34 
THE HORSE. 
CLASSES OF BRITISH HORSES. 
cases fifteen. They were of coarse form, with short hairy limbs, and were capable of much drudgery, but were destitute of ele¬ 
gance, and unsuited for speed. From this class were derived the older Pack-horses, which were used throughout the country before 
roads were formed, and which, until late in the last century, were the most numerous class of horses employed for draught or 
riding. They were good drudges, hardy and sure-footed, but wanted action and lightness for the saddle, while, for the purposes 
of labour, they were inferior to the larger horses now employed. Numbers of this very ordinary kind of horses are yet to be seen 
in Cornwall and other hilly parts of England. In the high parts of Devonshire they are still employed in carrying loads. They 
are numerous likewise in Ireland, and in parts of Scotland; and wherever they exist, exhibit that form which the greater part of 
the horses of these Islands possessed, until mingled in blood with the finer races of Barbary and the East. 
A variety of horses, differing from the ordinary pack-horses in their greater lightness and elegance of figure, were termed 
Galloways. They exceeded the pony size, and were greatly valued for their activity and bottom. They were derived from the 
countries near the Solway Firth ; and an opinion frequently expressed is, that they had been early improved by horses saved from 
the wreck of the Armada. There is nothing beyond tradition to support this opinion, and it is known that the Horses of Galloway 
were distinguished long before the age of the Armada. The nature of the country, mountainous, but not heathy and barren, may 
account for the production of a larger race of ponies, without our resorting to the supposition of foreign descent, just as the same 
country at the present time produces a peculiar breed of cattle, larger than those of the higher mountains, but smaller than those 
of the richer plains. Besides, this part of Scotland was a country of forays during the rude border wars of the times, when a 
more agile race than the ordinary pack-horse was naturally sought for ; and all along the borders of the two kingdoms, a class 
of similar properties existed. Many of the true Galloways of the western counties were handsome, and their general characteristic 
was activity, and the power of enduring fatigue. In former times this breed was in great demand in England, and the people 
of the country where they were produced, up to a period not very distant, were noted as horse-dealers. In England the term 
Galloway came at length to be applied to horses of a particular size, without reference to their origin, and this application of the 
word is still in use. The term Pony is applied to Horses of twelve hands or less, the term Galloway to those of about fourteen 
hands. The finer kinds of Galloways have long disappeared in the district which formerly produced them, the farmers having 
cultivated a race of larger size for the purposes of labour. 
Another class of native horses consists of the larger breeds of the plains, distinguished by their size from the smaller varie¬ 
ties of the higher countries, commons, and forests. These horses are merely a larger variety of the Pack-Horse. They have 
stout limbs, with long hair at the fetlock and on the legs. They are of all colours, with abundant hair, and long bushy manes. 
They are slow and unapt for rapid motion, but capable of exerting great physical force in the drawing of loads, or bearing of 
burdens. 
From these native horses, all influenced, with respect to size and form, by the nature of the districts in which they have 
been reproduced, are derived, by amalgamation with one another, and then by the mixture of foreign blood, the endless varieties 
which are now multiplied throughout the country. Some of these varieties possess such a community of characters, arising from 
common descent, or long intermixture with one another, that they may be regarded as families or breeds. Such are the ponies 
of Zetland, of the Highlands of Scotland, and the remoter mountains of Wales; the English Black Horse of the midland coun¬ 
ties, the Suffolk Punch, the Clydesdale Breed, and some others. But many more cannot be classified in this manner, and there¬ 
fore it has become common to arrange the different kinds, not into Breeds founded on common resemblance, but into Classes 
founded on the uses to which they are applied. Under this kind of arrangement our Horses may be divided into two general 
classes; first, those employed for the saddle and the lighter wheel carriages, and, secondly, those employed in the heavier labours, 
commonly called Draught and Cart horses. In the first class are the Race-Horse, the Hunter, the Coach-Horse, and all the 
varieties used for the saddle, distinguished by the names of Ponies, Galloways, Cobs, Pads, Road-Horses, Hackneys, Military 
Chargers, &c.; in the second Class are the Cart-Horse, the Waggon-Horse, the Dray-Horse, and others. 
The Race-Horse may either be regarded as a Breed, constituted by a common set of characters, or as a Class composed of 
individuals reared and educated for a particular purpose. This variety, it has been seen, is wholly of mixed lineage, and deviates 
more from the type proper to the country than any other. The basis was the ancient Horses of the country, which were modified 
after the Norman Conquest by progressive changes, and at length by a large infusion of the blood of the Horses of Africa and 
Western Asia. The mixed progeny thus formed being made to breed only with one another, or with the races of the East, to 
which they were already allied in blood, have assumed the common characters of a family or race. They have delicate skins, 
with short hair, usually tending to the bright brown or bay, generally characteristic of the Horses of the East, and sometimes to 
the grey, prevalent likewise amongst the Arabs and Barbs. They are frequently chestnut, which may be regarded as a mix¬ 
ture of the dun or tan colour of some of the races of Northern Europe with the finer brown or bay, and sometimes, though 
