THE HOESE. 
XIX 
HISTORY. 
the beginning of last century, the imported horses were Barbs and Turks, but chiefly Barbs, which had therefore the greatest 
share in forming the original characters of the English Race-horse. The pure Arabs were chiefly introduced in the early part of 
the last century. They continue to be imported up to the present day, but in diminished numbers, and with little effect on the 
existing race, whose characters have been long formed. 
When the system of the Turf was perfected, those horses only were able to contend in the race which possessed in the re¬ 
quisite degree the property of speed ; and as this property is derived from animals possessed of the same virtue, the horses used for 
the turf came to be distinguished by their pedigree; and all may be traced by the parents to horses of the East, which had been 
mingled in blood with the pre-existing race. The pedigrees of horses which claim the privilege of running, or rather which possess 
the properties of speed in a sufficient degree to enable them to run, have been preserved with jealous care, so that there has been 
formed a privileged class which may be termed horses of noble blood. The institution is similar to that which has been formed 
amongst the Circassians and Arabs. The horses of this caste or family being made to breed with one another, its characters 
became permanent, and a distinct breed, in the proper sense of the word, was produced. The triumph of art was complete, and 
the breed produced, for a combination of strength with the power of rapid motion, became unequalled in the world, excelling in 
fleetness the horses of the Arabian deserts, and surpassing in strength and beauty the chariot steeds of the Olympic games. It 
was not merely by mixing the blood of the African and Asiatic horses with those of England that the full end was arrived at. 
It was by continued reproduction between the descendants of the mixed stock, selecting for breeding those which possessed the 
characters required. Foreign nations are desirous to obtain the Race-Horse of England for improving the native breeds, and 
to this end these noble horses are eminently suited; but this of itself will not form a race of horses possessed of permanent 
characters. To effect this, the long-continued care of breeding is required, until a race shall be formed having that identity and 
permanence of properties which constitute a true breed of any kind. To the class of characters which distinguish the horses of 
Africa and Western Asia from those of the colder countries is applied the technical term “blood;” and a horse is termed a 
“ blood-horse” which possesses those characters in an eminent degree. Thus, while many of the horses possess more or less of 
the characters denoted by the term blood, the term Blood-horse is limited to the race whose especial destination is the Course; and 
to this race of horses is likewise applied the term Thoroughbred, which is regarded as the more precise and sportsmanlike. 
The formation of this race of horses, of mixed lineage, yet moulded to a common standard, and capable of transmitting the 
characters acquired to their remoter descendants, has an important relation to the history of the breeds of horses existing in the 
British Islands. Not only have the indigenous races their peculiar characters, acquired by the influence of climate, soil, and food, 
but they have the characters communicated to them by a mixture of the blood of the superior race. The thoroughbred horses of 
England have been employed to a vast extent to communicate the properties of increased action and spirit to the inferior races. 
By this means all the larger horses used for the saddle, for the chase, for cavalry, for the innumerable lighter carriages of every 
kind, nay, sometimes for the labour of heavy draught, have had their characters modified by an admixture, more or less, of what is 
termed blood. 
The history and character of the British Race-Horse, and the institution of games to which it is rendered subservient, will 
demand a more detailed investigation; but, before proceeding with this subject, and with an account of the other races of the 
country, we shall consider the Horse as he is presented to us in another part of the world, where, in regions of boundless fertility 
and extent, he has been subjected to the influence of new agents, and regained his natural liberty under circumstances the most 
favourable to the extension of his race. 
When the Spaniards, forgetful of the precepts of the immortal Genius who had guided them to the peaceful shores of the 
New World, began a war of extermination against the unoffending natives, they everywhere carried with them the Horse, and em¬ 
ployed his powers to terrify and subdue their victims. Wherever these merciless invaders established their unjust dominion, the 
Horse was carried, and he multiplied with a rapidity unknown in the richest parts of the ancient continents. And now, after the 
lapse of little more than three centuries, he is found naturalized from the frozen Straits of Magellan to the snows of Labrador, 
under every variety of climate and country. From the oppressors he has passed to the victims; and the most savage tribes of the 
interior, from Patagonia to the Missouri and Columbia, have been enabled to appropriate this gift of Providence, and employ him 
for their mutual destruction. 
The most remarkable circumstances attending the history of the Horse in Spanish America, is his escape from human control 
and multiplication in the state of liberty. This first took place, according to Azaea, about the year 1535, when the city of Buenos 
Ayres was suddenly abandoned by its inhabitants, who in their flight left behind them on the plains five horses and seven mares, which 
had been brought from Andalusia. These soon multiplied and gave origin to those innumerable herds which people the boundless 
plains southward and westward of the Rio de la Plata; while others, escaping from the settlements north of the same river, mul- 
