• H O 
t;s a portion of their riches, and provifion was made for 
him fuitable to his nature and wants. And at the pre¬ 
lent day, even among the hordes of Tartary, the Moors of 
Barbary, the predatory clans of Arabia, and in various 
favage diftricts, where neither religion nor morality are em¬ 
ployed to awaken feelings of humanity, the utmoft regard 
and tendernefs is Ihown to their horfes; which, when ul'ed, 
are always fed and provided for, before their owners be- 
ftow a thought upon their own meals. 
The Greeks and Romans fet a high value upon their 
horfes, which were eftimated generally in proportion to 
their beautiful fymmetry and unbroken fpirit. Of this 
Alexander gave a fufficient proof in the example of his 
famous horfe Bucephalus. See the article Alexander, 
vol. i. p. 267. But of all the nations of antiquity, Egypt 
is the firft upon record as being celebrated for its noble 
breed of horfes ; and even in our time, the beys and ma- 
malukes of Egypt are allowed to pofiefsTome of the fined 
and molt valuable horfes in the world. See the article 
Egypt, vol. vi. p. 330, 380. It was from Egypt that the 
kings of Ifrael were firft fupplied with horles; and, though 
Moles (Deut. xvii. 16) forbad the people from multiply¬ 
ing horfes, yet it was not in difparagement of thefe ufeful 
animals; but to prevent the Ifraelites from making the 
barter of horfes a pretence for returning into the land of 
their former bondage and flavery. Hence horfes conti¬ 
nued to be very rare in Judrea till towards the time of 
king Solomon. Before his reign we find ho horfemen men¬ 
tioned in the armies of Ifrael. David, having won a great 
battle againft Hadadezer king of Shobah, (2 Sam. viii.4, 5,) 
took 1700 horfes, and lamed all belonging to the chariots 
of war, referving only one hundred chariots. The judges 
and princes of Ifrael ufed generally to ride on mules or 
alfes. After David’s time, horfes became more common in 
the country of the Hebrews. Solomon is the firft king of Ju¬ 
dah who had a great number of horfes, and he kept them 
rather for pomp than for war; for we do not read that he 
made any military expeditions. He had, lays the Scrip¬ 
ture, 1 Kings iv. 26, 40,000 ftalls of horfes for his cha¬ 
riots, and 12,000 horfemen dillributed in his fortified 
places, i Kings x. 26. He had his horfes from Egypt, 
ver. 28, 29 ; and there was not a fet which did not coft 
him more than 600 Ihekels, which make of our money 
about 90I. 
We are told, in the Second Book of Kings, xxiii. 17, 
that Jofiah took away the horfes which the kings of Judah 
his predeceffors had confecrated to the Sun. Bryant has 
fhown that the Sun was worfhipped over all the eaft, and 
that the horfe, the fwifteft of tame animals, was confe¬ 
crated to this deity, who was reprefented as riding in a 
chariot drawn by the fwifteft horfes, and performing every 
day his journey from eaft to weft, to communicate his 
light to mankind. This lymbol of the Sun drawn by 
horfes, is correftly (liown in the Engraving of the Indian 
zodiac, at fig. 1, p. 163, of this volume. We may be¬ 
lieve that the horfes which jofiah removed out of the 
court of the temple, were appointed for the like purpoles. 
The rabbins inform us, that thele horfes were every morn¬ 
ing put to the chariots dedicated to the-Sun ; and that the 
king, or fome of his officers, got up and rode to meet the 
Sun in its riling, as far as from the eaftern gate of the 
temple to the fuburbs of Jerufalem. 
The nations of antiquity molt renowned for their horfes 
and chariots of war, were the Alfyrians, Parthians, Ba¬ 
bylonians, Mefopotamians, Numidians, Perfians, Tarta- 
rians, Arabians, Greeks, Romans, &c. But the Indian 
kings, and princes of Hindooftan, confidered horfes only 
in a fecondary point of view, preferring trains of huge ele¬ 
phants for the operations of war, as well as for the parade 
and fumptuoufnefs of ftate. See the article Hineoostan, 
p. 10, 15, 29, 30, 44, See. 
The horfe, in thole early ages, was managed with 
great dexterity, though ridden without faddle or Itirrups. 
Their harnefs was made of the ikins of wild beafts, and 
oinetimes of ftrongly-woven cloth. The invention of 
R S E. 371 
the faddle is attributed to the Perfians; whence they be¬ 
came famous for faddle-horles. Till then, the rider fat 
on the bare back of the horfe, or perhaps on a covering 
made of cloth, or leather, or the Ikin of a wild animal. 
Thefe coverings, however, were thought an indulgence 5 
and it was deemed more manly and heroic to ride without 
them. Varro boafts of having rode without a covering on 
his horfe; and Xenophon reproaches the Perfians, becaufe 
the)' placed more clothes on the backs of their horfes than 
on their beds, and gave themfelves more concern to fit 
eafily than to ride lkilfully. On this account fuch cover¬ 
ings were for a long time not ufed in war; and the old 
Germans, who confidered them as difgraceful, defpifed 
the Roman cavalry becaufe they employed them. The 
invention of the ftirrup is of much later date than that of 
the faddle. It is fuppofed to have taken place in the 
reign of the emperor Mauritius, towards the clofe of the 
fixth century. The Roman dil’cipline required that ex¬ 
pert riders fhould vault on horfeback, without any aflift- 
ance ; and, to accultom them to this agility there were 
wooden horfes in the Campus Martins, on which practiti¬ 
oners were obliged to learn to mount and difmount both 
on the right and left fide, at firft unarmed, and afterwards 
with arms in their hands. But people of rank and for¬ 
tune kept riding-fervants, who carried portable ftools, 
which were placed clofe to the horfe for the purpofe of 
-mounting; and this gave rife to the degrading practice 
of making conquered princes ftoop down, that the vifior 
might more eafily get on horleback, by ftepping upon their 
back as upon a ltool. In this ignominious manner was 
the emperor Valerian treated by Sapor king of Perfia. In 
fome countries, however, horfes were fo docile as to be 
inftrufted to kneel down until the rider was mounted ; a 
practice which (till obtains among the predatory Arabs'. 
And it is in the mountainous parts of Arabia that we 
meet with horfes of the firft and higheft qualifications ; 
uniting courage and ftrength with beautiful fymmetry ; 
and the gift of fpeed with unrivalled continuance or dura¬ 
bility ; infomuch that it is faid they will travel from 
eighty to a hundred miles a-day for feveral days together. 
From fuch parent-ftock racers and hunters fhould if poffi- 
ble be bred. See the article Eouus, vcl. vi. p. 886. 
In our own country, the breed of horfes is of much 
higher antiquity than may be generally imagined; lince 
we are informed by Julius Csefar, that on his firft inva- 
fion of the ifiand, the Britons had always great numbers 
of them, well trained to warlike exercifes. The fpecies 
we may prefume to have been fuch, of all fixes, as we are 
likely to find in any fruitful northern region, where it 
has not been improved by a crofs with the blood of the 
louth-country horfes; that is to fay, rough-coated, round- 
made, flurdy, with coarfe fpongy bones, and iinews un¬ 
endowed with the requifite elaliicity. The firft period of 
any marked attention to the amendment of our breed, 
may be dated from the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII 
but the regulations then made, and the means employed, 
were but little calculated to advance the intended pur¬ 
pofe. VVe learn from Blundeville, that, in the reign of 
queen Elizabeth, the generality of Engiilh horfes were 
better adapted to the draft -than to any other purpofe j 
but with fome exceptions, which exhibited ftrong proofs 
of initient improvement, one of which is, an inftance of 
a horfe travelling fourfeore miles within the day on an. 
emergent occafion ; yet ftill horfes were fo deficient in 
number, that, on the Spaniih invafion, the queen found 
the utmoft difficulty in mounting two or three thouland 
cavalry. 
In the reign of James I. racing became a popular diver- 
fion. In order to promote emulation among the breeders, 
and with the judicious view of perfecting a breed of 
horfes fit for the road, the chace, or the war, an addi¬ 
tional encouragement -was given to horfe-racimg, by the 
inftitution of royal or king’s plates; and by an enlight¬ 
ened policy, free exportation was allowed, as the readied: 
method of obtaining ftallions of a higher breed. From 
that: 
