THE OLD ENGLISH BLACK HORSE. 
PLATE Y. 
STALLION, by Old Blacklegs, from a Mare of the Dishley Blood; bred by Mr Broomes, at 
Ormiston, Derby. 
From early records we learn that a race of Horses of a black colour has existed in Europe from a remote age. It appears to 
have been the prevailing race of the north of Gaul, and of Germany from the mouths of the Rhine eastward, having inhabited, it may 
be believed, in the wild state, the vast regions of marsh and forest which stretched all through Europe eastward to the Euxine 
Sea. It was well known to the Romans, who derived the most powerful horses of their cavalry from Belgic Gaul; and 
when at length, in an evil hour, the Barbarians, as if by a common impulse, pouredAheir swarms into southern Europe, then the 
Great Black Horse of the North became an instrument of destruction, and an object of terror ; living long in many a legend and 
tale of blood, and becoming associated in the minds of the distracted people with ideas of the anger of the gods and the power of 
demons. It was carried into Italy, where its descendants yet exist, and into Spain, whence it probably passed into Mauritania 
with the Vandals. In the middle ages these powerful Horses were the steeds of knights and men-at-arms, and are used for 
mounting the heavy cavalry of the great military governments of Europe in the present day. 
The race of the European Black Horse exists unmixed in the countries of the Lower Rhine, of the Meuse and the Scheldt, 
comprehending the States of Holland and the kingdom of Belgium. It is in these countries, as in ancient times, that the Black 
Horse of Europe retains the weight and size which were regarded as characteristic of his race. But the same stock extends from 
the Low Countries eastward through central Germany, diverging to the north and south, from Switzerland to the Baltic, and 
exhibiting those diversities of size and aspect which differences of food, climate, and elevation, tend to produce. Its typical form 
is round and massy, the chest is wide, the neck strong and muscular, the limbs are short, stout, and hairy. It possesses physical 
strength and safe action, but is wanting in lightness and speed. It presents every variation of size, from the little sturdy German 
hackney, to the larger animals suited for the waggon and heavier carriages. 
The same widely-spread race extends into England, where it presents itself with the same general characters as in the ancient 
countries of the Belgic Gauls, the Batavi, the Frisiandones, and others. It is found in numbers from the Humber to the Cam, 
occupying the rich fens of Lincoln and Cambridge, and extending westward through the counties of Huntingdon, Northampton, 
Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, and Stafford, to the Severn. Although most abundant in these districts of rich pastures, 
it has extended northward, and very widely southward, into the countries of the Chalk, retaining the typical characters, but varied 
with the climate, food, and other circumstances affecting its culture and condition. In the commons and poorer grounds it pre¬ 
sents the coarse pack-horse form distinctive of the greater part of the older Horses of England. But in the fens and richer 
cultivated country, it attains to the strength and stature of the largest horses which the world produces. 
But the older Black Horse of the fens and midland counties differs in several respects from the modern cultivated race. Few 
now exist in their original state of rudeness ; but scattered individuals are still to be met with, bordering on the commons, or in 
possession of very old farmers, and their condition shows the changes which time and cultivation have effected on the race. These 
older Horses possess the bulky form which everywhere seems to characterize the black stock in the countries where rank pastures 
exist. They have coarse heads, large ears, and thick lips, largely garnished with hairs. They have coarse shoulders, stout hairy 
limbs, broad hoofs, and short upright pasterns. They are strong, of a soft temperament, and eminently deficient in action, spirit, 
and bottom. The first regular attempt which we are informed of to improve this ungainly breed, was made by one of the Earls 
of Huntingdom, who imported several Dutch Coach Stallions, which, with great difficulty, he persuaded his tenants on the Trent 
to make trial of. Many years afterwards Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, in the county of Leicester, began to apply those prin¬ 
ciples of breeding to the improvement of the Draught-Horse, which he had adopted with unrivalled skill and success in the case 
of the other domestic animals. He acted upon the conviction that the properties of the parents, with respect to both form and 
temperament, can be transmitted to the progeny, and rendered permanent by continued reproduction. He went himself to Hol¬ 
land, and importing several mares, crossed them with native stallions; and pursuing a course of careful selection, he formed at 
length a stock which he regarded as possessed of the properties required. He does not appear to have attempted any mixture of the 
blood of horses of high breeding, but to have confined himself to the kinds suited for slow labour. His stock was highly valued, and 
