28 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
bears, especially the latter, which he attacks, using his forelegs 
like a pair of drumsticks, and commonly being the master, which 
some people at Court doubted, until Statholder Wibe, in King: 
Frederick IV. ’s presence, made a trial with one of his carriage 
horses, which at Fredericksborg at once attacked a bear which was 
let loose, and left no life in it.” The mares, on the other hand,, 
are said to have been frequently killed by wolves and bears. 
As already mentioned, the horses of the Gudbrandsdal have 
from time to time received infusions of foreign blood. About 
a.d. 1040, nine Icelandic stallions were presented by King Einar.* 
In the race between Magnus Blinde, on horseback, and Harold 
Gille, on foot, in 1128, it is recorded that Magnus rode a very fast 
horse from Gothland. Also the Duke Skule, who fled from the 
battle of Oslo, when his horse was shot under him, was procured 
another from Gothland. These are isolated cases of importation. 
It is not, however, until a much later period that there is evidence 
of importation on any considerable scale. 
We may probably assume that the Danish and German troops, 
who were stationed in various country districts in the seventeenth 
century, brought with them Danish or other foreign horses, and 
some of these may have bred with the native horses. Indeed 
there is a record that, about 1650, in the district east of the 
Christiania fjord, the horses were mixed both as to size and colour, 
on account of crossing with Danish stallions brought by the 
mounted troops. It is also stated by a contemporary writer that 
horses were imported by a priest, at great expense, into North 
Gudbrandsdalen from Denmark, in the latter half of the seven- 
teenth century. There are also a few records in the Gudbrandsdal 
stud-book of instances of importation in the eighteenth century, 
and more numerous ones in the last century. Thus it is stated 
that Spanish stallions were brought to South-East Norway, while 
an English thoroughbred named “Odin” was brought from 
London, costing £257, and is said during the first four years to 
have served over a hundred mares. Since then various others 
have been imported, but it is unlikely that any of these exercised 
much influence over the Gudbrandsdal breed as a whole. 
* This, and certain of the information which follows, were derived from 
the Gudbrandsdal Stud-book. 
