and supply means which may counteract the 
evils arising therefrom, — or the reverse has been the case. 
When people, taking a contracted view, contrast the English 
horse of the present day with the poor, rough, uncared-for crea- 
ture they imagine he must have been in ancient times, they sup- 
port their argument by reference to the little animals still found 
in some parts of the kingdom, the New Foresters, the ponies of 
Wales, and of the Shetland Isles. But in this they totally over- 
look the influence which a great change in their destiny has 
exerted. Unlike the larger and nobler horse, when he was free, 
the modern forester and mountain pony has been driven from 
the fertile plain, and doomed to live on sandy and boggy wastes 
or to share with the goat, the deer, and little sheep the scanty 
vegetation of the mountain. Though such has been their lot for 
centuries, yet how perfect the form of many of them ! how sound 
their constitutions and limbs ! and how wonderfully their size 
has become adapted to their subsistence on scanty provender, 
whilst exposed to all kinds of weather ! 
The climate, soil, and topography of Britain were, it is reason- 
able to believe, as peculiarly congenial to the horse in early as 
they are known to be in modern times ; hence the superiority of 
English horses over those of most other countries. With exten- 
sive tracts of natural pasturage, large forests, mountain and dale 
alternating, the horses of olden time found abundance of food, 
with shelter and shade to afford protection in all seasons. Horses 
so situated, we know, migrate in numbers together from moun- 
tain to valley, and vice versa, as the seasons change and as the 
requirements of food and variations of temperature prompt their 
instincts. 
The old stock of English horses must have received periodical 
additions, at various epochs, in ancient times, from Continental 
nations. We are especially informed that some four thousand 
cavalry constituted part of the army with which Julius Caesar 
invaded Britain ; and the Norman and other invaders, besides 
the Romans, naturally brought their horses with them. Under 
the influences of a soil and climate congenial to his nature, it may 
be inferred that the imported horse improved by the change, 
and that fresh importations of stock wrought progressive changes 
in the whole race, and from these combined influences the cha- 
racteristic stoutness and other special qualities of the English 
horse were established. 
We have, however, to search far down the history of time 
