THE HORSE. 
31 
CLASSES OF BRITISH HORSES. 
the first victory which enabled him to give law to the country, and his rude successors and feudatories retained in after ages 
the Norman tastes in what regarded the Horse. But the Normans, although they conquered the country, did not, like the Saxons, 
colonize it. They forced upon it their laws and polity, but were too few in numbers to alter essentially the physiological characters, 
the language, or, for many ages, the social habits of the people. Nevertheless, with the conquest of the Normans began a change 
in the Horses of England. The communication with France, the Low Countries, and the neighbouring parts of Germany, being 
opened, horses superior to those of the ancient Britons and Anglo-Saxons could be obtained. Then, too, was the age of chivalry, 
of heavy-armed knights, and men-at-arms, for whom horses of good strength and size were required. The great Black Horse 
of Flanders and the plains of Germany was in especial request; and our earlier records show that the Norman princes largely 
resorted to these countries for supplying their studs and armies. The Crusades, too, conveyed a knowledge of those gay and ele¬ 
gant steeds which happier climes and distant lands produced; and by degrees horses from Spain and Italy, Barbary and the 
countries of the Levant, found their way to the land of the Anglo-Normans. This kind of importation, however, was long too slight 
to affect the general character of the Horses of the country, and ages elapsed before the coarse and sturdy races of England 
tended to the lighter form of those of the South and East. The employment of fusees in war, and the gradual disuse of heavy 
armour, led at length to a more general preference of horses of lighter form and easy action. Henry VIII. was the last of the 
English piinces who cultivated to any extent the usages of chivalry. With the reign of Elizabeth the passion even for 
the mimic war of jousts and tournaments declined, and it became nearly extinct during the reign of her successor. James I. gave 
a new current to the popular amusements, by the establishment of horse-races, which banished the sports of the tilting-yard, 
and produced a surprising change in the character of the Horses of the country. A class of horses being especially devoted to 
the Couise, the finei animals of the countries of the Mediterranean were obtained, and mingled with the English blood j and thus 
an artificial race was produced adapted to the purposes of speed. Spain and Italy had been at first resorted to, but afterwards 
Morocco and the other countries of the Barbs, and at length the remoter deserts of Syria and Arabia, whence the most beautiful 
of the Eastern Horses have been derived. The system of the Course first methodized by James was not entirely perfected till 
the reign of his grandson Charles II., since which time it has been continually pursued and extended. The full account of 
these changes has been already given in the history of the English Race-Horse. The effect has been, that a breed of horses has 
been formed of peculiar lineage and characters, and been mingled in blood with the native varieties in every degree. In this 
manner the property of Blood, as it is technically termed, has been communicated to the inferior races, and varieties have 
been multiplied without limits. Not only does there exist the diversity of what may be termed natural breeds, but those further 
differences produced by the greater or less degree of breeding communicated to individuals. Many remain with little or no admix¬ 
ture of the blood of the Race-Horse, and so may be regarded as native breeds or families; but others are so mixed with the 
superior Horses, or with one another, that they cannot be treated of as Breeds, but must be regarded as Classes suited to particu¬ 
lar uses. 
* 
Of the races which have no mixture of the blood of the Race-Horse, one inhabits the islands of Zetland. These are the 
least in size of any of the'varieties produced in the British Islands. They resemble the ponies of Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, 
but they exhibit likewise traces of mixture which may be derived partly from ancient and partly from modern times. It is not 
certainly known whether these desolate islands were inhabited at all, when first occupied by Scandinavian plunderers; but being 
taken possession of, they long continued attached to the Crown of Norway, and it was not until the 15th century that they became 
subject to the Scoto-Saxon Princes. Their first and most intimate connexion having been with Norway, it is reasonable to sup¬ 
pose that their horses were derived from that country ; or that, if an anterior race existed in the country, it was mixed in blood 
with that of the Northmen. The more recent intermixture may be supposed to have been with the horses of the adjoining islands 
of Orkney, and in later times with those of Scotland proper. But tradition refers to a further intermixture with the horses of 
'Spain, when the terrible Armada of Philip pursued its disastrous flight round the extreme north of Scotland. Many of the huge 
galleons and lesser vessels of that ill-fated expedition were stranded on the Zetland shores, and others found refuge in the creeks 
and natural bays of the country. It is further known that the Spanish ships were largely supplied with horses, some of which, 
as at Conamara in the west of Ireland, have left their traces to the present day. It may, therefore, be well believed that num¬ 
bers of these Spanish horses were left behind, which could not fail to impress their characters on those of the Islands, probably 
few in number, and held in little esteem. But this supposition is almost confirmed by the aspect and properties of the existing 
race, many of which are extremely handsome, are fleeter in proportion to their size than any of the other ponies of Scotland, and 
tend very generally to the brown or bay colour, characteristic of the horses of southern climates. 
But whatever be the origin or degree of mixture with other races of the horses of Zetland, their diminutive size marks the 
influence of a rigorous climate and scanty nourishment. Their ordinary height is about 36 inches, or 9 hands ; many of them do 
