OEDER OF PACHYDERMATA. 
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with, diminutive size, are only met with in those reared in a 
comparatively wild state ; to increase their height they have been 
crossed with English stallions. 
On the Atlantic sea-coast, between the embouchure of the Loire 
and Gironde, there once existed immense marshes, which were 
devoted to the breeding and rearing of Horses. This is the 
district where the stout-built mares, with long and narrow 
heads and bulky limbs covered with hair, were first bred, 
and which, when crossed with Anglo-Norman stallions, produced 
the chargers which were found best suited to mount the French 
cavalry. 
We shall not notice here the Horses of Lorraine, Alsace, 
Champagne, and Burgundy, which are not distinguished by any 
special or strongly-marked characteristics. We will only mention 
the Limousin breed, which supplied the most elegant and valued 
Saddle-horses for our ancestors. They were, it is said, the 
descendants of Arabian Horses left by the Saracens, after their 
conquest by Charles Martel. This active and high-spirited race, 
