80  The  Devon  Pack  Horse  as  an  Army  Horse. 
horses  that  are  absolutely  useless,  owing  to  a “ pain  in  the 
temper,”  “ want  of  heart,”  and  some  unaccountable  deficiency 
of  “ stamina  ” ? 
Now  in  the  old  breed  of  Pack  horse  these  inherent  virtues, 
so  unaccountable  but  desirable,  are  more  universally  met  with 
than  in  any  other  of  our  insular  breeds,  and  if  any  effort  be 
not  now  made  to  save  the  breed,  these  characteristics,  which 
are  “ born,  not  made,”  will  be  lost  to  us,  for  though  after  the 
lapse  of  some  considerable  time,  and  the  expenditure  of  much 
money,  a type  similar  in  outward  form  may  be  established, 
it  is  most  improbable  that  by  any  means  at  present  known 
to  breeders  these  ever  valuable  equine  attributes  of  endurance, 
stamina,  and  pluck,  without  which  the  most  perfect  form 
is  comparatively  or  wholly  worthless,  will  be  re-produced.  Is 
it  not  therefore  more  worth  the  nation’s  while  to  seize  this 
last  opportunity  of  saving  the  old  breed  and  its  inherent 
characteristics,  which  can  now  be  accomplished  with  but  a 
small  expenditure  of  time  and  money,  than  to  spend  ten  times 
the  time  and  ten  times  the  money  in  filling  the  gap  with 
what  after  all  will  be  but  an  “ inferior  imitation  ” P Is  it  not 
cheaper  to  “ save  ” than  to  attempt  to  create  ? 
History  of  the  Pack  Horse. 
In  these  many  letters  on  the  national  horse  supply 
appearing  in  the  daily  and  weekly  press  I have  seen  but 
occasional  mention  of  this  old  breed,  which  above  all  others 
is  the  most  typical  and  necessary  army  horse,  possibly  because 
it  is  thought  to  be  extinct. 
The  Pack  horse,  I shall  endeavour  to  show,  is  the  foundation 
stock  of  the  breeds  of  these  islands,  the  same  as  the  old  writers 
described  the  English  great  horse,  or  black  horse. 
I find  that  in  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
about  1700  to  1750,  the  same  Eastern  blood  that  was  used  to 
improve  our  then  breed  of  “ Running  Horses  ” was  used  to  im- 
prove other  breeds,  for  in  my  pedigrees  of  living  Devon  Pack 
horses  I find  far  back  the  names  of  the  Darley  and  Godolphin 
Arabians,  Marske,  and  his  great  son  Eclipse , Blaze , Flying 
Childers , and  others. 
Thus  it  would  appear  that  Devon  Packs  and  Thoroughbreds 
have  in  their  evolution  a similar  history. 
Although  the  name  Pack  horse  is  almost  unknown  at  the 
present  time,  yet  as  recently  as  fifty  years  ago  the  breed  was  to 
be  found  in  all  parts  of  these  islands. 
From  1850-1880  mares  and  stallions  were  still  to  be  found, 
though  in  ever  diminishing  numbers,  in  the  south  of  Ireland, 
Wales,  Yorkshire,  Northumberland,  East  Anglia,  Cornwall,  and 
Devon.  It  is  in  the  latter  county,  for  various  reasons  afterwards 
