1905 - 6 .] Francis H. A. Marshall on the Horse in Norway. 29 
In 1845 a government committee reported that it was almost 
impossible to find any horses which were beyond doubt of unmixed 
Norwegian descent. In curious contrast to this conclusion is the 
rule drawn up in 1872 for government horse shows outside the 
fjord districts, that only horses of pure Norwegian ancestry would 
be eligible. 
The Gudbrandsdal horse at the present day is usually either 
black or brown. I was present this year at the great annual 
horse sale which takes place for a week in August, at Lillehammer, 
where I had an excellent opportunity of seeing a large number 
of what are regarded as pure-bred Gudbrandsdal horses, and these 
were almost invariably either black or brown. Statsconsulent 
Borchgrevink told me that a pure Gudbrandsdal could not be 
dun or light coloured, the dark colour being now regarded as one 
of the essential characteristics of the breed. It is interesting to 
note, however, that there is every indication that the dark colour 
has resulted from the introduction of foreign blood, for there are 
numerous proofs that, in the early part of the eighteenth century, 
dark-coloured horses were the exception. Thus the Dragoon 
horses in the Gudbrandsdal in 1711, appear to have nearly all 
been light in colour. It is also recorded that of those in 
Hedemarken not more than 10 or 11 per cent, were brown 
or black. Pontoppidan says that the Gudbrandsdal horses were 
either yellow with black points, and a black “ eel ” down the 
back, or else were brown-grey or mouse-coloured. “ Black ones 
are very seldom seen — scarcely one in fifty.” Schytte, writing 
a little later, says that the best horses in Norway are the Gud- 
brandsdal, “especially the yellow ones with black legs and an 
‘eel’ down the back.” 
It is to be noted that when the Gudbrandsdal and fjord horses 
are intercrossed, the offspring, although shaped much like the 
pure Gudbrandsdal horses, are very frequently light dun with 
stripes, but of course it is quite arguable that this character is 
derived solely from the fjord parent. 
Professor Bidgeway has pointed out that in Beowulf , which 
dates from the eighth century, the horses mentioned are dun or 
light-coloured, while at a later date, from the names given in the 
appendix to Sijmon’s Edda , we get indications of the existence 
