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HORSES:

AN EXAMINATION OF THE DESCENT OF

RACERS AND COURSERS.

PART 1.

THE ENGLISH HORSE.

CHAPTER I.

An inquiry as to the breeding of the English racer-Different opinions entertained-The term 'thorough-bred,' in its usual acceptance, with regard to the English horse—Its real signification-Dissertation on the horse in Britain, and a sketch of his history from the earliest period to the reign of Queen Anne-Horses of entirely Eastern blood in England in Queen Anne's time-Highest state of excellence arrived at in Flying Childers-Eastern blood relinquished, and horses and mares of mixed origin again used-The modern racer not thorough-bred, nor even altogether of Eastern blood—Purer at a former period than now.

As purity of blood is deemed necessary for the attainment of any great excellence in the horse, the question whether the English horse, of racing blood, is thoroughbred, is very important.

There are some who maintain that the English horse, as accounted for in the Stud Book, is of entirely Arabian

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blood, 'the true son of Arabia Deserta, without a drop of English blood in his veins.' If such can be proved to be the case, our horse is entitled to be called thorough-bred.

Others hold the opinion that our horse's excellence is to be attributed to the consummate skill in breeding exhibited in this country, rather than to the procuration of original stock of good description. And there are some who have no knowledge of the history or antecedents. of our thorough-bred horse.

What is generally understood by the term 'thoroughbred' is any horse or mare which may have a place in the Stud Book, and can be traced partly (certainly not altogether) up to Arabians, Barbs, Turks, Persian, Egyptian, and other horses of Eastern blood, which, to say the least, is a very vague and incomplete definition or cxplanation of the term.

Thorough-bred means bred from the best blood, completely bred; or, it might be put, completely or entirely bred from the best blood-not merely the best that may be at hand, but the very best procurable-such which has been kept pure, and has not suffered from degeneracy; bred completely from a pure and original race.

The state of the horse in this country at the time immediately preceding the arrival of the Darley Arabian appears to bear some resemblance to that of the inhabitants of England during the Saxon period, before the Conquest. Although nominally Saxon, for a long period Norse blood had been dispersed throughout the land. Norsemen, from Norway and Denmark, the same race, had overrun many parts of England; and at the time of the Conquest the country was ready to receive a further infusion

of the same blood from the chivalrous Normans. So was it with the horse. Arabian blood had been introduced from time to time; horses and mares described as Barbs and Turks, more or less of Arabian descent, had been freely used, and a great change had been wrought in the native horse. Then came the Darley Arabian, whose son, Flying Childers, is the best-bred horse to be found in the Stud Book.

Although it may not be of much consequence to speculate upon the type of horse Cæsar found in Britain, it would still be deeply interesting to inquire whether the earliest inhabitants of Northern and Western Europe, the Kimmerians and the Kelts, were possessed of horses; whether the Kumry brought the horse with them from the Bosphorus across the wilds of Europe to the Kimbric Chersonese; whether the horse was brought into Britain by one of the first three immigrations of the Kumry, or by the later ones of the Belgæ, offshoots from the Germans, belonging to the second great tide of population which overran Europe from Asia, and whom we know were possessed of horses in immense numbers. One thing we know that the horse did not precede man as an inhabitant of these isles, as, when Hu Cadarn, 'the strong or mighty,' led over the first migration of the Kumry, before him there were no inhabitants in Britain, and the country was occupied only by bears, wolves, beavers, and oxen with large protuberances, similar or identical with the denizens of the great Hyrcinian Forest. After Cæsar's time, and during the Roman occupation, it has been suggested, and with much pro

bability, that the British horse would consist of a compound of the native animal and those from Gaul, Italy, Spain, and every province from which the Roman cavalry was supplied. Perhaps the first introduction of Arabian blood took place at this time. Hannibal's cavalry, principally Numidian, had overrun Spain, part of Gaul, and Italy, whose horses were doubtless more or less of Arabian descent. It would also be interesting to learn whether our Saxon forefathers, in their exodus from still further east, when they entered Europe with the second great human wave of population, brought horses with them from the banks of the Araxes; whether, when long settled in Jutland, Sleswig, and Holsatia, previous to their entrance into England under the banner of the White Horse, they still retained those horses, and what effect they had upon the compound breed of Roman Britain.

One thing is certain: during the Saxon period the horses sent by Hugh Capet to Athelstan were highly prized by him, as were also their descendants; and it is more than probable that these owed their excellence to a direct infusion of Arabian blood, as Charlemagne, predecessor to Hugh Capet, had received one or more Arabian horses from his equally celebrated contemporary, the Caliph Haroun el Raschid. These infusions would, of course, be slight.

The next importation came with William the Conqueror, when the Spanish horse was introduced. William's charger was a Spaniard, and several of his barons

He is also described as a Spanish Barb.

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