GIFT OF
A. P. Morrison
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
THE KNIGHT, DEATH AND THE DEVII.
From an engraving by Albert Diirer
THE
HORSE IN HISTORY
BY
BASIL TOZER
AUTHOR OF
PRACTICAL HINTS ON RIDING TO HOUNDS " ETC.
WITH TWENTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1908
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
A FTER directly helping on the progress of
the world and the development of civilisa-
tion almost from the time when, according to
Nehring's interesting studies, the wild and primi-
tive horses of the great Drift began to exhibit
distinct differences in make, shape and individual
characteristics, the horse has reached the limit
of its tether.
For with the dawn of the twentieth century,
and the sudden innovation of horseless traffic,
any further influence that it might have exercised
upon the advancement of the human race comes
rapidly to a close.
That the horse's reign is over — though it is
sincerely to be hoped that horses will be with us
still for many years — the statistics issued recently
by our Board of Agriculture in a measure prove.
For in those statistics it is stated that the number
of horses in the United Kingdom decreased dur-
ing last year alone by no less than 12,312, and later
statistics show that the decrease still continues.
M94376
vi THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In the following pages, therefore, the writer has
striven to trace the progress of the horse from
very early times down to the present day mainly
from the standpoint of the effect its development
had upon the advancement of the human race.
For this reason though a selected number of
the most famous horses that lived in the centuries
before Christ, and between the time of Christ
and the period of the Norman Conquest, and
that have lived within the last nine centuries,
have been mentioned, the horses of romance
and mythology have for the most part been
passed over.
Every effort has been made to obtain informa-
tion that is strictly accurate, a task of no small
difficulty owing to the mass of contradictory
evidence with which the writer has found himself
confronted in the course of his researches. To
the best of his ability he has winnowed the
actual facts from the mass of fiction that he has
come upon in the writings of some of the earlier
historians, and to some extent in records, manu-
scripts and private letters of more recent times
to which he has had access.
B. J. T.
BOODLE'S CLUB, 1908.
CONTENTS
PART I
FROM VERY EARLY TIMES TO THE CONQUEST
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Rameses ; early Egyptian chariots — Horses of Babylon
and of Libya — Erichthonius ; horse of Job ; horses of
Solomon— Early circus riding — Dancing horses of the
Sybarites ; the Crotonians' stratagem — Homer's " Iliad" ;
Menesthus ; early wagering — Patroclus ; Achilles ;
Euphorbus ; Hyperenor — Horses and chariots of the
Thracians — Ancient Greeks and horsemanship ; de-
cline in the popularity of war chariots ; inauguration of
cavalry — Xenophon on horsemanship — White horses . I
CHAPTER II
Increasing interest in horses — Herodotus ; Thucydides ;
war chariots of the Persians — Horses represented on
coinage — Wooden horse of Troy — The Parthenon frieze ;
Greek art — Plato ; white horses — The procession of
Xerxes ; horses and men sacrificed — The horse of
Darius — Horse racing introduced among the Romans
— Xenophon and Simo — Early horseshoes, bits and
bitting ; ancient methods of mounting . ; . 23
CHAPTER III
Xenophon disliked the " American " seat — Cavalry organised
by the Athenians — Cost of horses twenty-three centuries
vii
viii THE HORSE IN HISTORY
PAGE
Chapter III — continued
ago — Aristophanes ; Aristotle ; Athenians' fondness for
horse racing — Alexander the Great ; Bucephalus — Story
of Bucephalus ; his death — Famous painters of horses :
Apelles, Pauson, Micon — Mythical flesh-eating horses
of Diomed — Hannibal's cavalry of 12,000 horse — Coins
— Posidonius ; horses of the Parthians, Iberians and
Celtiberians ': ys : : ; : .45
CHAPTER IV
Virgil on the points of a horse — Caesar's invasion — Abolition
of war chariots — Precursor of the horseshoe — Nero's
2000 mules shod with silver ; Poppsea's shod with gold
— The Ossianic and Cuchulainn epic cycles ; Cuchu-
lainn's horses — The Iceni on Newmarket Heath ; early
horse racing in Britain — Horses immolated by the
Romans ; white horses as prognosticators — Caligula's
horse, Incitatus ; Celer, the horse of Verus ; the horse
of Belisarius : ,1 ; i ' ' . • t 67
CHAPTER V
Mahomet encourages horse-breeding — Procopius ; a mis-
statement — Early allusion to horse races — Figures of
horses cut on cliffs — Roland and his horse, Veillantiff —
1 Orelia, Roderick's charger — Trebizond, Alfana ; Odin's
mythical horse, Sleipnir — Horse fighting in Iceland —
Some horses of mythology : Pegasus, Selene, Xanthos,
Balios, Cyllaros, Arion, Reksh — Arab pedigrees traced
through dams — Influence of the horse upon history —
Courage of Julius Caesar's horses . . . 86
PART II
FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE STUART PERIOD
CHAPTER I
The Conqueror's cavalry — Horse fairs and races at Smith-
field — King John's foolish fad — The Persians and
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
Chapter I — continued
their horses — Relics of Irish art ; what they indicate
— Simon de Montfort the first master of foxhounds —
The king's right to commandeer horses — Sir Eustace
de Hecche ; Battle of Falkirk — Marco Polo and white
horses ; curious superstitions — Edward III. and Richard
II. encourage horse breeding — Battle of Crecy : . 107
CHAPTER II
Richard II.'s horse, Roan Barbary — Thoroughbred English
horses characteristic of the nation — Chaucer ; Cambus-
can's wooden horse — Don Quixote's Aligero Clavileno
— Horse race between the Prince of Wales and Lord
Arundel — The Chevalier Bayard ; his horse, Carman
— The Earl of Warwick's horse, Black Saladin — Joan of
Arc — King Richard's horse, White Surrey — Charles
VIII. of France's horse, Savoy — Dame Julyana Berners
— Wolsey's horsemanship — Queen Elizabeth's stud ; 127
CHAPTER III
Inauguration and development of the Royal Stud — Ex-
portation of horses declared by Henry VIII. to be
illegal — Sale of horses to Scotsmen pronounced to be
an act of felony — Riding matches become popular —
Ferdinand of Arragon's gift of horses to Henry VIII.
— Henry's love of hunting — King Henry stakes the bells
of St Paul's on a throw of the dice — Some horses of
romance — Horse-breeding industry crippled in Scotland 148
CHAPTER IV
North America without horses when Columbus landed —
Scarcity of horses at the Conquest of Mexico — Francisco
Pizarro; his cavaliers terrify the Indians — Emperor
Charles V. sends horses to King Edward VI. — David
Hume, " a man remarkable for piety, probity, candour
and integrity"; his practices in connection with horse
racing — Queen Elizabeth fond of racing ; condition of
x THE HORSE IN HISTORY
PAGE
Chapter IV — continued
the Turf during her reign — Stallions fed on eggs and
oysters — Lord Herbert of Cherbury's antagonistic atti-
tude towards the Turf — Some horses in Shakespeare's
plays — Performing horse and its owner publicly burnt
to death — Horses trained by cruelty -. . . .168
CHAPTER V
King Henry VIII: and Queen Elizabeth passionately fond
of hunting — John Selwyn's remarkable feat in the
hunting field ; the monument at Walton-on-Thames —
Don Quixote and his steed, Rosinante ; Peter of
Provence's wooden horse, Babieca ; Clavileno and the
Cid's horse — Mary Queen of Scots' favourite horses —
Queen Elizabeth's retinue of 2400 horses — Arundel,
Aquiline, Brigadore — The horses of Anatolia and
Syria — Sir Robert Carey's historic ride from London to
Edinburgh in sixty hours — The horses of Napoleon I. 187
PART III
FROM THE STUART PERIOD TO THE PRESENT
DAY
CHAPTER I
Arrival of the Markham Arabian, the first Arab imported
into England — Newmarket village founded by James I.
— Decline of the " great horse " — The Royal Studs —
James I. organises a race meeting on the frozen River
Ouse — Superstitious beliefs concerning horses — James
I. meets with a grotesque riding mishap — Prosperity of
the Turf — Riding match between Lord Haddington and
Lord Sheffield — The Turf vigorously denounced as " an
evil likely to imperil the whole country's prosperity ?> . 202
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
CHAPTER II
First races of importance run at Newmarket — Races in
Hyde Park— The Helmsley Turk and the Morocco
Barb — Racing introduced into Holland — Importation of
Spanish stallions into England — Prince Charles's riding
master, the Duke of Newcastle — Increasing cost of
horses — Marshal de Bassompierre ; his loss through
gambling, ,£500,000 in a year ; Sir John Fenwick —
Sir Edward Harwood's pessimism — Cromwell's Iron-
sides— Armour discarded — The opposition to stage
coaches; Mr Cressett's theory; Charles II. favours
their adoption . . . . . . 222
CHAPTER III
The Commonwealth's " ordinance to prohibit horse racing l>-
— Revival of racing under Charles II. — The King a
finished horseman — The figure of Britannia — The Royal
Mares — Formation of the thoroughbred stud — Thomas
Shadwell's cynical description of life at Newmarket —
Spread of horse racing in Ireland — Jockeys at New-
market entertained by Charles II. — Sir Robert Carr ;
the Duke of Monmouth's connection with the Turf —
Annual charge for horses of the Royal household,
,£16,640 — Newmarket under the regime of the Merry
Monarch ; the Duke of Buckingham . . . 242
CHAPTER IV
Arrival of the Byerley Turk — Roman Catholics forbidden
to own a horse worth over £$ — Henry Hyde, Earl of
Clarendon, on the manners of the age — King William
III.'s death due to a riding accident — The Duke
of Cumberland's breeding establishment in Queen
Anne's reign — Arrival of the Darley Arabian — The
Godolphin Arabian — Royal Ascot inaugurated by
Queen Anne — "Docking" and " cropping '-'- con-
demned by Queen Anne ; attempt to suppress these
xii THE HORSE IN HISTORY
PAGE
Chapter IV — continued
practices — The story of Eclipse — Some horses of
romance — Copenhagen and Marengo . . . 261
CHAPTER V
A retrospective summary — The beginning of the end —
Superstition of the horseshoe — The Bedouins and
their horses — Some classic thoroughbreds of modern
times — Horses hypnotised — The Derby and the Oaks
— Horse racing in Mongolia — Conclusion . /r'; 281
INDEX ....... . 295
FACING PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Knight, Death, and the Devil . . Frontispiece
From an engraving by Albert Diirer.
Combat between Amazons and Attic heroes. Fourth
century, B.C. . . . . .19
From a Greek vase in the British Museum.
Greek coins showing horses in the early centuries
before Christ . . . . -27
The Emperor Trajan, showing Roman style of riding . 33
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship."
The Emperor Theodosius, showing saddle . . 33
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship."
A Parthian horseman, showing Parthian style of riding
bareback ? . . . . -33
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship."
Sarmatian horse and warrior, meant to represent horse
and rider in armour made of plates of bone or of
horsehoof ...... 33
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship. "
A portion of the Parthenon Frieze, executed by Phidias
about the year 440 B.C. . . . -39
xni
xiv THE HORSE IN HISTORY
FACING PAGE
Roman soldier about to adjust "stocking" used in
place of shoes ..... 45
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship."
Roman soldier about to mount on off side . . 45
From Richard Berenger's "The History and Art of Horse-
manship."
A Mauritanian horseman, showing how the Mauritanians
and Humidians rode without saddle or bridle . 45
From Richard Berenger's " The History and Art of Horse-
manship. "
Alexander the Great on horseback, about 338 B.C.
The figure is believed to represent Bucephalus . 55
From a bronze in the British Museum.
Persians fighting with elephants against the Romans,
about the time of Pyrrhus, 280 B.C. This picture
has been wrongly attributed to Raphael . ' . 63
From an engraving.
Caligula on horseback. About 37 A.D. ',*•*•' . 79
From a figure in the British Museum.
Bayeux tapestry supposed to represent the Battle of
Hastings, 1066 . .,,«.. • • .109
Statue of Colleoni by Verrocchio in Venice . . 203
From a photo by R. Anderson, Rome.
Van Dyck's famous picture of Charles I. on horseback
in the National Gallery, London . . .225
From a photo by Franz Hanfstsengl.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
FACING PAGE
Oliver Cromwell on horseback . . 233
After the painting by Van Dyck.
Horses of the Cavaliers, seventeenth century. From a
painting in the possession of his Majesty King
Edward VII. . . . . .243
From a photograph by Franz Hanfstsengl.
The Duke of Schonberg on a typical charger of the early
seventeenth century . . . .257
After the painting by Sir G. Kneller.
Flying Childers, bred by Mr Leonard Childers in 1715,
is said to have been "the fastest horse that has ever
lived" ...... 269
From a photograph by A. Rischgitz.
Mr O'Kelly's Eclipse, the most famous thoroughbred
stallion ever foaled, 1764 . . . 273
After the painting by G. Stubbs.
Napoleon at Wagram . . . . .297
From the famous painting by Vernet at Versailles.
From a photo by Neurdein freres.
Wellington's famous horse, Copenhagen . .281
From an engraving (Photo by A. Rischgitz).
Flying Dutchman, foaled 1846 . . . 285
From a life-size painting by Herring. By kind permission
of the Earl of Rosebery.
From a photograph by W. E. Gray.
SOME WORKS CONSULTED
the many volumes the writer has consulted
whilst engaged in compiling this book, the
following are among the more important. The
list is arranged alphabetically, according to the
authors' names. To the authors or editors, as
the case may be, and to the publishers of these
works, the writer here begs to acknowledge his
very deep indebtedness for the assistance he has
derived from consulting the volumes named.
ARRIAN (F.) — "The Anabasis of Alexander."
AUREGGIO (E.) — " Les Chevaux du Nord de I'Afrique."
AZARA (F. DE)— " The Natural History of the Quadrupeds
of Paraguay and the River La Plata."
BERENGER (R.) — " The History and Art of Horseman-
ship."
BLOUNT (T.)— " Antient Tenures."
BLUNT (W. S.) " Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates."
BOUSSON (M. A. E.) — "Etude de la Representation du
Cheval."
CHARRAS (J. B. A.) "Histoire de la Campagne de 1815."
CHOMEL (C.) — " Histoire du Cheval dans 1'antiquite et
son role dans la civilization. "
CHURCH (A. J.) — "Roman Life in the Days of Cicero."
COOK (T. A.)— "The History of the Turf," and " Eclipse
and O'Kelly."
DARWIN (C. R.) — " Variation of Animals and Plants."
b xvii
xviii THE HORSE IN HISTORY
ERMAN (A.)— "Life in Ancient Egypt."
EWART (J. C.)— "The Multiple Origin of Horses and
Ponies"; "A Critical Period in the Development
of the Horse " ; and " The Penicuik Experiments
on Breeding between Horses and Zebras."
FITZWYGRAM (Sir F. W. J.)— " Horses and Stables."
FLOWER (Sir W. H.)— "The Horse."
CAST (E.) — " Le Cheval Normand et ses Origines."
GREENWELL (W.) — "British Barrows."
GILBEY (Sir W.) — " Horses Past and Present," and " The
Great Horse, or War Horse."
HADDON (A. C.)— " The Study of Man."
HALL (H.)— The Horses of the British Empire."
HAYES (M. H.) — "Points on the Horse."
HOLM (A.)— "The History of Greece."
HORE (J. P.)—" History of Newmarket."
HUME (D.) — "Imperial History of England."
HUME (D.)— " The History of the House of Douglas."
JOWETT (B.)— "Thucydides."
JONSON (B.)— ".The Alchemist."
LODGE (E.) — " Illustrations of British History."
MAYNE (C.)— "Odes of Pindar."
MONTFAUCON (B. DE) — " Antiquities."
MORGAN (H.) — " The Art of Horsemanship."
MURRAY (D).— " Life of Joan of Arc."
MITCHELL (T.) — " The Comedies of Aristophanes."
NEWCASTLE (DUKE OF)— " Observations on Horses."
PETRIE (F.) — " History of Egypt."
PIETREMENT (C. A.) — " Les Chevaux dans les Temps
Historiques et pre-Historiques."
PLUTARCH — " Life of Alexander the Great."
PRESCOTT (W. H.)— "The Conquest of Mexico."
REYCE (R).— " Breviary of Suffolk."
RIDGEWAY (W.) — "The Origin and Influence of the
Domestic Horse," and "The Early Age of Greece."
SOME WORKS CONSULTED xix
RUSKIN (J.)— "The Queen of the Air."
SCHLIEBEN (A.) — "The Horse in Antiquity."
SIDNEY (S.)— " The Book of the Horse."
SOTHERBY (W.) — " Georgics of Virgil."
SOUTHEY (R.) — " Iliad of Homer."
STREET (F.) — "The History of the Shire Horse."
STRUTT (J.) — " Sports and Pastimes of the People of
England."
TASSO (T.) — " Jerusalem Delivered."
TAUNTON (T.)— " Famous Horses."
TRIMMER (Mrs M.) — " Natural History."
TWEEDIE (Mrs ALEC.) — " Hyde Park : Its History and
Romance."
TWEEDIE (W.)— " The Arabian Horse."
UPTON (Capt. R. D.) — " Newmarket and Arabia."
VAUX (Baron C. M. de)— " A Cheval. Etude des Races
Franchises et Etrangeres."
WHITE (C.)— " History of the Turf."
WITT (C.)— " The Trojan War."
YULE (Sir H.)— " Marco Polo."
Standard classics consulted have for the most
part been omitted from this list. The writer
wishes in addition to thank his friend, Dr
William Barry, the distinguished classical scholar,
for the trouble he has taken in helping to revise
some of the earlier of the proof sheets ; Professor
William Ridgeway, of Cambridge, the famous
historian and archaeologist, for letters containing
advice that has proved of use ; Mr Theodore
Andrea Cook, the most trustworthy authority
we have upon the history of the Turf and the
xx THE HORSE IN HISTORY
modern thoroughbred, for letters of introduction,
etc. ; and the Directors of the British Museum
and the Directors of the National Gallery for
allowing photographs to be taken for reproduc-
tion. For the sake of convenience the centuries
B.C. are alluded to in the same way that centuries
A.D. are alluded to, that is, one century in ad-
vance. Thus 550 B.C. is spoken of as the fourth
century B.C. ; 250 A.D. as the third century A.D.,
and so on.
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
?4Ni ''-, • '. : '••
PART I
FROM VERY EARLY TIMES TO THE CONQUEST
CHAPTER I
Rameses ; early Egyptian chariots — Horses of Babylon and
of Libya — Erichthonius ; horse of Job ; horses of Solomon — Early
circus riding — Dancing horses of the Sybarites ; the Crotonians'
stratagem — Homer's "Iliad"; Menesthus ; early wagering —
Patroclus ; Achilles ; Euphorbus ; Hyperenor — Horses and
chariots of the Thracians — Ancient Greeks and horsemanship ;
decline in the popularity of war chariots ; inauguration of cavalry
— Xenophon on horsemanship — White horses
HOUGH according to the more trustworthy
of our naturalists hoofed animals do not
occur until the Tertiary Period in the history of
mammals, there can be no doubt that from an
epoch almost "so far back that the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary," in the
literal meaning of that legal phrase, the horse
has played a prominent part in the development
of the human race.
Reference is made incidentally to "the horses
of Abraham " by the author of a historical novel
published recently ; but then even the most pains-
2 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
taking of writers of fiction is apt to err in minute
points, and can one blame him when the lands
over which he travels, and the subjects of which
he treats, are so numerous and vary so widely ?
For we know from Genesis — also from certain
ofb'er later ,'s'Oiiirces that may be depended upon
for , accuracy— - that though the prophet had
creidft-ds'fojf clivers': kinds bestowed upon him,
yet the horse probably is one of the few animals
he did not receive.
Many of the important and famous victories
won by Rameses — Sesostris as the Greeks termed
him — and by other monarchs of the eighteenth
and nineteenth dynasties, most likely would have
proved crushing defeats but for the assistance
they obtained from horses. As it happened,
however, Rameses — whom recent writers declare
to have been a very barefaced "boomster" —
succeeded with the help of his horses in march-
ing triumphant through many of the outlying
territories in Africa as well as in Asia.
We have it on the authority of Professor
Flinders Petrie and other distinguished historians
that Aahmes I. — a king of the seventeenth
dynasty who drove out the Hyksos — reigned
from 1587 to 1562 B.C., and chariots do not appear
to have been used in Egypt prior to his accession.
EARLY EGYPTIAN CHARIOTS 3
Indeed, as Professor Owen himself has pointed
out, horses are not found represented on any of
the monuments of the very early Egyptians, so
that apparently the Egyptians of the eighteenth
dynasty, whose monuments probably are the first
to show horses and chariots, must have been the
first to turn their attention seriously to the em-
ployment of horses for useful purposes.
And yet from further statements made in
Genesis it seems certain that a native Egyptian
king who flourished somewhere about the time
of Jacob — that is to say between 1800 and
1 700 B.C. — owned many horses and chariots. The
Egyptians apparently did not mount horses until
a very late period in their history, and even the
chariots they constructed were, until many years
had passed, used only in time of war. The lower
classes, if one may call them so, used only the
ass, a beast that must have been popular amongst
the Egyptians for centuries before horses were
even heard of in Egypt.
From Genesis we gather too that Pharaoh
made Joseph drive in his second chariot ; but the
Egyptians who bought corn from Joseph and
gave horses in exchange for it belonged probably
to the well-to-do class that in time of war was
compelled to provide the king with almost as
many horses and chariots as he needed, or at any
rate as many as he asked for.
4 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In the records of Babylonia it is stated that
horses were first employed in the great city about
the year 1500 B.C. The Libyans, however, must
have broken horses to harness some centuries
before this, and indeed learnt to ride them with
some skill, for it is proved beyond all doubt that
the women of Libya rode horses astride at any
rate so far back as the seventeenth century B.C.,
and that in addition to this horses were at about
that time being driven in pairs by the Libyans, to
whom even the four-horse chariot cannot have
been quite unknown.
It has not been proved, from what I have been
able to ascertain, that in Neolithic times horses
were already tamed, but some remains of horses
discovered at Walthamstow, in Essex, are said
to date back approximately to that period and to
indicate for that reason that horses were domesti-
cated in the Neolithic Age.
Evidence does exist, however, that in the
Neolithic and Bronze Ages horses of a type that
closely resembled that of the horses of the
Palaeolithic Age were to be found in several parts
of Europe. The Trojans, as most of us know,
bred horses very largely indeed, so much so that
we read of King Erichthonius, who in the
thirteenth century B.C. was in his heyday, that
he became " richest of mortal men" and the
possessor of " three thousand mares which
ERICHTHONIUS 5
pastured along the marsh meadow, rejoicing in
their tender foals," a statement that indirectly
recalls the fine lines in Longfellow's " The
Minnisink" :
" They buried the dark chief— they freed
Beside the grave his battle steed ;
And swift an arrow cleaves its way
To his stern heart ! One piercing neigh
Arose, — and on the dead man's plain
The rider grasps his steed again."
Erichthonius, according to Virgil, was the first
to handle a four-in-hand, for in the third book of
his " Georgics " we are told how
l< Bold Erichthonius first four coursers yok'd
And urg'd the chariot as the axle smok'd."
Rather a risky proceeding and one from which
we may conclude that bold Erichthonius would
have flouted the axiom promulgated recently by
the more prudent members of a well-known coach-
ing club that "no team ought to be driven faster
than ten miles an hour, upon an average " !
Though allusions to the horse are made re-
peatedly in the Bible, they give us little or no
insight as to the horse's influence upon the nations
and their development. The notorious steed of
Job that when among the trumpets exclaimed
6 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
"Ha! Ha!" and then winded the battle afar off
and fretted itself unduly upon hearing " the
thunder of the captains and the shouting" has
been described by several writers, but no two de-
scriptions appear to tally.
Solomon, according to the " Book of Kings, "
must have owned quite a large stud, for we read
that he had horses brought out of Egypt, and
that a chariot came up and went out for six
hundred shekels of silver, a horse for a hundred
and fifty, " and so for all the kings of the Hittites,
and for the kings of Syria, did he bring them
out. " The Hittites, whom Professor Jensen
assures us were Indo-Europeans, are also shown
to have had horses when they made their way
into Northern Palestine, probably at some period
prior to 1400 B.C., but trustworthy information
about the horses and how the Hittites treated
them is not obtainable.
As for the horses in the Mycenean Period —
the Bronze Age of Greece — the monuments of
that epoch bear testimony to the. esteem in
which they were held. The indigenous people
of Greece were presumably the Pelasgians, and
these monuments remain to bear testimony that
such a people once existed.
In a like manner do the gravestones of the
Acropolis of Mycenae bear indisputable evidence,
for upon three of them at least are to be seen
sculptured in low relief a chariot, a pair of horses,
EARLY CIRCUS RIDING 7
and a driver, the date of this particular sculpture
being approximately the fourteenth century B.C.
It seems practically beyond dispute that before
the year 1000 B.C. no people rode on horseback
except the Libyans, though chariots must have
been used quite 2000 years before that. Yet by
the time Homer wrote his poems horsemanship
was becoming common amongst a section of the
Greeks.
Indeed by that time feats of skill on horseback
upon a par with the antics we see performed to-
day in circuses were at least known, and prob-
ably they were often watched and greatly liked.
Listen, for instance, to the following Homeric
simile — the translation is almost literal : —
"As when a man that well knows how to ride
harnesses up four chosen horses, and springing
from the ground dashes to the great city along
the public highway, and crowds of men and
women look on in wonder, while he with all
confidence, as his steeds fly on, keeps leaping
from one to another."
There are two references at least in Homer
to "four male horses yoked together," but the
practice of driving four-in-hand certainly was not
common in the eighth century B.C., or probably
until long after. The above reference, however,
8 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
to feats of skill performed on horseback, recalls to
mind a story, probably more or less true, that has
to do with the luxurious people of Sybaris, in
Southern Italy.
In the early centuries before Christ, so it is
related, this people trained all its horses to dance
to the sound of music, to the music of flutes in
particular. The inhabitants of Croton having
heard of this, and being sworn enemies of the
Sybarites, determined to take advantage of the
information and attempt to conquer their foe
with the aid of strategy.
For this reason they provided all the musicians
in their own army with flutes in place of trumpets
and the other instruments they had been in the
habit of using, and then without delay declared
war upon the Sybarites.
The latter, to do them justice, responded at
once, in spite of the condition of lethargy to
which the life of luxury they had been leading was
supposed to have reduced them. No sooner did
they approach the Crotonian lines, however, than
"a great part of the army," as we are told, "set
up a merry tune," which had the effect of stamped-
ing the Sybarites' horses, for "they instantly
threw off their riders and began to skip and
dance."
As a natural consequence the Sybarite army
was taken at a disadvantage and quickly routed
with great slaughter, "very many horses being
HOMER'S " ILIAD " 9
killed during the engagement, to their owners'
dismay and grief."
This strange story may be in a measure
exaggerated, but probably it is based on truth,
in which case it proves that the Greeks of Magna
Graecia at any rate made use of cavalry before
the rest had attempted to do so. Also we know
that in the year 510 B.C. the Crotonians destroyed
Sybaris entirely.
The Assyrians too, at about this period, evi-
dently had well-appointed cavalry, for Ezekiel
speaks of their being " clothed in blue, captains
and rulers, all of them desirable young men,
horsemen riding upon horses," and goes on to
give particulars which, in so far as they relate to
the mode of life in vogue with these desirable
young men, are calculated to shock the suscepti-
bilities of prudish persons, and to amuse others.
In the light of the Higher Criticism Homer's
" Iliad " is believed to have been written by
various hands, and incidentally the Criticism
throws useful light upon the horse in his rela-
tion to the history of the nations known to have
flourished in the very early centuries before Christ.
One need not here describe such steeds as
Agamemnon's mare, swift ^Ethe, that was given
to him by his vassal, Echepolus of Sicylon, and
10 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
subsequently driven in the chariot race by
Menelaus ; or Phallas, the horse of Heraclios ;
or the horses of the Pylian breed of which Homer
speaks at length ; or Galathe, Ethon, Podarge or
any of the other steeds of which Priam's eldest
son, " magnanimous and noble Hector," was so
justly proud. Also the horses of mythology do
not possess great interest for the majority of
modern readers other than classical scholars.
That Homer himself, however, had sound
knowledge of the qualifications which go to make
up what in latter-day English we probably should
term a " finished charioteer" is shown by the
following rather well-known lines that here are
translated almost literally : —
" But he who in his chariot and his steeds
Trusts only, wanders here and there
Unsteady, while his coursers loosely rein'd
Roam wide the field ; not so the charioteer
Of sound intelligence ; he, though he drive
Inferior steeds, looks ever to the goal
While close he clips, not ignorant to check
His coursers at the first, but with tight rein
Ruling his own, and watching those before."
Menesthus, emphatically one of the finest of
the many fine riders spoken of in the " Iliad," or,
as Homer himself describes him, " foremost in
equestrian fame," is typical of the horsemen of
that period.
In the " Iliad" too we find what I believe I
EARLY WAGERING n
am right in stating to be the first direct histori-
cal allusion to wagering on horse races. But
the medium current on racecourses in those days
was not coin. The odds apparently were laid
in " kitchen utensils" — as a lad with whom I
was at school once construed the line, to his
subsequent discomfiture — namely, cauldrons and
tripods.
Such, at least, we are led to infer from the
paragraph in the twenty-third book of the " Iliad,"
which, according to William Cowper's blank verse
translation, edited by Robert Southey, runs some-
what as follows : —
" Come now — a tripod let us wager each,
Or cauldron, and let Agamemnon judge
Whose horses lead, that, losing, thou mayst learn. "
Or more euphoniously, as Lord Derby has it :
" Wilt thou a cauldron or a tripod stake
And Agamemnon, Atreus' son, appoint the umpire
To decide whose steeds are first ? "
The cauldrons and tripods referred to were
of course of great value, and, as trophies, highly
prized by competitors in the races and other
competitions calling for a display of skill and
daring.
There is another allusion in the " Iliad " to the
presentation of a tripod as a great reward for
valour. It occurs in the eighth book, and the
passage goes more or less like this :
12 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
" Let but the Thunderer and Minerva grant
The pillage of fair Ilium to the Greeks,
And I will give to thy victorious hand,
After my own, the noblest recompense,
A tripod or a chariot with its steeds,
Or some fair captive to partake thy bed."
I recollect how at school this passage, with
several others, used to be rigorously excluded
when Homer was being construed, with the result
that Kelly's famous " Keys to the Classics " used
afterwards to be produced surreptitiously, and the
"censored" lines turned carefully into English.
From what Homer tells us elsewhere, and from
additional sources, we may conclude that of all
the races that bred horses and took just pride
in them in the early centuries before Christ the
Thracians were probably the most renowned.
The brilliant horsemanship of " noble Patroclus
of equestrian fame," the amiable and staunch
friend of Achilles, must not be passed unmen-
tioned ; nor the deeds of prowess that are at-
tributed to Euphorbus, " famous for equestrian
skill, for spearmanship, and in the rapid race past
all of equal age " ; nor yet the deeds of Hypere-
nor whose skill in handling horses may be likened
to the skill of Rarey in our own time.
The following lines from the " Iliad " are of
HARNESS IN HOMER'S DAY 13
interest here because they serve to indicate to
some extent the style of harness and useless
trappings that must have been in vogue amongst
the wealthy in Homer's day : —
" So Hera, the goddess queen, daughter of
great Cronos, went her way to harness the gold-
frontleted steeds ; and Hebe quickly put to the
car the curved wheels of bronze, eight spoked,
upon their axletree of iron."
Then:
" Golden is their felloe, imperishable, and tires
of bronze are fitted thereover, a marvel to look
upon ; and the naves are of silver, to turn
about on either side. And the body of the car
is plaited tight with gold and silver straps, and
two rails run round about it.
" And a silver pole stood out therefrom ; upon
the end she bound the fair golden yoke, and set
thereon the fair breast-straps of gold, and Hera
led beneath the yoke the horses, fleet of foot, and
hungered for strife and the battle-cry."
It has been argued that about the time of
Homer gold and silver were deemed to be com-
paratively of small value, and that therefore the
trappings described were not so costly as one
naturally would conclude they must have been.
Upon this point opinions are about equally
divided.
Professor Ridgeway tells us that by comparing
the foregoing description with actual specimens
i4 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of chariots and horse trappings that have been
found in Egypt we can form an accurate im-
pression of the appearance that was presented
by the original old chariots, and form also an
idea of the way they were put together, while
the plaiting with straps of gold and silver recalls
at once the floor of the Egyptian chariot with its
plaited leather meshwork — probably the fore-
runner of leather springs.
Though Odysseus and Diomede are known to
have mounted their Thracian horses, we have it
on irrefutable evidence that at this period chariots
were still generally used, so that most likely
horses were ridden but seldom.
Indeed the Homeric poems provide us with
probably as much authentic information as to the
methods of managing and breeding horses that
were in vogue in Greece, in Thrace, and in Asia
Minor in the very early years before Christ, as
any half-dozen other volumes put together that
purport to deal with the ways and customs of a
period of which, when all is said, little enough is
known.
Naturally the Thracians had in those days
some of the best horses that could be procured,
while those they drove in their war chariots are
said to have been quite unrivalled. That they
THRACIAN HORSES AND CHARIOTS 15
possessed very many chariots is proved by
Homer's realistic account of the slaying of
Rhesus, the Thracian king, with a dozen or
so of his bravest followers, and the episode in
connection with that incident.
Indeed when Odysseus and Diomede had
captured Dolon, the Trojan spy, the latter at
once declared that there were "also Thracians,
new-comers, at the furthest point apart from the
rest, and amongst them their king, Rhesus, son
of Eioneus," adding that his were "the fairest
horses that ever I beheld, and the greatest,
whiter than snow, and for speed like the winds.
His chariot too is fashioned well with gold and
silver, and golden is his armour that he brought
with him, marvellous, a wonder to behold."
Apparently most of the horses bred by the
Acheans at about this time were either dun-
coloured or dapple. Xanthos signifies Dun, and
balios dapple ; but then we have to remember
that xanthos was used frequently to denote also
the colour of gold.
Achilles' steeds were mostly dapple-dun, and
they had more or less heavy manes. They
belonged most likely to the breed so popular
among the Sigynnae of central Europe about the
fifth century B.C. Certainly Homer makes it
plain that in the early Iron Age horses were bred
in many parts of Greece ; that, though driving
was a common practice, riding was indulged in
1 6 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
but rarely; that cavalry in battle was quite un-
known ; and lastly that though the heroes, as they
were called, fought mainly in chariots, the great
body of the army consisted of well-trained infantry.
As time went on horsemanship apparently
came to be appreciated more and more, for we
read that about the year 648 B.C. — the thirty-third
Olympiad — " a race for full-grown riding horses "
was inaugurated in addition to the chariot races,
and there appear to have been plenty of entries.
Then though the war chariot had disappeared
almost completely, before the outbreak of the
Persian Wars, its place was not taken by well-
appointed and well-equipped cavalry until some
years later.
Though little attention need be paid to the
Greek legend that Pegasus was the first horse
ever ridden — a legend not mentioned in Homer —
it nevertheless is interesting to know that this
historic animal was supposed to have been foaled
in the Bronze Age, and in Libya. That naturally
would have been prior to the arrival of the fair-
haired Acheans from Central Europe, so one
need not be astonished, as several writers
obviously are, at finding that when these large-
limbed Acheans first appeared the Greeks already
knew how to ride.
GREEKS AND HORSEMANSHIP 17
At the same time they seldom did ride their
dun-coloured little cobs, preferring, apparently,
to drive them in pairs in chariots. That the
Libyans were finished horsemen centuries before
the Greeks learnt how to ride has already been
mentioned ; though whether or no the Greeks
were first taught horsemanship by the Libyans
is a question still debated by students of ancient
history.
In the north-west of Asia Minor the Libyans
had dark bay horses with a white star upon the
forehead about the year 1000 B.C., and a hundred
or so years later horses of this breed were largely
imported into various parts of Asia Minor.
Indeed some of the more enthusiastic of the
modern historians who have studied closely the
descent of horses from generation to generation
persist in maintaining that even in Great Britain
and Ireland modern horses with this white star
upon the forehead have in their veins some
Libyan blood ! How this can well be when we
know almost without doubt that until towards the
close of the Bronze or the beginning of the Iron
Age the horse was hardly made use of at all by
the inhabitants of these islands, I leave it to
more learned men to decide among themselves.
It is remarkable that whereas from very early
1 8 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
times horses of Asiatic- European breeds have
proved more or less unmanageable except when
bitted, the horses of Libya are known to have
been controlled quite easily by nosebands only.
Some of the nosebands, or rather halters, used in
early times were made of plaited straw, and to-
day halters of almost similar make and pattern
are still employed in certain of the more remote
parts of Ireland.
The bits found most suitable for Asiatic-
European horses were made first of all of horn,
then chiefly of bone, later of copper, and finally
of bronze and iron. Homer, in his " Iliad, "
alludes to bits of bronze placed between the
horse's jaws, and this probably is one of the first
instances of literary evidence we have that a
thousand years before Christ's birth horses were
controlled by bits.
Of course Xenophon has much to say upon
the question of bits and bitting, and his capital
treatise on horsemanship throws valuable light
also upon the horse in its relation to the history
of that epoch, as we shall see. Upon one point
in particular in this connection Xenophon lays
great stress. He maintains it to be imperative
that every horseman shall possess two bits for
his horse or horses, one with links of moderate
size, and one with sharp and heavy links, bidding
us at the same time remember that " whatever
sorts of bits be used, they should be flexible, for
XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP 19
where a horse seizes a rigid bit he has the whole
of it fast between his teeth . . . but the other sort
is similar to a chain, for whatever part of it be
taken hold of, that part alone remains unbent —
the rest hangs."
So that apparently bits single- and double-
jointed, and therefore flexible, were used in the
early Iron Age by the people of North- Western
Europe.
By the beginning of the fourth century B.C.
many, though not all, of the Greek and the
Macedonian mounted soldiers had come to con-
sider some sort of covering for the horse's back
to be necessary to their equipment ; and so long
previously as the eighth century B.C. horse cloths
had been adopted by the Assyrians, a people
sufficiently wise to realise from the first that a
horse with something on his back is more com-
fortable to sit upon than one without.
These early races probably would have em-
ployed cavalry several centuries sooner than they
eventually did, but for the difficulty they
experienced in arming themselves to their com-
plete satisfaction when mounted. Such peoples,
for instance, as the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and
the Greeks of the Mycenean or Bronze Age,
habitually protected themselves with the aid of
20 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
large and oblong shields when they fought on
foot, but on horseback these shields proved
cumbersome. Possibly that was the reason that
when the Normans and other Teutonic races
began to fight on horseback they so soon dis-
carded their round and clumsy shields in favour
of a shield broad at the top and tapering down-
ward, the shape of shield we see on the Bayeux
tapestry.
With regard to the war chariots in use before
this time, we may be quite sure that even the very
first employed had not wheels cut from solid
blocks as some are represented as having, though
possibly the most primitive of the agricultural
chariots were so constructed.
For the rest, the early chariots of the Egyptians
of the eighteenth dynasty, and in use in India
under the Vedic Aryans, and amongst the
Hittites, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Libyans,
the Mycenean Greeks, the Homeric Acheans,
the Gauls of Northern Italy and in Gaul itself;
also among the ancient Britons and the early
Irish, had wheels with a hub, a felloe, and spokes,
the latter from four to twelve in number.
And inasmuch as this information bears in-
directly upon the horse in his relation to early
historical records, it is not out of place here.
WHITE HORSES 21
To return again to the question of harness,
we have it on the authority of Herodotus that
"the Greeks learned from the Libyans to yoke
four horses to a chariot," and we know already
that before the time of Herodotus, who wrote
in the fifth century B.C., the Greeks had found
Libyans riding astride horses and driving some-
times two - horse and occasionally four - horse
chariots. At that time — about 632 B.C. — the
Greeks were planting Cyrene.
White horses were in ancient days at all times
largely in demand among the people of the
various nations ; and while Pindar alludes inci-
dentally to white horses being ridden by the
Thessalians in his time, Sophocles, writing half-a-
century or so later, describes a Thessalian chariot
that was drawn by white horses.
One of the regions in which white horses were
bred, probably in great numbers, was the banks
of the Caspian where the River Bug flows from
it, for Herodotus states clearly that "around a
great lake from which the River Hypanis (called
now the Bug) issued, there grazed wild white
horses." Those particular animals possibly may
have been in reality only tarpans in their winter
coats, and not actually horses. The point has
been argued more than once, but has never
been quite settled. A white horse famous to-
wards the close of the fifth or early in the
fourth century was Kantake, of the notorious
22 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Prince Gautama, but nothing need be said
about it here, trustworthy records being unpro-
curable.
The great cities of Magna Graecia — Sybaris,
Tarentum, Croton, and so on — obviously had for-
midable cavalry in the sixth century B.C.; Sicily
and Southern Italy being almost equally renowned
for the riding horses obtainable there. The
statagem to which the Crotonians had recourse
in 510 B.C. to bring about the fall of Sybaris has
been described, and it is said that for some years
prior to the destruction of the city some five or
six thousand of the inhabitants were in the habit
of riding in procession on horseback upon the
occasions of the great festivals held there.
CHAPTER II
Increasing interest in horses— Herodotus ; Thucydides ; war
chariots of the Persians — Horses represented on coinage — Wooden
horse of Troy — The Parthenon frieze ; Greek art — Plato ; white
horses — The procession of Xerxes ; horses and men sacrificed —
The horse of Darius — Horse racing introduced among the
Romans — Xenophon and Simo — Early horseshoes, bits and
bitting ; ancient methods of mounting
A S we gradually approach the time of Christ
^ we find increasing interest being taken in
horses by the kings and great chiefs of different
countries, for the value of cavalry in war was now
quickly becoming manifest.
In the early days of the Homeric or Iron Age
the Celts of Noricum and the Danube, though
still retaining chariots, had begun to ride on
horseback, and by the third century B.C. these
Celtic tribes already possessed well-trained and
very formidable cavalry. As a natural result the
demand for still better horses grew steadily, and
soon it became common to import horses into the
Upper Balkan, and countries beyond the Alps,
from the Mediterranean area.
Perhaps the best description of a chariot race
at Delphi is to be found in the Electro, of
Sophocles — Sophocles flourished in the third
century B.C. At about the same period Hero-
23
24 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
dotus tells us that the Sigynnae, the only tribe
north of the Danube that he mentions by name,
had "horses with shaggy hair five fingers long all
over their bodies." These horses were " small
and flat-nosed and incapable of carrying men,
but when yoked under a chariot were very
swift."
Consequently the natives drove them largely
in chariots.
Though Herodotus does not allude to the
colour of these small, flat-nosed horses, there is
reason to believe that dun was the colour most
prevalent at about this time. With regard to
the horses of Northern Britain Dio Cassius says
that two of the chief tribes — namely, the Cale-
donians and the Maeatae — " went to war in
chariots, as their horses were small and fleet,"
while when the Gauls passed into Italy, towards
the beginning of the fourth century B.C., they
drove chariots but did not ride, in which re-
spect they resembled the Sigynnae north of the
Danube.
Thucydides, writing at the end of the third
century B.C., speaks with interest on the subject
of horses' hoofs, pointing out that the reason so
many of the cavalry horses of the Athenians
went lame towards the close of the Peloponnesian
War was not that they had been wounded, as
some historians have averred, but owing simply
to their not being shod. This was after the
WAR CHARIOT OF THE PERSIANS 25
Spartans had occupied Decelea and suffered their
heavy loss.
Alcibiades, in the third century B.C., had many
horses, and in the sixth book of " Thucydides " he
tells us in his speech that he sent into the lists
no less than seven chariots, adding that " no
other man ever did the like " ; and later he goes
on to mention that he won the first, second and
fourth prizes.
Apparently Alcibiades knew his world, and
if so it would seem that his world was not
unlike the world we know to-day, for in another
passage he sententiously yet philosophically tells
us that we "must not expect to be recognised
by our acquaintance when we are down in the
world ; and on the same principle why should
anyone complain when treated with disdain by
the more fortunate ? "
This particular sentence is according to the
translation of " Thucydides " by the late Professor
Jowett, who leaves us to infer what we please
concerning the sociological views held by
Alcibiades.
Among the first to employ war chariots with
scythes intended to mow down the enemy were
the Persians, if historical records are to be trusted,
and we read that the chariots they used in the
battle of Cunaxa, in 401 B.C., were provided with
sharp blades, while in after years the people of Syria
had war chariots with spears as well as scythes.
26 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Thus in the bloody battle fought between
Eumenes of Pergamus, and Antiochus of Syria,
to mention but a single instance, Antiochus had
four-horse chariots with scythes and spears in his
front line of battle, whereupon Eumenes purposely
"created terror" amongst these horses, with the
result that they turned suddenly and dashed back
into the lines of Antiochus, spreading devastation
and death on all sides in their own ranks.
Certain it is that upon that occasion many
horses were cut to pieces by the scythes, but for
a full and graphic description of what happened
I must refer the reader to the thirty-seventh
chapter of the immortal " Livy."
The esteem in which horses, especially war
horses, were held in the centuries that immedi-
ately preceded the coming of Christ may to some
extent be gathered from the prominence accorded
to them when coins to be used as the circulat-
ing medium began to come into general vogue.
Thus on the first of the Carthaginian coins — they
were struck in the third century B.C. — we find
represented a horse upon one side, a palm-tree
upon the other, while on the coins of the im-
portant Sicilian settlement, Panormus, a horse is
shown.
I have tried to disentangle from a mass of only
GREEK COINS SHOWING HORSES IN THE EARLY CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST
7, j. Agrigentmn. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7,9. Syracuse. 8. Asia Minor and Greece. Philip of Afacedon
10. Hellenistic period. Hiero of Sicily
HORSES REPRESENTED ON COINAGE 27
semi-trustworthy records the true origin of the
well-known saying : " He has Seius' horse in his
stable." So far as one can ascertain, it is trace-
able to the fates of the various ill-starred owners
of the horses of Gnaeus Seius, from Seius down to
Anthony. Plutarch says that the famous Philip
II. loved to commemorate his Olympian victories
by stamping the figure of a steed upon some of
his coins, and certainly he was devoted both to
horses and horse racing. We read too that
between 359 and 336 B.C. he entered both chariots
and riding horses for the Olympian competi-
tions.
Similarly a proportion of the Sicilian coinage
bore the impression of a horse, and many of the
great chariot races are commemorated on coins.
Several of the Agrigentine coins, for instance,
show a quadriga driven by winged Nike, in com-
memoration probably of the victory of Exaenetus,
while some of the coinage of Syracuse dating
back so far as 500 B.C., and even earlier, repre-
sents a four-horse chariot upon the face of the
tetradrachms, and, on the didrachms, a man
riding one horse and leading another. Some of
the drachms show merely a man mounted.
Indeed we are told that Gela not only prided
herself on her victories won on the race track,
but upon what was, of course, of more im-
portance— her splendid cavalry. A number of
her coins represent a four-horse chariot, some
28 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
a two-horse chariot, and occasionally a wounded
foe being speared to death by a horseman, gal-
loping or stationary. These coins probably are
among the earliest of their kind ever struck.
The most ancient of all representations of
Sicilian horses, however, which serve to prove
that the Sicilians were beyond doubt a horse-
loving race, is the quadriga on one of the metopes
of the archaic temple of Silenus, believed to have
been founded in 628 B.C.
While upon the subject of sculpture, casual
reference must be made to the notorious Wooden
Horse of Troy, described fully in Homer and
alluded to centuries later by Virgil, the horse of
which the famous sculptor, Strongylon, made a
model in bronze towards probably the close of
the fifth century.
The story of this horse hardly needs repetition,
but briefly it is to the effect that soon after
Hector's death Ulysses commanded Epeios to
construct a wooden horse of great size that osten-
sibly was to be used as an offering to the gods to
please them and thus ensure a safe voyage back
to Greece.
Unsuspectful of treachery, the Trojans received
the great effigy and brought it into their city;
whereupon, in the dead of night, the Greek
soldiers hidden within it crept cautiously out,
pounced silently upon the Trojan guards and slew
them before they could defend themselves ; then
WOODEN HORSE OF TROY 29
opened the gates of Troy, let in their own soldiery,
and finally set fire to the city.
Menelaus is said to have been among the
Greeks concealed in the wooden horse.
If evidence in addition to that already given
be needed to prove that the ancient Greeks held
horses in high esteem, and that the Grecian con-
quests were probably in a great measure due to the
help afforded by the possession of horses, notice
has only to be taken of the vastness of the space
occupied by the Athenian cavalry shown on the
Parthenon frieze.
Indeed at about this period probably no accom-
plishment was quite so highly esteemed as horse-
manship, with the result that the wealthy classes
began to pay special attention to the training
their sons received in it, while treatises were
published upon the art and how best it might
be acquired.
The first horsemen of whom we have indis-
putably authentic records invariably rode bare-
back, and, with the exception of the Libyans,
used some sort of bit. According to Xenophon
— and apparently no other historian of his time is
so thoroughly to be trusted for strict accuracy —
the Greeks of the fifth century B.C. were almost
as fastidious upon the subject of bits and bittings
as some hunting men of to-day are.
30 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Some writers upon this subject have erred.
Thus the impression is prevalent that the horses
of the ancient Greeks were all much smaller than
modern horses, and the steeds shown on the
Parthenon frieze are sometimes said to afford
proof that this was so. A proportion of the
horses of those early times undoubtedly were
smaller than the modern horse is, but on the
other hand plenty were not. Probably the mis-
taken critics base their assertion upon the fact
that the men shown on the Parthenon frieze and
similar compositions, also on some of the vase
paintings of that period, apparently are as tall
as, or taller than, the horses beside which they
are standing or on which they are mounted.
The reason men and horses are so represented
simply is that according to a standard rule of
ancient Greek art the heads of men and animals,
and of all other figures shown on such composi-
tions, must be as nearly as possible upon a level,
even though some of the figures may be standing,
some seated, some on horseback, some in chariots.
This rule, known as " Isokelismos," is of
course in direct opposition to the rule of nature,
yet as it existed it had to be observed, and
therefore no attempt should ever be made to
compare the height of men or beasts shown
in such representations as the Parthenon frieze
merely by the appearance and the proportions
they present. By observing how far below
WHITE HORSES 31
the horses' bellies the feet of the mounted men
hang, an approximate idea of the height of the
men by comparison with that of some of their
horses may be arrived at.
Herodotus is of opinion that about the year
480 B.C. finer horses were owned by the Nisaean
than by any other people of Asia, and he men-
tions that white horses were so highly valued
by the Persians of about that period — who are
known to have used many white horses for
sacrificial purposes — that "some three hundred
and sixty horses, or about one for every day in the
year, and five hundred talents of silver," was the
tribute sent by the Sicilians. This statement
leads to the conclusion that white horses must
have been exceptionally plentiful in the region.
That Armenia had many horses, which were
largely used even so far back as the fifth cen-
tury B.C., can be gathered from the writings of
Ezekiel, for the prophet does not hesitate to
declare that the people of Togarmah, which pre-
sumably was part of Armenia, traded in the fairs
in horses and mules.
Pindar, who so glorified King Arcesilas, tells
us that Cyrene became famous as the city of
steeds and goodly chariots, and later the poet
Callimachus sang of his home " famed for her
32 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
steeds." Hiero II. of Syracuse owed practically
all his great successes to the fact that he owned
horses of considerable value, and to this day
figures in marble of horses dedicated by him in
commemoration of his victories at Olympia are
to be seen in the local museum of Delphi.
Almost every year attempts are made by
wealthy Americans and others to purchase
some of these figures, but down to the present
such attempts have proved of no avail.
Plato, again, has much to say upon the horse
in its relation to the history of his epoch. Thus
in one place he writes : " We must mount our
children on horses in their earliest youth, and
take them on horseback to see war, in order that
they may learn to ride ; the horses must not be
spirited or warlike, but the most tractable and yet
the swiftest that can be had ; in this way they
will get an excellent view of what is hereafter
to be their business ; and if there is danger they
have only to follow their elder leaders and escape.''
Agrigentum — until 405 B.C., when it was
destroyed by the Carthaginians — was famous
for its horses. It is said that on one occasion,
when one of the best-known citizens, Exaenetus,
won the principal chariot race at Olympus, the
entire population came forth to meet him, and
that he was preceded into the city by 300
chariots drawn by pairs of white horses. In-
deed some of the most gorgeous monuments
I!
!l
g£
o 3 fi
2 ~ Z
5 f13
= si
s gS
3 £o
iii
~ ~ ~ ~
W OS O
THE PROCESSION OF XERXES 33
ever erected to the memory of famous race horses
were those raised in this city during the period
of its splendour.
We have it on good authority that, some
centuries before Christ, the Persian men of rank
deemed it derogatory to be seen on foot, and
that they habitually rode on horseback. Yet in
common with the people of many other races
they were addicted to immolating horses on
festival days, while the practices in which they
indulged upon these occasions are said to have
been barbarous in the extreme.
In almost every age white horses in particular
would seem to have been used for sacrificial
purposes. The Persians sacrificed bulls as well
as horses, a bull and a horse being sometimes
bound together and then immolated. Arrian
mentions that one horse at least was sacrificed
to Cyrus every month, the ceremony being
usually performed at Pasargadea, close to the
famous tomb. Here again white horses were
used for the sacrifices, for among the Persians in
particular the white horse was for many centuries
deemed sacred and pronounced "beloved of the
gods."
One of the descriptions that probably gives
a true account of a triumphal march in the third
34 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
century B.C. is that of Herodotus, where he
describes the procession of Xerxes. The follow-
ing order, he tells us, was observed.
There came first 1000 carefully selected horse-
men, then 1000 carefully selected spearsmen, then
ten sacred Nisaean horses ''splendidly capari-
soned." These horses were called Nisaean, we
are incidentally told, because they were especially
reared on the plains of Nisaea, in Media, at that
period famous for its great horses.
Next came the sacred car of Zeus, drawn by
eight white horses "followed by charioteers on
foot holding their bridles, for no mortal was
allowed to mount the seat." Xerxes himself
brought up the train, usually in a chariot drawn
by Nisaean horses, with his charioteer beside
him.
The people of almost every nation of whom
we have authentic records would appear to have
been addicted in the centuries before Christ to
the atrocious practice of sacrificing live horses
to their gods. Particulars of the weird rites
observed in connection with these sacrifices are
for the most part too revolting to be described
here, but one practice observed by the Scythians
cannot well be passed unnoticed.
This people inhabited chiefly the treeless
HORSES AND MEN SACRIFICED 35
steppes of Asia, and is known to have sacrificed
animals of many kinds, but horses most of all,
and usually white or dun horses.
Thus we are told that when a Scythian king
died, his favourite horse, his favourite concubine,
and several important members of his establish-
ment, preferably his cook and his cupbearer,
were buried with him. When a year had passed,
a further ceremony took place.
This consisted in the execution, generally by
strangulation, of some fifty of the strongest,
handsomest and generally most desirable young
men — probably young men who had belonged
to his suite — and in the strangulation also of an
equal number of the best horses that had be-
longed to him.
Then, without delay, the bodies of men and
horses were disembowelled, next they were
stuffed with chaff or straw, and finally when the
horses, supplied each with a bit and bridle, had
been set up in a circle round the tomb of the
deceased monarch, the bodies of the slaughtered
men were set astride them.
And there the ghastly squadron remained until
it fell away to dust.
That the literary records in which these grue-
some details are to be found are accurate, has to
some extent been proved by discoveries made from
time to time — as for instance at the opening of
the great tumuli in Russia about half-a-century ago.
36 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Indeed during the thirteenth century A.D.
ceremonies equally revolting are known to have
been performed regularly among the Tartars,
while at the funeral of Frederic Casimir, Com-
mander of Lorraine, in 1781, a horse was killed,
and then buried with its master, and at even so
recent a date as the funeral of Li Hung Chang a
horse and chariot made of paper were, according
to the newspaper reports, burned at the grave-
side— probably a last survival of some weird rite
of a sacrificial nature observed formerly in China
and Japan.
Another race known to have immolated live
horses, especially white horses, was the Veneti.
This people lived at the head of the Adriatic,
and their name survives to this day in " Venice."
The sacrifice of white horses was common
too amongst the Scandinavian and the Teutonic
races, and formed part of their religion. The
Sicilian Greeks, again, are said to have set a
high value upon white horses, and to have sacri-
ficed them under the impression that by doing
so they afforded additional gratification to their
gods.
It would appear, indeed, that in all ages white
animals were looked upon as sacred in a sense,
for in parts of India the white elephant is deemed
sacred to this day, and in parts of Persia the
white ass. Then, in the fifth century B.C., the
nomad Scythians, whose territories lay chiefly
THE HORSE OF DARIUS 37
to the north of the River Don, owned immense
herds of horses. These they used principally
for food, while the milk of the mares they drank
and made domestic use of in other ways, a prac-
tice long in vogue among the Turko-Tartaric
tribes of Central Asia, and said to be still in
vogue with them in remote regions.
Bearing upon early Persia is rather a well-
known story that on the death of the famous
Smerdis the seven princes who were his possible
successors agreed to confer the throne upon the
owner of the horse that should be the first to
neigh when they all met on the following day.
The groom of Prince Darius having been told of
this, had recourse to a clever ruse, for on that
same evening he led his master's horse to the
exact spot where the horses were all to meet on
the day following, and there showed the horse a
mare. Upon arriving at this spot next day the
horse, as we are told, " neighed furiously," so
that Darius won his kingdom !
We know that Hiero, King of Syracuse, who
flourished towards the end of the third and during
the beginning of the second century, B.C., won
the great Olympic crown with his good horse
Phrenicus. In simple language Tacitus describes
how the people of Thurii — the city built on the
ruins of Sybaris about the year 443 B.C. — first
taught horse racing to the Romans.
Although towards the end of the second cen-
38 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
tury B.C., bareback riding was still quite common,
a covering of some sort for the horse's back was
becoming much more popular among the Greeks
despite the adherence to bareback riding by the
jockeys at the principal festivals. Atiphanes,
the " gentle humourist," whose plays were per-
formed in public for the first time towards the
close of the second century B.C., alludes to
"coverlets for a horse," this being probably one
of the first references we have to saddles among
the early Greeks.
And now we come to Xenophon, one of the
most finished of horsemen among the ancient
Greeks, and apparently a true lover of horses.
With the exception of an individual named Simo,
or Simon, who wrote before Xenophon's time,
there had not existed a man with deep and
practical knowledge of horses or horsemanship,
and the care of horses, who was able to write
lucidly upon these subjects until Xenophon
wrote with so much success his own 'exhaustive
work.
Xenophon speaks of Simo — who, according to
Suidas, was by birth an Athenian — on more than
one occasion. Xenophon, however, did not hold
Simo in high esteem, as we may gather from the
former's tone of condescension when he states that
XENOPHON AND SIMO 39
though Simo wrote with some knowledge of
horses, yet that he entertained an exalted opinion
of himself that was unpardonable.
The truth of that statement is borne out by
the evidence we have that when, on a famous
occasion, Simo presented the brazen horse to the
temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, at Athens, he
had the effrontery to engrave upon the pedestal
his own works !
Though when expressing opinions upon the
points of a horse the ancient Greeks differed
rather widely in their views, yet most of the
rules laid down by Xenophon are as applicable
to-day as they were some three and twenty
centuries ago.
We read, for instance, that "the neck of the
horse, as it proceeds from the chest, should not
fall forward, like that of a boar, but should grow
upward, like that of a cock, and should have an
easy motion at the parts about the arch." That
the advice was not overlooked, even by early
artists, can be accurately conjectured if the
Parthenon frieze be inspected, for there almost
every horse shown has a neck "like that of a
cock." Xenophon then proceeds :
" If a horse has the thighs under the tail broad
and not distorted, he will set his hind legs well
apart, and will by that means have a firmer and
quicker step, a better seat for a rider, and be
better in every respect. We may see," he con-
40 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
tinues, " a proof of this in men, who when they
wish to take up anything from the ground do try
to raise it by setting their legs apart rather than
by bringing them together."
These remarks are sensible, yet probably there
are few modern horsemen ready to admit that a
horse's hoof should be high and hollow, and the
frog kept up from the ground "as well before as
behind," which was Xenophon's opinion. Then in
his time saddles and stirrups had not, apparently,
been thought of, for we read that when first
introduced they were looked upon with scorn, all
who used them being laughed at and deemed to
take rank among what we should call in these
days " muffs."
As already noted, Xenophon had something to
say upon bits and bitting, and he describes at
length the advantages of the jointed over the
rigid bit. Also he alludes to the custom of
wearing spurs, and describes incidentally the con-
struction of the prick spurs then in vogue.
In this connection it is interesting to note that
a bit was discovered in the Acropolis of Athens
some twenty years ago, which, so it is said, dates
back to the early Persian wars of 490-479 B.C.
EARLY HORSESHOES 41
Certain modern writers of books upon subjects
more or less historical speak of horse doctors.
Some twenty -three centuries ago, however,
even the acknowledged experts upon horses and
horse breeding would seem to have possessed
only crude anatomical knowledge of the animal,
some of the advice they tendered in cases of
illness amongst horses being grotesque.
Equally it is evident that professional horse
breakers and trainers, also professional riding
masters, were known in Greece in Xenophon's
day, and possibly before his time.
There is something rather delightful about
Xenophon's ingenuousness when he tells us quite
seriously that " a horse that has no longer the
marks in his teeth, neither rejoices the buyer
with hope, nor is easy to be exchanged " ! He
speaks too with emphasis when assuring us that
when carefully examining a horse with a view to
purchase we ought to pay most attention to the
hoofs — advice to some extent discounted by
remarks he makes a few lines further on.
"To sum up all in a few words," he says else-
where, " whatever horse has good feet, is mild-
tempered, sufficiently swift, and able to endure
fatigue, and is in the highest degree obedient,
will probably give least trouble to his rider and
contribute most to his safety in military occupa-
tions. But horses that from sluggishness require
a great deal of driving, or, from excess of mettle,
42 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
much coaxing and care, afford plenty of employ-
ment to the rider, as well as much apprehension
in time of danger."
The ancients evidently had a rooted antipathy
to adopting any kind of contrivance calculated to
afford protection for their horses' hoofs. Upon
several occasions attempts were made to introduce
metal horseshoes, but in vain. The device most
resembling a horseshoe, that they were willing
to consider and of which we have a trustworthy
description, was a covering not unlike a sandal
made of reeds, or, in rare instances, of leather.
In reality it resembled a boot rather than a horse-
shoe, but it was used only where the ground was
very rough or exceptionally hard.
In parts of Japan boots of this kind, made of
straw, are worn to this day. Berenger speaks of
a horseshoe said to have been in use in the time
of Childeric, whose date was 481, A.D., and most
likely it was one of the first horseshoes, properly
so called, of which any record is extant.
If the figure of it preserved in Montfaucon's
" Antiquities " is to be relied upon for accuracy,
then it somewhat resembled the shoe in use
to-day.
It seems clear that Xenophon was not an
advocate for docking horses' tails, at any rate to
the exaggerated extent we so often see them
docked to-day, also that he was not partial to the
hogged mane, for in speaking of the horse's fore-
ANCIENT METHODS OF MOUNTING 43
lock, " while these hairs," he avers, " though of
good length, do not prevent the horse from seeing,
they brush away from his eyes whatever annoys
them. Therefore we may suppose that the gods
gave such hairs to the horse instead of the long
ears which they have given to asses and mules
to be a protection to the eyes."
A question sometimes set when the subject of
early horsemanship is under discussion is : How
used the ancients to mount, seeing that they
placed at best only cloths on their horses' backs,
and that they had not stirrups ?
Historical records contain information upon
the point, and we read that in the centuries
before Christ horses were mounted apparently in
three ways — by the rider's vaulting without
assistance on to the back ; by his vaulting or
mounting with the aid of a pole ; by his making
the horse crouch.
There was a fourth way, but for an obvious
reason it was less often resorted to. This was
by making a slave bend his back, or kneel on all
fours, and by then stepping upon him — using him
as a mounting-block, in short. The last-named
method was common in Persia, where Sapor,
when he had conquered the Emperor Valerian,
forced him thus to debase himself to show his
complete subjection.
44 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
I believe I am right in saying that the soldiery
used sometimes to mount with the aid of a spear.
Xenophon, in his seventh chapter, instructs the
horseman to mount "by catching hold of the
mane, about the ears," a feat surely impossible
to perform save when mounting a pony.
In the illustration of a Sarmatian on horseback,
facing page 33, both a man and horse are
shown in armour made of horse-hoof cut into
little plates, which, Pausanias tells us in his Attics,
were sewn together with the sinews of oxen and
horses. Sometimes bone was used in place of
horse-hoof, but iron never, there being no iron
mines in the country, to the knowledge of the
Sarmatians. The soldier shown holding up his
horse's leg, in the illustration facing page 45,
presumably is about to tie on one of the
" stockings" used in place of shoes; and on
the same plate a soldier is about to mouut on
the off (right) side.
ROMAN SOLDIER ABOUT TO ADJUST
"STOCKING" USED IN PLACE OF
SHOES
ROMAN SOLDIER ABOUT TO MOUNT
ON OFF SIDE
A MAURITANtAN HORSEMAN. SHOWING HOW THE MAURITANIANS AND HUMIDIANS RODE
WITHOUT SADDLE OR BRIDLE
CHAPTER III
Xenophon disliked the "American" seat — Cavalry organised by
the Athenians — Cost of horses twenty-three centuries ago —
Aristophanes ; Aristotle ; Athenians' fondness for horse racing —
Alexander the Great ; Bucephalus — Story of Bucephalus ; his
death — Famous painters of horses : Apelles, Pauson, Micon —
Mythical flesh-eating horses of Diomed — Hannibal's cavalry of
12,000 horse — Coins — Posidonius ; horses of the Parthians,
Iberians and Celtiberians
F N spite of the derisive remarks often uttered
concerning Xenophon's advice to young riders,
and his advice on horsemanship in general and
the care of horses, there is much sound sense in
plenty of the hints he gave to the Greek riders of
three hundred years before Christ, while many of
the rules he laid down are as applicable to-day as
they probably were then.
His advice on the vexed question of bits and
bitting, to take but a single example, is very
sound, while his strong objection to allowing
horses' legs to be washed frequently is shared by
plenty of horse owners at the present time.
Then, the old Athenian apparently disapproved
of or disliked what we have come to call the
" American " seat on a horse, for he declares that
the legs of a man mounted should be almost
straight, the body upright and supple.
45
46 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Attempts have repeatedly been made to trace
the life of Xenophon prior to the time when,
in 401 B.C., he first joined the army of Cyrus,
but in vain. He is, however, known to have
been a close friend of Socrates from a very
early age, and probably when he wrote the
" Anabasis" he was a little over thirty. But
when he died, about the year 355 B.C., he was
quite an old man.
Historians are almost unanimous in declaring
that at Marathon, in 490 B.C., the Athenians were
without cavalry, though by that time many of
the wealthy citizens undoubtedly owned horses,
some of which they most likely used for racing.
When, however, the Athenians came to realise
what an amount of execution could be done,
and to see the execution that was done by the
Persians, with the help of cavalry, they set to
work to organise in Athens, as quickly as possible,
a powerful body of mounted warriors.
How formidable that cavalry later on proved
itself to be is well known to all classical scholars,
and the more surprising it therefore is that
the Greek cavalry should not afterwards have
risen to the level of that organised by Mace-
donians. Indeed, according to more than one
historian, the Greek cavalry was employed chiefly
to harass an enemy when marching, or to pursue
a vanquished and retreating regiment, while one
writer at least maintains that the Greek cavalry
COST OF HORSES 47
at best never approached within javelin range of
an enemy's line of battle during an attack,
The cost of horses at about this time varied
almost as widely as it does now. Thus it was
not unusual to pay three minae, the equivalent of
about fifteen guineas, for quite a common hack —
an extraordinarily high price when we bear in
mind the purchasing value of money in those
days — while for trained war horses, or for race
horses, any sum from ten minae upward was paid
frequently.
Xenophon is known to have given approxim-
ately eleven minae for a little war horse that, so
far as one can ascertain, did not afterwards fulfil
expectations, so perhaps it is hardly astonishing
to read that some years later the terms "horse
owner" and " spendthrift " came to be deemed
more or less synonymous.
A list drawn up at about this time of the
principal defects to be guarded against when
inspecting a horse with a view to purchase is
interesting, inasmuch as the points looked upon
as faults three and twenty centuries ago are with
only a few exceptions deemed to be egregious
defects to-day.
The following is the list that was drawn up,
so it is alleged, by Pollux :
Hoofs with thin horn (sic) ; hoofs full, fat, soft
and flat — or, as Xenophon termed them, " low-
lying " ; heavy fetlocks ; shanks with varicose
48 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
veins ; flabby thighs ; hollow shoulder-blades ;
projecting neck ; bald mane ; narrow chest ; fat
and heavy head ; large ears ; converging nostrils ;
sunken eyes ; thin and meagre sides ; sharp back-
bone ; rough haunches ; thin buttocks ; stiff legs,
stiff knees.
Though among the horses of the ancient Greeks
the hogged mane must at one time have been
seen often enough, there does not appear to be
in the works of the early writers any direct
allusion to the hogging of horses as a regular
practice.
Probably if the custom did exist it was on
the wane by the time Xenophon began to write.
There is evidence to show that in ancient Greece
the horses at about this period were rather smaller
than those of most other countries of which we
have authentic records, a characteristic still notice-
able amongst the horses in several parts of modern
Greece.
The Greeks almost always used entire horses
for all purposes. Even in war they did not
employ geldings, a custom that has given rise
to the belief that in the centuries before Christ
all horses, with the exception of the Libyan
steeds, were far more savage than the horses
of to-day.
Emphatically we have no reason to suppose
that the Greeks made friends and companions of
their horses as the Arab race is known to do or to
PLEASURE HORSES OF THE GREEKS 49
have done, though the fable of Achilles' love for
his horse named Xanthus makes a pretty enough
story. On the other hand, it is quite possible
that Xenophon may have been fond of horses
not merely because of the amusement they
afforded him or the pleasure he derived from
riding and hunting.
For the rest the Greeks, in common with the
people of most of the warlike nations in those
early days, enjoyed possessing horses mainly
because they served to enhance life's pleasure,
and were of practical use in war.
Certainly it may be said of Xenophon that
he did not preach the doctrine of kindness to
horses without himself practising it thoroughly,
also that he was ever ready to rebuke severely
all who ill-treated their own horses or his.
Apparently the Greeks of about this era did
not keep what we should term to-day pleasure
horses, though they affected pleasure horses in
the sense that they kept race horses. With the
death of Xenophon we lose touch, to some extent,
with the progress of the horse in history, but the
thread is taken up again in the Roman period
when Varro, writing in 37 B.C., furnishes certain
details that are of interest, Virgil adding to them
a little later in his " Georgics."
After that we find instructive comment in the
writings of Calpurnius and Columella in the first
century A.D. ; in those of Oppian and Nemesian
D
50 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
in the third century ; and in those of Apsyrtus,
Pelagonius and Palladius in the fourth century.
When all is said, Xenophon's information most
likely is by far the most trustworthy of any that
has been handed down to us, in the same way
that his descriptions certainly are the most ac-
curate. Only a few fragments of the book by
Simo, written probably about the year 460 B.C.,
remain ; yet even those fragments contain peculiar
statements.
Thus in addition to insinuating that Thessaly
was the only region famous for horses in the
centuries before Christ — an assertion indirectly
gainsaid by Xenophon — he didactically remarks
that the colour of a horse ought not to be taken
into consideration when the animal's qualities are
being summed up, a statement that the majority
of the early writers openly repudiated, and that,
as most of us know, is in every country deemed
devoid of truth at the present day.
Though particulars are difficult to obtain, there
is reason to believe that the horse named after
the Thracian river, Strymon — owing to its having
been bred in that vicinity — and that was immolated
by Xerxes before his invasion of Greece, was, as
usual, a white horse.
By exactly what route horses were introduced
ATHENIANS FOND OF HORSE RACING 51
into Greece has not been ascertained for certain,
but the fact that fossilised remains of horses have
not been found in Greece as they have been in
many other countries leads to the belief that the
horse was not indigenous to the country.
From a very remote period, however, we find
horses represented on vase paintings ; and from
these paintings too we are able practically to
prove that the Greeks had not rowels in their
primitive spurs, but that the spur consisted of a
short goad attached to the heel of the boot by
means of a strap passing over the instep and
another that passed under the sole, almost as the
modern hunting spur is strapped on. Spurs of
this kind have been discovered in Olympia, also
in Magna Graecia, and elsewhere.
With regard to the Greek bits and bridles of a
later date, the former apparently had no leverage
— certainly they had no curb chain — while the
pattern of the bridle seems to have remained
unaltered.
As we come nearer still to the time of Christ, we
find the young men of Athens growing fonder and
fonder of horse racing and taking more pains and
spending much time and money in their attempts
to improve the breed of horses. And though
the soil of Attica was by no means adapted
52 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
for purposes of horse rearing, it must in justice
be said that their attempts met with reward.
Thus it happened that about this time — that is
to say towards the close of the third or the be-
ginning of the second century — the comic poet,
Aristophanes, who died in 380 B.C., began to in-
veigh against the increasing popularity of horse
racing, and against the spread of gambling con-
sequent thereon.
In his immortal comedy of The Clouds, it
will be remembered, he portrays a typical young
spendthrift, Pheidippes, and an equally typical
indignant father, Strepsiades, both of whom
would serve well as latter-day types of men of
the same stamp.
The son, when the comedy opens, has lost
heavily on the turf and incurred the displeasure,
not to say roused the indignation, of his father, in
addition to burdening the old man heavily with
his gambling debts. Presently the son is sued
by Pasion, a characteristic usurer of that period,
for the recovery of the entire sum of twelve
minae.
" For what with debts and duns and stable-
keepers' bills," Strepsiades exclaims in exaspera-
tion in the opening lines, addressing his son
Pheidippes, who lies asleep before him — " what
with debts and duns and stablekeepers' bills which
this fine spark heaps on my back, I lie awake the
whilst : and what cares he but to coil up his locks,
AVERAGE SPAN OF LIFE 53
ride, drive his horses, dream of them all night. ..."
And so on.
This gives us, to start with, an idea of the de-
gree of popularity that horse racing had attained
in Greece at about this time, for Pheidippes is
meant to be a character drawn from life and
typical of the young punters of the period.
Later we learn that the money for which the
father is being sued had, in the first instance,
been borrowed to pay for a " starling-coloured
horse " — whatever kind of weird creature that may
have been. Possibly " fleabitten " is intended,
for the geographer, Strabo, speaks of " the starling-
coloured horses of the Parthians " and of the
people of Northern Spain, and it is known that
plenty of those horses were of the colour that we
should term to-day " fleabitten."
Aristotle is the next to enlighten us to some
extent upon the growing fondness of the Greeks
for horses, especially for race horses and war
horses. He tells us too that about the average
span the horses in his time — the middle of the
second century B.C., 384 to 322 — lived was
eighteen to twenty years, though a few were
said to have reached five and twenty, and even
thirty, and a very few indeed to have died at fifty.
Whether the custom that then prevailed of feed-
54 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
ing horses mostly on barley proved beneficial
or the reverse in the long run we are not told.
Finally we come to Alexander the Great and his
renowned Bucephalus, a horse bred, as we are
told, by Philoneicus of Pharsalus, a Thessalian.
Bucephalus, or rather Bucephaktf, means ox
head, or bull head, from which we may conclude
that whatever good points Bucephalus may have
had — and without doubt he had many — he
certainly had not the fine head of a modern
hunter or the tapering muzzle of the thorough-
bred that nowadays we so much admire.
It has been stated that Bucephalus derived his
name from a mark on the left shoulder in the form
more or less of a bull's head. As we know, how-
ever, that many years before Alexander's Buce-
phalus was foaled there existed a type of Thes-
salian horse upon which the same name had been
bestowed, the conjecture is probably a false one.
How great the fame of Bucephalus was may
be gathered from the fact that of all the horses
possessed by the ancient Greeks down to this
date he alone is the animal over which they
thoroughly " enthuse." From what we are
told in the writings of Aristotle, indeed, and
of later historians, Bucephalus must have been
quite a tall horse, well shaped, coal-black, with a
good shoulder and small ears. Also he had a
white star in the middle of his forehead, a mark
characteristic of certain Libyan breeds of old.
;.
THE STORY OF BUCEPHALUS 55
An unknown writer in the " Geoponics " avers
that in the centuries just before Christ many of
the best horses had eyes of different colour — what
we sometimes term a wall eye, and Americans a
China eye — and from his own deductions he con-
cludes that Bucephalus probably had eyes that
did not match. There does not, however, appear
to be direct evidence that this was so.
Plutarch sets the price paid for Bucephalus
by Alexander's father, King Philip, at thirteen
talents, while Pliny is of opinion that the price
was higher still — namely, sixteen talents.
Now the sum that to-day would be the equiva-
lent of thirteen talents is approximately ^3500,
and when we bear in mind the prices that in the
second century frequently were paid even for
the best horses obtainable, and recollect, in
addition, that at the time King Philip bought
Bucephalus the horse was probably aged — some
writers aver that he must have been quite
fourteen when Philip bought him — it is not
possible to reconcile the statement that a fancy
price in any way approaching the sum named
could have been paid.
The story of the trial and subsequent purchas^
of Bucephalus is both pretty and picturesque.
More, it would appear to be true in almost every
detail. According to Plutarch, whose account
probably is the most trustworthy, the horse was
first brought before King Philip to be given at
56 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
public trial, when, to the discomfiture of its owner,
it showed itself to be apparently "a fierce and
unmanageable beast that would neither allow
anybody to mount him, nor obey any of Philip's
attendants, but reared and plunged against them
all, so that the king in a rage bade them take
him away for an utterly wild and unbroken
brute."
At this juncture it was that Alexander — at the
time a boy of twelve, and Aristotle not yet his
tutor — came upon the scene. We are told that
he "leapt suddenly forward and in an access of
indignation cried out before the king and every-
body assembled that the men attempting to ride
the horse were ' clumsy clowns,' " adding, with
the self-assurance of precocious boyhood, that "if
they were not careful they would spoil the horse
entirely."
Philip at first paid no attention to his son's
outburst, deeming it to be childish spleen, but
upon the lad's refusing to be quieted he turned
to him, suddenly nettled, and demanded in a sharp
tone how he dare be so insolent as to criticise his
elders. In no way abashed, Alexander retorted
that in this instance he certainly did know much
better than his elders, and that if his father
would allow him he would prove it by himself
mounting the horse at once and riding it round
the ring.
" And what will you forfeit for your rashness if
THE STORY OF BUCEPHALUS 57
you are thrown off? " the king inquired, not
troubling to conceal his anger.
To which young Alexander retorted with much
spirit :
" The price of the horse, by Zeus ! "
It is hardly likely that Alexander, rash though
he undoubtedly was, would have said this if the
price at which Bucephalus was valued amounted
to a sum in talents equivalent to thousands of
pounds, for King Philip though a just ruler was
a stern father, and Alexander must have known
that his father would extort the forfeit should he
fail to ride the horse.
The lad's reply, we are told, was received with
shouts of laughter. This public expression of
ridicule it may have been that set the boy upon
his mettle, for without further parley he ran out
into the arena, ordered his father's attendants
aside, and then, grasping the reins, began to pat
the horse's neck and " soothe him with soft
words."
For the boy had observed what apparently
nobody else had noticed — namely, that the horse
grew restive at the sight of its own shadow.
Without waiting, therefore, he turned the horse
to face the sun, then at once " sprang up and
bestrode him unharmed." Next, gradually and
very gently, and using neither whip nor spur, he
made Bucephalus move round and round in a
circle until the animal no longer feared its shadow
58 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
and then when it had, as we are told, " given up
all threatening behaviour, and was only hot for the
course," he gave the horse its head, " urging him
onward by raising his voice and using his heel."
At the sight of this fine display of horse break-
ing and horsemanship the spectators, now some-
what abashed at the haste they had been in to
jeer, grew silent. But not for long. Presently, as
Alexander came galloping back, " full of just pride
and pleasure," the assembled multitude, including
the king's attendants, "of one accord raised a
great cheer, lifting up their hands from pure
joy."
Philip himself must have been of an emotional
nature, for we read that "he said nothing, but
wept silently from pure joy."
Possibly the lad too suffered from "pure joy"
at that moment, for upon his dismounting his
father advanced with the remark that Macedonia
was "not big enough for such a son," that he
" must go look for a kingdom to match him."
Which shows that even in the centuries before
Christ there was truth in the popular platitude
that nothing succeeds like success !
Then and there Bucephalus was bought for
Alexander, and from that time until its death,
from wounds received in a battle fought against
the Indian king, Porus, the horse remained
Alexander's favourite charger and companion.
A remarkable peculiarity about this animal was
THE STORY OF BUCEPHALUS 59
that though subsequently it came to allow the
grooms to ride it bareback, yet when it had on
one of the cloths that at that period did duty for
a saddle it would allow only Alexander to mount
it. As one writer neatly says : " When others
tried to mount the horse with the cloth on they
invariably had to take to their heels to save them-
selves from his." It is further recorded that when
Alexander wished to mount, Bucephalus would
crouch of its own accord to enable its master to
get on more easily.
Alexander took Bucephalus with him on his
famous expeditions into the East, and on one
occasion, in Hyrcania, the horse was stolen. The
king " thereupon became terrible to see, so great
was his rage." At once an edict was issued that
unless the horse were returned to him without
delay he would " carry fire and sword throughout
the country — north and south, east and west,
sparing neither men nor women, nor, if need be,
even the smallest children."
A chronicler of the period, commenting upon
this, drily observes that when Alexander's deter-
mination became known, " the horse was returned
in a hurry ! "
"Thus," remarks Arrian, the great historian,
" the horse must have been as dear to Alexander
as Alexander was terrible to the barbarians." As
he here employs the word " barbarian" in its
offensive signification he evidently despised the
60 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
people of Hyrcania because they had sense enough
to return the stolen horse instead of waiting with
their kith and kin to be slain or tortured !
In the descriptions of almost all the great
victories won by Alexander the Great, allusion
is made to his favourite steed. We are told by
Gellius that in the battle that practically witnessed
the death of Bucephalus the king had pressed
forward recklessly into the thick of the fight, and
apparently right into the enemy's lines, and had
thus become " the mark for every spear " — a state-
ment which, if literally true, points to an enemy
made up of singularly inept marksmen.
" More than one spear," he goes on, " was
buried in the neck and flanks of the horse, but,
though at the point of death, and almost drained
of blood, he succeeded with a bold dash in carry-
ing the king from the very midst of the foe, and
then fell, breathing his last tranquilly now that he
knew his master was safe, and as comforted by
the knowledge as if he had had the feelings of a
human being."
There is something about the concluding
sentence that leads to the belief that Gellius must
have been either remarkably imaginative, or else
of a more romantic nature than the majority of
his contemporaries have given him credit for be-
ing. The last line in particular is very precious.
After reading it can one feel astonished at
Alexander's enthusiasm having carried him to
FAMOUS PAINTERS OF HORSES 61
the length of causing him to build a city to the
memory of the noble steed, a city to which he
gave the name Bucephala?
The handsome bronze discovered in Hercu-
laneum is popularly supposed to represent the
figures of Alexander and Bucephalus. The work
probably of Lysippus — whom Alexander himself
ordered to produce a scene representing a fight
during the great battle of Granicus — it is
extremely interesting.
A pleasing anecdote told of Alexander and
Bucephalus, and more likely to be true than are
the majority of the tales that are related of this
horse and its owner, is to the effect that upon
one occasion the king went to inspect a portrait
of himself mounted on his favourite charger, that
the distinguished painter, Apelles, had just com-
pleted.
Nettled at Alexander's scant praise of his work
— for we are told the picture was so lifelike that
even Bucephalus neighed when first he saw it —
Apelles turned to the king with the rebuke :
" I fear me, your Majesty, that your horse is a
better judge of painting than his noble master."
What retort the king made is not recorded,
but the story recalls one of a similar nature re-
lated of the famous artist, Pauson, who when
ordered to produce a picture of a horse rolling on
its back, sent to his patron a picture of a horse
galloping madly through a cloud of dust.
62 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In a great rage the patron sent for Pauson,
and, upon his arrival, " began to storm and rave,"
at the same time demanding to know what had
made him commit a blunder so egregious. With-
out replying, Pauson walked up to the picture
and turned it upside down, when, to the vast
amusement of the hitherto irate patron, there
appeared a perfect picture of a horse rolling on
its back on a dusty plain.
Of the famous artist, Micon, it is related that
he once incurred the criticism of the rider, Simon,
who, upon looking at one of his pictures, remarked
drily that never in his life before had he seen a
horse that had eyelashes on its lower lids !
It seems certain that in the centuries before
Christ the steeds bred in Thessaly were among
the most highly prized, though the horses of
several other breeds — such, for instance, as the
Argive, the Arcadian, the Epidaurian and the
Arcananian — possessed great courage and excep-
tional power of endurance.
In the very early times Thessalian horses were
used largely for charioteering. Allusion is made
repeatedly in the classics to these Thessalian
animals, stress being laid upon their symmetry,
or what to-day we should term their make and
shape. The mythical mares of King Diomed of
FLESH-EATING HORSES 63
Thrace, the tyrant whose grim humour, we are
told, led him to feed his horses on the strangers
who visited his kingdom, were alleged to be of
the breed of Thessaly, a statement made indirectly
in the description of Hercules' conquest of the
tyrant and his subsequent " casting of the tyrant's
quivering carcass to his own horses to be de-
voured."
Spenser alludes to this incident in the fifth
book of his " Faerie Queene," in the following
lines : —
" Like to the Thracian tyrant who, they say,
Unto his horses gave his guests for meat,
Till he himself was made their greedy prey,
And torn to pieces by Alcides great."
Other mythical horses of the Thessalian breed
were those of Achilles, of Rhesus, and of Orestes
in Sophocles' stirring description of the race in
Electra.
It seems safe to say that until about the
fourth century B.C. the Romans also did not use
saddles, at least saddles with trees. That some-
where about this period, however, they began to
adopt what we should call to-day saddlecloths,
and that these were kept in place by a strap or
bandage in the nature of a girth that passed
beneath the belly, appears to be certain.
For some unknown reason this girth is more
often than not omitted on the works of art that
64 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
represent horses of that period. Some of the
animals of the Parthenon frieze lead us to
believe that on occasions horses were still made
to crouch when about to be mounted, though it
is not probable they crouched voluntarily, as
Bucephalus did. From impressions on the
Parthenon frieze we may also conclude that
the mounting block was not unknown in the
centuries before Christ.
A good idea of the exact stamp of horse har-
nessed to the war chariots of those centuries may
be obtained by inspecting the bronze horse of the
quadriga from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
the date of the Mausoleum being 331-341 B.C.
— the building took ten years to erect. This
bronze is to be seen in the British Museum.
Hannibal's must have been the army the
best provided with cavalry down to the year
218 B.C., for in that year Hannibal advanced
into Italy with no less than 90,000 foot and
some 12,000 horse, many of the latter being
native horses mounted by Numidians who
persisted still in scorning to use either saddle
or bridle, though the cavalry division, which
consisted of Spaniards, employed bridles of an
elaborate pattern.
How wholly superior Hannibal's cavalry proved
to be to the Gallic horsemen placed by Scipio in
the front line of his javelin throwers is well
known to students of history. Indeed it was
PARTHIANS AND IBERIANS 65
said that Hannibal's horsemen were superior even
to the Italian and the Roman cavalry, which was
high praise.
Probably from about the year 200 B.C., possibly
from an even earlier period, the Romans used
spurs, apparently the common prick spurs which
remained in vogue until towards the middle of
the thirteenth century A.D. Some half-a-century
later, or about the year 150 B.C., there were
issued in succession a series of Gaulish silver
coins, the majority of which bore upon one
side the impression of a horseman, though com-
paratively few showed the chariot at one time so
generally represented on coins.
This leads naturally to the inference that the
popularity of the chariot was already waning.
Chariots, however, continued to appear upon
the gold coins made in imitation of the gold
stater of Philip II. of Macedon, coins that bore
on the face Apollo's head, on the reverse a two-
horse chariot.
Exceptionally fine horses, probably with Liber-
ian blood in them, must have been owned by the
Iberians and Celtiberians at about the period
the Stoic philosopher Posidonius was travelling
in Western Europe, and when he incidentally
visited Spain — about the year 90 B.C. Posi-
66 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
donius himself remarks that the cavalry of the
Iberians was trained to travel over mountains,
adding that these horses too would crouch when
told to, in order that their riders might mount or
dismount with greater ease.
A method to which this cavalry sometimes had
recourse consisted in their mounting two men on
one animal. Then, in the heat of action, one
of the men would fight on foot, the other re-
maining by to defend him if hard pressed. The
same philosopher tells us that the horses of the
Parthians and Celtiberians " indeed were superior
to all other breeds in fleetness and endurance."
CHAPTER IV
Virgil on the points of a horse — Caesar's invasion — Abolition of
war chariots — Precursor of the horseshoe — Nero's 2000 mules
shod with silver ; Poppaea's shod with gold — The Ossianic and
Cuchulainn epic cycles ; Cuchulainn's horses — The Iceni on New-
market Heath ; early horse racing in Britain — Horses immolated
by the Romans ; white horses as prognosticators — Caligula's
horse, Incitatus ; Celer, the horse of Verus ; the horse of
Belisarius
TTIRGIL, whose famous " Georgics " was pub-
lished about the year 29 B.C., incidentally
shows how close the connection was that in his
time existed between men and their horses —
that is, in so far as the former would probably have
gained comparatively few victories and made but
little headway in civilisation had they not been
materially helped by "man's friend and ally,
the horse."
According to Virgil, in the years just before
Christ the colour least liked in horses intended
for work was white. " Yellow " also was objected
to, the prevalent belief being that white or dun
horses must ipso facto be of weak constitution.
White markings were not disliked, however, and
we read that Virgil's Roman youth rode "a
Thracian steed of two colours," it had a white fore
foot and a forehead with a white patch. The
67
68 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
charger ridden by Turnus was also a Thracian
horse, with markings somewhat similar.
The following description in the third book
of Virgil's "Georgics" gives us most likely an
approximate idea of some points that were looked
for in a good horse in the last century B.C. : —
" Choose with like care the courser's generous breed,
And from his birth prepare the parent steed.
His colour mark, select the glossy bay,
And to the white or dun prefer the grey.
As yet a colt he stalks with lofty pace,
And balances his limbs with flexile grace :
First leads the way, the threatening torrent braves,
And dares the unknown arch that spans the waves.
Light on his airy crest his slender head,
His belly short, his loins luxuriant spread :
Muscle on muscle knots his brawny breast,
No fear alarms him, nor vain shouts molest.
But at the clash of arms, his ear afar
Drinks the deep sound, and vibrates to the war :
Flames from each nostril roll in gathered stream,
His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam,
O'er his right shoulder, floating full and fair,
Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads its pomp of hair :
Swift works his double spine, and earth around
Rings to his solid hoof that wears the ground."
Though chariots were still in use among the
Belgic tribes who inhabited the south-eastern
portion of the island when, in 55 B.C., Caesar
invaded Britain, cavalry must have been coming
into vogue with them, for we read that "no
sooner were these tribes warned to be prepared
CAESAR'S INVASION 69
for Caesar's contemplated invasion than they sent
forward cavalry and charioteers, which formed
their chief arm in warfare."
The people of North Britain, however, still paid
but little attention to the advice of the more in-
telligent among their chiefs that cavalry ought
to be adopted and chariots entirely discarded,
the principle of ultra-conservatism which remains
one of the most marked characteristics of the
British nation at the present day being apparently
in force even in Caesar's time.
By this period the Gauls, as Caesar soon
found out, had become a nation composed almost
wholly of knights. Yet whether the aboriginal
horse of the first yeomanry of Kent that met
Caesar upon his landing belonged to the breed
believed to have been imported by the Celts or
Germans, or whether they were descendants of
the horses known to have been largely bred
when Hannibal's warlike expeditions into Spain,
Gaul and Italy were over, is not known.
Of interest it is to be told that the men
who invaded this country under the banner of
the White Horse greatly valued the particular
breed of horses they found here, and that in
consequence their descendants in later centuries
cut upon the chalk cliffs of the Berkshire downs
near Ilsley and Wantage the rough figures of
horses that remain there to this day.
We have it on the authority of several of the
70 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
most trustworthy of our early historians that by
about the end of the third century B.C., at latest,
the Gauls of northern Italy had become a race of
horsemen ; that by about the middle of the second
century B.C. the majority of the Transalpine
Gauls had done the same ; and that by Caesar's
time even the Belgic tribes of the Continent
had practically abandoned the war chariot that
the Romans had deemed so helpful.
Apparently the horses employed by the
Roman warriors were of a better stamp than
those which belonged to the Gauls of Northern
Italy.
It is well known that Caesar's opinion of the
value of chariots in war was, to say the least,
rather inflated. His description of the action of
war chariots during an engagement is of itself
almost sufficient to prove this.
"At the first onset," he writes, "they [the
warriors] drove the cars in all directions, hurled
their javelins, and by the din and clatter of
horses and wheels commonly threw the ranks
of the enemy into disorder.
"Then, making their way amongst the squad-
rons of the enemy's cavalry, they leaped down
from the chariots and fought on foot.
" Little by little the charioteers withdrew out
of the fight and placed their chariots in such a
way that if they were hard pressed by the enemy
they could readily retreat to their own side.
VALUE OF CHARIOTS IN WAR 71
"Thus in battle they afforded the mobility of
cavalry, and the steadiness of infantry.
" Daily practice enabled them to pull up their
horses when in full speed on a slope or steep
declivity, to check or turn them in a narrow
space, to run out on the pole and stand on the
yoke, and to get nimbly back again into the
chariot."
All of which sounds simple and delightful. In
practice, however, it did not often "work out."
For too frequently the wheels of the chariots be-
came clogged, sometimes they jammed in the
wheels of other chariots — not necessarily the
enemy's — and frequently the horses, driven to
frenzy by pain and terror, stampeded on all sides.
Therefore the "steadiness of infantry," of
which Caesar talks so glibly, must in many
instances have existed purely in his imagination,
and there can be little doubt that the warriors,
carried away nolens volens by their frenzied
horses, often "retreated readily to their own
side " long before the enemy pressed them to do
so, a regrettable incident which Caesar passes
over with perfunctory comment. And perhaps he
is not to be found fault with for doing this, seeing
that similar tactics have been indulged in by many
of the most successful of our military strategists
of modern times.
Probably by Caesar's time the practice of
placing a covering of some sort upon the backs
72 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of " saddle " horses had become quite common, at
least amongst the Romans. Among German tribes
the use of any sort of covering was still not merely
laughed to scorn, but deemed to be actually
effeminate, disgraceful and a mark of laziness.
To do the Germans justice, they thoroughly
acted up to their theory in this connection, for
never, when riding bareback, did they fear to at-
tack cavalry equipped with the horsecloth termed
an ephippion, which means literally a horse cover.
Referring again to war chariots, Diodorus tells
us almost in so many words that the Celts of Gaul
and of Northern Italy went to war in two-horse
chariots down to quite a late date, after the
manner of the Homeric Acheans. These chariots
held each two warriors, or a warrior and a
charioteer. One of the occupants first hurled
a spear at the enemy and then quickly alighted
to finish the attack on foot ; the other occupant
managed the car.
Though Horace himself was not a practical
horseman, the views which he expressed upon
the subject of horses and of horsemanship are
for the most part admirable. In common with
Xenophon he deemed good hoofs to be an
essential. Listen to the following rather amus-
ing though at the same time quite sensible
observations uttered by Horace in one of his
famous " Satires " : —
"Swells," he writes, "when they buy horses,
PRECURSOR OF THE HORSESHOE 73
have a way of covering them up when they look
over them, for fear that a handsome shape set
upon tender feet, as often happens, may take in
the buyer as he hangs open-mouthed over fine
haunches, small head, and stately neck. And
they are right."
At this time the ancients did not shoe their
horses, though it is generally believed that the
Romans often covered the hoofs of their mules
with a sort of cap made of leather, which they
then tied about the fetlock.
These caps or coverings were named solece,
and in the majority of cases had a thin plate or
sole made of iron. Nero is said to have used
for his 2000 mules plates made of silver instead
of iron, and Pliny declares in his famous
"Natural History" that Nero's ridiculous wife,
Poppsea, used plates of gold for the same
purpose.
It seems more than likely that caps of this
pattern may have been worn by some at least
of the horses of the immortal Ten Thousand, for
it is recorded that during the great retreat an
Armenian explained to a group of Greeks how
best to protect their horses' feet when snow lay
thick upon the ground, and the way he recom-
mended was to wrap them up as described.
74 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In the early history of Ireland we find references.
There is an Irish epic cycle said to be quite one of
the oldest known — the cycle of Cuchulainn — in
which the warriors all fight from chariots and do
terrible things. In this respect the poems of the
Ossianic cycle are different, from which it has
been inferred that the latter were written later.
If this was so it helps to bear out the argument
that chariots went steadily out of use as cavalry
came more and more into vogue. Various dates
have been assigned to the " Cuchulainn Saga,"
but from the records that exist it seems safe to
say that the original poem must have been written
in Pagan times — the events referred to in it are
supposed to have occurred about the first century
B.C. — though probably it was revised and added to
in later years.
Indeed it is beyond dispute that as early as
the seventh century A.D. some of these poems
were already deemed to be of great antiquity.
Cuchulainn's horses are described at length in
" The Wooing of Emer." They were " alike in
size, beauty, fierceness and speed. Their manes
were long and curly, and they had curling tails.
The right-hand horse was a grey horse, broad
in the haunches, fierce, swift and wild ; the other
was jet-black, his head firmly knit, and he was
broad-hoofed and slender ; long and curly were
his mane and tail. Down his broad forehead
hung heavy curls of hair."
THE ICENI ON NEWMARKET HEATH 75
We are further told " that was the one chariot
which the host of the horses of the chariots of
Ulster could not follow on account of the swift-
ness and speed of the chariot and of the chariot
chief who sat in it."
These peerless animals were guided by "two
firm-plaited yellow reins," and presumably the
black with "long and curly mane and tail" was
of Spanish or Gaulish blood.
Soon after the coming of Christ, or probably
about the year 60 A.D., a tribe referred to as the
Iceni is known to have lived on what is now
called Newmarket Heath, and to have owned
horses, apparently in great numbers.
Tacitus speaks of the Iceni, who must have
been a greater and more powerful people than
the majority of modern historians lead us to infer.
Again, it is interesting to note that nearly all the
gold and silver coins of the Iceni bear upon one
side the impression of a horse. Caesar refers
to the Iceni as a race that dwelt in Cambridge-
shire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and
Tacitus wrote practically to the same effect.
Though horse racing is spoken of incidentally
as having been indulged in early in the Anglo-
Saxon era, quite the earliest bond-fide horse
races that took place in England, of which we
have authentic record, were those organised about
the time of the Emperor Severus Alexander,
or towards the beginning of the third century A.D.
76 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
The meeting was held at Netherby, in York-
shire.
These races were run apparently not long be-
fore the assassination of the ill-starred emperor
in 222 by the soldiers whom Maximus had cor-
rupted. At other stations as well horse races took
place during the Roman occupation, and Carleon,
Silchester, Rushborough and Dorchester are men-
tioned as being among the localities which had to
do with the very primitive " Turf " of that period.
Perhaps the undeniable superiority of the
British thoroughbred over the horses of other
nations to-day may in a measure be due to the
time and attention the Romans of that era devoted
to the importation of horses of Eastern blood.
This seems more likely still to be the case
when we remember that the majority of the best
of the English mares were crossed with Arabian
stallions in the years that followed, and that a
succession of such stallions was imported through-
out the early and the Middle Ages, and from that
time onward right down through the sixteenth,
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as we shall
see presently.
By the beginning of the era of the Saxon kings
an Arab steed had come to be looked upon as a
recognised royal gift. According to one authority,
indeed, Boadicea, the intrepid queen who led the
Iceni against the Roman invaders, was greatly
attached to her horses.
EARLY HORSE RACING IN BRITAIN 77
Most likely she was attached to them, however,
only because they helped her so materially in
her raids upon her enemies. To pretend that
"the sturdy queen," as one historian nicknames
her, harboured anything in the least approaching
a sympathetic or a sentimental affection for any
particular horse would be the acme of all that is
grotesque.
Haydn has the misplaced gallantry to allude to
Boadicea as "the heroic queen." That her good
fortune in possessing horses with considerable
staying power enabled her to win her great
victory at Verulam is now common history.
Therefore we read with the more interest that
" this relentless queen destroyed London and
other places, slaughtering many Romans, but
at last she was overcome near London, by Suet-
onius, and she ended by committing suicide."
In the second century A.D. the Arabs probably
had not begun to breed horses, for at that time
we do not hear of Arab horses being held in the
high esteem with which they later came to be
regarded by the British nation.
Yet even before this, or towards the middle of
the first century A.D., the sport of chariot racing
had become immensely popular, and the sums
spent upon organising the races, training the
horses that were to be entered for competition,
and in purchasing prizes to be bestowed upon the
victors, may justly be said to have been enormous
78 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
if we bear in mind the purchasing value of the
coinage of the period.
That the Romans were given to sacrificing
horses to their gods, Pliny the elder has made
plain to us. He is said to have written an ex-
haustive work upon steeds of a certain stamp,
but unfortunately the book must have been
destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D.,
when Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried, and
some 200,000 human beings killed, among them
Pliny.
As he points out in his " Natural History,"
however, the sacrifices of horses took place
frequently, especially upon occasions of public
solemnity, and he mentions that horses to be
immolated were not allowed to be touched even
by the Flamen.
Whether or no the Romans habitually sacrificed
white horses, after the manner of the Greeks,
Illyrians and Persians, is not stated. They did,
however, harness white horses to their chariots
upon these and other state occasions, and thus we
read that when Julius Caesar returned from Africa
the quadriga in which he drove was, by order of
the Senate, drawn by milk-white steeds.
Tacitus tells us that on some occasions when
a distinguished chief died the dead man's horse
was cremated on the funeral pyre beside its
master's body, and we know that the superstitious
beliefs of the Persians were upon a par with those
CALIGULA ON HORSEBACK. ABOUT 37 A.D.
From a figure in the British Museum
WHITE HORSES AS PROGNOSTICATORS 79
of their Germanic kinsmen in so far as the im-
molation of horses was concerned.
In some instances alleged divination of the
future was brought about by the aid of horses.
Tacitus himself remarks that it was peculiar to
this people (the Germans) " to seek from horses
omens and monitions."
" Kept at the public expense in these same
woods and groves," he continues, "are white
horses, pure from the taint of earthly labour.
These are yoked to a sacred chariot and accom-
panied by the priests and the king, or chief of
the tribe, who note their neighings and snortings.
No species of divination is more to be trusted,
not only by the people and by the nobility, but
also by the priests, who regard themselves as the
ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted
with their will."
Amusing, but probably more or less fictitious,
stories of Incitatus, the notorious horse of the
Roman emperor, Caligula, have been handed
down to us. That this beast had the absurd
honour conferred upon it of being elected priest
and consul we must believe, and there probably
is truth in the statement that it ate regularly out
of an ivory manger and drank from a golden
pail.
But we must accept with reservation the story
that the horse alone had eighteen attendants in
gorgeous apparel or livery to attend to it. Almost
8o THE HORSE IN HISTORY
equally fantastic are the tales told of the famous
horse that belonged to the Roman emperor,
Verus, in the second century A.D. Celer by
name, it ate nothing but almonds and raisins,
and its stable was a suite of apartments in the
emperor's principal palace. In place of horse
clothing it wore a garment of royal purple.
I need hardly repeat that these and similar
stories that have been handed down to us must
be received with considerable scepticism.
A description, probably true, of what were
deemed in the first century A.D. to be the best
points about a horse, is to be found in the
" Eclogues." The lines, translated, run some-
what as follows : —
" My beast displays
A deep-set back ; a head and neck
That tossing proudly feel no check
From over-bulk ; feet fashioned slight,
Thin flanks, and brow of massive height ;
While in its narrow horny sheath
A well-turned hoof is bound beneath."
Towards the middle of the fourth century A.D.
the popularity of what must be described as circus
riding would seem to have increased rather
suddenly, and we read that at about this time
the Sicilian horses were nearly as much in de-
mand for public performances and processions as
the Cappadocian and the Spanish. Though such
performances must have been primitive indeed by
ROMAN SADDLES 81
comparison with even the simpler of the feats we
see performed to-day, they were then deemed
marvellous in the extreme, and people came from
far and near to witness them.
This probably was in a measure due to the
general love of riding that prevailed amongst
the wealthier classes at that period. Indeed the
possession of a large stud of horses was in many
parts of Greece, and especially in Athens, con-
sidered the hall-mark of what we should term
to-day a man of culture, in the same way that
the possession of horses, hounds and hawks was
supposed to mark the aristocrat in Mediaeval times.
Thus a man often would be named after the
class of horse he owned. Xanthippus meant
"He of the dun horses"; Leucippus, "He of
the white horses"; and Melanippus, "He of
the black horses."
By the close of the fourth century A.D. the
Romans apparently had outgrown their pre-
judice against the use of saddles, for at about
that time the saddle is referred to with some
frequency. Certain it is that in 380 A.D. the
famous cavalrymen of Theodosius were mounted
on horses provided with true saddles — that is to
say saddles with a tree, also with a bow in front
and behind.
82 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Generally a cloth or numner was worn beneath
saddles, but it is known that at one time Roman
horses suffered from sore backs owing probably
to the way the Roman soldiers sat their horses
when saddles first came into vogue. Soon after
this it was that the saddle came to be known as
"the chair," presumably because of the Latin
word sella, from which we have the French noun,
selle, meaning saddle.
Some famous horses are referred to in the re-
cords of the sixth century, but little is said of
their history. Thus we have the Persian steed
of Chosroes, called Shibdiz, a name signifying
"fleeter than the wind." Apparently he was a
famous charger, for we read that he carried his
master safely through several important engage-
ments. Yet he was used for other purposes.
The story of King Arthur is so closely bound
up with fable and fiction that the truth is difficult
to get at. He must have owned many good
horses, however, of which Spumador — a word
signifying "the foaming one" — and the mare
Lamri were perhaps the most renowned. There
are, nevertheless, historians who maintain that
these horses never actually existed.
Sir Tristram's charger, Passe Brewell, men-
tioned in the " History of King Arthur," and
elsewhere, is another animal around which "a
web of imaginative description," as one writer
terms it has been woven. Consequently we shall
HORSES OF THE SWEDES 83
be well advised to pass these fables by without
comment.
In the first half of the sixth century the practice
of regularly shoeing horses apparently came into
vogue, for shoes are referred to in the records of
the ways and customs of the famous Emperor
Justinian. It seems certain, however, that the
shoes fashioned at about that period were clumsy
in design, also needlessly heavy. Specimens of
them have from time to time been discovered,
and it is said one was found in the tomb of King
Childeric, the date of whose death is placed so
far back as 460 A.D.
Though Tacitus, who wrote between 80 and
116 A.D., does not allude to the horses of the
Swedes, it is certain that about the sixth century
A.D. the Swedes had become not only a race of
fine horsemen, but owners of magnificent horses.
Indeed in 550 A.D., or thereabouts, Jornandes
went so far as to compare them favourably with
the race of Thuringians.
Probably it was in a measure owing to the
intense devotion of the Swedish king, Adhils,
to horses and to all that appertained to them that
the Swedish nation became so renowned for their
horses and their horsemanship. Then, though
the Arabs had no horses at the beginning of the
84 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Christian era, they probably were breeding them
in great numbers by the beginning of the sixth
century A.D., for it was due mainly to a quarrel
at about that time over a famous horse named
Dahis that two formidable tribes entered into a
deadly and long-drawn-out struggle.
At about this period the Romans began to pay
almost fastidious attention to the colour of their
horses. The colour most preferred for a war
horse was dark brown, chestnut, or bay, with a
white blaze up the face, or a white patch or star
upon the forehead. Light-coloured horses were
avoided as much as possible, except when the
animals were needed for processions, and so
forth.
A graphic description is given of a fierce com-
bat between approximately 1000 of Justinian's
cavalry, led by the renowned general, Belisarius,
and an equal number of Goths.
The latter, determined to enter Rome, had
crossed the Tiber, when the column of Belisarius
came upon them suddenly.
The engagement began at once.
We are told that " Belisarius himself fought
like a common soldier," as the bravest of the
chiefs of that period sometimes did. He was
astride one of his favourite and best-trained
chargers, a horse described as having "all his
body dark-coloured, but his face pure white from
the top of the head to the nose."
THE HORSE OF BELTS ARIUS 85
An animal so marked was termed by the
Greeks phalios, and by the barbarians balas,
words signifying "bald." While the battle was
in progress a number of Belisarius' soldiers left
his ranks and joined the Goths'. Thus it came
about that suddenly Belisarius heard shouts from
the enemy's lines, and the cries distinctly audible :
" Belisarius rides the bald-faced horse ! Strike
him ! Slay it !"
And most likely the bald-faced horse and his
gallant rider would have been slaughtered had
Belisarius' bodyguard not hastened to rally round
him and eventually succeeded in beating off his
assailants, many of whom, earlier in the day, had
fought beside him.
CHAPTER V
Mahomet encourages horse-breeding — Procopius ; a misstate-
ment — Early allusion to horse races — Figures of horses cut on
cliffs — Roland and his horse, Veillantiff — Orelia, Roderick's
charger — Trebizond, Alfana ; Odin's mythical horse, Sleipnir —
Horse fighting in Iceland — Some horses of mythology : Pegasus,
Selene, Xanthos, Balios, Cyllaros, Arion, Reksh — Arab pedigrees
traced through dams — Influence of the horse upon history-
Courage of Julius Caesar's horses
/T-VHE coming of Mahomet, who announced
-^ himself prophet about the year 611 A.D.,
marks an epoch in the history of nations, and it
serves also as a landmark, if one may express it
so, in the horse's progress in its bearing upon the
world's history.
At intervals throughout the Koran, which
Mahomet compiled probably about 610, we come
upon direct allusions to the horse in the part it
played at that time in the growth of what must be
termed civilisation. Probably Mahomet realised
more fully than any of his contemporaries how
indispensable to the human race the horse had by
this time become, for in one passage in the Koran
he puts a strange utterance into the mouth of the
Almighty, whom he represents as apostrophising
the horse, telling it that it shall be ''for man a
source of happiness and wealth," adding, "thy
86
MAHOMET ENCOURAGES BREEDING 87
back shall be a seat of honour, and thy belly of
riches, and every grain of barley given to thee
shall purchase indulgence for the sinner," while
in another place he declares that " every grain of
barley given to a horse is entered by God in the
Register of Good Works."
He describes in an interesting way the horse
of the Archangel Gabriel, to which the name
Haizum was given, also Dhuldul, the peerless
steed of his son-in-law, AH, and his own milk-
white mule, Fadda. All this is the more remark-
able when we bear in mind that in the centuries
that preceded Mahomet's birth the Arab race
was practically a nonentity in so far as the con-
tinual struggles for supremacy in Egypt and in
Western Asia were concerned, when the great
Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Median,
Roman and Macedonian tribes fought with such
dogged determination and proved each in turn
more or less victorious.
Yet it is more than likely — some of our
leading historians pronounce positively upon this
point — that if in the years just before Mahomet's
birth the tribes had not become possessed of a
staunch race of horses, and devoted much time to
perfecting themselves in horsemanship in the true
meaning of the term, Islam would have remained
unchanged instead of almost revolutionising the
world in the way it did.
Small wonder, therefore, that Mahomet was en-
88 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
thusiastic — unduly enthusiastic many even among
his disciples maintained him to be — in striving to
promote among his own people a fondness for
horses. Undoubtedly it was owing to this that
when at last Mahomet died some of the best-
bred steeds in existence were to be found among
the horses in the region of Nejd.
In Mahomet's era it was that stirrups first
came to be used regularly by both cavalry and
what were termed " private horsemen" — the
latter we should to-day call civilians. True
stirrups most likely were invented and introduced
by the Teutonic people of the Lower Rhine and
the region adjoining, for we know there was no
Latin or Greek term for a stirrup, and as the
Teutonic tribes were large men of heavy build
they naturally would be much more likely to
feel the need of assistance when mounting than
would men of small stature, light and agile, who
must have been able to vault on to their horses
without difficulty.
The English term " stirrup" probably is a
contraction of the early English "stige-rap," a
word that comes from "stigan," to mount, and
"rap," rope — in short, a mounting-rope. In the
eighth century A.D. the Angles were using saddle
horses in large numbers, according to the Vener-
able Bede, some of whose writings, however, are
said not to bear the impress of strict veracity.
Yet it is probable that he speaks of what he
PROCOPIUS; A MISSTATEMENT 89
knew when he tells us that about the year 631
A.D. "the English first began to saddle horses,"
while many of the horsemen who opposed the
incursion of the hordes of Romans are known
beyond dispute to have been mounted on saddled
horses.
Mention of the mare, Alborak, called also
Borak, must be made — though only a mythical
animal — as she was said to have carried
Mahomet from earth into the seventh heaven.
"She was milk-white," we are told, like Fadda,
the mule, with "the wings of an eagle and a
human face with a horse's cheeks," while " every
pace she took was equal to the farthest range
of human sight." In Arabic the word means
literally "the lightning."
Procopius, who wrote in the sixth century
A.D., is looked upon generally as a dependable
authority, and probably upon most occasions
he wrote the truth. Yet he would seem to have
made one or two rather grave misstatements
when speaking of the horse in its relation to the
history of his time.
In an interesting way he describes certain stir-
ring scenes in the war between the Angli who
had settled in Britain and the Varni — the Werini
of the "Leges Barbarorum" — whose region lay
chiefly east of the Rhine. The direct cause of
this war was the positive refusal of the king of
the Varni to marry an Anglian princess to
90 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
whom he had been affianced for a considerable
time.
"These islanders," wrote Procopius, referring
to the Angli, "are the most valiant of all the
barbarians with whom we are acquainted, and
they fight on foot. For not only do they not
know how to ride, but it is their lot not even
to know what a horse is like, since in this island
they do not see a horse, even in a picture, for
this animal seems never to have existed in
Britain. But if at any time it should happen
that some of them, either on an embassy, or for
some other reason, should be living with Romans
or Franks, or with anyone else that hath horses,
and it should there be necessary for them to
ride on horseback, they are unable to mount, but
other men have to help them up and set them on
their horses' backs ; and again, when they wish
to dismount, they have to be lifted, and set down
on the ground. Neither are the Varni horsemen,
but they too are all infantry. Such then are
these barbarians."
Clearly he misstated facts in this instance, for
it is beyond dispute that horses were known in
Britain at the time to which he refers. For the
rest the description may be considered more or
less accurate.
It is interesting to note in this connection that
whereas in the tombs of the Anglo-Saxons the
shield and the weapons of the buried warrior are
EARLY ALLUSION TO HORSE RACING 91
usually discovered, bits and harness are found in
these tombs in rare instances only. On the other
hand in the Scandinavian barrows in Scotland
the bones of men and horses mixed have been
discovered frequently.
Perhaps the first historical allusion to horse
racing, as we understand it now, and to " running "
horses, as race horses continued to be called for
many centuries afterwards, is the one that occurs
in the ninth century A.D., when Hugh, the
founder of the royal house of Capet, in France,
made a present of running horses to King Athel-
stan in the hope that in return the king might
allow him to wed his sister, Ethelswitha.
Hengist and Horsa are said by some historians
to have displayed interest in horse racing, but the
statement is not based upon indisputable evidence,
any more than the assertion that because Hengist
and Horsa are alleged by one historian at least
to have given the order that forms of horses
should be cut upon the chalk hills of Berkshire
therefore all the Saxon banners must have borne
as a device a white horse.
The white horse at Wantage other historians
declare to have been cut in commemoration of
Alfred's great victory over the Danes at the
battle of /Escendun or Ashtreehill, during the
92 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
reign of his brother, Ethelred I. Its length is
374 feet, and even at a distance of nearly fifteen
miles it is distinctly visible in clear weather. This
recalls to mind the device of the House of
Hanover — a white horse galloping ; and of the
House of Savoy — a white horse rampant.
Mention must here be made of the immortal
Roland and his equally famous horse, Veillantiff,
though owing to the pair have figured so largely
in romance the actual truth about them can be
traced only with difficulty.
We may take it for granted, however, that
Roland was the son of Milo, Duke of Aiglant ;
that he was Count of Mans and Knight of Blaives ;
and that his mother was Bertha, the sister of
Charlemagne. Orlando is the name by which
he is known in Italian romance ; Vegliantino the
name of his horse ; and he figures prominently
in Theroulde's " Chanson de Roland," in the
romance, " Chroniq de Turpin," and of course in
Ariosto's epic of Mad Roland and Boiardo's
" Orlando in Love." He was said to be eight
feet tall and to have "an open countenance which
invited confidence and inspired respect," also to
have been " brave, loyal and simple-minded."
The story of his slaying at Fronsac, in single
combat, the Saracen tyrant and giant, Angoulaffre,
as described in " Croquemitaine," naturally is
fiction. He desired, it was said, by way of reward
to marry Aude, the fair daughter of Sir Gerard and
ORELIA, RODERICK'S CHARGER 93
Lady Guibourg, but Roland was slain at Ronces-
valles in the Pyrenees during the return march
from Saragossa, while in command of the rear-
guard, being caught " together with the flower of
the French chivalry " in an ambuscade and
massacred to a man. Aude is said to have died
of grief upon hearing the news.
Roland's horse, Veillantiff, must have been an
incomparable charger and more intelligent than
even his master, for it is related that whenever
Roland was hard pressed Veillantiff obtained
knowledge of the fact in some mysterious way
and at once carried Roland out of danger so far
as he was able.
Equally intelligent in this respect was the
charger named Orelia, owned by Roderick, the
last of the Goths. According to Southey this
horse too was renowned for its shape and speed.
Indeed Southey based the story of his famous
epic upon the historical record of the defeat of
Roderick in 711 A.D., at the battle of Guadalete,
near Xeres de la Frontera. Roderick, the
thirty - fourth and last of the old Visigothic
kings, himself attributed his victories in a great
measure to the courage of his horses, and
apparently he was proud of all his horses
for we read that he " bitterly bemoaned the
death of any one of them." Another remark-
able and famous steed was Trebizond, the
grey charger of Admiral Guarinos, one of
94 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the French knights taken prisoner at Ronces-
valles.
Alfana, the clever mare mentioned in Ariosto's
" Orlando Furioso " as belonging to Gradasso,
King of Sericana, whom Ariosto describes'as " the
bravest of the Pagan knights," has many legends
attached to it.
Thus upon occasions Gradasso who, though
famous as a knight, was an unconscionable bully,
would treat Alfana with grotesque kindness, at
other times beating it unmercifully ; and when,
with 100,000 vassals in his train, "all discrowned
kings " (!) who never addressed him except upon
their knees, he went to war against Charlemagne,
the mare, Alfana, played a prominent part.
Though in these pages but few allusions have
been made to the horses of mythology, modern
interest in mythological history being at a very
low ebb, the mysterious eight-legged grey steed
of Odin, chief god of Scandinavia, must not
be passed unnoticed. His name was Sleipnir,
and inasmuch as he could travel over earth and
oceari he was deemed to be typical of the wind
that blows over land and water from eight princi-
pal and far-distant points.
According to Beowulf — composed probably in
the eighth century — the Scandinavians set great
HORSE FIGHTING IN ICELAND 95
value upon their steeds, especially upon their
dun-coloured horses, their apple-dun horses and
their white horses. Therefore it seems almost
odd that the early Norse settlers in Iceland should
have indulged as largely as they undoubtedly did
in the brutal " sport " of horse fighting, a form of
amusement that to this day is in vogue in parts
of Siam.
The saga of Burnt Njal, with its scene laid in
the tenth century, refers repeatedly to incidents
in which the horse plays a chief part. The de-
scription of the mighty encounter between the
horse of Starkad and the horse of Gunnar of
Lithend is peculiarly disagreeable, but as it gives
us probably a very accurate idea of the way in
which these horse battles were arranged and
carried out, it is worth quoting almost in full.
Starkad, we are told, had "a good horse of
chestnut hue, and it was thought that no horse
was his match in fight." The horse that Gunnar
of Lithend decided to pit against it was a brown.
It is practically upon the result of this fight that
the famous tragedy turns.
"And now men ride to the horse fight," we
read, " and a very great crowd was gathered
together. Gunnar and his friends were there,
and Starkad and his sons. . . . Gunnar was in a
red kirtle, and had about his loins a broad belt,
and a riding rod in his hand. Then the horses
ran at one another, and bit each other long, so
96 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
that there was no need for anyone to touch them,
and that was the greatest sport ! Then Thorgeir
and Kol made up their minds that they would
push their horse forward just as the horses rushed
together, and see if Gunnar would fall before
him.
" Now the horses ran at one another again, and
both Thorgeir and Kol ran alongside their horse's
flank. Gunnar pushed his horse against them,
and what happened in a trice was this, that
Thorgeir and his brother fell flat down on their
backs, and their horse atop of them ! "
Soon after this the horse battle developed into
a serious encounter between the partisans of the
respective animals, with the result that Gunnar's
horse had an eye gouged out by Thorgeir. In
the library at Reykjavik a very interesting picture
representing a horse battle of this kind is still to
be seen.
We have now seen how, from the very earliest
time until the eve of the Norman Conquest, the
horse played a prominent part in the world's
history. More than any other animal it had
helped, either directly or indirectly, to bring about
great victories, to develop and strengthen the
courage of nations, to mould the character of men,
and to add in several ways to life's pleasure.
SOME HORSES OF MYTHOLOGY 97
That the horse should have been almost wor-
shipped by the very tribes who offered up living
horses as sacrifices to their gods has been pro-
nounced paradoxical by some writers ; yet there
was nothing inconsistent about this, for in all
times when sacrifices have been common those
offering sacrifice have given what they most
cherished or esteemed.
What is remarkable is the fact that, of all
animals known to have existed in the different
countries and in the different regions of those
countries to which reference has been made, the
horse stands alone as man's direct assistant, one
might say ally ; and, in addition, the horse is the
one animal with a history traceable through the
early centuries, owing to the almost unbroken line
of references made to it in the story of the human
race and progress towards civilisation.
How far advanced the world would have been
at the time of the Conqueror's landing, how far
advanced it would be to-day, had the horse not
played so prominent a part in its development,
none can say. There can be no doubt, however,
but that the human race would have advanced far
more slowly had the employment of horses been
withheld.
Of mythical horses that have " existed," the
name is legion. To deal at length with these
strange creatures would need a volume half as
large as this is. I have mentioned that few save
98 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
scholars to-day take interest in mythology, so I
shall refer only to some half-a-dozen of the many
horses of fable and of mythology whose names are
household words.
Pegasus, the winged horse of Apollo and the
Muses, is perhaps the best known by repute.
The name of course is Greek, and means, more
or less, " one born near the ocean," and according
to the famous fable Perseus rode Pegasus when
rescuing Andromeda.
Frequently in history we find a ship alluded to
as " Perseus' flying horse." Thus in the story of
the destruction of Troy, " Perseus conquered the
head of Medusa, and did make Pegase, the most
swift ship, which he always calls Perseus' flying
horse," while Shakespeare in Troilus and Cres-
sida speaks of " The strong-ribbed bark through
liquid mountains cut . . . like Perseus' horse."
How Perseus beheaded Medusa, chief of the
Gorgons, and how everyone who afterwards
looked at the head with its hair turned into snakes
by the jealous goddess Minerva was then and
there transformed into stone is too well known
to need repetition at length here.
Selene, the moon goddess, usually represented
in a chariot drawn by fiery white horses — to
some extent this is inconsistent, seeing that from
time almost immemorial white horses have notori-
ously been the least fiery of any — must be men-
tioned, for the famous cast or model of Selene's
SOME HORSES OF MYTHOLOGY 99
horse shown in the British Museum indicates
clearly the stamp of animal that was most highly
prized about that period. According to Greek
mythology, Selene was in love with the setting
sun, Endymion, and bore him fifty daughters in
addition to those she bore the god Zeus.
Achilles' remarkable steed, Xanthos, was, we
are told, " human to all intents." When " severely
spoken to " by its master because on the battle-
field it had deserted Patroclos, the horse first
"looked about him sadly," and then, according to
the " Iliad," it told Achilles with a reproachful
expression in its eyes that he too would soon be
dead, for that this was "the inexorable decree of
of destiny " — a prophecy that came true.
Achilles owned also the wonderful horse, Balios,
which first of all Neptune had given to Peleus.
The sire of Balios, like the sire of Xanthos, was
the West Wind, its dam the harpy, Swift Foot.
According to Virgil the famous horse of Greek
mythology, Cyllaros, belonged to Pollux, and was
named after Cylla, in Troas. Ovid, however
affirms that it belonged to Castor, for in his
"Metamorphose" he says, when speaking of
Cyllaros, that "He, O Castor, was a courser
worthy thee . . . coal-black his colour, but like
jet it shone : His legs and flowing tail were white
alone." Then, Adrastos was saved at the siege
of Thebes by a horse famous for its speed and
given to him by Hercules. Its name was Arion,
ioo THE HORSE IN HISTORY
and Neptune was said to have caused it to rise
out of the earth, using his trident as a magic
wand. The name is Greek for "martial," hence
the signification, "war horse," given to it in this
instance. We read that " its right feet were those
of a human creature," "it spoke with a human
voice," and "ran with incredible swiftness."
Perhaps one of the most notorious horses of
Persian mythology is Reksh, a steed that be-
longed to Rustam, the Persian Hercules, son of
Zal, and Prince of Sedjistan. Rustam became
famous chiefly on account of his great battle with
the white dragon, Asdeev. The description of
Rustam's deadly encounter with his son, Sohrab
— it ended in the latter's death — is described in
Matthew Arnold's poem, "Sohrab and Rustam"
in very fine language.
But even these few references to horses of
mythology may be pronounced dull reading in
this prosaic age, so for the present I will leave
the subject and come down to earth once more.
It is interesting to learn that the Arab race,
apparently from the time when it first began to
breed horses, was wont to trace the pedigrees of
its horses through the dams and not through the
sires, in the same way that in ancient days this
people traced its own lineage. The reason the
PEDIGREES TRACED THROUGH DAMS 101
Arabs did so remains to this day 'a oroot -point,
though it would seem almost certain that in common
with the Veneti they believed the selection of the
dam to be of more vital importance than the selec-
tion of the stallion in order to secure good stock.
Indeed even now there are races who hold this
view, and to confirm their opinion they quote
Aristotle, who also maintained that pedigrees
ought by rights to be traced through the female
line. Nor are they at all peculiar, for some of
the foremost among modern breeders of horses
hold that in almost every case the qualities of the
dam descend more directly than do those of the sire.
We have now come to what may be termed
the second period of the horse in history — the
period that begins with William the Conqueror's
reign and ends with the Stuart Period. From
very early centuries down to the coming of Christ,
and from the coming of Christ down to the
Norman invasion, all the records bearing directly
upon the horse in its relation to the world's pro-
gress are necessarily open to criticism, for almost
all historical records of that period have to be
accepted with some reserve.
It may be said, indeed, that no two historians
prior to the Conquest can be found who agree in
detail one with the other, while some there are
whose statements are almostdiametricallyopposed.
In compiling these pages, therefore, I have tried
to use discretion.
102 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Apparently an impression is prevalent amongst
historians that the horses of the centuries before
the Conquest, and therefore presumably also the
horses of the period that preceded the birth of
Christ, lived longer than those of later times.
What can have given rise to this idea it is hard
to say, and that the belief most likely is fallacious
we are led to infer from the statements of those
early writers who state definitely the ages at which
their favourite chargers died.
Yet at least two of our modern historians assert
that the horses of the early Greeks and Romans
lived to the age of thirty-five or more, upon an
average.
That such misstatement should continue to be
handed down is very regrettable ; while equally
to be deprecated is the habit common more
especially among the younger school of French
historians of applying the principles of the
higher criticism in cases where such criticism
ipso facto cannot hold good, the result being that
conclusions are arrived at which in many instances
are wholly false.
To take a single case in point — rather a well-
known Continental antiquary mentions in his
historical essays that during the period approxim-
ately between the coming of Christ and the reign
INFLUENCE UPON HISTORY 103
of William the Conqueror horses practically the
world over " went out of use more and more."
By "the world over" he means, of course, as
much of the world as was known in those days,
but the statement is none the less incorrect, and
it seems clear that he must have come to this
false conclusion through inferring that because
in certain regions the designs upon the ancient
monuments, and in some instances the figures
upon the coinage, represent a horse, or horses
and chariots, the monuments and coins of a later
date show only an unmounted warrior.
The true reason of this, however, probably is
that the later monuments were erected, and the
later coins struck, at a period when neither famous
battles were being fought nor great contests of
skill decided. Students of history well know,
indeed, that the monarchs as well as the great
chiefs and leaders in the early centuries before
the Conquest, and to some extent in the centuries
after it, almost invariably commemorated upon
their monuments, coins and parchments such
events as happened to be of importance at the
moment, or, as we should say to-day, of passing
interest only.
Indeed, as I have endeavoured to show, one of
the most noticeable features about the horse in
its relation to history is the manner in which
it gradually influenced the development of the
various nations. The early Libyan horses were
104 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
famous for what must be described as their gentle-
ness and their intelligence, characteristics which
apparently marked some of the Libyan races.
The horses of Europe, on the other hand, were
vicious in various ways, and less tractable, but
also they were less timid than the Libyan horses.
It is curious to read, then, that the European
races that owned these horses had several char-
acteristics in common. In addition it is well
known that in the metie of a battle the horses of
the contending armies quite commonly bit savagely
one at another, and some of the early writers
whose utterances can be relied upon maintain
that even in the thick of the fight such horses
but rarely bit or savaged horses other than the
enemy's, and the enemy themselves.
Another point worth noting is that though
often in the early ages horses were immolated,
yet deliberate cruelty to a horse upon other
occasions was almost universally condemned by
law. No precautions, however, were taken for the
prevention of cruelty to any other sort of animal.
This is, in itself, significant, for it can hardly
be supposed that unnecessary cruelty to horses was
condemned from the standpoint of the humani-
tarian. Probably it was the horse's usefulness
to mankind that served to guard him against
ill-usage, and, as we shall see presently, it was
this same usefulness that protected him from ill-
treatment in centuries long after the Conquest.
COURAGE OF CAESAR'S HORSES 105
Indeed there are parts of the world where to
this day horses are well treated because to ill-
use them is deemed unwise policy. Thus in no
part of the Western States of America have I
ever seen a horse flogged unmercifully, and upon
several occasions when attention has been drawn
to this the reply has been practically the same :
" If we served them badly we should get less
work out of them," an observation that some
Englishmen, plenty of Frenchmen, and very
many Italians, who have to do with horses,
might with advantage bear in mind.
The physical strength of horses in the very
early centuries must have been prodigious. If
the details we have of the way in which the early
war chariots were constructed are accurate, then
at least three of our twentieth-century horses
would be needed to accomplish the work, one
might almost say perform the feats, that a pair of
horses could do twelve or thirteen centuries ago.
Even as late in the world's history as the period
of Julius Caesar the staying power of some of the
war horses in Britain was amazing. Men who
have been in action in our own times will tell
you that a wounded horse gives in at once,
that he seems to have no heart. Yet in Julius
Caesar's time, and in earlier epochs, an arrow
io6 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
or a javelin wound, if not too severe, apparently
had the effect of setting a war horse upon his
mettle rather than of causing him to give in.
Can the horse's temperament, then, have
changed within the last ten centuries? Is he a
less courageous animal than he was ? Is he more
highly strung, less intelligent, less strong physic-
ally, and of a weaker constitution? Such prob-
lems have to do with the history of the horse
rather than with the horse in history, and, so far
as I am aware, they have not as yet been solved.
PART II
FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE STUART
PERIOD
CHAPTER I
The Conqueror's cavalry — Horse fairs and races at Smithfield —
King John's foolish fad — The Persians and their horses — Relics of
Irish art ; what they indicate — Simon de Montfort the first master
of foxhounds — The king's right to commandeer horses — Sir
Eustace de Hecche ; Battle of Falkirk — Marco Polo and white
horses ; curious superstitions — Edward III. and Richard II.
encourage horse breeding — Battle of Crecy
HF* HE beginning of William the Conqueror's
•*• reign marks a turning-point in the story of
the horse's influence upon the British nation, also,
incidentally, in the general development of the
horse.
Roger de Bellesne, Earl of Shrewsbury, who
is said to have been an accomplished horseman
— as fine horsemanship was understood in those
days — obtained leave of the king to import
from Spain a number of stallions of great
value.
These stallions, indeed, were said at the time
to be " the best procurable in Spain," and we are
told that when King William beheld them he
107
io8 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
displayed great delight, at the same time " ex-
pressing his approval in a very forcible way."
The king himself apparently was not a finished
horseman ; yet he had a strong liking for horses,
possibly in the same way that " he loved the
great deer of the forests as though he had been
their father " (!) Most likely he was too heavily
built a man to make a graceful rider, though
it is said that upon the arrival of Lord Shrews-
bury's stallions he went on horseback to inspect
them, and, as we know, towards the end of the
sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth
century the poet Drayton praised very highly
the progeny of these same horses.
Naturally this importation of valuable stallions
greatly improved the breed of horses in Britain,
and from the time of the Conquest onward the
improvement was distinctly noticeable.
Though some historians tell us that the Anglo-
Saxons rode on horseback, others maintain that
they did not ride. There can be no doubt, how-
ever, that they did not fight on horseback. The
well-known scene on Bayeux tapestry that repre-
sents the battle of Hastings shows us Harold fight-
ing on foot when the arrow strikes him in the eye.
A comparatively modern historian has tried to
disprove the popular story of the Normans shoot-
THE CONQUEROR'S CAVALRY 109
ing their shafts high into the air so that in their
descent these shafts might pierce the heads of the
enemy, but the old narrative is still believed by
the great body of modern students.
King William's warriors were, of course, almost
all mounted — of that there cannot be a doubt.
Had they not been the Saxons would most likely
have won the day, even though the enemy was
clad in mail. Also it should be remembered that
the cavalry brought over by King William was
practically of the stamp that some three centuries
earlier had resisted very firmly the Moslem attack
at Poictiers. The chargers were of the same
stock, and therefore it may with truth be said that
the famous Norman Conquest and the great and
important events that followed it in the history
of this country were directly due to the simple
fact that the Normans possessed war horses and
knew thoroughly how to manage them.
Of precisely what stamp the Normans' chargers
were that were imported at this time cannot be
said for certain. Without doubt, however, they
were tall and heavily built animals, for the armed
men they had to carry were all of very great
weight.
For ten, or possibly twelve centuries a breed
of great horses had been multiplying largely in
the northern and western regions of Europe, so
the inference is that the cavalry of the Normans
must have been of that breed.
no THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Also the saddles they are represented as wear-
ing were extremely massive and presumably of
great weight. Those shown on the Bayeux
tapestry have a deep curve which must have
made them difficult to fall out of, and we are told
by Giraldus that saddles almost exactly similar,
and provided with stirrups, were in use in Ireland
a century or so later. The riders at that time
wore high boots, prick spurs, and hauberk.
A monk of Canterbury, William Stephanides,
writing early in the reign of Henry II., alludes
to various kinds of horses used in Great Britain,
and among these there undoubtedly were some
of the stamp that the Normans imported.
"Without one of the London city gates," he
tells us, " is a certain smooth field" — no doubt
the site known to-day as Smithfield — "and every
Friday there is a brave sight of gallant horses to
be sold. Many come from the city to buy or
look on — to wit, earls, barons, knights and
citizens. There are to be found here managed
or war horses (dextrarii), of elegant shape, full
of fire and giving every proof of a generous and
noble temper ; likewise cart horses, horses fitted
for the dray, or the plough, or the chariot."
From other sources we are able to gather that
at this time there must have been many war
KING JOHN'S FOOLISH FAD in
horses in England, and that they were for the
most part animals of great size and strength.
Consequently the cavalry of the period were
extremely unwieldy. On the other hand we
know that the rest of the horses distributed
throughout the country were but little bigger
than cobs, and we read that though attempts
were made to mount men-at-arms on some of
them all such attempts had soon to be abandoned,
the horses being " oppressed by the weight of the
armour and the heavy accoutrements."
Probably this was the reason such strenuous
efforts were presently made by the various reign-
ing monarchs, and by the parliaments that were
in power between the reign of Henry II. and the
reign of Elizabeth, to breed bigger and heavier
horses, "great horses " as they came to be called,
and are often termed still.
Some of the Latin records of the Mediaeval age
contain interesting allusions to these great horses,
dextrarii and magni equi they were called. The
horses of this stamp do not appear to have been
very intelligent animals, but their physical strength
was colossal, and in selecting them particular
attention was paid to their power of endurance,
or, as we call it to-day, their staying power.
Apparently Henry II. and Richard I. were
partial to chestnut and dark brown stallions, but
King John, and later Queen Elizabeth, preferred
black. Indeed we are told that in the beginning
ii2 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of his reign King John vowed he would have his
courtiers ride none but black horses, and that the
sums he had to pay to enable him to gratify so
foolish a fad — it may have been mere vanity
— were quoted among the acts of extravagance
that later incensed his barons and led ultimately
to their making him sign Magna Charta.
As the size and strength of the war horses
grew greater in all countries, so did the weight
and strength of the armour steadily increase.
Towards the end of the twelfth century the
Norman hauberk that for many years had proved
effective, and that even the most far-seeing of
the warriors firmly believed could not be im-
proved upon, began to make way for the heavy
chain mail — the most picturesque armour ever
adopted by any nation — which, when first intro-
duced, was said to render the warrior almost
invulnerable.
But as time went on, and the strength of both
men and horses further increased, and the weapons
of war became more deadly still, the armour
again underwent a change, so that about the
beginning of the fourteenth century we find the
"perfect armour," as it had come to be called,
being in its turn discarded in favour of the
hideous plate armour that less than a hundred
years afterwards was adopted by practically every
"civilised" nation in Europe.
A monk of Canterbury, by name FitzStephen,
HORSE RACING AT SMITHFIELD 113
who in the reign of Henry II. was secretary to
the famous Archbishop a Becket, refers in-
cidentally to some rather primitive horse races
which took place at Smithfield towards the end
of the twelfth century, and in doing so he quaintly
tells us that "the jockeys, inspired with thoughts
of applause, and in the hope of victory, clap spurs
to the willing horses, brandish their whips, and
cheer them with their cries ! "
Reference is made to these races in several
other of the early documents, and though they
are among the first horse races of which descrip-
tions have been handed down to us, it seems
clear that they attracted a great concourse of
spectators and gave rise to much reckless wager-
ing. That the animals entered were all practically
untrained is made apparent.
King Richard I. is said to have been a good
judge of a horse and to have owned a number
of swift-running steeds. Upon one or two occa-
sions he endeavoured to establish horse racing
as a national pastime, but the country was not
yet ripe for it, and his attempts met with but scant
encouragement.
It is said that his courtiers strove to serve their
royal master by having recourse to threats in
those districts where the introduction of horse
racing was opposed, but all to no purpose.
King John, upon ascending the throne, devoted
much time to hunting and similar sports, and
ii4 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
valued good horses so greatly that in some in-
stances he insisted that the fines he was so fond
of extorting should be paid in horses instead of in
money.
Then, following in the footsteps of William the
Conqueror, he imported a number of stallions,
among them many of the Eastern breed, and on
the pastures in Kent where the town of Eltham
and the village of Mottingham now stand he
established the famous stud from which so many
of the horses owned in after years by Queen
Elizabeth were directly descended.
Worthy of mention here is the coincidence that
the early days of some of the most celebrated
thoroughbreds of recent times were spent in the
very paddocks where King John's foals and im-
ported horses were disporting themselves some
seven centuries earlier.
On the subject of the great horses of the Middle
Ages it is interesting to read that while British
rulers were striving to breed animals which would
be both bigger and stronger than their pre-
decessors, the Persians in their country were
endeavouring to breed and rear horses on lines
precisely similar, and with the same objects in
view.
How successful the attempts of the latter
proved may be gathered from the fact that, in the
centuries that followed, the Persian horses became
renowned the world over for their immense
RELICS OF IRISH ART 115
strength, though the animals of this particular
breed never became famous for their speed.
Indeed the chief victories won by the Persians
in their terrific encounters with the Turks in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were due in a
great measure to the superior size and strength
of the Persian war horses, though, of course, the
fact that the Turks had only their shields with
which to protect themselves must have helped
the Persians materially.
Perhaps some of the most interesting and
accurate representations of the horses of about
this period are those to be found in parts of
Ireland among the remains of Irish art. These
remains, rather let us call them relics, are almost
matchless, and they represent horses driven in
chariots, and some mounted by riders.
Thus three horsemen in addition to two
chariots with horses harnessed are to be seen on
the two panels of the plinth of the historic North
Cross at Clonmacnoise in King's County. The
wheels of these chariots have eight spokes, and
the relic is believed by the foremost of our
antiquaries to date back to the tenth century.
A panel almost similar, dating back approxi-
mately to the same period, is to be seen on an
upright cross in a street in the town of Kells,
in County Meath, and on this cross not only are
horsemen shown, but in addition a hunting scene
is clearly depicted.
n6 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Relics such as these help to demonstrate that
the interest taken in horses by the people of
Great Britain, just before and just after the Con-
quest, was shared by the natives of Ireland,
though not until several centuries had elapsed did
the Irish show signs of becoming the thoroughly
horse-loving nation that they are to-day.
It is true that from a very early period they
were fond of most kinds of outdoor pursuits that
need daring in addition to the exercise of skill
upon the part of those anxious to become pro-
ficient at them. Also it is true that the horse has
from first to last had much to do with the mould-
ing of the Irish character.
The horse's immediate bearing upon the his-
tory and progress of Ireland begins, however,
at a later date, and in the same manner the
importation of great horses, and the establishment
of what must have been the precursors of our
modern stud farms, occur later in Ireland's his-
tory than in England's.
With the accession of Henry III. we find upon
the throne a king keenly interested in all that had
to do with horses, and devoted to the chase as
well as to "stirring contests between competing
horses." For authentic particulars of the contests
in which these " competing horses" took part we
NEWMARKET 117
may search the ancient records almost in vain.
Apparently the few race meetings organised were,
to say the best we can of them, not of great im-
portance, not excepting those in which the king
and his nobles were directly interested. To afford
opportunities for wagering was, so far as one can
gather, their principal raison dfore, and such rules
of racing as did exist most likely were almost
wholly disregarded.
In this respect the king would seem not to
have been much more particular than his sub-
jects, though, as already said, information obtain-
able upon the subject is of the scantiest, and is
at best unreliable.
In the history of Henry III.'s reign there
occurs what we may take to be the first direct
reference to "a village named Newmarket," in
Cambridgeshire. As I have already pointed
out, the tribe that dwelt on Newmarket Heath in
very early times and was known as the Iceni
apparently was interested in horses and to some
extent bred horses, so it is not astonishing to
learn that in the thirteenth century the people
then living in Newmarket and the neighbourhood
still carried on the traditions of the Iceni, even to
boasting openly that steeds bred upon the Heath
could not be rivalled for speed " the world over."
n8 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
This, most likely, was an empty boast, for what
could a small community, that presumably travelled
but rarely, know at first hand of horses bred even
in far distant parts of England?
It is true that Simon de Montfort had a high
opinion of the horses bred at Newmarket, for he
tells us so in a letter written a few years before
his death — he was killed at Evesham in 1265.
Presumably he rode in the hunting field some
of his horses that had been reared at New-
market, for he was as keen about hunting as
about soldiering.
Historians have described him as "the great
patriotic baron of his period," a description that is
accurate if we are to judge from his acts. I believe
I am right in saying that Simon de Montfort was the
first master of foxhounds of whom mention is made
in British history, but upon this point I am open
to correction. Certainly he is the first of whose
life we have authentic details. On his great seal
attached to a deed dated 1259, and now in Paris
among the royal archives, he is shown galloping
beside his hounds, urging them on, and blowing
his horn. He is said to have hunted largely in
Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and as he lived
in the thirteenth century the seal referred to forms
most likely the first picture we have of a bond fide
run with foxhounds.
In Blount's " Ancient Tenures," a volume that
is extremely interesting and in some respects
KING'S RIGHT TO COMMANDEER 119
amusing, we are told that " In the reign of King
Edward I. Walter Marescullus paid at the crucem
lapideam six horseshoes with nails for a certain
building which he held of the king in capite
opposite the stone cross."
This recalls to mind that in the reign of Henry
III., and even later, horseshoes and horseshoe
nails were frequently taken in lieu of rent.
Whether or no horseshoes were of exceptional
value does not appear, but we are led to suppose
that they must have been from the fact that in
1251 a farrier named Walter le Brun, who lived
in the Strand, in London, was granted a plot of
land in the parish of St Clements "to place there
a forge, six horseshoes to be paid to the parish
every year for the privilege."
In after years the same plot was granted to
the Mayor and citizens of London, who, it is said,
still render six horseshoes to the Exchequer
annually.
According to the Statutes, 25, Edward I., c.
21 ; and 36, Edward III. cc. 4, 5, the king could
commandeer from his subjects as many horses as
he might need for his own service. By the nobles
and barons this was deemed a harsh measure, and
frequently they rebelled against it. Some of the
more spirited even refused to acknowledge its
validity, with the result that a number were slain
whilst attempting to retain their horses by force ;
others were imprisoned ; and a few were put to
i2o THE HORSE IN HISTORY
death as rebels. Indeed at this period the theft
of a horse ranked second only to murder, and was
punished as severely.
A horse upon whose history several more or
less romantic stories and poems have been based
was the bay charger owned by King Edward I.
that Sir Eustace de Hecche rode in the battle of
Falkirk in 1298. It had a white stocking on its
near hind leg, and according to one story its sire
and grandsire had each a white stocking almost
exactly similar.
Some say that this charger — it had several
names, apparently — was killed in the battle, for
it is known beyond dispute that many of the
chargers owned by knights, barons, valets and
esquires were slain in that great conflict.
Other reports, however, have it that Sir
Eustace's mount came through the fight without
a scratch. Sir Eustace was singularly attached
to this particular horse and is said to have
refused offers of large sums if he would sell
it. He is also accredited with the remark that
in courage and intelligence his bay charger
eclipsed all other war horses he had ever
owned.
Much of interest to do with horses has
been narrated by a distinguished writer who
MARCO POLO AND WHITE HORSES 121
flourished towards the end of the thirteenth
and in the beginning of the fourteenth centuries
— namely, Marco Polo. His remarks about the
superstitions that were prevalent in his time are
exceptionally instructive.
Writing of the city of Chandu which was founded
by Kublai and that gave the name to the river
known now as Shangtu, Polo tells us to re-
member that the Kaan owned an immense stud
of white horses and mares, some 10,000 in all,
4 'and not one with a speck or blemish visible."
The milk of these mares was reserved for the
Kaan and his family, "and they drank a great
deal of it," the rest being given to some of the
more distant relatives of the tribe.
Upon occasions, however, a tribe named
Horiad was allowed to drink of the milk of
the mares, "the privilege being granted them,"
as Polo says, "by Chinghas Kaan on account of
a certain victory they long ago helped him to win."
Elsewhere Polo describes what may be termed
the etiquette it was essential the traveller should
observe who chanced to come upon the herd of
white mares when they were travelling.
" Be he the greatest lord in the land," he tells
us, "he must not presume to pass until the mares
have gone by, but must either tarry where he is,
or go half-a-day's journey round, if need so be,
so as not to come nigh them, for they are to be
treated with the greatest respect."
122 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Non-observance of this unwritten law brought
grief in its train, the punishments inflicted being
as varied as they were horrible.
Furthermore, every year, on the 28th of
August, "the lord set out from the park," upon
which occasion none of the mares' milk was
drunk. Instead it was collected in large-mouthed
vessels kept expressly for the purpose and the
occasion, and after that it was " sprinkled over a
vast stretch of ground and in many different
directions."
This was done "on the injunction of the
Idolaters and Idol-priests," who steadfastly main-
tained that if the milk were thus sprinkled once a
year "the Earth and the Air and the Gods shall
have their share of it, and the Spirits likewise that
inhabit the Air and the Earth. . . . And thus
those beings will protect and bless the Kaan and
his children, and his wives, and his folk, and his
gear, and his cattle, and his horses, and his corn,
and all that is his ; and after this done the
Emperor is off and away."
It is strange, also significant, that in almost
every age allusion has been made to the respect
habitually paid to white horses, especially pure
white horses. From Homer we know that in
his period, or towards the latter part of the eighth
century B.C., the Thracians, the Illyrians and the
people of Upper Europe spoke of white horses as
though they almost worshipped them as gods.
CURIOUS SUPERSTITIONS 123
In those early times it was deemed criminal
intentionally to wound a white horse, while to
kill one even by accident was thought to be but
little less blameworthy — save, of course, upon
occasions when a white horse was to be sacrificed
to please the gods or to appease their anger.
Some centuries later Herodotus virtually re-
peats what Homer has already told us, and gives
us to understand in addition that by that time
parts of Russia teemed with white horses, many
of them of great value.
Whether towards the end of the third and
the beginning of the second centuries B.C. the
Russians treated even white horses with ordinary
humanity would appear doubtful, though we
know that Russians entertained superstitious and
grotesque beliefs concerning horses that were
either white or cream-coloured.
Finally, some seven centuries later, Marco Polo
comes with his remarkable narratives of the
Tartars' herds of white horses and their strange
beliefs concerning them. From other sources
particulars may be obtained of the barbarous
practices these Tartars had recourse to upon
the occasions of their sacrificial ceremonies, par-
ticulars of too revolting a nature to be given
here.
124 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
And now again we find allusion to the Turf.
Apparently Edward II. disliked horse racing —
such horse-racing as there was in his reign — and
all that appertained to it, for upon the feast of St
George in the year 1309 we find him interdicting
"a tournament which was to be held on New-
market Heath " ; an act that made him unpopular
for the moment, though when some years later he
deliberately put a stop to preparations in progress
in connection with a similar tournament nobody
seemed much to mind.
That the people of England were none the less
interested in horses at about this time we may
infer from the knowledge we have that John
Gyfford and William Twety had already issued
their books upon horses and hunting, books to be
seen to this day among the manuscripts in the
Cottonian Collection, and that were, if one may
express it so, widely read when first written.
Strictly dissimilar were the views of Edward
III. from those of his predecessors where the
subject of horses and the various forms of sport
in which the horse plays a prominent part were
concerned. The steps taken by Edward II.
deliberately to foster general dislike of certain
branches of sport had not achieved the desired
effect save amongst his small circle of sycophants,
and one of Edward III.'s first acts upon succeed-
ing him was to gather together a stud of the
swiftest running horses procurable.
EDWARD III. AND RICHARD II. 125
This act it was that led the popular King of
Navarre to select "two swift-running horses of
great beauty " from his stable and send them as
a present to Edward III. ; a compliment which
pleased Edward greatly and that he quickly
acknowledged.
In this reign, also in the reign of the succeed-
ing monarch, Richard II., Acts were passed
which directly tended to encourage the breeding
and rearing of good horses. Indeed the sums
spent by Edward III. in connection with this
must have been prodigious, for it is on record
that upon one occasion he purchased from the
Count of Hainault alone horses to the value of
some 25,000 florins.
Many of the horses that he bought, however,
came direct from the Low Countries. Among
the royal manors where he established large studs,
especially studs of war horses, were Woodstock,
Waltham, Odiham, and of course Windsor, a
proportion of the expense of inaugurating and
supporting these stud farms being defrayed by
the sheriffs, according to royal command.
Yet, in spite of all this, the supply of horses
obtainable was not equal to the demand when
the great war with France broke out. At
the battle of Crecy, in 1346, only a proportion
of the army of Edward III. and the Black
Prince had horses, though we know that almost
on the eve of the campaign considerable sums
126 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
were spent upon the purchase of horses from
the King of Gascony and from several large
owners.
This seems stranger still when we remember
that the English army at Crecy was limited to
some 36,000 men only, whereas King Philip's
forces numbered over 130,000.
Crecy, indeed, is one of the few historical battles
in which the army that was the best mounted did
not win the day ; but then all historians admit
that the bowmen the English brought into the
field upon that occasion were probably among
the best disciplined and the most expert that had
ever before been seen in action.
On the other hand the horses of the opposing
forces were not of the best. Many had hardly
been trained at all to arms, and many more had
been commandeered and hurried into the field
almost at the eleventh hour. Some historians
hold that Philip's army would have fared better
had there been fewer men-at-arms in the fight-
ing line, and it is possible that upon this single
occasion if the army had had fewer horses it
might have achieved success.
CHAPTER II
Richard II.'s horse, Roan Barbary— Thoroughbred English
horses characteristic of the nation— Chaucer ; Cambuscan's wooden
horse— Don Quixote's Aligero Clavileno— Horse race between
the Prince of Wales and Lord Arundel — The Chevalier Bayard ;
his horse, Carman — The Earl of Warwick's horse, Black Saladin
— Joan of Arc — King Richard's horse, White Surrey — Charles
VIII. of France's horse, Savoy— Dame Julyana Berners— Wolsey's
horsemanship — Queen Elizabeth's stud
"TT7HEN the Pale was troubled by an
* * eruption of the O' Byrnes and O'Moores
in 1372" — Professor Ridgeway writes in his
interesting and instructive work, "The Origin
and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse" —
" who burned the priory of Athy, John Colton,
the first Master of Gonville Hall (now Gonville
and Caius College) and successively Dean of St
Patrick's, Chancellor of Ireland, and Archbishop
of Armagh, raised a force of twenty-six knights
and a large body of men-at-arms and fell upon
the Irish and defeated them with great slaughter."
Upon referring to the records of this incident,
to be found in several of our histories, it becomes
evident that in the Pale at that time there must
have been many horses of the stamp that to-day
we speak of as the " great " horse.
The insurrection alluded to so lightly as "an
127
128 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
eruption of the O' Byrnes and O'Moores" in
reality was a serious affair, due, we are told,
mainly to the almost total disregard of certain
just demands made by O'Byrne, O'Moore and
their followers. The Irish were for the most
part badly mounted and poorly armed, many of
their horses having been seized surreptitiously a
short time prior to the outbreak, but they appear
to have made a very gallant defence.
John Colton's men-at-arms were, however,
nearly all of great weight and heavily armed, so
it is not surprising to read that they " made short
work of the Irish rebels." Remarkable would it
have been had they not done so, for we must
bear in mind that their suppressors were of im-
measurably superior strength.
A horse foaled some years after this, which
lived to become famous in British history, was
King Richard II.'s barbary, often called Roan
Barbary. The king, we are told in rather
extravagant language, "loved Roan Barbary as
an only son," and certainly it is true that he was
exceptionally fond of this particular horse which
poets, dramatists and writers of romance at
various periods have all united in immortalising.
Richard's grief and rage at hearing that Boling-
broke had chosen Roan Barbary, of all horses,
ROAN BARBARY 129
upon which to ride to Westminster when he
went there to be crowned, has many times been
described, Shakespeare himself referring to the
incident in King Richard II. in the well-known
line, " When Bolingbroke rode on Roan Barbary,
that horse that thou so often hast bestrid."
Roan Barbary was a tall horse, well shaped and
well schooled, but of uncertain temper. The king
" could do with the steed whate'er he wished,"
but some of the grooms hardly dared approach
to groom it " lest he sideways kick them."
It is interesting to note here that the history of
early times, when it touches upon horses — which
it does frequently — alludes upon many occasions
to the partiality of particular horses for certain
persons, and to their equally marked dislike for
certain other persons.
The inference naturally would be that these par-
ticular horses were partial to the men who treated
them humanely and disliked those who ill-treated
them. If the early historians are to be believed,
however, the horses' likes and dislikes for various
persons were irrespective of the way they had
been treated by such persons.
Particularly does this appear to have been the
case with Roan Barbary, for we are assured that
all who had charge of him, or to do with him in
any way, treated him invariably "with kindness
and great cordiality " (!) the king having issued
strict orders that they should.
130 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In the British Museum there may be seen
to-day a French metrical history of the deposition
of Richard II. which informs us that the king
owned "many a good horse of foreign breed."
Mr J. P. Hore, the well-known authority, is of
opinion that "the thoroughbred English horse
was characteristic of the nation " in the reign of
Richard II., and adds that "horses were then
recognised and their praises sung."
There is no doubt that between 1377 and 1399
the interest taken in horses in this country by
persons of almost every class developed rapidly.
The agricultural community in particular had
by then begun to turn its attention seriously to
the rearing of a better stamp of horse, and we
know that Chaucer, who lived from 1328 to 1400,
tells us that his famous monk had "full many a
daintie horse in stable."
Chaucer's interesting references to the various
sorts of horse in use in the fourteenth century are
numerous, and they serve to show that persons
of different rank rode horses of different stamp.
Thus on that fine April morning when the motley
party of pilgrims set out from the Bell at South-
wark upon their hasty journey we find the
Knight mounted on a big and powerful horse —
naturally a knight wearing armour needed such
CHAUCER 131
a beast to carry him — whereas the steed ridden
by "the Clerk of Oxenford " was "as leane as
any rake."
The Wife of Bath, on the other hand, with her
"great spurs," sat astride an "amblere"; the
Ploughman rode "a mere"; the Shipman from
Dartmouth rode "a rouncy as he couth"; while the
Reeve " sat upon a fit good stot that was all pomely
gray, and highte Scot." In the " Knight's Tale"
we find the King of Ynde riding " a horse of baye."
Apparently at this time greater attention
was paid to the breeding and rearing of horses
for war than for hunting or for "speed com-
petitions " or any other purpose. Evidently
King Richard had become more fully aware of
the possibilities that existed for the use of
powerful cavalry than any of his predecessors
had done. Indeed he is said to have expressed
upon one occasion a strong wish that his army
might one day consist of cavalry only.
He believed, too, that the heavier the chargers
were the more formidable the regiment must be,
and so wholly did this belief obsess him that
upon occasions he betrayed a tendency to over-
look the fact that the heaviest horses in the
world, the most finely trained — in short, the best
— must necessarily prove comparatively useless
unless their riders, in addition to being brave and
well armed, were thoroughly trained horsemen
and well disciplined.
132 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Referring again to Chaucer, we find in the
" Squire's Tale," which he did not finish, the
well-known story of Cambuscan's wooden horse,
and we find this also in "The Arabian Nights"
— that series of delightful narratives said to have
been first made known by Antoine Gallard, the
French Oriental scholar. The famous brazen
horse of romance is the same, for it was Cam-
buscan's, and Cambuscan was King of Sarra, in
Tartary. Cambuscan possessed, so it was said,
all the virtues that are popularly attributed to
a king, yet withal none of a king's vices ; also
he was said to be passionately devoted to his
queen, Elfeta, who bore him two sons, Algarsife
and Cambalo, and one daughter, Canace.
We are further told that the King of Arabia
and India presented Cambuscan with "a steed of
brass, which between sunrise and sunset would
carry its rider to any spot on earth." To make
the horse do this all that was necessary was that
its rider should whisper into its ear the name of
the place to which he wished to travel, and that
he should then mount the horse and turn a pin
set in its ear.
This done, the " animal " would go direct and
at great speed to the place required, whereupon
the rider turned another pin and descended. By
turning a third pin it was possible to make the
horse vanish and not reappear until its presence
was again needed.
PRINCE OF WALES & LORD ARUNDEL 133
Aligero Clavileno was the full name of the
winged horse with the wooden pin, the horse
which Don Quixote rode upon the memorable
occasion of his rescue of Dolorida and her com-
panions.
But enough of fairy tales and nonsense. Com-
ing to the subject of horse races in early times
we find it gravely stated that "the earliest de-
scription of a horse race per se occurs in 1377,"
though we know that race meetings of a sort
were held long before that date. The where-
abouts of the track where the races in 1377 took
place has not been ascertained, but it is known
that some of the horses which ran belonged to
Lord Arundel, and some to the Prince of Wales,
so soon to become Richard II.
At this meeting it was that a match was
arranged to take place between the Prince and
Lord Arundel, each to ride his own animal.
The match was run, and as the name of the
winner has not, so far as I have been able to
ascertain, been handed down to us, we may con-
clude that the Prince's horse was beaten. Had
the winner been ridden by a Prince of Wales some
record of the victory would assuredly be extant.
That Richard II. was a fine horseman, as
finished horsemanship was understood in those
days, there can be but little doubt. Yet it is re-
markable that the natural gift known as "hands "
— that is to say the power some men have of
134 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
controlling a horse by delicate manipulation of
the reins as opposed to brute force — apparently
was not taken into consideration in the early
centuries, or else was not understood and conse-
quently not cultivated. To-day, of course, a man
with bad " hands" is not deemed a horseman,
properly speaking.
Thus it comes that we find some of the early
instructors in horsemanship deliberately advising
the novice to catch hold of the reins tightly in
order to keep his seat with greater ease ! Some
of the early pictures, too, of men on horseback
show the rider with his hands firmly clenched,
even when the horse is walking, the reins held
quite tight.
It has been argued that men sheathed from
head to foot in the heavy plate armour of the
fifteenth century could not have ridden gracefully
even had they wished to do so. Long before
armour of that pattern had come into vogue,
however, the riders apparently were indifferent
horsemen inasmuch as they had for the most part
bad " hands," if we are to judge from early
pictures and descriptions.
Many stories to do with horses have been
woven round the celebrated French knight,
Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier Bayard, and it is
BAYARD'S HORSE, CARMAN 135
known that whatever the qualities, fictitious or
otherwise, may have been that his horses are al-
leged to have possessed, Bayard was a fine rider,
"the boldest horseman of his period" as one
historian describes him.
Of medium height, slim, and a light weight,
he was " of wholly irreproachable character " ;
hence the description which still clings to his
memory — Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.
Truly remarkable are some of the feats of
horsemanship attributed to him still. Thus it is
said that he could ride any horse bareback and
without a bridle, and that he rode in this way
several savage animals which, when saddled and
bridled, several famous horsemen were not able
even to mount. But such stories must, of
course, be believed only in part.
Probably the best horse owned by this knight
was the one named Carman, or Carmen, a gift of
the Duke of Lorrain. Particulars about its make
and shape apparently are not on record, but
Carman carried Bayard through several severe
engagements, though thrice severely wounded.
It is said that Bayard was able to guide this
horse by word of mouth alone, when he found it
advisable to do so, and that upon some occasions
the steed " would neigh in reply as though joyful
at hearing its master's voice."
Furthermore he could ride Carman over country
no matter how rough, and the horse would never
136 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
slip or stumble. It may in addition have been a
clever fencer, for we read that the knight "rode
with reckless daring at many obstacles " when
mounted on his favourite steed.
In at least one work of fiction the Chevalier
Bayard has been rather amusingly confounded
with the mythological steed of the four sons
of Aymon that bore the name Bayard and that
used so conveniently to grow larger when more
than one of the four sons wanted to mount it at
the same time. The name is said to signify the
colour of bright bay, and the legend still obtains
that a hoof mark of this mythical horse remains
to this day in the forest of Soignes, while another
of its hoof marks may be seen on a rock near
Dinant. It was of this horse that Sir Walter
Scott wrote in The Lady of the Lake the
following lines : —
" Stand, Bayard, stand ! The steed obeyed
With arching neck, and bended head,
And glaring eye and quivering ear,
As if he loved his lord to hear."
The Earl of Warwick's coal-black charger, Black
Saladin, is eulogised in almost every history of
the Wars of the Roses ; yet, when all is said,
Black Saladin does not appear to have done any-
thing sufficiently remarkable to have justified his
earning the immortal reputation that he un-
doubtedly has obtained. A big, powerful animal,
JOAN OF ARC 137
it must in justice be said of him that he carried
his master creditably through several rather bloody
encounters before man and horse were killed in
the great conflict at Barnet.
According to Hume's " History of England " —
and probably no history extant is more accurate
in detail — Warwick, when he received the fatal
thrust, was fighting on foot.
No trustworthy description is obtainable of
the horse that Joan of Arc rode when she led
the French army so successfully against the
previously victorious troops of Henry VI. Only
one indisputable statement relating to her leader-
ship upon that famous occasion has been handed
down to us, and that is that she rode astride.
Pictures innumerable have been painted that
depict her as she is supposed to have appeared
in the heat of the fray, and others that show her
to us as she ought to have looked when the en-
gagement was over. By basing our impressions
solely upon such pictures we might well conclude
that the Pucelle went into action riding a white
horse ; that in the thick of the fight she changed
first on to a dun-coloured mare and then on to a
bright bay mare ; and that when the engagement
was over she once more changed horses in order
to ride back triumphant on a stallion as black as
Black Saladin himself!
According to Mr Douglas Murray, whose
" History of Joan of Arc," published recently,
138 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
is the most exhaustive and authoritative work
we have upon the career of that heroic young
woman, Joan would appear to have been quite
a good horsewoman. "She rode horses so ill-
tempered that no one else would dare to mount
them." The Duke of Lorraine, also the Due
d'Alen9on, after seeing her skill in riding a
course, each gave her a horse ; and we read
also of the gift of a war horse from the town
of Orleans, and "many horses of value" sent
from the Duke of Brittany. She had entered
Orleans on a white horse, according to the
Journal du Siege c£ Or leans; but seems to have
been in the habit of riding black chargers in war ;
and mention is also made by Chatelain of a " lyart "
or grey.
A story, repeated in a letter from Guy de
Laval, a grandson of Bertrand du Guesclin, re-
lates that on one occasion when her horse, "a
fine black war horse," was brought to the door,
he was so restive that he would not stand still.
" Take him to the Cross," she said ; and there
he stood, "as though he were tied," while she
mounted. This was at Selles, in 1429.
Two famous horses of the fifteenth century
were King Richard's White Surrey, and Savoy,
the favourite steed of King Charles VIII. of
France, which was coal-black and took its name
from the Duke of Savoy from whom King Charles
had received it as a present.
CHARLES VIII.'S HORSE, SAVOY 139
The king rode White Surrey frequently when
travelling in state. That he had many other
white steeds seems obvious, and evidently he
was extremely partial to horses of that colour, for
we find him telling his nobles to use their influ-
ence to induce the wealthier section of his subjects
to breed and rear horses " white and grey."
Savoy, though what we should to-day term a
"good plucked" horse, is said to have been "of
mean stature," also it had a blind eye. Charles
VIII. nevertheless rode it in preference to any
other horse in his stud, and that his stud was
a very large one we are told by some of the
earlier historians.
Not a graceful horseman, he nevertheless had
a firm seat, and it is interesting to read that
he was extremely sensitive upon the subject of
his horsemanship. So emphatically was this the
case that upon one occasion he severely rebuked
one of his courtiers who had remarked unwittingly
in his presence that men existed who were physic-
ally incapable of becoming good riders. Accord-
ing to this king, indeed, one of the duties of every
gentleman was to become proficient in the art of
horsemanship,
At about this time — that is to say towards
the close of the fifteenth century — a book that has
since been rightly or wrongly described as "the
first work on sport ever issued in England "
was published. When first it appeared it
140 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
attracted much attention. Printed for Dame
Julyana Berners, who evidently had much practical
knowledge of horses and the way to manage them,
it mentions incidentally that every good horse
ought to possess the following fifteen " pro-
perties " : —
"Of a man : — bolde, prowde, and hardy.
Of a woman : — fayrbrested, fayr of heere, and easy
to leape upon.
Of a fox : — a fayr taylle, short eeres, with a good
trotte.
Of a haare: — a grete eye, a dry hede, and well
runnynge.
Of an asse: — a bygge chyn, a flatte legge, and a
good hoof."
From the above list we may conclude that in
spite of the unwieldy appearance of most of the
horses shown in the early drawings there must
have been plenty of active animals in England
long before the second half of the sixteenth
century. Most likely the large and clumsy horses
belonged practically to the class that to-day we
speak of as shire horses, and that the majority
were employed for carrying men in armour,
historians being unanimous in declaring that
by the middle of the sixteenth century a man
of medium height could not, when sheathed in
armour, have weighed together with the armour
worn by his horse less than some thirty stone,
and that often he must have weighed more.
WOLSEY'S HORSEMANSHIP 141
This no doubt is the reason we read so fre-
quently that in the sixteenth century considerable
attention was paid to breeding and rearing great
horses of Flanders, Friesland, France and Ger-
many.
The majority of our historians seem not to
have realised fully that in Thomas Wolsey, after-
wards Cardinal Wolsey, we had probably one of
the finest horsemen of the period of Henry VII.
and Henry VIII. The extreme brilliancy of
Wolsey's public career possibly may have caused
his lesser accomplishments to be eclipsed or over-
looked, for that he possessed minor accomplish-
ments is well known.
It was in Henry VI I. 's reign, and probably
about the year 1500, that Wolsey first had occa-
sion to display his horsemanship in rather a pro-
minent manner. For we read that "the king,
having received a communication from the reign-
ing emperor, Maximilian, and being at a loss as
to how he should reply to it in the shortest pos-
sible time, turned abruptly to Thomas Wolsey to
solicit his advice, Wolsey being at that time the
king's chaplain ; whereupon Wolsey replied with-
out hesitation that if the king would entrust him
with a despatch he would deliver it to the emperor
with but little delay."
142 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
After pondering the proposal for some moments,
Henry accepted the offer, and a little later handed
to Wolsey a sealed packet, urging him to convey
it with all speed and not be hindered by anybody.
This took place, we are told, at Richmond, at
about noon. Then and there the chaplain
mounted the horse he had ready, and rode
away.
That he must have galloped almost all the
way to Dover, changing horses several times, is
certain, for he arrived there on the following
morning before daylight. By noon on the day
after he was at Calais, and at nightfall he per-
sonally handed King Henry's sealed dispatch to
to the Emperor Maximilian. Having received
Maximilian's reply, Wolsey at once mounted a
fresh horse that had been saddled for him and
set out once more for Calais, which town he
reached on the same night, so that by the follow-
ing evening he was again at Richmond.
The king, however, had already retired to
rest, and Wolsey therefore was compelled to
wait until the morning to deliver Maximilian's
reply. It so happened that he was walking in
the park when presently the king overtook him
and at once began to upbraid him for his delay
in starting for France. Wolsey remained silent
and collected until the king had stopped speak-
ing, then, without a word, he produced the des-
patch that he had brought from Maximilian.
WOLSEY'S HORSEMANSHIP 143
King Henry, we are told, was thereupon "both
amazed and delighted," and with great rapidity
the story of the chaplain's remarkable ride to
Paris and back again was noised abroad.
Wolsey's reputation for horsemanship was
firmly established from that time forward, and
Henry, to mark his appreciation of the chaplain's
exploit, bestowed upon him the deanery of
Lincoln, and not long afterwards made him his
almoner. Thus did the man obtain his first
step to power who one day was to become the
all-powerful Cardinal.
I have not been able to find in any books or
documents particulars concerning the horses rid-
den by Wolsey in that famous journey. From
what has been said, however, we may conclude
that he rode horses of a stamp very different
from the heavy, clumsy animals so plentiful in
England at the time, for to have covered so
many miles in so few hours the horses must have
been of the swiftest, especially when it is remem-
bered that the roads at that period were of the
roughest possible description.
In later years, owing partly to his increasing
weight, Wolsey almost entirely gave up riding.
Yet the interest that he had always taken in
horse breeding remained, and though his many
and arduous duties occupied much of his leisure
he nevertheless found time to devote some
of his attention to the rearing of riding and
144 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
driving horses, and to the breeding of shire
horses.
Some of his Eastern sires, indeed — and we
know that he had a large stud of them — are
said to have been among the most valuable of
the breeding stock that until then had ever been
known, which may have been the reason that in
after years Queen Elizabeth expended such vast
sums upon increasing and still further improving
the stud that had been Wolsey's.
Elizabeth, however, as we shall presently see,
upon the whole took greater interest in " running
horses " than in the clumsy shire stallions, and
though it is said that she never was actually
present at a race meeting held at Newmarket,
she is known to have owned a number of race
horses the majority of which were stabled near
Greenwich and trained chiefly upon Blackheath.
In connection with Wolsey and his undoubted
fondness for horses, it is interesting to learn that
he cared but little for any form of gambling,
though "the sight of a contest between running
horses of high spirit delighted him." Until the
period when he gave up riding he preferred at
all times to be himself on horseback rather than
watch others, a statement that has been mis-
interpreted by one writer to mean that Wolsey
preferred to ride in races rather than watch others
ride races for him !
I believe I am right in saying that Wolsey
WOLSEY'S HORSEMANSHIP 145
never rode in any race of any kind, also that he
took more active interest in the chase than in
the turf — such turf, that is to say, as there was
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to take
interest in.
Upon that point Henry VII. held views some-
what different from his chaplain's. The spectacle
afforded by a horse race gave him scant gratifica-
tion, and as a result he did little to develop and
encourage horse racing or to better the condition
of the turf.
Probably the only ride in the nature of a horse
race that did stir him into displaying enthusiasm
was Wolsey's race just described. This feat
Wolsey but rarely spoke about, save when ques-
tioned by friends. His technical knowledge of
horses is said to have been profound, so much
so that frequently men quite unknown to him
would come many miles to obtain his opinion
upon the condition of a sick horse, and usually
he was willing to tender advice even to strangers.
Indeed his willingness to be of service when a
horse was in distress appears to have remained
one of Wolsey's marked characteristics until
nearly the end of his life. Historians have for
the most part depicted him a stern, unbending
man from the time he was made Cardinal ; yet he
is known to have performed many small acts of
kindness for which the world probably did not
give him credit.
146 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Whether the advice he tendered in cases of
horse sickness was invarably sound is doubtful.
The amazing ignorance of the anatomy of the
human body that prevailed four hundred years
ago leads naturally to the inference that ignor-
ance of the anatomy of the horse must have been
even greater. Probably the advice tendered by
Wolsey was about upon a par in point of sound-
ness with the advice that passed current towards
the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the
sixteenth centuries for * 'wisdom in medicine and
chirurgery."
Certainly we do not find allusion made to such
common modern ailments in horses as spavins,
navicular, ringbones and splints. Cracked heels
may have been a common frequent source of
lameness, for the shoes ordinarily used were
clumsy, crude things knocked into shape in a
rudimentary way, even those with which the
most valuable of horses were commonly shod.
The horse breakers and trainers of the early
part of the sixteenth century seem to have been
of one opinion as to the most effectual way of,
so to speak, bringing a horse to his senses, and
that was the simplest way of all — namely, by
starving him !
That so barbarous, and, let it be added so
wholly ineffectual a method should have been
resorted to where horses were concerned is per-
haps hardly to be wondered at when we bear in
TRAINING BY STARVATION 147
mind that only a little over a century ago the
same method was employed with lunatics who
showed signs of insubordination.
For the idea used to be — and it has not yet
quite died out — that a high temper must primarily
be the outcome of high feeding. We read that
upon one occasion Henry VII. commanded that
a horse he was to ride in a public procession be
left unfed for twenty-four hours, and as no reason
is assigned for the order we are justified in con-
jecturing that he must have felt inwardly nervous,
possibly that he feared the animal might, if fed
as usual, prove to be what we call to-day " a
handful " !
In other respects the horses of some four
hundred years ago would seem to have been
treated at any rate with ordinary humanity.
CHAPTER III
Inauguration and development of the Royal Stud — Exportation
of horses declared by Henry VIII. to be illegal — Sale of horses
to Scotsmen pronounced to be an act of felony — Riding matches
become popular — Ferdinand of Arragon's gift of horses to Henry
VIII. — Henry's love of hunting — King Henry stakes the bells of
St Paul's on a throw of the dice — Some horses of romance — Horse-
breeding industry crippled in Scotland
'T"AHE accession of Henry VIII. to the throne,
in 1509, marked the beginning of a great
development in the breeding and rearing of valu-
able horses, for that erratic monarch, whatever
his failings may have been — and that he had a
few failings we have reason to know — was at
heart a sportsman in the true meaning of the
now frequently misused term.
We read that soon after ascending the throne
"he took steps to arrange for the importation
from Italy, Spain, Turkey and elsewhere, at
regular intervals, of the best stallions and some
of the best mares procurable." That done, he
set to work to establish at Hampton Court the
Royal Stud which later was to become so
famous, and among the many horses he received
as gifts — the majority from men anxious to keep
in favour with a monarch so all-powerful—were
the famous mares " perfect in shape and size " that
148
THE ROYAL STUD 149
Francesco Gonzaga, the Marquis of Mantua, sent
over in 1514, a gift to which he soon afterwards
added "a Barb worth its weight in silver" which
he declared he had taken great pains to secure.
That Henry was deeply gratified is obvious
from his remark that he " had never ridden better
trained horses," and that "for years he had not
received such an agreeable present."
As time went on, and the Royal Stud steadily
increased, the fame of Henry's horses spread not
only throughout the kingdom, but also across the
seas and into remote parts of the Continent, with
the natural result that presently attempts were
made to obtain surreptitiously foals known to have
been bred in the famous paddocks.
Henry, upon hearing this, became extremely
angry, and this knowledge it probably was that
in a measure prompted him to render illegal the
exportation beyond the seas of mares or horses
bred in England, and, in addition, to threaten with
severe punishment anyone discovered making the
attempt.
There cannot, indeed, be any doubt that before
the passing of this Act many horses had been
sent abroad from various parts of the country,
and that in consequence the British stock probably
would soon have depreciated in value had Henry
150 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
not thus effectually put a stop to the practice at
the outset.
Yet we are told that in spite of this the king's
act greatly annoyed several of the more powerful
of his nobles, even that in some of the provinces
it led almost to open rebellion, many men of
private means having been in the habit of con-
siderably augmenting their fortunes by secretly
exporting horses upon what was in those days
deemed to be rather a large scale.
So strong, indeed, did the feeling throughout
the country gradually grow, that in a short time
it was decided to present the king with " a
request" — presumably what we should to-day
term a petition — in the hope that he might there-
by be induced to revoke his rather arbitrary
order.
Whether the request ever was presented does
not appear, but certainly Henry did not revoke
the order.
On the contrary, soon after prohibiting the
exportation of horses beyond the seas he issued
a supplementary edict which in effect rendered
the exportation of horses to any foreign port,
with the exception of Calais, a very grave offence ;
while the " exportation" of horses into Scotland,
and even the bare act of selling to any Scotsman
any horse without having first obtained the king's
permission to do so, became an act of felony alike
to vendor and purchaser.
SEVERE AND UNJUST LAWS 151
Of course so unjust a law as the latter soon
stirred up a strong feeling of resentment amongst
Henry's subjects ; yet in spite of their bitter com-
plaints they were compelled to comply with it,
Thus it soon came about that men who had
been living comparatively in opulence before the
passing of these laws now found themselves re-
duced to genteel poverty, whereupon, as if to add
insult to injury, Henry passed yet another statute
-27, Henry VIII, c. 6.
This statute enacted that all farmers in receipt
of a certain stated income, also all owners of parks,
as well as certain other persons, should rear and
keep a specified number of brood mares, of a
height not less than thirteen hands, the penalty
for failing to comply with the order being fixed
at forty shillings a month.
The statute in addition commanded that upon
every park of not less than four miles in extent —
this is understood to have meant four miles in
circumference — at least four mares should be
kept, the same fine, forty shillings a month, to
be extorted from all who failed to keep the law.
That these laws, though severe and unjust,
achieved their purpose we may conclude from
the statement that soon after they had been passed
there were to be found in England five times more
horses ready to be put into the field in a case of
emergency, and that these horses were all of great
value.
152 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Yet once again an attempt was made to induce
Henry to revoke his laws forbidding the exporta-
tion of horses, and again the attempt proved
futile. The Scottish nation in particular felt
deeply aggrieved at what they somewhat natur-
ally deemed to be an insult paid to them by the
king, but Henry, beyond threatening that if the
complaints continued he would put a stop to them
in rather a forcible manner, paid no heed whatever.
And at just about this time it was that a number
of Lowlanders were, so it is alleged, severely
punished for purchasing horses of Englishmen in
defiance of Henry's command.
And still the king remained unsatisfied. He
had openly declared that he would transform
England into the foremost country in Europe
for valuable and well-bred horses, and to facil-
itate his doing so he presently passed another
statute.
In this statute he commanded that stoned horses
under fifteen hands were not to be put to pasture
in any wood or forest in certain counties (which
he mentioned), the penalty for breaking the law
to be forfeiture to the Crown, while in certain
other counties the law was to apply to horses
under fourteen hands.
Yet another statute which he drew up — 33,
Henry VIII., c. 5 — enacted that dukes and
archbishops must maintain seven stoned trot-
ting horses for the saddle ; marquises, earls and
SEVERE AND UNJUST LAWS 153
bishops, five ; and viscounts and barons with
incomes of not less than 1000 marks, five.
In the same way subjects with an income
of 500 marks were each to .maintain two of
these trotting horses for the saddle, while men
with an income of 100 marks, whose wives
should " wear any gown of silk, or any French
hood or bonnet of velvet, with any habiliment,
paste or egg of gold, pearl or stone, or any
chain of gold about their necks, or in their
partlets, or in any apparel on their body," were
by the law compelled to maintain one saddle
horse, severe penalties being inflicted if they
failed to do so.
I have somewhere seen it stated that these Acts
were repealed by Edward VI., but they were not.
They were developed by William and Mary, and
further developed by Elizabeth. Upon each occa-
sion the renewal and development of these statutes
caused bad blood and brought forth threats of
retaliation, but the latter were not carried out.
That the obvious injustice of laws so arbitrary
should have created friction, is not to be wondered
at ; yet the benefit that subsequently accrued to
the country through passing them was enor-
mous.
Indeed it is more than likely that if Henry VIII.,
William and Mary, and Elizabeth had given way
to the demands of a great body of their subjects
between three and four hundred years ago, Eng-
154 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
land would not have become famous above all
other countries for its horses, as it is to-day.
It was in the reign of Henry VIII. that riding
matches first began to acquire popularity, and to
attract the attention of the " bloods " of about that
period. Several descriptions of the way in which
such matches were arranged and carried out are
in existence, and perhaps a brief account of rather
a famous match that was ridden by Richard de la
Pole, the third Duke of Suffolk, against Seigneur
Nicolle Dex, will here prove of interest.
The Duke of Suffolk— " Blanche Rose" as his
intimate friends called him — was the third son
of John de la Pole, his mother being the Lady
Elizabeth Plantagenet, Edward IV.'s and Richard
III.'s sister.
In the year 1517, soon after the Duke had
returned to Metz, the popularity of the turf began
suddenly to increase, and thus it happened that
the Duke presently became the possessor of a
horse said to be " very swift and of extreme value,"
of which he boasted that it could beat all comers.
It was while talking thus in Metz one day that
Blanche Rose was taken at his word by the
Seigneur Nicolle Dex, who declared without
hesitation that he could and would himself pro-
duce and ride a horse against the Duke's "from
the Elm at Avegney to within St Clement's Gate,"
for the sum of eighty crowns "and win easily."
At once Blanche Rose accepted the challenge,
RIDING MATCHES BECOME POPULAR 155
promising at the same time that he too would ride
his own horse, and forthwith the stakes were
handed to "an independent and neutral person"
by each of the contestants.
Arrangements having been made that the match
should be run early in the morning of St Clement's
Day, May 2nd, we read that, "a ce jour meisme
que Ton courre 1'awaine et le baicon au dit lieu
St Clement," the two riders, accompanied by
many of their friends, went out through St
Thiebault's gate, which had been opened before
the usual time to suit their convenience, "and
so passed into the field for the race."
There was much wagering on the result, and,
as we should to-day express it, the Duke's mount
was hot favourite. That Seigneur Nicolle was
no novice in race riding is made manifest by the
statement that he had taken the precaution to
have his horse shod with extremely light shoes,
also that " he came into the field like a groom, in
his doublet and without shoes, and with no saddle
but with a cloth tied round the horse's belly,"
whereas the Duke wore comparatively heavy
clothing and rode in a heavy saddle.
The Duke's horse, however, jumped away with
the lead and retained it during the first half of
the race, " but when they were near St Laidre
his horse lagged behind, so that the Duke urged
him on with spurs until the blood streamed down
on both sides ; but it was in vain, Nicolle gained
156 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the race and the hundred and sixty crowns of the
sum."
Several writers tell us that Nicolle Dex had
trained his horse on white wine, but the truth
would seem to be that he himself trained on
white wine. We are informed, in addition, that
the horse was not given any hay.
" Le dit Seigneur Nicolle n'avoit point donne
de foin a son chevaulx, ne n'avoit beu aultre
chose que du vin blanc."
What the horses of four hundred years ago
were chiefly fed on is uncertain. We know
that usually they were given hay, but we find
mention made repeatedly of " horse bread."
Probably this horse bread resembled the modern
oil cake upon which cattle is fed, for we read that
it tended to make the horses' coats " soft and
glossy," an attribute of oil cake of which horse
dealers are well aware.
It seems hardly necessary to mention in this
connection that in Henry VIII.'s time, and in-
deed down to a much later period, the art of
training horses, as we understand it to-day, was
practically in its infancy. Also we are able to
infer that it was quite a common practice to give
a horse a drink of water just before running him
in a race, and that what we to-day allude to as
the art of judging pace in connection with race
riding probably had never been even thought of.
In Henry VIII.'s reign the habit of naming
GROTESqUE NAMES 157
horses after their breeder on their previous owner
would appear to have come into vogue rather
largely, and from that time onward, for some
three centuries and a half, to have remained in
vogue. After that it became customary to name
race horses in rather a grotesque manner.
I have by me a list of names of race horses
almost all of which must have been animals well
known in their time. It would be interesting to
hear what Messrs Weatherby would say if we
asked them to-day to enter a mare to run under
the name "Pretty Harlot" or, better still,
" Sweetest when Naked " !
Among Henry VIII.'s famous barbs we find
several mentioned by name, and we read in-
cidentally that "during four or six days the
king rode both Altobello and Governatore, but
preferred Governatore."
The Marquis of Mantua had been renowned
for his skill in horsemanship, as well as for the
famous stud of horses that he possessed, for
some years before Henry VIII. came to the
throne, and this stud is said to have reached
the acme of its excellence about the year
1517, when Gonzaga, as the Marquis was gener-
ally called, received many more requests for
the service of his stallions than he was able to
accede to.
Many, if not actually the majority of the horses
that proved most successful upon the turf during
158 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the sixteenth century are said to have been de-
scendants of the stock bred so carefully and with
so much discrimination by Gonzaga or by King
Henry, from which we may conclude that the
assertion made often that until the reign of
Queen Anne there were no race horses in this
country worth speaking of is erroneous.
It is said, apparently with truth, that Gonzaga
became extremely angry when, in the year 1515
— only a few months after he had presented
Henry with the valuable horses already referred
to — Ferdinand of Arragon sent Henry " a gift
of two most excellent horses," with the message
that he, Ferdinand, believed they would be found
to outclass even the fine horses already in the
royal stables at Hampton Court.
An apparently trivial incident such as this
helps to show how thoroughly in earnest the
men of fortune must have been who early in
the sixteenth century devoted much time and at-
tention to the breeding and rearing of valuable
horses. It has been alleged that the Marquis
of Mantua made his initial present of horses to
King Henry solely in order to ingratiate himself
in royal favour ; but the anxiety he clearly dis-
played upon several occasions when gifts of
horses were sent to Henry by men of rank and
fortune leads to the belief either that Gonzaga
must have been of a jealous nature, or else that
he was inordinately proud of his own stud and
FERDINAND'S GIFT 159
extremely desirous that its high reputation should
be maintained.
The value of the two horses sent over by
Ferdinand is said to have been approximately
100,000 ducats. That would seem to be an im-
possible sum to have paid in a period when
money was worth many times more than it is
to-day ; but when we read that both horses were
richly caparisoned (regio ornatu] we may well
suppose that the sum named included also the
cost of trappings.
Under the circumstances it is perhaps not
surprising that Ferdinand of Arragon — Ferdinand
the Catholic, as he was popularly called — should
have been deemed insane by a great body of his
subjects when it became known that he had sent
so extravagant a gift to King Henry, his son-in-
law.
So prevalent, indeed, was this impression, that
reasons were at once put forward to account for
the alleged lack of intellect. Thus the incident
of his having been poisoned two years before by
his new queen, Germaine de Fois, was mentioned
amongst possible causes, the serious illness that
followed having proved almost fatal.
Particulars of this attempt upon the life of
Ferdinand the Catholic are to be found in one
of the letters of Peter Martyr, though the writer
of the letter does not seem to think that any
insanity with which the king may have been
160 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
afflicted towards the close of his life can have
been due to the cause assigned. Indeed in
one of these letters he directly attributes the
king's death to over-indulgence in hunting and
matrimony, either of which, as he says, is liable
to hasten dissolution in a man over sixty years
of age !
Not content with the very large and valuable
stud that he now possessed, Henry found it neces-
sary in 1518 to send "a Bolognese gentleman"
out to Italy to choose still more horses for him
there, special instructions being given to him that
the best animals he could find in Italy must be
bought at once, irrespective of cost, and shipped
across to England without undue delay — an order
that the Bolognese gentleman " obeyed implicitly
and to the king's great satisfaction as well as to
his own." There may well be a hidden meaning
in the last words !
We do not hear anything more that is of interest
and that has to do with Henry's stud until the
year 1526, when we read that "eighteen of the
finest of his horses were sent by King Henry
VIII. as a gift to Francis I." The reason he
sent so many is not stated, nor are we told if
these were chargers, race horses or great horses.
After that the sending of gift horses apparently
became an established custom amongst men of
rank and of wealth, as well as amongst potentates,
so much so that persons of quality vied one with
HENRY'S LOVE OF HUNTING 161
another in sending gifts of valuable horses to
their friends.
The last present of the sort received by Henry
VIII. consisted of twenty-five Spanish horses
sent to him by the emperor, Charles V., in
I539-
Hunting is known to have been one of Henry's
favourite amusements, and in a despatch dated
loth September 1519, written by Giustinian
when Venetian Ambassador to England, we are
informed that when Henry hunted he invariably
rode several horses, or, in the words of the des-
patch, "never took that diversion without tiring
eight or ten horses, which he caused to be
stationed beforehand along the line of country
he meant to take."
From this and similar statements it has been
inferred that the hounds Henry hunted with ran
some artificial line, that otherwise the horses
could not have been stationed " beforehand along
the line of country he meant to take." The prob-
ability, however, is that the king's horses were
stationed at different points all over the country
to be hunted, for it seems impossible that the
king, heavy man though he undoubtedly was,
could alone have ridden eight or ten horses to a
standstill in a single day's hunting !
Indeed in Henry III.'s reign the men who
hunted regularly most likely rode more than
one horse a day, just as most hunting men do
1 62 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
now. At that period the sport was, of course,
very different from our modern foxhunting, and
from the descriptions of it that have been handed
down to us there is reason to believe that plenty
of Henry's nobles hunted not because they were
fond of the sport, but because they deemed it
diplomatic to appear to be wholeheartedly as
devoted to the chase as the king himself most
certainly was.
Yet the king apparently was not hoodwinked
as easily as he may have appeared to be, or
feigned to be, for upon more than one occasion
he availed himself of opportunities to make some
of his sycophants look remarkably ridiculous in
public.
In this connection an interesting little story is
narrated of Sir Miles Partridge, a knight who
figured rather largely in Henry VIII.'s reign.
Apparently Sir Miles had more than once writhed
in silence beneath the king's gibes, though all the
while impatiently awaiting an opportunity to re-
taliate in a dignified way.
The opportunity came at last, when the king,
in a merry mood, suggested to the knight that he
should dice with him. This happened at about
the time when the monasteries were being dis-
solved, and Henry's coffers were in consequence
unusually well replenished. At first the king
won persistently ; then suddenly his luck deserted
him, with the result that in the end he lost control
SOME HORSES OF ROMANCE 163
of his temper and with an oath shouted at Sir
Miles that he would stake upon a single throw of
the dice the great bells of St Paul's against a
hundred sovereigns.
The dice were thrown, and Sir Miles won, and
the bells, described by a chronicler of the period
as "the greatest peal in England," were taken
away and melted down, to the knight's unfeigned
delight.
It is said that the king never forgave Sir Miles
Partridge for this. Later Sir Miles was charged
with some criminal offence and imprisoned, and in
1551 he was beheaded on Tower Hill.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the
horse continued to figure largely in romance, and
thus it comes that we find horses, fictitious and
otherwise, playing important roles in the works of
fiction of the principal authors of about that period.
Ariosto's immortal narrative of " Orlando
Furioso," written towards the close of the fifteenth
or in the beginning of the sixteenth century, has
given us "the little vigilant horse," Vegliantio,
called Veillantif in the French romance, where
Orlando appears as Ronald.
Then we have " the horse of the golden bridle,"
Orlando's remarkable charger, Brigliadoro, whose
speed equalled Bajardo's ; also Sacripant's steed,
Frontaletto, "the horse with the little head," that
was capable of doing many extraordinary things.
Sacripant, who was King of Circassia, and a
1 64 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Saracen, held secret consultations with Fronta-
letto, and the horse could understand its master's
every word.
Rinaldo's horse, Bajardo, made famous in
Ariosto's celebrated book, was a bright bay and
very fast, and at one time it had belonged to
Amadis of Gaul. When Malagigi, the wizard,
found it in the cave guarded by "a dragon of
great size," he at once, at considerable personal
risk, attacked the dragon, which in the end he
succeeded in slaying.
According to the legend, Bajardo is still alive,
but under no circumstances can man approach it,
nor will any man ever do so. Though Bajardo
figures in several stories, it occurs first in " Orlando
Furioso."
The original of Rinaldo was the son of the
fourth Marquis d'Este, and Malagigi was Rin-
aldo's cousin. The habit of drawing fictitious
characters to resemble closely living persons, or
well-known persons of a previous period, was
very prevalent among the writers of the sixteenth
century, and therefore it often is difficult to dis-
associate the real from the fictitious character.
This may be said too of the horses that we
come upon in some of the better-known of the
old-world romances.
Indeed in several stories that could be named,
the famous chargers of notable princes can be
recognised under several assumed names.
HENRY NOT A FIRST-RATE JUDGE 165
With the close of Henry VIII.'s reign — that
is, in 1547 — we come to an end of what was
without doubt a period in which the horse played a
more conspicuous part than it had done since the
Norman Conquest. Upon ascending the throne
Henry had found the condition of horse breeding
in this country in rather a bad way. With others,
as we have seen, he had set to work in earnest to
improve, to the best of his ability, the breed of
English horses, and though some of the statutes
that he enacted — also some of the methods to
which he had recourse in order to accomplish his
object — undoubtedly were drastic, directly and
indirectly they helped to bring about the improve-
ment he desired, and for this the nation still owes
him a debt of gratitude.
Henry's fondness for the chase was equalled
only by the keen interest he took in the rather
primitive horse racing of his period, and trust-
worthy choniclers tell us that one of his most
cherished ambitions was to see established in
England a stud of the fastest horses the world
had ever known.
When we bear in mind his fondness for horses
of all kinds it seems strange that he should not
have been a first-rate judge of a horse. Of know-
ledge of a horse's anatomy he had practically none,
for which reason his ignorance in this respect has
been contrasted with the knowledge that Wolsey
possessed. Once, indeed, when taxed with ignor-
1 66 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
ance upon this point by one of his nobles he
laughed heartily and admitted the impeachment.
The order, already referred to, that horses
should not be sent across the border, or sold to
Scotsmen, almost completely crippled the horse-
breeding industry north of the Tweed. True,
some of the more powerful of the Scottish clans
still owned valuable breeding stock, yet so strictly
were Henry's laws enforced that the chiefs even
of those clans were, with but few exceptions,
unable to buy English stallions or to obtain their
services at any time during Henry's reign.
As a well-known Scottish historian has aptly
put it, " Henry VIII. practically ruined Scotland so
far as that country's prosperity had to do with the
rearing of horses for the field, an unfair form of
oppression that many Highlanders, and also Low-
landers, have not yet quite forgotten."
Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that so far
as we are able to judge from the records of the
early historians the men of Scotland have not, as
a body, ever proved themselves to be such finished
horsemen as the English, and more especially the
Irish.
This statement is not made in the least in a
captious spirit. Why should it be ? Probably the
reason the Scotch are, as a nation, less finished
horsemen, is that they are men of large bone,
considerable weight and great physical strength.
Historical records serve to show that no race
SCOTSMEN POOR HORSEMEN 167
of men so built ever has been particularly famous
for finished horsemanship. For a man to be a
finished horseman need not necessarily possess
great physical strength, and the man of heavy
build almost invariably finds himself at a dis-
advantage when on horseback by comparison
with the man of spare frame, small bone and
" flat " thighs. Though this is something of a
truism, several of our early historians apparently
forgot it.
A study of the world's history makes it clear
that the tribes, races and nations especially re-
nowned for their horsemanship have been com-
posed for the most part of men of small stature.
CHAPTER IV
North America without horses when Columbus landed — Scarcity
of horses at the Conquest of Mexico — Francisco Pizarro ; his
cavaliers terrify the Indians— Emperor Charles V. sends horses to
King Edward VI.— David Hume, " a man remarkable for piety,
probity, candour and integrity" ; his practices in connection with
horse racing— Queen Elizabeth fond of racing; condition of the
Turf during her reign — Stallions fed on eggs and oysters — Lord
Herbert of Cherbury's antagonistic attitude towards the Turf-
Some horses in Shakespeare's plays— Performing horse and its
owner publicly burnt to death — Horses trained by cruelty
pHE continent whose history and progress
have been the least influenced by horses
probably is Northern America, for it seems
beyond doubt that when Columbus discovered
it horses were unknown there.
How then did they come to be there in such
immense herds in later years ?
This question has been asked many times, and
the reply generally is that the horses subsequently
introduced there by the Spaniards must have bred
with great rapidity.
Other solutions to the problem that have been
put forward are hardly worth considering seriously.
So enormous did these herds become, however,
that down to half-a-century or so ago horses in
their thousands ran wild over the vast prairies
of the western states. At the present day such
herds are practically extinct.
168
SCARCITY AT CONQUEST OF MEXICO 169
We read that when, in 1519, the renowned
Hernando Cortes set out from Cuba to conquer
the empire of Montezuma, he took with him
" sixteen strong and picked horses." Bernal
Diaz, who was Cortes' comrade, apparently was
greatly devoted to horses, and in his famous
account of the Conquest of Mexico he describes
in detail each of these sixteen animals, and
mentions in rather a quaint way the principal
characteristic that each possessed.
Seeing that Cortes' force consisted of some
660 trained men and about 200 Indians, the
sixteen horses of course in no way approached
the number he would have liked to take, and the
reason he took so few is made clear by Diaz when
he tells us that owing to the smallness of the ships
of that period and the limited amount of accommo-
dation that could be found on board them, even in
proportion to their size, the difficulty of transport
was very great.
It was, indeed, owing chiefly to the difficulty
of transporting horses to Cuba and Hispaniola
from Spain that the prices demanded even for
horses of inconsiderable value were so exorbitant.
Even it seems possible that this scarcity of horses
directly led to a campaign that was expected to
last for only a few months being prolonged to
1 70 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
approximately two years ; for though Cortes set
sail with his little army in February, 1519, the
subjugation of Mexico was not completed until
nearly two years had elapsed.
There seems to be no doubt but that the
redoubtable Francisco Pizarro, who afterwards
conquered so effectually the kingdom of the Incas,
was in Hispaniola as early as the year 1510, and
he may have been there even before that date.
When, in 1524, he began to move southward
from Panama on his famous expedition, he
travelled without horses, and the attempt to
reach the realm of gold proved futile.
His second expedition, however, was more
successful, but then he had with him a number
of horses that he had taken the precaution to
buy before leaving Panama, and the expedition
numbered, all told, about 160 men. The horses
would appear to have been of the roughest, and
some of them in poor condition, yet Pizarro
positively refused to give leave for any of them
to be destroyed, having apparently taken to heart
the lesson he had received from the reverse which
had overtaken him on his previous expedition
when he was without horses.
It is probable, however, that even Pizarro was
not prepared for the extraordinary part that was
presently to be played by those very animals that
he had with him.
For before he had advanced very far it became
INDIANS TERRIFIED 171
apparent to him that the native Indians had never
in their lives before set eyes upon a horse, and
thus it happened that when presently they beheld
Pizarro's advancing cavaliers, their attitude, which
until then had been both threatening and defen-
sive, became almost immediately changed to one
of terror.
Pizarro was at first amazed at this. Then as
the Indians suddenly and of one accord turned and
fled, uttering, as we are told, " strange and shrill
cries," the truth flashed in upon him — his mounted
men had been mistaken by them for some kind of
weird creature, possibly something in the nature
of a centaur !
As one writer says, " consternation seized the
Indians when they saw a cavalier fall from his
horse, for they were not prepared for the division
into two parts of a creature that had seemed to
them to be but a single being."
In a letter addressed to Henry Bullinger by
Bishop Hooper there is a statement to the effect
that " two most beautiful Spanish horses" were
received by Edward VI. from the emperor,
Charles V., on 26th March, 1550, and that the
king expressed his delight at the gift by giving
way to "extravagant conduct."
The incident is of interest because poor young
Edward VI. was not supposed to be fond of
horses. Yet Camden, the famous antiquary, who
lived between 1551 and 1623 and was in a position
172 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
that should have enabled him to speak with
authority, gives it as his opinion that the lad took
interest in horses of all kinds.
Hargrove, in his " History and Description of
the ancient City of York," maintains that the
origin of horse racing can be traced back " even
to the time of the Romans," a statement apt to
prove misleading if we take it quite literally.
That horse racing of a sort can be traced back
to a very remote period has already been indi-
cated, but, as we have also seen, almost the only
kind of racing in which the Romans took keen
interest was chariot racing, so there is reason to
believe that some of the early allusions to chariot
races may unwittingly have been confused with
horse races by some of our later historians.
In a letter that appeared recently in a news-
paper published in Ireland, and that dealt at
length with the supposed origin of horse racing,
the writer remarked with unconscious humour
that " undoubtedly the first races in England
were held in Scotland."
In this belief he was, of course, mistaken,
though it is known that the Scottish people have
from very early times been fond of horse racing,
and that the great race meeting held in Had-
dington in 1552 attracted an enormous concourse
of spectators from the Highlands and Lowlands
alike.
Later the Haddington race meeting came to
DAVID HUME 173
be held annually, the principal prize run for being
" a silver bell of value."
Rather an eccentric individual, named David
Hume, was connected with the Turf in Scotland
about the middle of the sixteenth century. He
appears, indeed, to have been quite an interesting
personality. A resident of Wedderburn, where
he died in or about the year 1575 — the early
writers, while admitting that when he died he
must have been fully fifty years of age, yet dis-
agree as to the exact date of his death — he is
especially worthy of mention because probably
he was typical of a particular stamp of man that
during the latter half of the sixteenth century
was in a great measure responsible for the de-
velopment of the race horse.
Presumably David Hume owned property, for
he is spoken of as "a gentleman of good status
in Berwickshire," and in later years his son,
known as David Hume of Godscroft, wrote a
book which became famous in Scottish literature,
the " History of the House of Douglas."
The elder Hume is described as "a man
remarkable for piety, probity, candour and in-
tegrity." How ironical that description uncon-
sciously was we shall see in a moment. The
son, we are told, " seldom missed an oppor-
tunity of speaking in still more laudatory terms
of his father," but Mr J. P. Hore's opinion is to
the effect that if some such institution as the
174 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
modern Jockey Club had been in existence when
Hume the elder was in his heyday, that gentle-
man would, in spite of his alleged probity, integrity,
and so forth, have been warned off the Turf at
short notice.
For we read that " so great a master in the art
of riding was he that he would often be beat
to-day and within eight days lay a double wager
on the same horses and come off conqueror "
(sic). No doubt this paragon of honour has
many emulators on the Turf to-day, but the
relatives and friends of the latter at least have
not the effrontery to tell us that such men are
"strictly just, utterly detesting all manner of
fraud," the statement made again and again
about the elder Hume by his kinsfolk.
Elsewhere we learn that sometimes he ran two
horses in one race and that upon occasions he
was able to hoodwink the spectators assembled
into believing that a horse had tried hard to win
when in reality it had barely extended itself.
Hume himself would talk openly to his friends
about the races he meant to win, and apparently
he seldom attempted to conceal the fact that some
of his horses were meant to lose.
Possibly this very " ingenuousness " may have
led some of his friends, and a proportion of what
we should to-day call the general public, to
believe that he acted honourably and always in
good faith.
ELIZABETH FOND OF RACING 175
In justice let it be said, however, that he bred
good stock, also that he was a better judge of a
horse than the bulk of his contemporaries — though
that is not high praise. While himself engaged
in roguery in connection with racing he was all
the time striving to purify the Turf. He would,
in all probability, have amassed a large fortune
— or what was deemed in those days to be a large
fortune — had he been less addicted to gambling
for gambling's sake, for it is certain that from
first to last he won much money by laying against
his own horses as well as by backing some of
them. The more amazing, therefore, is it that
certain writers, even in comparatively recent
times, should speak of him in all seriousness as
a man of remarkable integrity.
Queen Elizabeth loved the Turf and apparently
was extremely fond of horses, while in her youth
she must have been rather a fine horsewoman.
She kept many riding horses for her own use and
many more for the ladies of her court, and we
know that she was extremely partial to chestnut
animals.
There is not, I think, any trustworthy evidence
that she ever attended a race meeting held at
Newmarket, but the statement made in at least
one history of her period that she witnessed races
at Doncaster probably is accurate, for we have
proofs that a racecourse had been laid down there
or marked out by the year 1600. Also we know
176 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
that Elizabeth was fond of gambling and that she
squandered vast sums probably in connection
with the turf.
It must be remembered, however, that in the
second half of the sixteenth century gambling
was a besetting vice. "In the reign of Queen
Elizabeth," Mr Clarkson writes, "racing was
carried on to such an excess as to injure the
fortunes of many individuals, private matches
being then made between gentlemen, who were
generally their own jockeys and tryers."
The descriptions of some of these matches are
almost as quaint as the account already given of
the race between Blanche Rose and Nicolle Dex,
for the majority of the riders were wont to have
recourse to the worst sort of trickery when they
believed it might enable them to win.
Thus an instance is recorded of ground glass
being mixed with a mare's food, the ill-starred
animal being in consequence hardly able to cover
the course, on which she died in great agony
when the race was over.
This statement is made without comment, and
cases somewhat similar are cited which, if they
occurred now, would fire our indignation and lead
swiftly to retribution.
From this we may to some extent infer that
the morality of the Turf in Queen Elizabeth's
reign had sunk to a low ebb. Indeed the
maxim the majority of the " tryers," even of
THE TURF IN ELIZABETH'S REIGN 177
the ''gentleman tryers," apparently was — "Win
honestly if possible — but win."
In Elizabeth's reign it was not customary to
run important races for cups. Nearly all the
" big " races were for " specie," or else for a silver
bell — sometimes for both. Silver bells awarded
as prizes over three hundred years ago are, it is
said, still to be seen in some old country houses
and in some museums, but though I have tried I
have not been able to discover the whereabouts
of any of them.
In 1603 the Earl of Essex offered a snaffle
made of gold as a prize to be run for at a race
meeting held near Salisbury, and at about the
same time it was proposed that " race gatherings"
should take place near Salisbury at fixed intervals.
The latter suggestion, though strongly resented
by "a number of Salisbury gentlemen" who
presumably were under the impression that to
establish a race course near their town must
necessarily prove demoralising to the townsmen,
was eventually adopted, the queen having, so it
was said, brought her influence to bear in favour
of the proposal.
We may approximately estimate the value of
horses of a particular stamp at about this time
from an inventory that was drawn up in 1572 of
the effects of the second Earl of Cumberland of
Skipton Castle.
Therein we find a stoned horse called Young
178 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Mark Antony valued at ,£16; another horse,
Grey Clyfford, at £11 : Whyte Dacre, at £io\
Sorrell Tempest, £4. ; White Tempest and Baye
Tempest, each at ^5 ; Baye Myddleton, £i, and
so on. Some mares and their followers are also
mentioned, and lastly ten cart horses.
Many fictitious stories have been woven around
Suleiman, the favourite charger of the Earl of
Essex, but they are not of sufficient interest to
place on record. In Elizabeth's reign a number
of barbs, also many Spanish horses descended
from barbs, were obtained from captured foreign
vessels, and these the queen looked upon for the
most part as her personal perquisites.
Consequently about the middle of her reign an
order was issued that all captured horses must
without exception be sent direct to the queen,
the infliction of a severe penalty being threatened
if the order should be disregarded. A number
of these animals were subsequently sent as gifts
to the more faithful of her nobles, and all the
recipients sent in return "expressions of ex-
tremest gratitude."
There is a diversity of opinion as to what
constituted "the staple article of food" of horses
in the sixteenth century, though of course hay
was used largely. Bishop Hall throws some
light upon the subject when he mentions that
thoroughbred stallions when largely in demand
were given eggs and oysters.
LORD CHERBURY'S ANTAGONISM 179
Reference to eggs and oysters in this con-
nection is made elsewhere, so we may conclude
that the custom of thus feeding stallions was
not an uncommon one, at any rate in the time
of Elizabeth.
Horse bread has already been mentioned, but
I have not come upon any direct allusion to oats
being used to feed horses upon at this period.
Several of the writers in Elizabeth's reign
openly bemoaned the development of horse
racing, urging that trouble and disaster followed
in its train, but their moans were for the most
part stifled in the clamour of general approbation.
Among those who spoke strongly in condemna-
tion of horse racing was the rather eccentric
Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Late in life he
wrote — to the amusement of his friends and
relatives — a complete history of his own career,
in which volume he again reverts to his pet
aversion by declaring that among the exercises
of which he disapproved were "the riding of
running horses, there being much cheating in that
kind."
Hunting also he clearly objected to, for he goes
on to tell his readers that he does not like hunt-
ing horses, "that exercise taking up more time
than can be spared for a man studious to get
knowledge."
From other of his remarks it becomes obvious
that some three centuries ago the men who
180 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
devoted the better part of their lives to the sport
of hunting became to such a degree engrossed
in it that in time they could hardly be brought to
talk, or indeed to think, of anything else whatever.
That the same can be said with truth of a
proportion of our modern hunting men is well
known, and the question is asked to-day, as it
was asked three hundred or more years ago —
How comes it that over-indulgence in the
chase has this odd effect upon us, whereas over-
indulgence in other forms of sport but seldom
makes its votaries shallow-minded to the same
degree ?
Indeed Lord Herbert of Cherbury, eccentric as
he admittedly was, made many sensible observa-
tions upon this and kindred topics ; and there can
be no doubt that in decrying the then increasing
tendency of men and women of what were looked
upon as the educated classes to squander their
fortunes, he voiced the views held by a vast
proportion of the thinking population of this
country.
A contemporary of Lord Herbert's wrote
practically to the same effect. His name was
Burton, and he reached his heyday about the
time that Shakespeare's era was drawing to a
close. The diatribe he launched against the
increasing spread of gambling upon the Turf has
probably never been surpassed in vigour.
In one of his mildest passages he pronounces
HORSES IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS 181
horse races to be "the disport of great men, and
good in themselves, though many gentlemen by
such means gallop quite out of their fortunes."
Shakespeare himself, though rather fond of
horses, was hardly less opposed to the practice
of heavy betting. His description of a thorough-
bred's points is good :
" Round-hoof d, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostrils wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide."
It would take long, also it is unnecessary, to
describe at length all the horses of which Shake-
speare speaks in his plays. According to a
recent writer, Oliver's steed, Ferrant d'Espagne,
or "Spanish traveller," has been "bastardised."
What the writer means is, I think, that the horse
has been introduced into works of fiction without
acknowledgment.
Such certainly is the case, and so greatly has
the animal been distorted in some instances that
only with difficulty is it recognisable.
In Shakespeare's time — that is to say during the
latter half of the sixteenth and in the beginning
of the seventeenth centuries — the barbary horse
clearly was highly esteemed, for it is referred to
frequently in books and memoirs which bear upon
that period.
Shakespeare speaks several times of roan horses
1 82 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
too, as for instance in / Henry IV., where we
come upon the sentence, "Give the roan horse
a drench." To bay horses he makes allusion
in King Lear, in Timon, and elsewhere, and
in Timon he refers also to a team of white
horses. These bare allusions make dry reading,
but they are instructive and of interest in
connection with the story of the part the horse
played in British history.
More especially is this so when we again bear
in mind what has already been stated at length
in the introductory note to this book, and that is
the enormous extent to which automobilism has
increased in this country, and for that matter the
world over, since the introduction of the petrol
motor, which makes it obvious that the horse's
reign must be fast drawing to a close.
That we have, as a nation, already to a great
extent lost much of the interest we took only a
few years ago in horses, and in all that appertains
to them, is, I think, beyond dispute. The number
of men who keep what must be termed "pleasure "
horses decreases year by year, almost month by
month, and indeed it would be possible to name
at off-hand between fifty and sixty well-known
men and women fond of sport who, within the last
six months or so, have sold their carriages and
HORSES IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS 183
all their harness horses, and whose stables now
contain only hunters, while in other cases even
the hunters have been got rid of in order to make
way for automobiles.
And yet, bemoan the change though we may,
the gradual transition is not uninteresting to
study. History in the past has for centuries
been both directly and indirectly affected by the
horses and horsemanship of the various races the
world over. History in the future is going to be
similarly affected by motor power applied in a
variety of ways.
And yet, who knows ? Perhaps even half-a-
century hence, when the horse will to all intents
be extinct in England, save where he is kept for
racing and in some instances for hunting purposes,
interest may still be taken in Shakespeare's plays
and therefore in the stories of such whimsical
characters as the self-satisfied, conceited and
generally grotesque Sir Andrew Aguecheek and
his celebrated grey steed, Capilet, that we find
portrayed so admirably in Twelfth Night ; in
Lord Lafeu of Alls Well that Ends Well
and his curious bay horse, Curtal, a name that
means literally "the cropped one"; and in Cut,
the carrier's horse of King Henry IV., — to
name but a few of Shakespeare's creations that
surely must live on for ever.
With regard to barb horses, of which so
much has been said and written, the probability
184 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
would seem to be that " barbed " is in reality
a corrupt form of the word "barded" that
came originally from the French, bardd — that is
to say, caparisoned — and therefore it may signify
indirectly a horse in armour. Hence the mean-
ing probably intended by Shakespeare to be
conveyed in the following lines in King Richard
III. :—
" And now — instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, —
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute."
Shakespeare and Bishop Hall, in addition to
one or two other writers, speak of the horse,
Marocco, which lived in Elizabeth's reign, and
belonged to a man named Banks, or Bankes, a
brother of the first keeper of the New Warren.
Foaled, so far as one can gather, at New-
market, Marocco appears to have been one of the
cleverest of the few horses that at that period
had been trained to perform at fairs, and in shows
and circuses.
Some of the feats performed by it are described
at length in the old records, and though we read
that in those days such feats were deemed
"marvellous past belief," we should smile if
anybody were to-day to express amazement at
seeing a circus horse perform tricks so simple.
That Marocco should be able to walk upright
upon his hind legs, for instance, was considered
HORSE AND OWNER BURNT 185
so astounding that questions were asked in all
seriousness as to whether supernatural aid of some
kind had not been invoked !
In addition to this, Marocco would rear, kneel,
sit, or lie down, when told to do so, and he would
indicate amongst the spectators any individual
selected by his trainer.
What was deemed most remarkable of all,
however, was a performance in which Marocco
walked backwards, "the while turning in circles,"
when Banks ordered him to do so.
We are told that upon witnessing this perform-
ance a proportion of the audience was so deeply
affected that several people dared not remain.
Consequently one is less surprised at reading
that when, later, Banks and his pupil gave a per-
formance in Rome, both man and horse were
pronounced to be in league with the devil and
ordered to be publicly burnt as magicians, which
monstrous sentence was duly carried out.
In justice let it be said that this act of barbarity
— the direct outcome of the pitiable ignorance of
the age — created intense indignation in England,
while in Italy it stirred up a strong feeling of
resentment.
Attempts were made later to create the im-
pression that political wirepullers had been at
work, and that man and horse had been sacrificed
expressly to make bad blood between the British
Court and the Vatican, if not between England
186 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
and Italy, but there is no reason for believing that
the agitators achieved their purpose.
Nor, indeed, is it certain that Banks' death
sentence was pronounced by the Pope, or by his
order. That the man had come to be looked
upon as a magician, however, in every part of
Italy where his horse had been exhibited, ap-
parently is beyond dispute.
Though strolling players of many sorts were,
as we know, plentiful in Elizabeth's reign, it
seems more than likely that the exhibition given
by Marocco may directly have inaugurated in
England the practice of training animals to per-
form tricks of the same sort for public shows.
Certainly we hear soon after Marocco's tragic
end that exhibitions of performing animals were
advertised to take place in different parts of the
country, and from that time onward incidental
allusions to entertainments of the kind that we
to-day call circuses are to be found in some of the
old books.
There mention is made of the methods em-
ployed in order to train the animals to their
owners' satisfaction, methods barbarous enough,
in all conscience. Yet none took exception to
them. For the tendency of the age, three
centuries ago, and down probably to a much later
period, was one of cruelty. The literature of
the last three hundred years makes that but too
apparent.
CHAPTER V
King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth passionately fond of
hunting — John Selwyn's remarkable feat in the hunting field ; the
monument at Walton-on-Thames — Don Quixote and his steed,
Rosinante ; Peter of Provence's wooden horse, Babieca ; Clavileno
and the Cid's horse — Mary Queen of Scots' favourite horses —
Queen Elizabeth's retinue of 2400 horses — Arundel, Aquiline,
Brigadore — The horses of Anatolia and Syria — Sir Robert Carey's
historic ride from London to Edinburgh in sixty hours — The
horses of Napoleon I.
CO far as hunting was concerned, Henry VIII.
** was, as we know, a keen sportsman, and Queen
Elizabeth would appear to have been almost an
equally enthusiastic sportsman. Passionately
devoted to the chase, nothing gave her greater
pleasure than to see " the quarry broken up before
her." Statements to this effect are to be found
in the works of three trustworthy writers at least,
so we may take it that the records are approxi-
mately accurate. The queen " loved to be on
horseback for its own sake," and was fond of
open air at all times.
It is in connection with Elizabeth's partiality
for the chase that the story is told of a man named
John Selwyn, for many years under keeper of
the park at Oaklands, in Surrey, where some of
the queen's hunters were usually stabled during
the autumn and winter.
187
i88 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Selwyn must in several ways have been a re-
markable character, but it is with his horseman-
ship only that we have here to deal. On the
occasion, then, of a great stag hunt which the
queen had arranged should take place in the
park at Oaklands, Selwyn was "chief in attend-
ance " — in other words, huntsman.
Suddenly, as we are told, a stag was started.
When it had been hunted only a short time, a
fear was expressed by the queen that it would
escape, "the animal having proved of such un-
usual swiftness that it was feared the hounds
would not be able to overtake it."
Determined that this should not happen, " Sel-
wyn pressed spurs to his horse, and galloping at
an angle, and sideways," succeeded in coming
alongside the stag as it was about to turn off
abruptly.
At once the enthusiasm and excitement of the
spectators, especially of the queen, became in-
tense ; nor did it abate when they saw Selwyn,
still galloping at top speed, neck and neck with
the stag, suddenly vault right off his horse's
back on to the stag's, " where he kept his seat
gracefully in spite of every effort of the affrighted
beast to throw him off."
Thus he galloped on for some yards, the queen
and all the spectators wondering what he would
do next. They were not kept long in suspense.
Of a sudden Selwyn swiftly but calmly drew
DON QUIXOTE AND HIS STEED 189
out his hunting knife. Then he began to prod
the animal with its point, first on one side of its
neck, then on the other, until at last he succeeded
in forcing the stag to gallop round to a point
within a few yards of the very spot where the
queen sat waiting.
At last, when the animal was very near the
queen, its rider suddenly plunged his knife deep
into its throat, "so that the blood spurted out and
the beast fell dead just by her feet."
This display is said to have delighted the queen
so greatly that she soon afterwards granted
Selwyn several favours, and on the monument
still to be seen at Walton- on -Thames he is
portrayed in the act of stabbing, in the manner
described, the stag slaughtered on that memorable
occasion. Selwyn died on 27th March, 1587.
Of the famous horses of fiction and romance
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, one or
two more must be mentioned. Don Quixote's
immortal squire, Sancho Panza, who, it will be
remembered, rode upon an ass named Dapple,
was Governor of Barataria.
Though endowed with common sense, and
though his proverbs have become historical, he
was wholly devoid of what is sometimes called
"spirituality."
1 90 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Nevertheless Don Quixote and his horse,
Rosinante — a name that means literally " for-
merly a hack " — came gradually to be renowned
the world over.
To this day, indeed, "a perfect Rosinante" is
the comment not infrequently passed upon a
horse that is mostly skin and bone.
Peter of Provence's wooden horse, Babieca,
is another " creature" whose name must not be
omitted.
"This very day," we read in Don Quixote,
" may be seen in the King's armoury the identi-
cal peg with which Peter of Provence turned his
wooden horse which carried him through the
air. It is rather bigger than the pole of a coach,
and stands near Babieca's saddle."
Don Quixote himself rode astride the wooden
horse, Clavileno, on the occasion when he wished
to disenchant the Infanta Antonomasia and her
husband shut up in the tomb of Queen Maguncia,
of Candaya, and Peter of Provence rode it when
he made off with beautiful Magalona.
Merlin was the name of its maker, and the
horse was so constructed that it could be governed
by turning a wooden peg in its forehead. The
name means " wooden peg." A comprehensive
description of these incidents may be found in
the fourth and fifth chapters of the third book of
" Don Quixote," but the description is not of
sufficient interest to be quoted here.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS' HORSES 191
The story of the Cid's horse, to date back to an
earlier century, is almost as well known as the
story of Rosinante. The Cid's horse died some
two and a half years after its master's death, and
during the whole of that period none rode it, the
order having gone forth that under no circum-
stances was anybody to mount the animal. At
its death its body was buried near the gate of
the monastery at Valencia, two trees being
planted close to the grave to mark its where-
abouts.
According to the popular legend, the horse
acquired its name through Rodrigo's having,
when told in his youth that he might select a
horse, chosen an almost valueless colt. His
godfather, annoyed at this display of ignorance,
at once nicknamed the lad "the dolt," which
nickname Rodrigo presently conferred upon the
horse itself. Literally, however, " Cid" is Arabic
for "lord."
Among the few traits in the character of Mary
Queen of Scots that have not formed subjects for
controversy among the many biographers of that
ill-starred sovereign, her undoubted fondness for
animals stands out prominently.
From first to last I have read many bio-
graphies of Mary Queen of Scots, and it is
192 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
remarkable that no two coincide consistently in
their statements, from which we are forced to the
conclusion that the majority of such works have
been produced by writers who either were bigoted
or deeply prejudiced, or else who had some private
axe to grind.
With regard to Mary's horses, her two chief
favourites would appear to have been Rosabelle
— the animal at one time worshipped by a propor-
tion of the body of minor poets ! — and Agnes,
called after Agnes of Dunbar, a countess in her
own right. This palfrey — almost all the horses
of the period of Mary Queen of Scots are spoken
of as " palfreys " — apparently came as a gift from
her brother, Moray, and though it does not appear
to have been a steed of exceptional quality she
was extraordinarily fond of it, We find it referred
to occasionally as Black Agnes.
Then, though all the evidence obtainable tends
to convey the impression that Mary Queen of
Scots must have been a clever horsewoman, she
does not appear to have been very fond of
hunting, in consequence of which two at least of
her biographers go so far as to hint that her
alleged distaste for the chase tended in a measure
to increase Elizabeth's hostility towards her.
From what early historians tell us, Mary
probably looked far better on a horse than
Elizabeth ever did — the slimness alone of Mary's
figure by contrast with Elizabeth's may have
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S RETINUE 19 j
been in a measure responsible for this — and the
knowledge must have vexed Elizabeth, who
took particular pride in her riding and was
desirous above many other things to be deemed
a finished horsewoman. How vast a number of
horses must have been owned by the nobles and
by other persons of wealth who dwelt scattered
over the whole of England may be gathered from
the statement of Ralph Holinshed that Queen
Elizabeth alone required, when she travelled,
some 2400 animals, almost all of which had to
be provided by residents in the districts in which
she moved.
The majority of these horses were employed to
drag the great carts which contained the queen's
baggage, yet we are told that " the ancient use
of somers and sumpter horses " having been
" utterly relinquished, causeth the trains of our
princes in their progresses to show far less
than those of the kings of other nations."
Naturally it must be borne in mind that the
weight of the baggage of persons of rank in the
sixteenth century was excessive, especially when
it was added to the weight of the clumsy carts
that were used for the conveyance of such bag-
gage, so that four, six and even more horses
were often enough harnessed to a single cart
when it was fully loaded.
Then, too, the roads were for the most part in
so bad a state of repair — many of them could not,
N
i94 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
properly speaking, be called roads at all — that
frequent changes of horses were necessary.
In Drayton's well-known "Polyolbion " we have
a horse that is very famous in romance. Arundel
by name — a name that is said to have been
originally a corruption of the French word,
hirondelle — it was " swifter than the swiftest
swallow." This horse belonged to Bevis of
Southampton, " the remarkable knight," and
apparently it had as many good points as any
animal can possess. In the sixteenth century
almost every horse of note actually living, or in
romance, took its name from one or other of its
chief characteristics. Thus in Tasso's " Jerusalem
Delivered" we find Raymond's steed, Aquiline,
that was bred on the banks of the Tagus,
particularly remarkable for what we should to-
day call a Roman nose.
Aquiline figures largely in " Jerusalem De-
livered," and Raymond, who was Count of Tou-
louse and commander of some 4000 infantry, and
who, in addition, was remarkable for his wisdom
and coolness in debate, is shown to have owed
a measure of his success to Aquiline's phenomenal
sagacity. Indeed Aquiline probably saved him
from destruction upon more than one occasion.
We come upon other horses in several por-
BRIG AD ORE 195
tions of "Jerusalem Delivered," especially in
connection with the slaying by Raymond of
Aladine, the cruel old king. The stirring de-
scription of this incident, and of the planting of
the Christian standard upon the tower of David
by Raymond, is to be found in the twentieth
book ; but as we know that the Holy Land was
being ruled by the Caliph of Egypt at the very
time Raymond is supposed to have been attacking
King Aladine, it at once becomes obvious that
the narrative must have been fictitious.
"The Faerie Queene" is another classic in
which we find interesting allusions to horses,
mostly the horses of romance.
One of the best known of these animals is
Brigadore, called sometimes Brigliadore, which
belonged to Sir Guyon, and was remarkable for
a black mark in its mouth, in shape like a horse-
shoe.
Sir Guyon, who impersonated Temperance or
Self-Government, was the companion of Prudence,
and he alludes several times to Brigadore. His
fame, as most scholars will remember, rests in
a great measure upon his destruction of the
enchantress, Acrasia, in the bower called the
Bower of Bliss, which was situated in the Wander-
ing Island.
196 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
The name Acrasia means self-indulgence,
and this witch was particularly dreaded because
of her partiality for transforming her lovers
into monstrous shapes and then keeping them
captive.
The story of Sir Guyon's stealthy approach
while Acrasia lay unsuspectingly in her bower,
and of the way in which he succeeded in throwing
a net over her, subsequently in binding her firmly
in chains of adamant, then in breaking down "her
accursed bower " and burning it to ashes, is too
well known to need description here, and of course
it has no direct bearing upon Brigadore.
So far as we can judge, the horses of Anatolia
and Syria must have been well known in Europe
by about the middle of the sixteenth century,
though one or two writers aver that they did not
come over until later.
An artist who died about the year 1603, and
whose name was Stradamus, produced, not long
before his death, a series of drawings, and a set
of these was subsequently issued under the title,
" Equile Johannis Ducis Austriaci," which means,
" The Stable of Don John of Austria."
It is interesting to note in this connection
that practically all the horses and mares im-
ported between the year 1660 and the year 1685
came from Smyrna, though the renowned Darley
Arabian and several more came from Aleppo.
This is of particular importance in relation to
SIR ROBERT CAREY'S RIDE 197
the records of the horse in England's history, for
there can be no doubt that a great part of our
thoroughbred racing stock is descended from
these very early importations.
That remarkable feats of horsemanship were
performed in the reign of Elizabeth is beyond
dispute, but unfortunately the particulars obtain-
able are extremely meagre.
Of Sir Robert Carey's historic ride upon the
death of the queen, details worth recording are
given. No sooner had the queen breathed her last,
we are told, than Sir Robert Carey, notorious syco-
phant that he was, who for days and nights had
been loitering about the queen's bed-chamber and
displaying the keenest anxiety as to her condition,
set off on horseback to convey to the heir, King
James, the news of her death.
" So great was his desire to bring the news
to King James before that monarch had heard it
from any other source," we read, "that with the
lamentations of the dead queen's women still
ringing in his ears he left the bedside of his
kinswoman and benefactress and started to
announce the important tidings to King James,
an act quite as indelicate as it was wholly un-
authorised."
Sir Robert's indelicacy, or alleged indelicacy,
198 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
however, is no concern of ours. As a feat of
endurance, his ride was truly an extraordinary
one, for he actually galloped the whole distance
from London to Edinburgh, about 400 miles, in
less than sixty hours, though during the journey
he had at least one severe fall.
How many horses he rode I have not been
able to ascertain, but that he had made in advance
full preparations for this journey is more than
likely, as it is beyond dispute that he had covered
the first 1 60 miles by nightfall on the day after he
started. The exact time at which he set out
we are not told.
What made the feat more wonderful still was
the condition of nearly all the roads in England
during Elizabeth's reign, with the exception
of the Roman roads and a few besides, some
north of Doncaster being really little more than
tracks.
That Sir Robert Carey was well repaid for his
enterprise may be gathered from the statement
that King James I. " rewarded him for being the
first to bring him the glad news, by granting him
signal favours."
From about this period onward the horse may
be said to have entered upon the third phase of
its career in the history of all nations, but more
THIRD PHASE OF ITS CAREER 199
especially in the history of our own nation. For,
as we have seen, from very early times down to
the period of the Norman Conquest the nations
that had not horses had almost without exception
been forced to take a secondary place in the
world's progress.
From the period of the Norman Conquest down
to the beginning of the accession of the House of
Stuart — indeed, as we shall see presently, almost
down to the period of the Commonwealth — the
improvement and development of the horse as an
''arm" in warfare had gone practically hand in
hand with the improvement in the training of men
to fight in battle. And from then onward, that
is to say from the beginning of the period of the
Stuarts and the Commonwealth, down to the
present day, the horse has been connected with
history in the capacity of charger or war horse,
hunter or pleasure horse, and thoroughbred or
race horse.
Let me state at once, then, that it is not my
intention to describe at length, or even to mention
by name, all the more or less famous horses that
have been owned by the more prominent or dis-
tinguished men at any time within the last three
hundred years, for such a collection of names, or
of descriptions, would not be likely to prove of in-
terest to the modern reader. In addition com-
paratively few of the records concerning these
animals bear the impress of truth.
200 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
As we come to the close of the nineteenth
and the opening of the twentieth centuries
historical records increase enormously in volume,
so that now we find ourselves confronted by a
mass of reports, many of which bear directly
upon horses that are of no interest whatever,
though they may have belonged to famous men
whose names are still household words.
Thus in a single history of Napoleon I. we
find two pages of descriptive matter to do with
a horse of his called Wagram ; two pages about
Cyrus, another of his horses ; a page about his
horse named Emir ; half-a-page about his Coco ;
three pages about Gongalve ; two about Coquet ;
three about Tausis, and so on all the way through,
while everything that is said about them could
quite easily be condensed into three or four short
sentences.
Indeed the biographers of the majority of our
great military leaders have deemed it necessary
to write long and verbose descriptions of the
animals that were owned by these historical
celebrities, apparently for no other reason than
that they did belong to celebrities.
When all is said, it is difficult to imagine how
or whence they can have obtained such circum-
stantial information. Granting, however, the
truth of all the statements — and one cannot say
definitely that any one of them is not true in
every detail — was it worth while to tell us that
NAPOLEON'S HORSES 201
Piers Gaveston owned a grey, or that Blucher
remarked upon some uninteresting occasion that
he had a horse that used to jib ?
Yet trivial points of this sort are to be found
mentioned in plenty of the so-called popular bio-
graphies of our great men.
Of more interest it would have been had the
biographers succeeded in discovering, and then
told us, what sort of bits Napoleon liked to
ride his chargers in, and his reason or reasons
for preferring them, or whether Blucher ever
tried his grey in blinkers. Then the horses
described at such weary length might possibly
have taught us a lesson or two worth learning.
PART III
FROM THE STUART PERIOD TO THE
PRESENT DAY
CHAPTER I
Arrival of the Markham Arabian, the first Arab imported into
England — Newmarket village founded by James I. — Decline of the
"great horse" — The Royal Studs — James I. organises a race
meeting on the frozen River Ouse — Superstitious beliefs concerning
horses — James I. meets with a grotesque riding mishap — Pro-
sperity of the Turf — Riding match between Lord Haddington and
Lord Sheffield — The Turf vigorously denounced as " an evil likely
to imperil the whole country's prosperity "
" 17" ING JAMES I.'s love of racing," writes a
•*^" trustworthy chronicler of the movements
at the court of James I. and Charles I. "was
due to the importation into England of the first
Arab horse ever seen here."
That simple statement records one of the most
important incidents that has occurred in the
development of the horse in this country, an
incident that subsequently proved to be of great
moment in connection with the history of Great
Britain. For though the assertion has many
times been controverted, careful research proves
beyond doubt that until the arrival in England
202
THE MARKHAM ARABIAN 203
of the Markham Arabian — which in after genera-
tions was to become so greatly renowned — no Arab
of any sort had been brought into this country.
The stories that have been told of this, the
first of the famous Eastern sires, are numerous,
and, as is usual in such cases, the majority of
them are apparently untrue.
One of the most widely circulated of the mis-
statements was to the effect that the price paid
by King James to Mr Markham for this particular
Arab sire was not less than ^500, and in papers
and books almost innumerable, in which the
Markham Arabian is mentioned, this false state-
ment is repeated.
That it is false beyond dispute is proved by
the actual entry of the purchase that may be
seen to this day in the Exchequer or Receipt
Order Books in the Public Record Office. The
entry runs as follows : —
" Item the 2Oth of December, 1616, paid to
Master Markham for the Arabian Horse for His
Majesty's own use, ^154, o. o."
It is almost inconceivable that anyone can
seriously have believed that ^500, or any sum
approaching it, could have been paid for this sire,
for at that period no sum approaching ^500 ever
was paid for any horse, the purchasing value of
money being until after the reign of James I. so
much in excess of its purchasing value some two
centuries later.
204 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
That several thoroughbred Eastern sires were
bought by James is well known, among the last
to which reference is made by the historians being
the famous Villiers Arabs, which the king does
not appear to have acquired until towards the
end of his reign.
Yet in spite of all that has been said and
written about John Markham's stallion, the horse
was not, according to that excellent judge of
horses, the Duke of Newcastle, the class of animal
that any man would have chosen to breed from
for looks, for, in the duke's own words, "He
[the Markham Arabian] was a bay, but a little
horse, and no rarity for shape ; for I have seen
many English horses far finer. . . . Mr Markham
sold him to the King for five hundred pounds
(szc), and being trained up for a course, when he
came to run, every horse beat him."
I believe I am right in saying that the identity
of John Markham has never been positively traced,
also that the consensus of opinion inclines to the
belief that he was the father of the famous author,
Gervase Markham, who for many years held
the post of keeper of Clipston Shraggs Walk, in
Sherwood Forest.
Among the works of Gervase Markham is
a volume entitled " Cavalarice, or the English
Horseman," in which many grotesque and un-
intentionally humorous passages are to be found.
Each of the eight books which together go to
JAMES I. FOUNDS NEWMARKET 205
make up this work is dedicated to some dis-
tinguished personage, of whom James I. is one,
and Henry, Prince of Wales, another.
To James I. we are probably indebted for the
existence of the town of Newmarket, for it is
certain that he not only inaugurated the construc-
tion of the village, but in addition brought his
influence to bear upon its development, and that
he greatly helped to stimulate the interest which
the people of Newmarket and the neighbourhood
already took in the breeding and training of run-
ning horses. It may be partly for this reason
that Newmarket is still so often spoken of as
"the royal village."
Notwithstanding the disappointment the Mark-
ham Arabian must have afforded James I., we
read that the king offered a silver bell of consider-
able value to be run for at Newmarket, that the
entries for the race were numerous, and that
"the event gave rise to much speculation, wager-
ing and public interest."
It was, indeed, in this connection that Ben
Jonson wrote so caustically, or rather satirically,
in his famous " Alchemist," and alluded incident-
ally to "the rules to cheat at horse races."
Elsewhere Jonson describes, and mentions by
name, some of the race horses that probably were
well known on the Turf at about that period.
Seeing how keen the interest was that James I.
took almost from boyhood in all that related to
206 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the Turf, and to the breeding of race horses, we
can hardly be surprised to hear that during his
reign the general interest in the breeding of
"great horses," which had been so marked a
feature of Henry VIII. 's reign, also of Elizabeth's
reign, at one time threatened to die out.
Robert Reyce speaks of this in his " Breviary
of Suffolk," a book which he dedicated to Sir
Robert Crane, of Chiltern, and elsewhere allu-
sions are to be found to the decay of interest in
the breeding of "great horses."
Indeed James appears to have admitted quite
openly that the bare sight of the animals bored
him " owing to the clumsy appearance they pre-
sented," a view that is shared to-day by several
of the more prominent of our owners of race
horses.
Under the circumstances it is amusing to find
the king himself inditing a ponderous treatise
"for the instruction and edification of his son,"
Henry, Prince of Wales, a treatise suitably
enough entitled " Religio Regis : or the Faith
and Duty of a Prince."
Apparently he wrote the greater part of this
work at Newmarket, for in it he alludes more
than once to the races which were being held
there at the time, races at which he had been
present on the day he wrote.
That he deemed horsemanship to be a form of
exercise of inestimable value becomes obvious as
THE ROYAL STUDS 207
we read " Religio Regis" ; but then in the reign
of almost every monarch from about the beginning
of the Stuart period down to the time of the four
Georges great stress is laid by the various sove-
reigns upon the advisability that the sons of the
nobles and of the aristocracy should become pro-
ficient horsemen.
The author of "The Court of King James"
also is emphatic in his advice to courtiers "to be
very forwardly inclined to bring up horses," add-
ing that such horses should be bred from the best
strains only, and that no matter how great the
sum expended in order to secure good strains, the
money could not be looked upon as wasted.
Of the royal studs in the reign of James I., the
most important probably were those at Newmarket,
at Eltham, atTutbury, Malmesbury and Cole Park,
and among the manuscripts in the British Museum
there may be seen to-day an interesting list of the
"necessaries" which appertained to the royal
stables, all classified under separate headings —
geldings, cart horses, coursers, hunters, battle
horses, and so on.
Remarks upon the part played by the horse in
history at about this time are to be found also in
Lodge's " Illustrations of British History," where,
in the third volume, we read that on 6th April
1605 there arrived at Greenwich Palace "a dozen
gallant mares, all with foal, four horses, and eleven
stallions, all coursers of Naples."
208 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
These the archduke begged King James to
accept as a small mark of the esteem in which
the king was held by himself and his country-
men.
In the historical records of almost the whole of
James I.'s reign we find reference made repeatedly
to race horses, also to the sport of hunting. An
important fixture, as we should call it to-day,
apparently was the Chester Meeting. It took
place on St George's Day, and the chief race
was known as " The St George's Cup." The
riders carried ten stone, and the entrance stake
was half-a-crown.
A quaint rule in connection with this race was
that the winning owner had to contribute to a fund
for the benefit of the prisoners confined in the
North Gate jail "the sum of six shillings and
eightpence or three shillings and fourpence, on
certain conditions."
In addition to the cup, silver bells were run for
at this meeting, and it is interesting to learn that
before removing their prizes the cup winner and
the bell winners were compelled to deposit "ade-
quate security " — presumably with the race com-
mittee— for these trophies. For all the principal
trophies had to be run for again at the following
meeting, and we are told quite seriously that it
was feared that if the temporary owners were
allowed to remove these prizes without leaving
any security they might have been disposed to
THE TURF IN JAMES I.'S REIGN 209
make away with them before the date of the next
meeting !
At the Chester Meeting, and therefore pre-
sumably elsewhere, the sheriff acted as starter,
" and if any rider committed foul play during the
race he was disqualified in case he won."
About the year 1624, however, certain changes
were made in the rules of racing, and from that
time onward some of the races were run five
times round the course instead of only three
times, also the winner of a cup became entitled
to retain it as his property " upon the first
occasion of gaining it."
Professional jockeys in the reign of James I.
held, in a sense, quite a good position. The
king associated with them frequently, especially
at Newmarket. Indeed, he openly admitted that
he preferred the company of sportsmen to that
of politicians, and that the surroundings of the
racecourse and the pleasures of the chase attracted
him far more than did the business of the state.
His enemies, as we know, took advantage of
these carelessly uttered assertions when later
they set to work to encompass his downfall,
and during the closing years of his reign he
was made to suffer unjustly for many of the
minor follies of his youth.
It was wholly characteristic of James that he
should upon one occasion — he was staying at
Croydon at the time in order to attend the
210 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
race meeting that was held there in Easter week
— have in a sudden access of emotional en-
thusiasm created his friend, Philip Herbert, a
knight, a baron and a viscount in the course of
a few minutes.
This he is said to have done in order to mark
his appreciation of Herbert's self-control when,
after being struck in the face by a Scotsman
named Ramsey, Herbert refrained from hitting
back.
Though the king and all his courtiers and
many strangers were present upon the occasion,
Herbert did not betray the least sign of annoy-
ance, though the blow was a severe one.
It should be borne in mind that during James's
reign the Scots had, as a nation, come to be
almost execrated, so that the affront was all the
greater.
The king is said to have expressed it as his
opinion that under the circumstances Philip
Herbert's self-restraint came near to being heroic !
As James's fondness for racing increased, so
did the great majority of his nobles, his barons
and his courtiers profess to grow fonder of the
sport, while many soon took to gambling with
great recklessness.
This the king apparently encouraged them to do,
for we learn that he was " wont to laugh heartily
when told that some of his sycophants had lost
exceptionally large sums of money," or, as was
A RACE MEETING ON THE ICE 211
frequently the case, that one or other of them
had been compelled to part with a portion of his
estates in order to meet debts of honour. The
women of the court also aped the king at this
time, as indeed they appear to have done in
almost every age. Yet their losses were small
by comparison with the sums lost on the Turf
by their daughters and granddaughters in the
reign of Charles II., half-a-century or so later.
Two years after James I. had ascended the
throne there set in one of the coldest winters
this country has ever known, with the result that
a long stretch of the River Ouse became frozen
over and so afforded the king an opportunity, of
which he was quick to avail himself, of organising
a race-meeting on the ice.
Drake tells us that the course extended "from
the tower at the end of Marygate, under the
great arch of the bridge, to the crane at Skelder-
gate Postern."
But even so early as this in the reign of King
James the opponents of horse racing began to
raise indignant protests against "the folly and
wickedness of betting on running horses," pro-
tests to which but scant attention was paid.
Not until some years later did the extremely
zealous clergyman named Hinde set seriously to
work to denounce the practice of gambling in any
and every form, and he appears then to have
spoken and written so forcibly that many persons
212 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of intelligence and education — I quote from a
trustworthy source — gathered round and strove
to encourage him to the best of their ability.
Racing in particular he waged war against,
declaring it to be " an exercise of profaneness
diligently followed by many of our gentlemen
and by many of inferior rank also." Great
injury, he maintained, was done by men of rank
and others " who of their weekly and almost
daily meetings, and matches on their bowling
greens, or their lavish betting of great wagers in
such sorry trifles, and of their stout and strong
abbeting of so sillie vanaties amongst hundreds,
sometimes thousands, of rude and vile persons to
whom they should give better, and not so bad
example and encouragement, as to be idle in
neglecting their callings ; wasteful in gaming,
and spending their means ; wicked in cursing
and swearing, and dangerously profane in their
brawling and quarrelling."
These observations, and many more to the
same effect, are to be found in the " Biography
of Bruen " ; yet in the long run the diatribes
made but little difference, for the passion for
gambling had taken a firm hold of the people
of almost all classes, and while it lasted it flourished
exceedingly.
We do not hear of many famous horses during
the reign of James I., save the sires which the
king himself imported ; yet it is certain that the
SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS 213
popularity of the horse increased during the first
two decades of the seventeenth century, quite
apart from the popularity that betting upon
horse races continued to acquire.
As a natural result, perhaps, greater attention
soon came to be paid to the management and
care of horses, to feeding and exercising them,
so that probably the owners of the thoroughbreds
of those days had begun to realise, as they do not
appear to have done before, that a horse's work-
ing years may be considerably prolonged if he be
fed carefully and exercised regularly.
Indeed the crass ignorance that until about
this time had prevailed with regard to the treat-
ment of sick horses comes near to being ludicrous.
Superstition, as we know, was rampant in con-
nection with the curing of suffering humanity,
and various forms of superstition extended in a
great measure to the treatment of animals that
were out of health.
Thus we read of horses supposed to be pos-
sessed by evil spirits, when what they probably
were suffering from was an attack of simple
staggers ; of witches being consulted when a
horse went lame, and paid liberally for their
grotesque advice, and so on to the end.
That horses so often went lame at about this
period was due probably to the ignorance of
many of the farriers of the very rudiments of
practical farriery.
2i4 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
In Ireland, possibly also in parts of England,
a horse with what is called to-day a " wall " eye
was looked upon as a harbinger of evil, and
deemed likely to bring bad luck, especially upon
the family and relatives of the man who owned
it ; while any man so " ill-advised " as to breed a
fearsome creature of this kind often was after-
wards glanced at askance by persons who before
he had numbered amongst his friends.
Then there existed also a superstitious belief
in connection with a horse with a white hoof, but
what this particular superstition was I have not
been able to discover. Apparently the owner of
a horse so marked was glad enough to get rid of
it for a sum much below its true worth, and gener-
ally he deemed himself fortunate if able to sell
such a horse at all.
An instance is on record of a weakly foal being
left out all night in a snowstorm as a superstitious
test. We are told that it died of exposure, and
that its owner at once thanked God for His
mercy in having taken from him a creature born
with an evil spirit, the inference being that but
for the alleged evil spirit the little foal would
have been able to withstand the rigour of the
blizzard and the intense cold.
Stolen horses in particular were believed to
possess a supernatural power that would enable
them to find their way home to their rightful
masters if they succeeded in escaping from the
JAMES I. PREFERS TALL HORSES 215
thief. But plenty of horses, as we know, are
to-day able to find their way home from a long
way off, horses that have not necessarily been
stolen.
In justice let it be said that James laughed to
scorn the majority of these superstitious beliefs.
This is strange, for in some respects he must
have been almost as superstitious as many of
his courtiers — and for that matter as the great
bulk of his subjects.
Partial to tall horses, he expressed a wish that
his nobles should not ride cobs, deeming such
animals to be out of keeping with the majesty of
the court.
It was probably for this reason that he strove
to encourage his subjects to ride tall horses.
Then, though several historians appear to take
it for granted that the Turkish horse was un-
known in England until the arrival of the famous
Byerley Turk in 1689, we may rest assured that
Turkish horses were here in James's time, and
probable before his time. Blunderville is only
one of the early writers who say so in so many
words. Incidentally he mentions that fully a
century before the Byerley Turk was brought over
he himself had seen " horses come from Turkey,
as well into Italic as thither into England, indif-
ferentlie faire to the eie, tho' not verie great nor
stronglie made, yet very light and swift in their
running, and of great courage."
216 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Also we read that about the year 1617 " half-
a-dozen Barbry horses" were brought to England
by Sir Thomas Edmonds and stabled at New-
market in the royal paddocks.
A quaint description is to be found in the
works of several of the writers in James I.'s reign
of an accident that befell the king in December of
the year 1621 as he was riding after dinner, an
accident that in spite of its undeniable grotesque-
ness might well have proved disastrous.
The king, it seems, had "gone abroad early
in the day, and to Theobald's to dinner." He
appears to have enjoyed his dinner at Theobald's
greatly, and to have decided quite suddenly, as
soon as the meal was over, that he would like
"to ride on horseback abroad."
The accident that presently was to occur is
attributed by different writers to different causes,
the most charitable of the reports being to the
effect that the king's horse stumbled and threw
his royal master on to the frozen surface of the
New River "with so much violence that the ice
brake and he fell in so that nothing but his boots
were seen."
Sir Richard Young, who chanced to be riding
just behind him, instantly sprang off his horse
and succeeded with the help of a friend, though
only with great difficulty, in dragging the dripping
monarch " out of the hole and his undignified
predicament."
JAMES I.'S GROTESQUE MISHAP 217
According to another chronicler, " there came
much water out of his mouth and body," yet
" His Majesty rid back to Theobald's, went into
a warme bed, and, as we heere, is well, which
God continue."
That the king had a sense of humour is made
manifest by the statement that upon his recovery
he laughed heartily at the recollection of the
incident, while we are further told that his
gratitude to Sir Richard Young, his rescuer,
"did not stop short at the hearty grasp of the
hand he gave him."
Mention has already been made of James's
strange literary work, " Religio Regis : or the
Faith and Duty of a Prince." This is said to
have been written during the King's temporary
residence at Newmarket "for the betterment of
his health " (sic).
It was produced primarily for "the instruction
and edification " of his son, Henry, at that time
Prince of Wales, but it came to be read widely
by his nobles and all about the court.
In this remarkable treatise we are told that
" the honourablest and most commendable Games
that a king can use are on Horseback, for it
becomes a Prince above all Men to be a good
Horseman. And use such Games on Horseback
as may teach you to handle your Arms thereon,
such as Tilt, Ring, and low-riding for handling
your sword. . . .
2i8 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
"As for hunting, the most honourable and
noblest Sport thereof is with running Hounds ;
for it is a thievish sport of hunting to shoot with
Guns and Bows. . .•<•;
" However, in using either of these Sports
observe such Moderation that you slip not there-
with Hours appointed for your Affairs, which you
ought ever precisely to keep ; remembering that
these Pastimes are but ordain'd for you to enable
you for your Office, to which you are call'd by
your Birth."
Before the close of James's reign the Turf bore
every sign of having been granted a fresh lease
of life. Private riding matches among men of
rank and wealth had become popular again, and
though some of these were " 'cross - country
matches," plenty were ridden on the flat, upon
which occasions vast sums of money were run
for almost always.
Of these races one that seems to have attracted
much attention was run in the year 1622, for a
cup valued at twelve pounds, when the crowd that
assembled was one of the biggest at that time on
record.
The wagers that were made were mostly in
large sums, and we are told that, to the surprise
of the majority of the betting men "and their
subsequent discomfiture," the race, in which there
were six "tryers," was won by an outsider, the
property of a popular sportsman, Sir George Bowes.
PROSPERITY OF THE TURF 219
The judge in this race was a Mr Humphrey
Wyvell, and so greatly annoyed did the crowd
become at the defeat of the favourite that they
made a desperate attempt to attack the judge,
with the intention of injuring him seriously, an
attempt that fortunately was frustrated.
We are not told if the king was present upon
this occasion, but the principal racing men of the
period undoubtedly were there. The king him-
self attended a meeting at Lincoln in the spring
of 1617, where he lost very heavily.
Towards the end of this reign strong opposition
to the increasing popularity of racing began to
manifest itself among what we should to-day call
the middle class, owing, so it was said, to the
sport being vigorously denounced from pulpit
and platform as a growing national evil, " one
likely to imperil the whole country's prosperity."
For some time the king strove to smother
these denunciations, and he even partially suc-
ceeded in the attempt.
Yet in the end the people must have triumphed,
for we read that James was still on the throne
when some of the more popular of the flat-race
meetings were tacitly allowed to be abandoned,
while in 1620 the meeting which usually had
been held at Thetford was directly suppressed
by an order of the Privy Council.
Among the most important of the private
riding matches, as they were then called, that
220 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
took place in James's reign was the one arranged
at Newmarket between Lord Haddington and
Lord Sheffield.
Run at Huntingdon towards the end of the year
1607, the race was extremely exciting from start
to finish. Both men appear to have been good
riders, and the stake run for is said to have
amounted to a considerable sum.
Yet the various accounts of the match give
versions which differ widely as to what hap-
pened, and while one writer declares that Lord
Haddington won with difficulty, another con-
tradicts him by maintaining that the stake was
awarded to Lord Sheffield.
With regard to the pictures that are said to
have been drawn from life in those days, if they
are true to life it becomes obvious that some
three centuries ago it was not customary for
race riders, or "tryers," to stand in their stirrups
while riding races, as they do to-day and most
certainly did in the last century and the century
before it. This is strange, for some of the
earliest of our writers who touch incidentally
upon the subject of race riding are rather emphatic
in declaring that the jockey should get rid of all
" dead " weight, and of course it is chiefly by
standing in the stirrups that "dead" weight can
be neutralised.
James I. would seem to have paid more atten-
tion to the theory of training horses he intended
QUEER FARRIERY 221
to run than any of his predecessors did, though
this is not great praise, so ignorant of the funda-
mental principles of scientific training were the
horse owners of about that period.
Upon slight provocation horses were freely
bled, just as human beings were bled or " leeched "
less than a hundred years ago. Indeed we read
of one horse that was bled while in the hunting
field, owing to its having proved too restive for
its owner to ride with comfort (!) ; while another
was driven into a leech pond in order that the
leeches might suck off " the goodlie warts " with
which its belly and thighs were studded.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, about a
century and a half ago the leech cure was deemed
quite the best for warts. Yet perhaps we are
wrong to think or to speak contemptuously of the
ignorance of our forefathers. Who can say that
in years to come our descendants may not speak
as contemptuously of us — their ancestors — because
we fired horses, and because we drenched them
with physic for various ailments ?
Indeed there are already veterinary surgeons
who aver that to fire a horse under any circum-
stances is to commit a grave blunder, and that
firing as a general practice ought emphatically to
be abandoned.
CHAPTER II
First races of importance run at Newmarket — Races in Hyde
Park — The Helmsley Turk and the Morocco Barb — Racing intro-
duced into Holland — Importation of Spanish stallions into England
— Prince Charles's riding master, the Duke of Newcastle — Increas-
ing cost of horses — Marshal de Bassompierre ; his loss through
gambling, ,£500,000 in a year ; Sir John Fenwick — Sir Edward
Harwood's pessimism — Cromwell's Ironsides — Armour discarded
— The opposition to stage coaches ; Mr Cressett's theory ; Charles
II. favours their adoption
' I VHE early history of Newmarket is more or
less wrapped in mystery, or rather in con-
fusion ; in other words, the writers who have dealt
with "the inauguration of Newmarket racing,"
as one of them terms it, in many instances contra-
dict one another so flatly that the truth can be
arrived at only by conjecture or by inference.
Apparently the destruction of the Spanish
Armada in 1588 was the ill wind that indirectly
benefited Newmarket so far as its horses were
concerned, for there is no doubt that many of the
horses rescued from drowning when the great
vessels of the Armada were wrecked were sent
direct to Newmarket, " where great surprise
was expressed by all who beheld them at their
exceeding swiftness."
From this one would naturally conclude that
222
FIRST RACES OF IMPORTANCE 223
interesting races were run on Newmarket Heath
towards the close of the sixteenth century ; yet
elsewhere we read that the first races of import-
ance run at Newmarket took place in 1640, and
that the round course was not made until about
the year 1666, while a third historian goes so far
as to declare that a gold cup run for at the New-
market Spring Meeting of 1634 affords per se the
earliest irrefutable record of such an occurrence,
based on contemporary data.
Yet from statements set down in an earlier
chapter we have already seen that horse racing
of a sort must have taken place at Newmarket
quite a long time before this. In point of fact,
in almost every historical record of Newmarket
that I have come upon I have found either
direct or indirect allusion to the renown of the
neighbourhood of Newmarket for the horses that
were bred or trained there.
The horses brought ashore from the Spanish
vessels probably were among the best that Spain
at that time possessed, and several attempts were
made by the Spanish to recover some of them. It
is known that towards the close of the sixteenth
century the Spanish were making determined
efforts to breed faster horses than they had pre-
viously bred, yet it is surprising that the horses
they had brought with them upon their famous
expedition should have been so swift, for they
must have been animals of far heavier type than
224 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the animals they would in a general way breed for
racing.
The Spaniards of three centuries ago, we must
of course remember, were renowned for their
horsemanship far more highly than their descen-
dants of to-day are.
In the reign of Charles I. horse races were run
in Hyde Park, a track having been laid down
there with great care. This meeting was im-
mensely popular, and " the inhabitants of London
and those parts near London assembled in their
thousands to watch the running horses," and in
most instances to squander large sums.
"The Park first became under Charles I.
the fashionable society rendezvous," Mrs Alec
Tweedie tells us in her interesting volume,
" Hyde Park : Its History and Romance." " Its
greatest attraction, maybe, was the racing in the
Ring. The occasions when organised meetings
took place were special scenes of gaiety, and
were evidently thought important events, as even
among the State Papers there is preserved the
agreement for a race that took place there."
In later years an attempt was made to revive
the Hyde Park race meeting, but the attempt was
vigorously opposed by the mass of the residents in
the neighbourhood, and by many others as well.
A report of a race in Hyde Park appears in a
copy of The London Post, but is undated. As The
London Post ceased to exist after the year 1640,
VAN DYCK'S FAMOUS PICTURE, NOW IN THE NATIONAL GAI.I.FRY. OF CHAKLES
ON HORSEBACK
HELMSLEY TURK AND MOROCCO BARB 225
this race was run probably a year or two before
that date. The report is said to be the first
detailed account of a horse race ever published
in a newspaper.
" I made a present to the King," Sully writes,
"of six beautiful horses richly caparisoned, and
the Sieur of St Antoine as their keeper." The
Sieur of St Antoine, who after being equerry to
Prince Henry became equerry to Charles I., is
represented in the famous Vandyck picture of
King Charles in armour, in the picture now in
the National Gallery.
It was about the year 1641 that the Duke of
Buckingham greatly helped to improve the breed
of horses by importing the famous Helmsley Turk
and the almost equally famous Morocco Barb.
It is curious to read that the importation of these
horses was at first looked upon with grave sus-
picion by a great body of the principal horse
breeders in this country, and by others interested
in the horse and its development.
To what the antagonism was owing one can
hardly say for certain. One report has it that
some among the duke's personal enemies — he
had many enemies — were determined to do all in
their power to injure him by wrecking any scheme
in which he presumably was interested. The
226 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
sums he paid for these horses were consider-
able, but the excellent effect the good blood
had upon the breed fully repaid him for the
incidental outlay, also for the great trouble to
which he had been put to secure such excellent
stallions.
Shortly before this some English officers serving
in the Dutch army had introduced horse racing
into Holland, and the popularity of the new sport
began to spread there quickly. Soon a number
of -race meetings came to be organised, and in
a short time Dutch emissaries were sent over to
England for the express purpose of purchasing
blood stock here.
Being comparatively ignorant of horses —
ignorant, that is to say, of the requirements
essential in a racing stallion — these emissaries
were at first cheated in the most barefaced
manner by some of the very men who only a
short time before had been their guests in
Holland!
Later, however, they succeeded in importing
some very valuable blood stock, and in several
respects the race meetings they presently
organised were better arranged than many of
the English meetings of that period.
In 1637 we find the Duke of Newcastle ap-
pointed Governor to Prince Charles — later to
become King Charles II. — with special injunc-
tions to teach him to ride well.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 227
The duke's volume on equitation, published
at Antwerp in 1658, contains particulars of the
prince's progress in the art of horsemanship,
from which we may gather that Prince Charlie
was an exceptionally apt pupil — "a horseman by
nature," he has been termed.
So emphatically was this the case that in com-
paratively a few years he professed himself able
to ride any horse that anyone might choose to
bring to him, an assertion in which the duke
supported him.
It was not long after this that the duke per-
suaded his royal pupil to import from Spain a
number of exceptionally fine sires, for, as he said,
Spanish stallions were quite unsurpassed, and in
his opinion no other sort of stallion ought to be
admitted into this country.
The duke himself has been described as "an
iron horseman," but the exact meaning of the
phrase is not quite clear. He had, according to
some writers, an "iron" seat on a horse, while
according to others he had "iron" hands — the
latter a questionable compliment.
Probably an " iron " nerve is what they really
meant, for we know that the Duke of Newcastle
was both a finished and a fearless horseman, two
important qualifications that do not necessarily go
together. We are further told that in teaching
the prince to ride he never spared him, a state-
ment easily believed when the duke's hard and
228 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
resolute nature, added to his known determina-
tion to succeed at any cost in every task he under-
took to accomplish, are borne in mind. Ordered
to train the prince into a skilful horseman, he had
at once set to work to do it to the best of his
ability.
Some say that as a boy Prince Charlie looked,
when in the saddle, as if he had been born there,
and through life this natural seat upon a horse
stood him in good stead.
In addition to being a graceful rider, he had
a very strong seat, so that presumably he pos-
sessed the precious gift that to-day we call
" hands."
An eighteenth-century writer, who appears
to have had access to private manuscripts or
documents to do with King Charles II.'s
private life, avers that the king never, as we
should express it, pulled a horse about. Even
tempered with his horses, he seldom or never
ill-treated them. They appeared to respond
instinctively to his every touch, to understand
what he meant by the varying inflection in his
voice, and to divine, as if by magic, what their
master wished them to do. Also he never out-
rode a horse under any circumstances — never, as
we should say, rode a horse off its legs.
He preferred long stirrup leathers to short, but
then in his day most men did.
Also it is said of him that he never would look
INCREASING COST OF HORSES 229
twice at a horse that had bad quarters or in-
different withers.
Altogether it seems clear that, though he had a
natural aptitude for horsemanship, he must have
been carefully and very thoroughly coached in all
the points of a horse, as well as in all that apper-
tained to the management, training and stabling
of horses of every kind.
Horses had risen in price during Charles I.'s
reign. In the reign of Charles II. they rose
higher still.
Thus about the year 1635 — that is to say
towards the middle of Charles I.'s reign — 300
and 400 pistoles was considered a moderate sum
to pay for a well-broken young horse.
" And the Marquis of Seralvo told me," writes
the Duke of Newcastle, " that a Spanish horse
called II Bravo, and sent to the Arch-Duke
Leopold, his master, was held as much as a
Mannor of a Thousand Crowns a year, and
that he hath known horses at 700, 800, and 1000
pistoles."
Elsewhere we find indisputable evidence that
between the beginning of Charles I.'s and
the end of Charles I I.'s reign sums varying
from 400 to 700 pistoles must often have been
paid for saddle horses, while for race horses
230 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
the prices were considerably in excess of these
sums.
It is amusing to read that the duke spoke
in terms almost of contempt of the Barb, for it
shows that in one respect at least he must have
been prejudiced in much the same way that some
of our modern owners and trainers of thorough-
breds are prejudiced.
Yet he was firmly convinced that many of the
horses imported from such countries as Germany,
Denmark and Holland were well suited for
harness work and for the plough.
In face of this, and in face also of his strong
bias in favour of Spanish stallions, it is surprising
to hear that he deemed the English horse to be
"the best horse in the whole world for all uses
whatever, from the cart to the manage," and that
he even considered some of them to be "as
beautiful horses as can be anywhere, for they are
bred out of all the horses of all nations."
Equally enthusiastic upon the subject of the
English horse and its merits, and upon its superi-
ority over the horses of other nations, was Marshal
de Bassompierre, who has something to say about
them in the interesting memoirs of his embassy
in England in 1626.
Thus after telling us that during his residence
in this country he received from some of the high
officers of state, also from the king himself, a
present of fine horses, he goes on to mention
HORSE FAIRS 231
incidentally that it was at about this period that
English thoroughbreds were introduced into
France for the first time.
This is interesting, inasmuch as certain writers
of an earlier epoch state definitely that English
thoroughbreds were to be seen in parts of France
in their day.
Bassompierre, who had been in England in
Elizabeth's reign, is likely to have known the
true facts. In addition to being " addicted to
horses," he was passionately fond of gambling,
and the latter hobby is said to have cost him in
a single year some ,£500,000.
A family notorious early in the Stuart era for
its devotion to the Turf was the Fenwick family,
so much so that several of its members are de-
scribed as having run " quite out of their fortunes "
in their futile attempts to transform two or three
small fortunes into one large one. The sensa-
tional story of Sir John Fenwick's trial, followed
by his execution on Tower Hill in 1697, establishes
a sort of landmark in the history of the public
executions of the seventeenth century.
During the first half of the same century horse
fairs were organised throughout England, and
year by year they became events of greater im-
portance, many hundreds of men and women of
all ranks travelling from far-distant parts of the
country in order to attend them. The scenes of
ribaldry by which many of these fairs were fol-
232 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
lowed would not be tolerated now. Among
the more important of the fairs were those held
at Ripon, Melton, Pankridge and Northampton,
but many of the others were almost equally
fashionable.
It was in the reign of Charles I. that Sir
Edward Harwood presented the famous petition,
or memorial, in which he explained in forcible
language that "good and stout horses for the
defence of the kingdom " would soon be to all
intents at a premium owing to the scant attention
that was then being paid to the breeding of such
animals, adding that he doubted whether, if some
2000 great horses should be wanted at short
notice, it would be possible to find so many in a
fit condition to do battle.
The French horses of the same stamp, he went
on to say, were in almost every way superior to
ours, and so emphatic was he upon this last point
that he openly declared that if some 2000 of
the best of our great horses were to be set face
to face in battle with an equal number of the
Frenchmen's horses, our troops would to a
certainty be routed with heavy loss.
Seeing how earnestly Harwood spoke, the
king, as we are told, expressed sorrow and great
amazement at what he heard, and at once inquired
the reason of the English horses' alleged in-
feriority.
Then it was that Sir Edward made his point.
., J t,
OUVERIV • .HKr.KM.V
HAHC3UMMI ET Ttrro TC.RAAKVM
.Nl'-r.r£l..VITUDINIJ
ET TOTU.'S ANGLirl I VI IE HI I PROTECTOR,
ORBE CELEBERRIMI HERO1S
'I.JO 0,D.iO. VviOi.-****-. rtrmhr-J Sn:tf
OLIVER CROMWELL ON HORSEBACK
After Van Dyck
CROMWELL'S IRONSIDES 233
With considerable bluntness he told the king that
the decline of the great horse was due chiefly to
the spread of racing and hunting, and to the
growth, consequent thereon, in the number of
race meetings that were being organised, and in
the assemblage of persons who attended them.
For, as he justly pointed out, so long as the
attention of the principal body of the nobility and
of the wealthy landed proprietors was centred
upon the breeding almost wholly of light and
swift horses, it was not possible to suppose that
time would be found to attend also to the breeding
and rearing of the powerful animals that alone
were fit to carry men-at-arms.
Upon hearing this, Charles declared, no doubt
in all good faith, that he would take steps to re-
vive the flagging interest in the production of good
war horses, but in the end nothing practical was
done.
That the king himself took interest in the great
horse we are led to infer from the fact that upon
the big seal he is shown riding astride one. In
Vandyck's portrait of Oliver Cromwell we see
Cromwell riding rather a light-coloured great
horse, a point worthy of note inasmuch as we
know that from about that time onward the term
"great" horse was almost always taken to mean
a black horse of this particular stamp.
Oliver Cromwell's world-renowned Ironsides
were not, of course, mounted on great horses.
234 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
On the contrary, though the Ironsides proved
themselves to be by far the most powerful cavalry
seen in England down to that time, their strength
was due not to their weight, but to their remark-
able mobility.
The dismay the Ironsides spread amongst the
foe is said to have astonished the cavaliers them-
selves as much as it surprised the enemy.
For it must be borne in mind that the Ironsides
did not wear armour. Instead they were protected
merely by light buff coats, so that naturally they
were able to ride far lighter and consequently
more active, horses.
Probably it was the good work done by Crom-
well's cavalry that marked the turning-point in
the life of the old regime by driving out of the
field not only the great horses that until then had
been deemed wholly indispensable, but also by
sounding the death-knell of armour that for two
centuries had been growing steadily heavier and
more ponderous.
For many years, however, a body of the English
military authorities metaphorically clung doggedly
to the clumsy horses to which they had so long been
accustomed, and to the clumsy armour as well,
declaring — as some of their successors do to-day
— that the innovation of a mobile force must soon
prove unsatisfactory and ultimately be disbanded.
Instead, exactly the reverse happened.
By slow degrees the armour was discarded,
BEGINNING OF STAGE COACHES 235
while the great horses, as we are told, were
relegated to the coach, the waggon and the
plough.
Among those who adhered longest to the
theory that England must inevitably lose her
prestige if the great horse were ousted from her
army for good and all was the Duke of Newcastle
of that period. Laughed at for his pains, and
spoken of by the younger generation as a man
not able to see ahead of the times, he yet stood
firmly by his opinion almost to the last. As the
years went on, and the younger generation in
their turn grew retrospective and pessimistic, no
doubt they too were laughed at by their sons, and
thus history continues to repeat itself even to the
present day.
At about this period many of the " good " roads
in England were in reality little better than broad
cart tracks, so that heavy horses were largely in
demand. In consequence of this the prices paid
for a good team of horses were in many instances
out of all proportion to the animals' true worth.
By this time, too, public stages were already
being started on the highroads, and the com-
petition this gave rise to soon sent up by leaps
and bounds the value of great horses well broken
to harness.
236 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Of these stages the first was started probably
about the year 1670, and its weight when empty
must have been enormous, every part being made
of solid timber bound with strips of iron. The
" speed" at which it travelled — so far as one can
gather from the early descriptive records of the
progress of the pioneer stage — must have been
approximately three or four miles an hour, upon
an average, or even less.
An excellent reproduction of the early type of
the English great horse is to be seen in Dublin
in the famous statue of William III. on horse-
back. The type of horse shown is probably the
exact type that was popular not merely in William
III.'s reign, but during the greater part of the
century before he ascended the throne.
True, in that statue the king is garbed like an
ancient Roman, the reason being — I take the
following statement from several Irish jarveys,
and disclaim all responsibility for its alleged
accuracy — that King William adored a foreigner
and tried always to look like one! It was,
indeed, a jarvey who remarked as we drove
past : " Sure, and it is in hunting kit he should
be, and on one of Pat Mecreedy's hundred-guinea
leppers." He appeared to be convulsed with
mirth at the bare thought that the hero of the
Boyne should have been depicted mounted upon
a cart horse.
Some even among our historians, however,
OPPOSITION TO STAGE COACHES 237
have averred that this horse is wrongly propor-
tioned. Personally I incline to the belief that the
animal is in every detail true to life, and not many
years ago the late Viscount Powerscourt declared
that he himself had seen used in parts of Holland
horses that in every respect resembled this animal
of King William's statue.
Is it not likely, therefore, that William III.
may have been in the habit of riding a Dutch
horse, and that the sculptor copied this horse
quite faithfully ?
Certainly if the pictures of the period are to be
trusted for accuracy, soon after the overthrow of
James II. by William of Orange there were horses
in plenty of almost exactly this type to be seen in
England. Also the harness that was worn by
many of the Dutch horses shown in the pictures
resembled the harness that was in use among
followers of William III., more especially the
parts we mean to indicate when we speak of a
horse's trappings.
Even the bridles greatly resembled one another
in some instances.
Bearing directly upon the story of the horse
in history are the descriptions that have been
handed down to us of the almost frantic op-
position that met the introduction of the stage
238 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
coach soon after the middle of the seventeenth
century.
In some respects these descriptions recall vividly
to mind the rabid antagonism some two centuries
later to the introduction of the steam engine, not
to speak of the objections that are still raised by
a proportion of the community to the general
adoption of automobilism.
Prior to the introduction of the stage coach into
England a four-wheeled carriage with a long, low
body had been employed to convey the general
public from one part of the country to another,
and when the stage coach first arrived many
of our wiseacres were quick to prophesy that the
death-knell of the nation's greatness had in con-
sequence been sounded !
Perhaps one of the stoutest of the opponents of
reform in this respect was a certain Mr Cressett,
of Charterhouse, who in the year 1662 openly and
in very straightforward language affirmed that the
adoption of the stage coach must "entirely ruin
the country," and who in that year wrote a vigor-
ous tract, in which he explained entirely to his
satisfaction — also, apparently, to the satisfac-
tion of his partisans — that the amount of harm
the introduction of road coaching must inevit-
ably cause to the community at large would be
enormous.
His remarks, too voluminous to reprint in ex-
tenso, contain in one place the observation that
MR CRESSETT'S THEORY 239
" by this rapid mode of travelling" — at the period
in which he wrote it took approximately three
days to get from London to Dover, even in fine
weather — " gentlemen will come to London
upon the slightest pretext, which but for these
abominable coaches they would not do but upon
urgent necessity."
Nor would the impending evil, in his opinion,
end there, for, lashing himself gradually into a
fury, he went on to maintain that "the gentle-
men's wives " would come too, and that no
sooner would they find themselves in London
than they would "get fine clothes, go to plays
and treats, and by these means get such a habit
of idleness and love for pleasure that they would
be uneasy ever after."
Poor Mr Cressett !
Surely he must have been an ancestor, or at
the least some early relative, of the notorious Mr
Wightman who, just before the first London and
Brighton railway was laid down, wrote a book
in which he "proved" beyond refutation that no
locomotive steam engine could by any possibility
be propelled at a speed greater than about half the
speed of the fastest of the coaches then on the road!
We smile indulgently at all this now, yet,
when all is said, have we changed so very greatly
since those dark and peculiar ages — since the
epoch that we now refer to so complacently
as " the good old times " ? (sic).
240 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
The narratives of the remarkable experiences
of many of the travellers in those early coaches
would make up almost enough letterpress to fill
a volume. For from the very outset the public
stages became the unlawful prey of half the
rascals with which a vast tract of the whole of
England at that time teemed. Coaches were
plundered almost daily, and while sometimes
blood was spilt intentionally, often this happened
rather by accident.
Charles II., who used his influence to help on
the development of the stage coach, appears at
times to have become frankly impatient with the
ultra-conservatism of the bulk of his nobility and
of the aristocracy who strove hard to check the
progress of the new form of locomotion.
Whatever Charles's shortcomings may have
been — and we know that he had many — he had
enough of nous to be able to foresee the enor-
mous advantages that would be derived from the
general adoption of the public stage.
Consequently he encouraged the importation
of stallions and the breeding of animals of the
stamp best adapted for coach work.
Himself a finished whip, most likely, he desired
that all his nobles should emulate his example by
learning to drive well, though driving in those
days was a form of amusement comparatively
seldom indulged in by the well-to-do, who, as
we are told, preferred being driven by postillions.
CHARLES II. FAVOURS STAGE COACHES 241
Before Prince Charles's proclamation, however,
the ten years of the Commonwealth's sway had to
intervene, during which time the horse's progress
in this country suffered a set-back from the effects
of which it did not immediately recover.
The beginning of the horse's decline in public
favour may be said to have dated from 4th Janu-
ary 1651, on which day a report was drawn up
— to be soon afterwards presented to Parliament
— demanding that horse races, hunting, hawk-
ing matches and football playing be at once
suppressed, the plea in favour of this radical
reform being that frequently political meetings
were convened by enemies of the Commonwealth
under the veil of race meetings and similar social
gatherings.
CHAPTER III
The Commonwealth's " ordinance to prohibit horse racing " —
Revival of racing under Charles II. — The King a finished horse-
man— The figure of Britannia — The Royal Mares — Formation of
the thoroughbred stud — Thomas Shadwell's cynical description of
life at Newmarket — Spread of horse racing in Ireland — Jockeys at
Newmarket entertained by Charles II. — Sir Robert Carr ; the
Duke of Monmouth's connection with the Turf — Annual charge for
horses of the royal household, ,£16,640 — Newmarket under the
regime of the Merry Monarch ; the Duke of Buckingham
npHOUGH it soon became evident that the
•^ Commonwealth was determined to oppose,
tooth and nail, any step that might in the least
tend to keep alive the interest in horse racing and
horse breeding that for many years had grown up so
steadily throughout almost the length and breadth
of England, not until the 3rd July 1654 did the
Government finally decide to introduce "an ordi-
nance to prohibit horse racing." This ordinance
was duly passed, and the result may well be
imagined.
For without further parley almost every race-
course in England was closed, thousands of men
of many different grades being thereby at once
thrown out of employment. Owners of valuable
thoroughbreds lost immense sums, for, practi-
cally without warning, they found the order
242
QUALITIES OF THE BARB 243
thrust upon them and so were obliged to sell
their racing stock for whatever sum it would
fetch in the open market.
In this connection Cromwell, who himself had
for many years owned race horses and been very
fond of racing, suffered with the rest, though
both he and his adherents are said to have de-
clared that they willingly gave up their horses
" for the good of the cause they had at heart."
There can be no doubt that many valuable
sires were imported into England about the time
that Cromwell was practically in power, and one
of them, "a south-eastern horse named White
Turk," apparently was brought over by Crom-
well's own stud groom.
Several of the early records contain interesting
descriptions of the sires that were imported at
about this time. Mr William Cavendish, after-
wards Duke of Newcastle, writing about the year
1658, tells us that the Turkish horse of the period
was a tall animal, " but of unequal shape," and
that though " remarkably beautiful, very active,
with plenty of bone and excellent wind," it rarely
had a good mouth.
"The Barb," he writes elsewhere, "possesses
a superb and high action, is an excellent trotter
and galloper, and very active when in motion.
Although generally not so strong as other breeds,
when well chosen I do not know a more noble horse,
and I have read strange tales of their courage."
244 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
The Barbs came of course from Barbary, the
best of them from Morocco, Fez, and the adjacent
districts, and some from the interior of Tripoli.
Even the first to be imported were said to be
better shaped than any horses that had been seen
before in this country, and to have, in addition,
excellent action by nature.
From what can be ascertained at this date, the
pure Arabian steed seldom, if ever, stood higher
than fourteen and a half hands, and rarely or
never became a roarer. In all probability many
even of the finest Arabian horses stood but four-
teen hands high, while plenty must have been
smaller still — say thirteen two or even thirteen
one.
This is worth remembering when we know that
nearly every horse that has established a reputa-
tion on the English Turf has been of Eastern
descent.
Probably the best of the Turkish horses were
descended from the horses of Arabia and of
Persia, though the former were for the most part
taller, and generally " bigger built," besides being
world renowned for their remarkable docility.
At last the Commonwealth came to an end,
and with the accession of Charles II. to the
throne "the whole of England," to quote the
REVIVAL OF HORSE RACING 245
sentence of a contemporary chronicler, " seemed
to open its lungs and breathe again."
For during the ten years of the great Common-
wealth the Turf had to all intents become extinct
in England. The racecourses were ''overgrown
and choked," some had been built upon, others
had been converted into what purported to be
pleasure grounds — "spaces for the recreation of
the multitude."
But apparently the multitude preferred the
spaces as they had been in the time of Charles I.,
for no sooner did it become known that the more
important of the race meetings that had been
abandoned were about to be revived than "the
people rejoiced greatly and gave vent to de-
monstration."
In a surprisingly short time race horses seemed
to spring up out of nowhere, some in such good
fettle, comparatively — when it is borne in mind
that the race horse was supposed to have become
practically extinct during the Commonwealth's
regime — that, as one historian has it, the severity
of the laws that had been passed for the sup-
pression of horse racing, and indirectly of race
horses, must clearly have been evaded in several
parts of this country.
Thus it comes that soon after the Restoration
we read of races being run for silver bells and
other prizes at Croydon, at Theobald's, at
Chester and many other places that had been
246 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
important racing centres before the Common-
wealth.
" Though race horses were few at the time
of Charles II.'s accession," observes one writer,
"and none had eaten bread for years " (about the
middle of the seventeenth century race horses
were trained largely on bread), ''and these had
languished in neglect, at the Restoration they
emerged from their obscurity when the penal
disabilities collapsed to which the Turf was sub-
jected by the Puritans.
"The revival of horse racing was almost
magical in its effects. Thus we find the Turf rising
like a Phcenix from its ashes on the accession of
Charles II., to be thoroughly reinstated as our
great national pastime during the Merry Mon-
arch's reign.
"To this resuscitation the king extended his
powerful patronage and support. His love of
the equine race is typified in the soubriquet by
which he was popularly known, namely ' Old
Rowley,' the name of his favourite hack. It is
possible that among all our sovereigns, with the
exception, perhaps, of Richard II., King Charles
II. alone rode his horses first past the winning
post. He was, indeed, a thorough English
sportsman who could hold his own against all
comers in the chases, on the racecourse and so
on."
The above description approximately sums up
CHARLES II.'S HORSEMANSHIP 247
the Merry Monarch so far as his fondness for
horses and horse racing has to do with this history.
Every inch a horseman, he appears to have
been gifted with a singular aptitude for control-
ling almost any animal he mounted, and to have
developed in a high degree the instinct, or
whatever it may be, that to-day we speak of as
the power of judging pace in race riding.
Endowed with nerve, also with physical courage
in abundance, it is not surprising that the king
should have been looked upon by many of his
courtiers almost as a demigod when first he
ascended the throne, and that the Duke of
Newcastle, who had trained him to horseman-
ship, should openly have expressed himself as
immensely proud of his pupil and his pupil's skill.
In the principal race at Chester the horses
used to run five times round the Roody. It was
upon a horse running in this race that Charles
once staked and lost a small fortune. The meet-
ings he most preferred, however, probably were
those held periodically at Newmarket, where to
this day the famous Rowley Mile recalls to
memory the seventeenth-century's cheeriest
monarch, a king to whom horse racing in this
country still owes so much.
It was, indeed, King Charles II. who almost
entirely rebuilt the stand at Newmarket after the
original one had been damaged beyond repair
during the progress of the Civil War, It is said
248 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
that the old race stand was besieged on at least
three separate occasions during that long and
bloody conflict.
While a certain historic race meeting at New-
market was in progress, Philip Rotier, the famous
sculptor, availed himself of an unexpected oppor-
tunity— an opportunity for which he had long
waited — to make a sketch of the beautiful Miss
Stuart, who was destined to become in the year
1667 tne third wife of the third Duke of
Richmond.
Miss Stuart's name was at that time in every-
body's mouth, the exquisite loveliness of her face
being equalled, so it was said, only by the mould-
ing of her figure and the irresistible fascination
of her voice and manner. It was this unfinished
portrait by Philip Rotier that was subsequently
to develop into the figure that to-day we see
upon every copper coin — the figure of Britannia
with her trident.
"So exact was the likeness," says Felton, in
his notes on Waller, "that no one who had ever
seen her Grace could mistake who had sat for
Britannia."
How rapidly the Turf must have sprung into
life once more upon Charles II.'s accession to
the throne of England may be gathered from the
statement that within six years after the date of
his coronation, " the glory of Newmarket had
again eclipsed itself." Yet apparently the country's
CHARLES II.'S HORSEMANSHIP 249
prosperity did not directly benefit. The nobles
and the wealthy classes seemed determined at
any and every cost to warm both hands at the
fire of life in the best and worst meaning of that
hackneyed phrase. In Pope's " Imitation of
Horace," the statement is made quite bluntly : —
" In days of ease, when now the weary sword
Was sheathed, and luxury with Charles restored,
In every taste of foreign courts improved,
All, by the King's example, lived and loved.
Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t'excell —
Newmarket's glory rose, as Britain's fell."
Wherever in the early histories and records
mention is made of Charles's horsemanship, we
find also some allusion to William Cavendish,
afterwards to become Duke of Newcastle, and
credit for Charles's skill is attributed in a great
measure to him.
Further we learn that at the age of ten " His
Majesty's capacity was such that he would ride
leaping horses, and such as would overthrow
others, and manage them with the greatest skill
and dexterity, to the admiration of all who beheld
him."
Indeed in this one respect he must at about
that period of his life have resembled the great
Alexander, for his determination and self-con-
fidence when he was mounted on horseback were
alike amazing. Upon more than one occasion he
250 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
expressed himself ready to ride for a wager any
horse that might be brought to him, and, if need
be, to ride it bareback.
In his after life, as we know, this strength of
will of his grew gradually into senseless obstinacy,
yet he never lost his nerve for riding over a
country, a fact the more remarkable when we
reflect upon the sort of life he came to lead as
he grew older.
The descriptions we have of the race horses he
bred are somewhat contradictory and must there-
fore be received with caution. That he imported
many fine mares from Barbary is certain, also it is
certain that at regular intervals he sent abroad
competent judges with instructions that they
should secure for him, regardless of cost, the
best animals obtainable.
From among the best of these were selected
the stud that came afterwards to be known as the
Royal Mares, a designation they bear in the
stud-book to this day. The dam of the famous
Dodsworth — one of the earliest of all our
thoroughbreds — was included in the royal stud,
and its pedigree has been authenticated beyond
dispute.
Emphatically Charles II. did more to encourage
horse racing than any other monarch after Henry
VIII. had done, and by comparison he did much
more than Henry VIII. by any possibility could
have done, the very best racing in Henry's reign
THOMAS SHAD WELL'S CYNICISM 251
being quite inferior to the sport shown in the
reign of the Merry Monarch.
And by every means that lay in his power the
Duke of Newcastle abetted Charles. The duke
himself, soon after the Restoration, sank a con-
siderable sum in the purchase of fresh racing
stock to add to his stud, already a large one.
And thus the foundation of the thoroughbred stud
of modern times may be said to date practically
from about the latter part of the seventeenth
century.
Thomas Shadwell, the famous playwright, who,
born in 1642, lived for half-a-century, alludes in
several of his dramatic works to " the great wave
of passionate devotion to vices of various kinds "
that seemed to roll gradually over the whole of
England during the reign of Charles II., while
special reference is made to the all-absorbing in-
terest taken in the Turf while the Merry Monarch
was on the throne.
Speaking of Newmarket in particular, " there
a man is never idle," he makes one of his char-
acters cynically observe, " for we make visits to
horses, and talk with grooms, riders and cock-
keepers, and saunter in the Heath all the fore-
noon.
4 'Then we dine, and never talk a word but of
dogs, cocks and horses.
"Then we saunter into the Heath again, then
to a cock-match, then to a play in a barn, then to
252 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
supper, and never speak a word but of dogs,
cocks and horses again.
" Then to the Groom Porters, where you may
play all night. Oh, 'tis a heavenly life ! We
are never, never tired ! "
Seeing what keen and thorough sportsmen the
Irish are, as a body, one is rather surprised to
learn that until towards the close of the seven-
teenth century horse racing was almost unknown
in Ireland. No sooner had it been introduced,
however, than it began to develop with great
rapidity, so that within a few years it spread into
many parts of the island and we hear of race
meeting after race meeting being organised.
For horse racing seemed to suit the tempera-
ment of the Irish people as no other form of
sport had done. From the first the Irish
must have devoted much time and attention to
race horse breeding, and though their facilities
for obtaining the services of the best stallions
were fewer than the facilities afforded to the
English breeders, they yet succeeded in rearing
a number of useful animals, while plenty of
their race meetings soon compared favourably
with some of the best meetings that were held in
England at about the same period.
But few particulars are extant of the races in
which King Charles himself rode, though several
of the earlier writers inform us that he "carried
all before him." In a despatch from Sir Robert
CHARLES II. ENTERTAINS JOCKEYS 253
Carr, dated the 24th day of March 1675,
we read that " Yesterday his majestic rode
himself three heats and a course and won
the Plate, all fower were hard and nere run,
and I doe assure you the King wonn by good
Horseman Ship."
Descriptions are to be found elsewhere of a fox
hunt in which the king took part. It took place
some twenty miles from Newmarket. That was
in 1680, and apparently no fox hunt in King
Charles's reign had before been described in
writing.
Yet the king, though partial to hunting, was
undoubtedly much fonder of racing. It was in
this year — the year 1680 — that he entertained at
Newmarket the vice-chancellor and the dons of
the University of Cambridge, and, as well, all
the jockeys who had ridden at the meeting.
Whether vice - chancellor, dons and jockeys
were all entertained by the king at the same
time is not stated, though we are led to infer
that they must have been. Charles, as students
of history know, was cosmopolitan to the back-
bone, and not ashamed of the fact. Ever a
practical joker, he is known to have taken delight
that was almost boyish in bringing together an
assemblage of persons whose sentiments, views
and tastes he knew to be in every way dissimilar.
The companionship of jockeys appealed to him
at all times, and the year after he had entertained
254 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
those at Newmarket we find him at supper with
the Duke of Albemarle, "and all the jockeys
with them." During the progress of this meal
Sir Robert Carr and the king arranged several
matches in which their respective horses were to
be ridden by the jockey each should nominate.
That Sir Robert came badly out of the affair
may be gathered from the statement that in a
single day he lost between ^5000 and ^6000
"and became greatly enraged" — a breach of
etiquette that the king did not forget, and that
he never forgave.
A despatch from Lord Conway, dated the 5th
April 1682, contains a descriptive account of a
false start that took place in one of the races at
Newmarket owing apparently to a curious blunder
on the part of the starter.
" Here hapned yesterday," Lord Conway
writes, "a dispute upon the greatest point of
Criticall learning that was ever known at New-
Market, A Match between a Horse of Sir Rob :
Car's, and a Gelding of Sir Rob : Geeres, for a
mile and a halfe only, had engaged all the Court
in many thousand pounds, much depending in
so short a course to haue them start fairly.
"Mr Griffin was appointed to start them.
When he saw them equall he sayd Goe, and
presently he cryed out Stay. One went off, and
run through the Course and claims his money,
the other never stird at all.
THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH 255
" Now possibly you may say that this was
not a fayre starting, but the critics say after the
word Goe was out of his mouth his commission
was determined, and it was illegall for him to
say Stay. I suppose there will be Volumes
written upon this Subject ; 'tis all refered to
his Majesty's Judgment, who hath not yet de-
termined it."
Another staunch supporter of horse racing
in Charles II.'s reign was the ill-starred Duke
of Monmouth, whose career on the English Turf
ended abruptly when in 1682 he was practically
sent abroad as an exile.
Early in the following year, however, the idea
occurred to Louis XIV. that as horse racing had
become so popular in England he would like to
make it the national pastime of France also. In
order to foster public interest in the turf, there-
fore, he began by offering a plate valued at
1000 pistoles to be run for at Echere, near St
Germain.
The event attracted, as he had expected it would,
much attention, not only throughout France, but
in several other European countries as well, so
that in the end some of the finest horses to be
found anywhere in Europe were entered for the
race.
All went well until a short time before the date
of the race, when a rumour spread mysteriously
that a gelding owned by the Hon. Thomas
256 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Wharton had been privately backed very heavily
by a number of wealthy Englishmen.
At first the report was generally disbelieved.
Then suddenly it became known that the famous
Duke of Monmouth was to ride the "dark"
horse in the big race, and at once the owners of
the foreign favourites became seriously alarmed.
That they had good ground for their alarm
was soon proved by the duke's steering the
English horse to victory, apparently with great
ease.
Immediately, so we are told, Louis XIV. cried
out in an access of enthusiasm that he must
obtain possession of Wharton's horse at any cost.
Upon Wharton's informing him that the horse
was not for sale, Louis immediately offered to
pay "the animal's weight in gold." Thereupon
Wharton relented — though not in the way that
Louis had expected him to :
"I will not sell the horse," he said, "no, not
even for its weight in gold. If, however, your
Majesty will do me the honour to accept it as a
gift — -
But so generous a proposal Louis flatly declined
to entertain, and eventually the horse did not
change hands at all. For some weeks after-
wards the principal topic of conversation through-
out France and part of England was the great
race. Indeed it is probable that this single race
and the talk that followed it served to stimulate
THE DUKE OF SCHONBERG ON A TYPICAL CHARGER OK THE SEVENTKKNTH C1NTURY
After a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller
ANNUAL CHARGE FOR ROYAL HORSES 257
in France a zest for the sport that became far
keener than even Louis XIV. had deemed would
ever be possible.
Among the more prominent of the race horse's
progenitors in the seventeenth century were the
Small Bay Arabian, imported by James I. ; Bur-
ton's Barb Mare ; the Helmsley or Buckingham
Turk, owned by the Duke of Buckingham ; and
of course Charles II.'s Dodsworth, a well-shaped,
natural Barb, though foaled in England about the
year 1670.
Mention has already been made of the Royal
Mares, the majority of which were brought over
from Tangiers about the year 1669. Towards
the beginning of Charles II.'s reign the annual
charge for the horses of the king and queen
and those of the officers of the royal household
was fixed at £ 16,640 — a sum subsequently de-
nounced by the king's enemies as " extravagant
beyond belief."
That it was a considerable charge to make all
must admit, yet it was not necessarily extravagant
beyond measure. For in an age when outward
ostentation imparted to the court a sort of cachet,
an enormous stud of horses, and those the best
obtainable, and in addition innumerable costly
trappings, were in a sense necessities - - the
guarantee and stock-in-trade, so to speak, of a
court anxious to gain the world's applause and
approval, and indirectly the support of other
258 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
powerful European nations should war break out,
as in King Charles's reign it might well have
done at almost any time.
Indeed had Charles's court been indifferently
horsed, and the king shown signs of reducing his
personal expenditure — in other words, had the
trumpets metaphorically been blown less blat-
antly— other European powers would probably
have looked up to England with less respect.
Full well Charles must have known this, for
in his way he was thoroughly versed in the art of
what is sometimes called " international finessing."
His Government knew it better still, with the
result that the Government "played up to the
king " on the lines adopted by the king in playing
up to the Government — both knew that extrava-
gance and display formed the note of the age,
and both struck the note firmly with a foot on
the loud pedal.
And thus in the reign of the Merry Monarch
did the practice that we now sometimes speak
of as "bluffing" develop into a sort of art and
come to be cultivated carefully.
In the autumn of the seventeenth century
Newmarket must truly have been one of the
gayest places in England, at anyrate when race
meetings were being held there, for it was not
unusual for the entire court and cabinet to travel
down from London on such occasions, when
"jewellers and milliners, players and fiddlers,
NEWMARKET UNDER CHARLES II. 259
venal wits and venal beauties would follow in
crowds.
Upon such occasions the streets, we are told,
were made impassable by coaches and six. " In
the places of public resort peers flirted with
maids of honour, while officers of the Life Guards,
all plumes and gold lace, jostled professors in
teachers' caps and black gowns, for from the
neighbouring University of Cambridge there
always came high functionaries with loyal ad-
dresses, and the University would select her
ablest theologians to preach before the sovereign
and his splendid retinue."
Whether those able theologians were valued
at their true worth may be gathered from a
further description in which we learn that during
the wildest days of the Restoration " the most
learned and eloquent divine might fail to draw
a fashionable audience, particularly if Buckingham
had announced his intention of holding forth, for
sometimes his Grace would enliven the dullness
of the Sunday morning by addressing to the
bevy of fine gentlemen and fine ladies a ribald
exhortation which he called a sermon.'*
The court of King William, however, proved
more decent, and then the Academic dignitaries
were treated with marked respect. "Thus with
lords and ladies from St James's and Soho, and
with doctors from Trinity College and King's
College, were mingled the provincial aristo
260 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
cracy, fox-hunting squires and their rosy-cheeked
daughters, who had come in queer-looking family
coaches drawn by cart horses from the remotest
parishes of three or four counties to see their
Sovereign.
" The Heath was fringed by a wild, gipsy-like
camp of vast extent. For the hope of being able
to feed on the leavings of many sumptuous tables,
and to pick up some of the guineas and crowns
which the spendthrifts of London were throwing
about, attracted thousands of peasants from a
circle of many miles."
CHAPTER IV
Arrival of the Byerley Turk — Roman Catholics forbidden to own
a horse worth over ,£5 — Henry Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, on the
manners of the age — King William 1 1 1 .'s death due to a
riding accident — The Duke of Cumberland's breeding establish-
ment in Queen Anne's reign — Arrival of the Darley Arabian — The
Godolphin Arabian — Royal Ascot inaugurated by Queen Anne —
" Docking " and " cropping " condemned by Queen Anne ; attempt
to suppress these practices — The story of Eclipse — Some horses of
romance — Copenhagen and Marengo
HOUGH James II. strove to emulate to
some extent the example set by his light-
hearted predecessor on England's throne, he
failed almost from the outset to achieve popularity
in any marked degree. More partial to hunting
than to racing, during his brief reign he neverthe-
less gave his support to the Turf and strove to
encourage the breeding of blood stock. His
interest in the chase, however, evaporated almost
completely as he became more and more engrossed
in the affairs of state.
Whether or no James II. was a finished horse-
man does not appear, but it may be there is a
hidden significance in the statement to be found
in several histories that he was " the only crowned
head known to have had a surgeon to attend him
in the hunting field."
261
262 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Nor is there evidence of his having ever
attended a race meeting after his accession, with
the exception of an important meeting held at
Winchester in 1685.
The stakes run for at about this time were
of small value. Fifty sovereigns were deemed to
be a prize well worth winning, while a purse of
100 guineas attracted many spectators and large
fields and gave rise to "heated and excited
speculation as to the probable results of the
contest."
At some of the small meetings valuable horses
would be entered to run for a paltry stake of thirty
sovereigns, or even for five and twenty, and it
was quite common for insignificant races of this
kind to be " decided by vile persons."
The weights carried in races run during the
latter half of the seventeenth century were out of
all proportion. Thus we read of horses carrying
ten, twelve and thirteen stone in the final heats
of short flat races — in those days almost all
races were run in heats. James II. does not
appear to have owned any exceptionally famous
horses, nor does the horse come prominently
to the front during his brief reign of four
years.
Two events of national importance took place
ARRIVAL OF THE BYERLEY TURK 163
in 1689 : William and Mary ascended the throne
of England, and the famous Byerley Turk, from
which so many of our thoroughbred horses are
descended, was brought over by his owner,
Captain Byerley, who later was to serve in King
William's army and fight for him in the battle of
the Boyne.
Some say that Captain Byerley had the Turk
with him during that battle, but probably this was
not so.
From the standpoint from which we are passing
the history of this country in review, the arrival
of the Byerley Turk was an event of almost as
great importance as William and Mary's acces-
sion, for as the popularity of the Turf was still
increasing year by year the importation of so
valuable a stallion as the Byerley Turk in a
sense served as a landmark.
And certainly this horse proved to be one of the
greatest of all the sires that were brought over in
the seventeenth century. The king, a good judge
of a horse, was much attracted by " Byerley 's
Treasure," as some soon came to call it, and it is
known that the king himself owned at this time
some of the finest thoroughbreds, probably, that
had ever been foaled. That he ran horses of his
own at Newmarket is beyond dispute, and the
general impression amongst historical writers
appears to be that he ran horses also at several
other meetings.
264 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
It was while attending a race meeting at New-
market that the king commanded the unjust Act
to be put into force which rendered it penal for a
Roman Catholic to own a horse worth more than
five pounds. Trustworthy historians tell us that
most likely the king would not have acted so,
but for the influence brought to bear upon him
by his queen, who apparently was anxious to
vent her spite upon at least one high-born
Catholic by whom she had been affronted.
The ultra- bigoted among the king's subjects
rejoiced openly at the enforcement of the statute,
but, whatever reason there may have been for so
severe a measure, the storm of indignation aroused
throughout the country caused the king consider-
able uneasiness.
As a natural result of the enforcement of the
Act many Catholics presently substituted teams
of oxen, and with these clumsy animals they
would drive many miles to attend their church
services on Sundays.
How rapidly the Turf must have continued to
acquire popularity during this reign is proved by
the fact that ten years after the king and queen
had ascended the throne — namely, in 1699 — more
race meetings were held throughout the country
than in any previous year in England's history,
In this year, too, the King's Master of the Stud,
Robert Marshall, brought over from Arabia
fourteen valuable stallions at a cost of some
HENRY HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON 265
£\ 100, and these were sent direct to Newmarket,
where the king was staying at the time.
That the reports of the evil that is said
necessarily to follow in the train of racing were
in William's reign greatly exaggerated, as they
are to-day, may be gathered from a description
of the manners of the age to be found in the
diary and state letters of Henry Hyde, Earl of
Clarendon.
Hyde, who died at Cornbury, in Oxfordshire,
in 1709, at the ripe age of seventy-one, tells us
that towards the close of the seventeenth century
" a man of the first quality made it his constant
practice to go to church," and that he could spend
the day in society with his family and friends
"without shaking his arm at the gaming-table,
associating with jockeys at Newmarket, or
murdering time by a constant round of giddy
dissipation, if not criminal indulgence."
Other writers make statements practically to
the same effect, so it is safe to infer that the fore-
going description forms a true account of the
style of living in the age when the Turf reached
probably its zenith. There are, however,
historians who would have us believe that at no
period did horse racing flourish in this country
without bringing with it, as though by natural
266 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
process, dissipation, debauchery and general
degeneration.
Indeed, as one writer exclaims in an access of
unchecked emotion, "from the period when the
noble animal became debased and prostituted in
this country from the purposes for which he was
intended by his Maker — the purposes of war and
agriculture — he has gradually sunk, and those
who have helped to debase him have at great
length followed his example." Out of considera-
tion for this writer's feelings — for it is to be hoped
that by now he has recognised the error of his
judgment — I refrain from mentioning his name.
William met his death through a riding acci-
dent. Mounted upon his favourite "pleasure
horse," described as "a steed of mean stature,
named Sorrel, which had a blind eye," the king,
so it is said, for some reason lost his temper and
struck his mount a violent blow upon the head
with a heavy riding-stick.
Instantly the animal bounded forward, and
William, thrown suddenly off his balance, was
unhorsed and fell heavily on his side.
Personally I think the story more likely to be
true is that Sorrel stumbled over a molehill, and,
in trying to recover himself, fell on to his side.
The king, thrown violently, received an internal
injury from which he never recovered. Other
stories of what took place have also been handed
down to us.
ARRIVAL OF THE BARLEY ARABIAN 267
No less liberal a supporter of the Turf than
William of Orange was Queen Anne, his suc-
cessor. A modern tautological historian quaintly
tells us that " Good Queen Anne had many
horses, and they were numerous and costly," a
phrase reminiscent of the newspaper reporter's
description of a bride's wedding gifts.
That Anne should have loved horses and been
an enthusiastic " turfite" is not to be wondered
at when we bear in mind the sort of atmosphere
in which she had been reared.
The Duke of Cumberland's breeding establish-
ment at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great
Park — where later on Eclipse and the almost
equally famous Herod were to be foaled —
probably was the best known in England.
According to Mr Theodore Andrea Cook, our
modern authority upon the thoroughbred, its
origin, and all that has to do with it, the finest
breed of horse ever produced was the result of
the cross between the pure Arab and the animal
that was in England towards the end of the
seventeenth century.
The Darley Arabian, foaled about the month
of March, 1702, and his line of distinguished
successors, in reality started the long and baffling
process which eventually ended in the production
268 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of the beautifully shaped animal we see in the
modern thoroughbred.
Probably less than fifteen hands, the Darley
Arabian was a dark bay descended from the race
the most esteemed among the Arabs. Captain
Upton maintains that it was of the Ras-el-Fadawi
breed, but the mass of the evidence obtainable
points rather to its having been a pure Managni.
Certainly the Darley Arabian is one of the
most historically interesting horses that has ever
been imported into this country. The property
of John Brewster Darley, Esq., of Aldby Park,
near York, it was bought at Aleppo by Brewster
Darley's brother for comparatively a small sum,
and sent to England about the year 1705, where
subsequently it became the sire of Flying Childers
and consequently the great-great-grandsire of
Eclipse — three names that stand out in the history
of the horse and his connection with the history
of this country perhaps more prominently than
any other three it would be possible to mention.
Flying Childers, like his sire, was a bay, and Mr
Leonard Childers, of Carr House, near Doncaster,
who bred him in 1715, soon afterwards sold him
to the Duke of Devonshire.
About fourteen and a half hands, Flying
Childers is described as "a close-made horse,
short-backed and compact, whose reach lay
altogether in his limbs."
Eclipse, as we shall see presently, was the
THE GODOLPHIN ARABIAN 269
reverse of this, for he had great length of waist
and stood over much ground.
According to trustworthy statistics, Flying
Childers was the fastest horse that ever ran at
Newmarket, while it is stated, on what appears to
be good authority, that no faster horse has ever
lived.
With only Eastern blood in his veins — his dam,
Betty Leedes, was a descendant of pure Eastern
horses that had lived long in England — Flying
Childers' career upon the Turf was truly phenome-
nal. He died in 1741.
Another historic sire of the early part of the
eighteenth century was the Godolphin Arabian,
called also the Godolphin Barb, foaled in 1724.
His height was about fifteen hands, and his
colour a dark brown.
We are told that he was sent to Louis XIV.
by the Emperor of Morocco, but it is known
that when he died he belonged to the Earl
of Godolphin.
Whether the pedigrees of all modern thorough-
breds can or cannot be traced back to the Byerley
Turk, to the Darley Arabian, or to the Godolphin
Arabian, is still a source of argument, and opinions
upon the point probably are about equally divided.
A romantic story attaches to the Godolphin
2 ;o THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Barb — to the last he was pronounced by Lord
Godolphin to be an Arabian — inasmuch as he
was at one period of his life driven in a water
cart in the streets of Paris. He died in 1753,
and his remains lie under the stable gateway at
Gog Magog, near Cambridge.
After the race meeting known as Royal Ascot
had been inaugurated by Queen Anne, in 1712,
the tone of the Turf in England greatly improved.
The rules of racing were revised, and more atten-
tion was paid to their enforcement. Also steps
were taken to prevent " undesirable and roguish
persons " from " indulging in their wicked and
thievish habits " — in short, a serious attempt was
made to purify the Turf, as the process is termed
now.
To what extent this alleged purification proved
effectual we are not told, but a number of persons
who probably were considered " undesirable and
roguish," were, about the year 1718, ordered to
"abstain from attending the meetings," a com-
mand that most likely was the equivalent for
being warned off the Turf, and apparently is the
first actual allusion to warning off the Turf that
is to be found mentioned in history. It has even
been maintained that the inauguration of the
Jockey Club, believed to have taken place in
DOCKING & CROPPING CONDEMNED 271
1750, was prompted by an urgent necessity for
a body of responsible Turf administrators with
power "to order thievish persons to keep
away."
I believe it is not generally known, except
among persons versed in Turf history, that prior
to the inauguration of the Derby and the Oaks it
was quite exceptional for three-year-old horses to
be raced at all. Before that time the three-year-
old was looked upon more or less in the same way
that to-day we look upon the yearling.
Indeed early in the eighteenth century but few
horses were run when very young. In William
and Mary's reign some of the most important
races were won by six-year-olds, and we find
allusion to a six-year-old plate that must have been
run for at about this time. Nearly all the long
races were still run in heats, and some of the
horses entered were nine, ten, twelve and even
more.
The practice of cropping manes and docking
tails was expressly condemned by Queen Anne,
also by one of the Georges, probably George III.
Berenger, in his " History and Art of Horse-
manship," published in 1771, observes that "the
cruelty and absurdity of our notions and customs
in 'cropping/ as it is called, the ears of our
272 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
horses, ' docking ' and ' nicking ' their tails, is
such that we every day fly in the face of reason,
nature and humanity.
" Nor is the existing race of men in this island
alone to be charged with this folly, almost un-
becoming the ignorance and cruelty of savages,
but their forefathers several centuries ago were
charged and reprehended by a public canon for
this absurd and barbarous practice.
" However, we need but look into the streets
and roads to be convinced that their descendants
have not degenerated from them, although his
present Majesty in his wisdom and humanity has
endeavoured to reclaim them by issuing an order
that the horses which serve in his troops shall
remain as nature designed them."
Only a few years after the publication of the
"History and Art of Horsemanship" a deter-
mined attempt was made to suppress, once and
for all time, the practices referred to. For a while
public interest was greatly stirred, and it seemed
as though the practices would at last be put an
end to by direct leglislation, but eventually undue
influence was brought to bear, and nothing was
done.
Indeed, as most of us must have noticed, the
practice of docking the tails of nearly all horses
except race horses is so prevalent at the present
time that in many instances the tails are cut
to within a few inches of the root, while some
* •• • '
THE STORY OF ECLIPSE 273
of our ultra " fashionable " horse dealers go so far
as to pluck out most of the hairs left on the
stump.
In the west of England the latter trick is
indulged in more often than in the northern
counties or the midlands.
Of all the famous sires whose names stand out
as household words in the annals of the horse in
history, but few bear comparison with the world-
renowned Eclipse.
Bred, as already mentioned, by the Duke of
Cumberland, he took his name from the coincid-
ence that the great eclipse of 1764 was in progress
at the very hour of his birth.
There does not seem to have been anything
particularly striking about the foal's appearance,
and certainly none imagined for a moment that
he would be likely to grow into one of the most
famous horses, if not the most famous horse, the
Turf has ever known.
Until the age of five, Eclipse was not run in
public, but from the time he won his first race,
in May 1769, until his last appearance upon the
Turf, in October 1770, he was never beaten, or
near being beaten. The long list of his triumphs
need not be given here, but Mr Theodore Cook
reminds us in his exhaustive work upon this
274 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
horse that it was Dennis O'Kelly's son of Eclipse
that won the second Derby, and that out of 127
races, including the first, Eclipse's descendants
had down to the year 1906 furnished no fewer
than eighty-two winners.
Eclipse himself was sold as a yearling for
less than 100 guineas. Of his direct descend-
ants, a yearling filly was bought not very long
ago for 10,000 guineas ; a race horse in training
has fetched ,£39,375 at public auction ; two sires
have each produced stock that has won over half-
a-million sterling ; and other horses tracing back
to him in the direct male line have won the
"Triple Crown" nine times out of ten and
hold the record for the pace at which the Two-
Thousand, the Derby and the Leger have been
run.
Upon one point all trustworthy authorities on
thoroughbreds and their performances, also the
principal historians of the Turf, and in addition
the leading " turfites" of our own period, are in
agreement, and that is that since the time of
Flying Childers the Turf, the world over, has not
known a horse faster than Eclipse was.
This in itself is exceptional praise, but Eclipse
was to add materially to his extraordinary re-
putation, for while at stud he became the sire
of 335 winners who between the year 1774 and
the year 1796 won close upon ,£160,000 in
stakes alone, exclusive of cups and plates, and
THE STORY OF ECLIPSE 275
in addition his owner is known to have stated
openly that he was paid for the horse's services
as a stallion upwards of ,£25,000.
Referring again to the later descendants of
Eclipse, we find that in the year 1894 they won
between them over ,£421,400 in stakes, the
number of winners being 827, and the total
number of races won, 1469. Indeed there prob-
ably is not any other horse in the world, nor ever
has been, that has been the prime cause of so
much money changing hands.
Perhaps what most attracted attention to
Eclipse in his racing days was the apparent ease
with which he won. His stride is said to have
been phenomenal. Did he, during the whole of
his career upon the Turf, ever fully extend himself?
The question has many times been discussed by
experts, and the consensus of opinion seems to
point to the conclusion that he never did.
For even after making his greatest efforts he
did not seem to be distressed. The race-loving
public seemed almost to worship him at about the
period he reached his zenith, and in the end it was
to all intents impossible to back him.
The interest the king was known to take in
Eclipse was very great, yet probably George III.
was at heart less interested in the sport of racing
than any of his predecessors had been.
Thackeray insinuates this in his immortal satire
of " The Four Georges," and with truth it may
276 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
be said that of all the great horses that have
figured prominently either directly or indirectly
in the history of this country, Flying Childers and
Eclipse take precedence.
Much that has been written on the subject of
Queen Anne's alleged fondness for horses would
seem to be based on doubtful knowledge. The
more discriminating among our historians appear
to think that too much importance has been
attached to many of the statements.
There are, I believe, letters extant from Queen
Anne in which she talks at length upon the subject
of the horses that belonged to her, but certain
documents of the same sort are attributed to her
which she probably did not write.
The King of Denmark, upon one occasion
made her a present of twelve mares carefully
chosen by himself, but for the rest the majority
of the stories told of Queen Anne should be
accepted with reservation.
Indeed from the middle of the eighteenth to
the middle of the nineteenth century the horse
again figured largely in romance, a fact that may
in a measure account for the stories that have
been put about of Queen Anne and her horses.
Smollett is but one of the writers whose works
are prolific of narratives of the kind, and some of
SOME HORSES OF ROMANCE 277
these stories from being repeated so frequently
came at last to be believed by a mass of the
people.
Thus the tales of Sir Launcelot Graves' adven-
tures, and of the acts that were attributed to
Sir Launcelot's grotesque " mettlesome sorrel,"
Bronzomarte, were believed by some actually to
be true.
In point of fact this Sir Launcelot must have
been a sort of Don Quixote who in the reign of
George II. deemed it his mission to roam about
England "redressing wrongs, discouraging moral
evils not recognisable by law, degrading im-
modesty, punishing ingratitude and reforming
society generally."
Fables were related too of Robert Burns'
mare, Jenny Geddes, while the poets also took
possession of the palfrey which belonged to
Madame Chatelet of Circy — the lady with whom
Voltaire lived for ten or more years — and wove
around it, also round its mistress, many romantic
but wholly fictitious narratives.
Its name was Rossignol, and, according to one
poet at least, Madame Chatelet fed the creature
"on newly picked apricots, gave it milk to drink,
and rode with a silken rein." Rossignol is men-
tioned also in the history of Voltaire's life.
The story of Dr Dove's steed that was called
Nobbs has the seal of Southey upon it, which may
account for the animal's having been dragged into
278 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
so many romances. At best, however, it was a
foolish beast. Dr Dove, it may be unnecessary
to remind the reader, is the hero of Southey's
" Doctor." The extent to which some of the
famous stories of romance came in course of
time to be woven into other stories is rather
remarkable.
Thus we find Dr Dove described in three
different stories as three distinct and different
individuals not one of whom is recognisable as
the same person and the original, while the horse,
Nobbs, is spoken of in one story as a bay, in
another as a brown, in a third as a black.
Is it possible that the authors of those stories
can have read the original Southey? And if
history of such small importance, comparatively,
is thus corrupted, can one place implicit belief in
many of the serious historical narratives ? Rather
one is tempted to believe the assertion of Pitt,
"the boy Prime Minister," when he declared in
all seriousness that "nothing is so uncertain as
positive truth."
Most historians make mention of the charger
that carried Wellington so well at Waterloo ; yet
the only statement with the impress of truth in
this connection is that the horse died in 1835,
aged twenty-seven. It was Wellington's favourite
NAPOLEON AT WAGRAM
From the famous painting by Vernct at Versailles
COPENHAGEN AND MARENGO 279
steed, and its name was Copenhagen. Of his
other horses we read but little.
Marengo, Napoleon's favourite mount, was,
according to one historian, a pure white stallion ;
according to another a cream-coloured gelding.
In Vernet's famous picture of Napoleon crossing
the Alps we are shown a snow-white horse, and
Meissonnier shows us a snow-white horse too, so
most likely this animal actually was quite white.
The resting-place of Marengo's remains is the
Museum of the United Services, in London.
In an age when attempts are made to over-
throw almost every established historical record,
and when we are even informed quite gravely
that Joan of Arc was not burnt at the stake at all,
but that the victim was some other woman — a lady
of rank, who out of compassion for the poor
Pucelle was at the last moment prompted to sacri-
fice herself in her place ! — it is not surprising that
sceptics should exist who would have us believe
that Napoleon's horse was not called Marengo.
What is it, precisely, that prompts this section
of modern searchers after " positive tru .a " to cast
doubts upon so many of the minor hisiorical in-
cidents? For, as a reviewer recently observed,
it is hardly worth the while of any serious historian
to waste time in refuting such misstatements.
Sir Charles Napier owned a mare that he prized
greatly. Its name was Molly, but it does not
appear to have performed any exceptional feats,
28o THE HORSE IN HISTORY
of prowess. Apparently the only point about it
upon which our historians lay stress is that the
animal lived to the age of five and thirty. As
for Lord Nelson's connection with horses, so far
as I have been able to ascertain it was limited to
his superstitious belief that the possession of a
horseshoe must bring him luck. At anyrate he
always kept at least one horseshoe nailed to the
mast of his ship, the Victory.
The story of Siegfried's horse, Grane, is of
course well known. In William Combe's quaint
tale of the simple-minded, henpecked clergyman,
Dr Syntax, we have a horse named Grizzle that
was "all skin and bone." Written in eight-
syllable verse, the narrative explains in rather
an amusing way how the eccentric old scholar
left home in search of the picturesque, and
Grizzle figures largely in it from beginning to
end, in much the same way that the ill-starred
pony, Fiddleback, figures in Goldsmith's narra-
tive.
CHAPTER V
A retrospective summary — The beginning of the end — Supersti-
tion of the horseshoe — The Bedouins and their horses — Some classic
thoroughbreds of modern times — Horses hypnotised — The Derby
and the Oaks — Horse racing in Mongolia — Conclusion.
V17ITH the early years of our reigning sove-
* * reign's period the long story of the horse's
progress through history may be deemed to have
come practically to an end.
We have seen how the very early races of Asia,
of Africa, and of Europe were enabled to spread
their power, and were assisted in protecting them-
selves against the onslaughts of their numerous
enemies, by possessing many horses upon which
they could depend implicitly in the hour of
strife.
The Egyptians, Medes, Persians, Syrians,
Scythians, Libyans, Carthaginians, Macedonians,
Numidians — all owed their series of successes
in a great measure to the fact that they owned
horses when their antagonists either had none
at all, or else only a few, and those of an
indifferent stamp.
Thus through the whole course of history the
influence of the horse can be traced.
Rome, until after the conquest of Gaul, was
281
282 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
deemed a weak nation in some respects, and
when we study the history of Rome at about
that period we find the weakness to have been
in a measure attributable to Rome's shortage of
horses during the greater part of that long spell.
Coming to what has been termed the Arabian
period, history proves beyond all doubt that the
spread of Islam was due partly to the Arabians
having at about that time become possessors of
many horses.
Indeed had the Franks not owned a great
number of exceptionally fine horses by about
the beginning of the sixth century A.D., who
can say that the Saracens would not, after the
year 732 A.D., have vanquished the larger portion
of Western Europe ?
Again, what chance of victory would the
Normans have had at Hastings had Harold's
forces been mounted on horseback ? For when
we remember the valiant way that Harold and
his men fought it is easy to believe that the
Normans would have been completely routed
had they too been fighting on foot and not on
horseback, in which case the entire history of
this country would very likely have been dif-
ferent.
RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY 283
In the Middle Ages we find the horse playing if
possible a more important part in the making of
history than it had done in the previous centuries,
for what would have become of England's power,
and her prestige, had she been deprived of those
great war horses and the almost invulnerable men-
at-arms who bestrode them ?
England's might spread steadily while the
strength and size of her horses went on increas-
ing, and while the weight of the armour worn
by horses and men grew gradually heavier and
heavier.
The limit in weight of armour would appear
to have been reached when a horse became com-
pelled to carry a man and armour that weighed
together between thirty and three and thirty stone.
It was soon after this limit had been arrived at
that the era of the new and armourless cavalry-
man mounted on a light and active horse set in
unexpectedly.
Coming to more recent years, what would
Marlborough or any other of the great and
successful military leaders have done had they
been deprived of even a portion of their cavalry ?
With the outbreak of the Boer War the wise-
acres shook their heads, declaring that in such
a country as South Africa the mounted soldier
284 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
must prove useless; that the "punitive expedi-
tion," as the campaign was termed when first war
was declared, would be conducted almost solely
by infantry ; while reasons innumerable were
advanced to prove the " accuracy" of such wild
forecasts.
And now when we look back upon it all we
see that the war would most likely still be dragging
its way along had only infantry been employed.
To-day it seems likely, indeed almost certain,
that the horse's influence upon the world's pro-
gress— influence that we have traced back into
the dim ages — has actually come to a close.
Evidence that this is so is observable on every
side. The discovery of the strength of steam
left the horse still in power, so to speak, for the
locomotive engine drove only coach horses out
of existence.
The utility of the electrically driven motor, and
of the motor driven by petrol power, has been
proved to be almost ubiquitous, and the rapidity
with which the motor has already ousted horses
in almost every direction is little short of
phenomenal.
For the ultra-conservative little body of the
community to maintain that this is not so be-
SUPERSTITION OF THE HORSESHOE 285
cause it hates to speak or think of automobiles
comes near to being grotesque. We are con-
fronted by hard facts that cannot be avoided, and
whether we like them or not they nevertheless
must force us to realise what is happening.
Shall I be charged with indulging a flight of
imagination if I venture to declare that, before
three decades more have passed, the horse will
have become so completely dethroned that it will
be with us only for racing purposes and to assist
us in the artificial chase ?
If about the year 2030 some student of past
history shall come upon these lines I trust that
he will quote them with appropriate comment.
Horses famous in history other than that of
the Turf occur but rarely in the records of the
last century or so. Lord Cardigan had a chest-
nut thoroughbred that carried him unscathed
through the memorable Balaclava Charge, but
there does not appear to be any story of interest
attaching to the animal — it had two white stock-
ings and its name was Ronald.
I have tried to trace the origin of the super-
stitious belief that the possession of a horseshoe
must bring luck, but without any very satisfactory
result. The superstition reached its height ap-
286 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
parently towards the middle of the eighteenth
century, or a little later, and by the middle of
the nineteenth it was steadily dying out.
A horseshoe nailed to a house door was in the
first instance supposed to keep away witches, a
belief which gradually developed into the sup-
position that the possession of the shoe would
in some way bring good fortune to the owner.
According to several writers, most of the houses
in the west end of London at one time had a horse-
shoe on the threshold, and it is said that in the
year 1813 no less than seventeen shoes nailed
to doors were to be seen in Monmouth Street
alone.
Also it is asserted that as late as the year 1855
seven horseshoes remained nailed to different
doors in that street alone.
In his interesting book, " Bedouin Tribes of
the Euphrates," Mr Blunt has something to say
upon the subject of the treatment of horses by the
Bedouins.
The Bedouin, it seems, as a rule does not use
either bit or bridle, but controls his horse by
means of a halter to which a thin chain is attached
that passes round the nose.
Apparently stirrups are unknown to the Bedouin,
while in place of a saddle he uses a stout pad
BEDOUINS AND THEIR HORSES 287
made of cotton which he binds on to the horse's
back with the help of a surcingle.
Among the many interesting statements in
this book is one to the effect that the Bedouin
cannot ascertain a horse's age by examining the
teeth, and that he has no knowledge of the trick
so often resorted to by unprincipled European
horse dealers of making false marks on teeth.
Many Chinamen, on the other hand, claim to
be able to tell a horse's age from its teeth up to
the age of thirty-two.
A point omitted by Mr Blunt is that the
Bedouin being, so to speak, born a horseman,
is unable to understand how any race of men
can exist that cannot ride. Were we to be told
that a race of men exist who have never learnt
to walk we should be about as much surprised
as the Bedouin is.
Our leading authorities upon the history of the
thoroughbred are unanimous in asserting that
until about a century and a half ago the thorough-
bred was unknown in America.
Yet among the famous descendants of the first
thoroughbreds imported into the United States
we find horses of world-wide renown, such
animals, for instance, as Iroquois and Foxhall.
These two horses are especially worthy of
mention, inasmuch as they achieved success that
came near to being phenomenal.
How remarkable the development of the
288 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
thoroughbred has been in our own country may be
gathered from our knowledge that whereas the
fee charge for the services of Herod at stud was
but ten guineas, and for Touchstone only sixty
guineas, to-day the fee for the use of a " fashion-
able" stallion is frequently from 500 to 600
guineas.
The Committee of the House of Lords that
met in the year 1873 to discuss the question of
horse breeding did much to encourage the rear-
ing of the very best stock obtainable. The
famous race horse, Common, by Isonomy out of
Thistle, bred in 1888, made his first appearance
as a three-year-old and won for Lord Arlington
and Sir Frederick Johnson — his joint owners —
the Two Thousand, the Derby and the Leger, a
performance that at once places him in one of the
most important niches of fame in the latter part
of the last century.
Another of the "immortals" who won the
three great races is Gladiateur, a name that
recalls to mind a host of thoroughbreds whose
fame will be handed down to posterity — Blue
Gown, Blair Athol, Harkaway, Ormonde, St
Gatien, Robert the Devil, Hermit, Persimmon,
Flying Fox, Donovan — the names come tumbling
into one's thoughts pell mell ; but as the triumphs
of these and many other giants of the turf of
comparatively modern times have been described
in detail again and again in the many volumes
MESMERISING HORSES 289
devoted to the thoroughbred and his history,
they need not be repeated here.
Yet it is worthy of mention that though some
few years ago the famous thoroughbred sires in
this country included 260 direct descendants of
Eclipse, and sixty direct descendants of the
Byerley Turk, they included only thirty-six direct
descendants of the greatly glorified Godolphin
Arabian.
I believe I am right in saying that the cream-
white horses which, until comparatively a recent
date, were used by the king on state occasions,
are directly descended from the celebrated white
horses formerly in the royal stables at Hanover.
Allusion to these animals recalls to mind a
method of controlling horses that is said to be in
vogue still in parts of Austria, where it is spoken
of as "the Balassiren " of horses, and that in
reality is a method of mesmerising horses before
shoeing them.
According to Obersteimer, whose words are
quoted in Hudson's " Psychic Phenomena," the
process takes its name from a cavalry officer
named Balassa, who was the first to introduce or
to attempt it.
Under the circumstances it is interesting to
read that among the early Egyptians there were
290 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
men who could, or who professed to be able to,
obtain complete control over horses and other
animals by the exercise solely of will power, and
that such men were sometimes called in upon
occasions when a horse had to be bound.
It therefore seems possible that some at least
of the horses sacrificed in the ages before Christ
may first have been dazed, if not rendered un-
conscious, with the aid of some such agency as
hypnotism.
Though the Derby and the Oaks were not in-
augurated until the last quarter of the eighteenth
century — when, as Lord Rosebery tells us, "a
roystering party at a country house founded two
races and named them gratefully after their host
and his house " — horse racing has now for many
years been popular in nearly every civilised
country, while in some of the uncivilised countries
it has long been included among the favourite
pastimes of the people.
Thus Mr C. W. Campbell, H.M. Consul at
Wuchow before 1904, mentions in the report of
a journey that he made through Mongolia that
the Mongols are extremely fond of racing. He
adds, however, that the practice of betting upon
horse races was almost unknown there at the time
he wrote, and goes on to say that in the Chahar
HORSE RACING IN MONGOLIA 291
country an ounce or two of silver — worth at
most from two shillings to half-a-crown — was
in some instances the only prize offered, though
plenty of the races were run over a ten-mile
course !
According to Mr Campbell, the Derby of
Mongolia is held near Urga, under the direct
patronage of the Bogdo. The course is thirty
miles in length, and much of it rough steppe, and
" the winners are presented to the Bogdo, who
maintains them for the rest of their lives in
honourable idleness."
The jockeys are the smallest boys able to ride
the distance. " A saddle or seat aid in any form
is not allowed. The jockeys simply roll up their
loose cotton trousers as high as they can, clutch
the pony's ribs with their bare legs, and all carry
long whips. The bridles — single snaffles with
rawhide reins — have each a round disc of bur-
nished silver attached to the headband."
What will happen in the future when the horse
shall have become practically extinct in the civi-
li^ed countries ? [The question is exercising the
minds of many as^'these lines are being written]
There are some who cling still to the belief that
the horse's day is not over, indeed that it never
will be over, but unfortunately they are vision-
292 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
aries able to believe that which they so ardently
wish.
For as Mr W. Phillpotts Williams, the ener-
getic founder of the Brood Mare Society, pointed
out in June last (1908), the idea suggested recently
of giving to farmers in this country a bonus for
the possession of young horses suitable for
artillery mounts would never have the effect of
keeping horses in this country. All it would do,
as he says, would be to collect the horses at the
English tax-payers' expense for the foreigner to
buy. The horses would be kept by the English
farmer through the risky years of youth, only to
be bought, when matured and fit, by the buyers
for the foreign armies.
Give a farmer £$ a year. The foreigner has
only to add £$ to the horse's value, and away it
will go. What is needed, as Mr Williams truly
remarks — and none knows better the existing
condition of affairs in this respect at the present
time — is drastic action at the ports for horses
bred under such a grant, while in any and every
scheme that may be tried all the government-
bred stock ought to be ear-marked and kept
strictly in the country.
One of the Belgian officers who visited England
officially some months ago incidentally mentioned
that the Belgian government has dealers in Ireland
who are commissioned to send over to the Belgian
army a large supply of horses annually. " Practi-
CONCLUSION 293
cally all our army horses are Irish," he said.
From this statement we may well assume that
it would be possible to breed at a profit, in
Ireland, a very large number of horses annually.
Probably no country in the world is better suited
than Ireland for horse breeding. Yet the shrink-
age in the reserve of horses in Great Britain con-
tinues practically unchecked, and, according to
statistics, a month or two ago one of the largest
of the omnibus companies in London was selling
off its horses at the rate of a hundred or so a
a week !
As a natural result of all this, the demand for
oats has recently fallen by more than twenty per
cent. The Board of Agriculture believes that the
retention of colts is all that matters, while the Royal
Commission, to judge from their annual report,
apparently labour under the mistaken impression
that the supply of thoroughbred sires must s
the difficulty of keeping up the supply of horses.
Without in the least wishing to be pessimistic,
therefore, one must look facts in the face, and,
looking them in the face, one cannot do otherwise
than admit regretfully enough that the long and
glorious career of the horse in its direct and
indirect bearing upon the development of the
world and the progress of civilisation has at last
come somewhat abruptly to a close.
INDEX
AAHMES I., 2
Acheans, the, 15-17, 20, 72
Achilles, 12, 15, 49, 99
Acropolis of Mycenge, the, 6
Admiral Guarinos and "Tre-
bizond," 93
y£the, 9
Agamemnon's mare, 9
Ailments of horses, 146, 213, 214,
221
Alcibiades, 25
Alexander the Great, 54-61
Aligero Clavileno, 133
America, cruelty unknown in, 105 ;
introduction of thoroughbreds in,
287
Arab horses, a royal gift, 76 ;
arrival of Markham Arabian,
203, 204; commencement of fame,
77 ; dams, 100 ; in the sixth
century, 82 ; size of, 244 ; stal-
lions, 76, 203, 264 ; unimportant
before time of Mahomet, 87
Arabs, the, 48, 281
Archangel Gabriel, the horse of
the, 87
Armenia, 31
Armour, 44, 1 12, 134, 140, 225,
234
Ascot, 270
Asia Minor, 14, 17
Assyrians, 9, 19-20
Athenians, the, 24, 46, 51
Automobiles, 183, 238, 285
BABYLON, horses of, 4
"Balassiren," the, 289
Barb horses, 178, 183, 184, 230,
243. 244
Barbary horse, the, 181, 216
Barrows in Scotland, 91
295
Bayard, the Chevalier, 134; his
horsemanship, 135 ; mistaken for
mythological horse "Bayard,"
136 ; his horse Carmen, 135
Bayeux tapestry, the, 108, no
Bedouins, the, 286, 287
Belgian government, the, 293
Belisarius, the white-faced horse
of, 84
Bells as race prizes, 177, 205, 208,
245
Bells of St Paul's melted down, 163
Bevis of Southampton and " Arun-
del," 194
Bit, the, 1 8, 19, 201 ; discovered
at Athens, 40 ; flexible, 18, 40 ;
found in tombs, 91 ; not used by
Bedouins, 286 ; of the Greeks,
51 ; Xenophon's advice on, 45
Black or "great" horse, 233
Black Prince, the, 125
" Black Saladin," 136
" Blair Atholl," 288
Bleeding horses, 221
" Blue Gown," 288
Boadicea, 76, 77
Board of Agriculture, 293
Bogdo of Mongolia, the, 291
Books on horses and hunting, 124,
139, 204, 206, 271
Brazen steed of Cambuscan, the,
132
Breeds, improvement in, by Charles
II., 242, 250 ; by Cromwell, 243,
244 ; by the Duke of Bucking-
ham, 225 ; by the Duke of Cum-
berland, 267 ; by the Duke of
Newcastle, 227, 251 ; by Ed ward
III., 125, 130; by Elizabeth,
144, 153, 222; by Henry VIII.,
148, 167 ; by importation frorrj
296
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Breeds — continued
Italy, 1 80; by James I., 202,
221 ; by James II., 261 ; by
King John, 114: by Mahomet,
87; by the Persians, 114; by
William III., 263; Committee
in the House of Lords on, 288 ;
enforced by law, 149, 152; from
1660-1685, 196 ; in Athens, 51 ;
in England, 108 ; in Ireland,
252; in Middle Ages, 114; in
the sixteenth century, 141 ; the
seventeenth century, 257 ; Car-
dinal Wolsey's interest in, 143
Bridles, 51, 64, 135, 237, 286,
291
Bronze Age, the, 4, 6, 16, 17
Bronze of Alexander, 61
Bronze horse in British Museum,
64
Brood Mare Society, 292
Bucephalus, 54, 61
" Byerley Turk," the, 215, 263, 289
CALIGULA'S horse — a priest, 79
Carey's ride, Sir Robert, 197, 198
" Carmen," 135
Cart horses, 207, 236
Cauldrons and tripods, n
Cavalry, 16, 22, 23, 46, 199, 283,
292 ; Assyrian, 9 ; British, 67,
68; Cromwell's, 233, 234; de-
scribed by Julius Caesar, 70, 7 1 ;
first use of, 7 ; Greek, 9, 22 ;
Hannibal's, 64, 65, 69 ; Henry
II. 's, in; Iberian, 65; Per-
sian, 114; Richard II. 's opinion
of, 131; superseded chariots, 74 ;
Theodosius', 81 ; twelfth century,
112; William the Conqueror's,
107, 109
Celts, 23, 72
Chargers, 109, in, 120, 125, 131,
160, 199, 207, 233, 278, 279
Chariot races, with yEthe, 9 ; at
the thirty-third Olympiad, 16 ;
at Delphi, 23 ; won by Alci-
biades, 25; of Philip II., 27;
won by Exsenetus of Agrigentum,
32; in first century A. D,/ 77; of
the Romans, 172
Charioteer," "A finished, 10
Chariots, 3-21, 24, 65; Julius
Caesar's description of, 70, 71 ;
in Ireland, 115 ; of the Acheans,
20 ; of the Ancient Britons, 20,
68, 69 ; Assyrians, 20 ; Early
Irish, 20 ; Egyptians, 3, 14, 20 ;
Erichthonius, 5 ; Gauls, 20, 72 ;
Greeks, 20 ; Hittites, 20 ; Lib-
yans, 20 ; Persians, 20, 25 ;
Romans, 72 ; Syria, 25 ; Thra-
cians, 14, 15 ; Vedic Aryans,
2O ; with scythes, 25, 26
Charles I. institutes horse racing
in Hyde Park, 224 ; interest in
horses, 233 ; picture in National
Gallery, 225 ; present of horses,
225 ; price of horses, 229 ; race-
courses in time of, 245
Charles II. , a good whip, 240 ;
encouraged horse-breeding, 240 ;
encouraged use of stage coaches,
240 ; horsemanship of, 227-229 ;
love of horse-racing, 246, 259 ;
restores horse racing, 245
Charles V. of Germany, 161, 171
Charles VIII. of France, 138, 139
Chaucer, 130-132
Chester Meeting, the, 208 ; Charles
II. at, 247 ; rule for winning
owner, 208, 209 ; silver bells run
for, 208, 245
Circus riding, 7, 80, 184, 185
Cobs, in, 205, 215
Coins, horses represented on, 26,
27, 65, 75, 103
Colour, attention to, by Elizabeth,
III, 175; by Henry II., ill;
by John, in, 112; by Richard
III., 139; by Romans, 84;
white and dun horses disliked
for, work, 67 (see also "White
horses")
Colton, John, 127
Commandeered horses, 119, 126
" Common," 288
Commonwealth abolishes horse
racing, 241-243 ; sets back horse
breeding, 241-243, 245; the
race horse extinct under, 245
Cortes' sixteen horses, 169
INDEX
297
Coursers, 207
Cream-white horses, the Royal, 289
Cromwell, cavalry of, 233, 234 ;
favours horse-breeding, 243,
racehorses of, 243
"Cropping," 271, 272
Cross-country matches, 218
Croton, 8. 22
Crotonians, 8, 22
Croydon Race Meeting, 210, 245
Cruelty, cause of partiality among
horses for certain human beings,
129; of " cropping" and "dock-
ing," 271, 272 ; unknown in
America, 105
Cuchulainn Saga, 74
Cumberland, Duke of, 267
Cyrene, 21 ; famous for steeds and
chariots, 31
" DARLEY ARABIAN," the, 267,
268
David Hume, 173
Dead weight, 220
Declining interest in horses, 182,
183, 291, 292
Delphi, chariot-race at, 23 ; museum
at, 32
Derby, the, 274, 288, 290; of
Mongolia, 291
Derby, Lord, II
Diomed, King, 62
"Docking," 42, 271, 272
" Dodsworth," 250, 251
Don Quixote, 133, 189-191
Doncaster Race Meeting, 175
" Donovan," 288
Driving horses, 144
Dun-coloured horses, 15, 17, 24,
67, 95, 96, 137
ECHEPOLUS of Sicylon, 9
"Eclipse," 267, 268, 273-276, 289
Edward I., 120
Edward II., 124
Edward III., 124, 125
Edward VI., 171
Egyptians, 3, 19, 281, 289
Elizabeth, Queen, in, 144, 153;
at Doncaster, 175 ; at New-
market, 175 ; barbs, the special
Elizabeth, Queen — continued
property of, 178; fondness for
the chase, 187; her stud, ill,
144; interest in horses, ill, 153,
206 ; love of the Turf, 153, 175 ;
retinue when travelling, 193 ;
value of horses in reign of, 178
Emperor Justinian, the, 83
Erichthonius, King, 4, 5
Exaenetus, 32
Exportation of horses forbidden,
149, 150
Eyes, 55, 139, 214; china eye, 55 ;
wall eye, 55, 214, 266
FALKIRK, battle of, 120
Fenwick family, the, 231
Ferdinand of Arragon, 158-159
Fictitious horses, 163, 164, 178, 189,
190, 194, 196, 276, 278, 280
Fines paid in horses, 114
Fitz Stephen, 113
"Flying Childers," 268, 269, 274,
275
"Flying Fox," 288
Food of horses, 54, 156, 178, 246
Four-in-hand, 5, 7
Foxhounds, first master of, 118
Foxhunting, 118, 161, 162, 179,
180, 253, 260
Francisco Pizarro, 170
Funeral of Frederic Casimir, 36 ;
Li Hung Chang, 36 ; Scythian
King, 35 ; Tartars, 36
Future of the horse, 183, 284, 285,
291
GAMBLING, Aristophanes on, 52 ;
by David Hume, 175 ; Elizabeth,
176; Henry VIII. , 162, 163;
Wolsey, 144 ; denounced, 180,
211, 212, 265; Marshal de
Bassompierre's love for, 231 ;
under Charles II., 254; James
I., 205, 210-212
Gauls, the, 20, 70, 72, 75
Geldings, 207
Gentleness of horses, 104
George III., 271
Girth, the, 63
" Gladiateur," 288
298
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
* ' Godolphin Arabian," 269, 270, 289
Gradasso and Alfana, 94
"Great Horses," in, 127, 141,
206, 232, 237
Greek soldier, 19, 28, 46
Greeks, the, 21 ; esteemed horses
highly, 29 ; had chariots with
wheels, 20 ; harness of, 51 ;
hogged manes patronised by, 48 ;
horse breeding by, 14 ; horse-
manship among, 7, 9, 16 ;
horses of, 30, 102 ; horseshoes
explained to, 73 ; race horses
kept by, 49 ; taught to ride by
the Libyans, 17 ; used horse-
cloths, 19
HADDINGTOM RACE MEETING,
the, 172
Halters, 18, 286
"Hands," 133,227,228
"Harkaway," 288
Hector, 10
" Helmsley Turk," 225, 257
Henry II., 110-113
Henry III., 119, 161
Henry VII., 141-147
Henry VIII., 148, 167, 187, 206,250
Heraclios, 10
"Hermit," 288
Hiero II. of Syracuse, 31, 37
Higher Criticism, 9
Hittites, the, 6, 20
Hogged manes, 42, 48, 271
Hoof, the, 41, 47, 72, 214
Hooper, Letter of Bishop, 171
Horse-bread, 156, 179, 246
Horse breakers, 41, 146
Horse-cloths, 19, 38, 59, 72, 155
Horse breeding north of the Tweed,
152, 1 66
Horse doctors, 40 ; ignorance of,
213 ; veterinary surgeons, 221 ;
Wolsey as a, 145, 146
Horse fairs organised, 231-232
Horse-fighting in Iceland, 95 ; in
Siam, 95 ; picture of, 96
Horse hoof, 44
Horsemanship, 7> IO» I2» J6 ;
Alexander the Great's, 57-58 ;
Bayard's, 135; Charles II. 's,
Horsemanship — continued
226-227, 246-257 ; Charles VIII.
of France's, 139; clever riding of
Elizabeth, 193 ; Duke of New-
castle's, 227-228 ; early instruct-
tion in, 134 ; feats in, 197 ; in-
fluence of, 183 ; James I.'s
opinion on, 206-207, 2I7 > James
IPs, 261 ; John Selwyn's, 188 ;
of Anglo - Saxons, 108 ; of
Bedouins, 287 ; of Earl of
Shrewsbury, 107 ; of the Gauls,
70; of Irish, 166-167; Mary
Queen of Scots', 192 ; of the
Scotch, 167 ; Spaniards', 224 ;
Swedes', 83 ; training in, 29, 32 ;
Wolsey's, 141-143
Horse racing, at Chester, 208-209,
245, 247 ; at Croydon, 210 ; at
Newmarket, 124, 175, 205-209,
217, 222-224,247, 248,254, 258,
259> 263-265 ; at Salisbury, 177 ;
at Smithfield, 113; at Win-
chester, 262 ; attack on judge of,
219; between Duke of Suffolk
and the Seigneur Nicolle Dex,
154-256; Charles II. 's love for,
246-257 ; Commonwealth sup-
presses, 241-242 ; denounced,
180-181, 211,212, 219, 241-243,
265, 266 ; Philip of Macedon's
devotion to, 27 ; excess of, 176,
179 ; first allusion to wagers on,
II ; first authentic record of, 75,
76 ; first taught to the Romans,
37 ; fixtures abandoned under
Commonwealth, 219 ; Hengist
and Horsa's interest in, 91 ; in
Athens, 51 ; in France, 255, 256 ;
in Holland, 226 ; in Hyde Park,
224, 225 ; in Ireland, 252 ; in
Scotland, 172-174; in fourteenth
century, 133 ; in time of the
Romans, 76, 172 ; in time of
Wolsey, 144-145; inaugurated,
16 ; James I.'s love for, 202;
Mongols fond of, 290 ; on the
ice, 211 ; popular pastime, 52,
53, 210, 219, 251, 264, 290;
Queen Anne's love for, 267 ;
revival of, 246 ; ruins breeding
INDEX
299
Horse racing — continued
of "great horses," 232, 233;
rules revised, 270 ; under Edward
II., 124; under Elizabeth, 144;
Henry III., 116, 117; Henry
VIII., 154-160; Richard I.,
113; Richard II., 133; under
William III., 263, 264
Horse rearing, 52, 114, 125, 130,
143, 144, 148-154, 165-166.
Horses, ailments of, 146, 213-214,
221 ; annual charge for Charles
II. 's, 257; antiquity of, i; at
Crecy, 125, 126 ; average life of,
53 ; bleeding of, 221 ; breeds,
62 ; vicious and gentle, 104 ;
commandeered by kings, 119,
126; courage of 105, 106 ;
cream white, 289 ; dapple, or
dun-coloured, 15, 17, 24, 67, 95,
96, 137, 138; declining interest
in, 182, 183, 291-292; defects of,
47 ; divination of the future
attributed to, 78 ; English, the
best, 230 ; exportation of, for-
bidden, 149, 150, 152; eyes, 55,
139, 214; flat-nosed, 24; flea-
bitten, 50; food of, 54, 156, 178,
179, 245, 246 ; fossilised remains
of, 4, 51; "great horses," ill,
127, 141, 206, 232-237 ; Hero-
dotus on, 24, 31 ; Homer on, 7-
18, 28, 122 ; Horace on, 72 ; ill-
treatment of, 104-105, 129, 271,
272 ; influence of on history, 96-
97, 103, 104, 183, 281-284; in
romance, 161-164, 178, 189,
190, 194-196, 276-278, 280; in
the sixth century, 82 ; Joan of
Arc's, 137, 138, 279 ; likes and
dislikes of, 129; "leeching,"
221 ; longevity of, 102 ; manage-
ment and care of, 14, 215 ; Mary,
Queen of Scots', 192 ; monu-
ments erected to, 32, 61 ; mytho-
logical, 10, 62, 94, 97-100, 136;
naming, 157, 194; North-
American Indians' terror at sight
of, 171; of Abraham, I, 2;
Acheans, 15-17 ; Agrigentum,
32 ; Anatolia 196, 281 ; Anglo-
Horses — continued
Saxons, 88-90 ; Armenia, 31 ;
Athenians, 24 ; Babylon, 4 ;
Bedouins, 286-287 ; Britain, 17,
24; the Egyptians, 2, 3, 19, 281 ;
Erichthonius, 4, 5 ; Flanders,
141 ; France, 141 ; Friesland,
141 ; Gauls, 70, 72, 75 ; Germany,
141 ; Greece, 14, 15, 29, 30, 48-
49, 102 ; Hittites, 6 ; Ireland,
17, 74-75. US. 252 5 Libyans, 4,
16, 17, 48, 54, 103, 104, 281 ;
Macedonians, 46, 281 ; Niseans,
31, 34; Numideans, 64, 281;
Parthians, 53, 66; Persians, 31,
33, 114-115, 281; Romans, 70,
78, 80, 102, 282 ; Russians, 123 ;
Scandinavians, 95 ; Scythians,
34-36, 281 ; Sicilians, 27-28 ;
Solomon, 6 ; Spain, 53, 65, 66,
75, 168, 171 ; Swedes, 83 ;
Syria, 196, 281 ; Tartars, 123 ;
Thessaly, 21, 50, 54, 61, 62 ;
Thracians, 12, 14, 15 ; Trojans,
the, 4, 28; Turkish, 215, 243,
244 ; Philip II. 's love for, 27 ;
pictures of, 61-62, 137, 225, 279 ;
points of, 40, 41, 47, 50, 66, 68,
80, 140 ; prices of, 55, 125, 177,
178, 203, 214, 229, 235, 274;
represented on coins, 26-27, 65,
75, 103; on vase painting, 51 ;
on panels in Ireland, 115;
sacrificed, 33-36, 78, 97, 104;
scarcity of at Crecy, 125 ; among
the Romans, 282 ; Shakespeare's,
181, 182 ; shire horses, 140, 144;
Spanish Armada, 222; "starling-
coloured," 53 ; starvation of, 146,
147 ; stolen, 214 ; strength of,
105, in, 112; superstitions
about, 78, 79, 121, 123, 213 ;
three -years-olds, 271, 288;
trained to music, 8 ; transported
to Cuba and Hispaniola, 169 ;
unshod, 24 ; war horses, 104,
109-111, 131, 136-138, 199, 200,
283, 292 ; wealth expressed by
number of, 81 ; with white star,
17. 54.
Horse thieves, 120
300
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Hunters, 183, 207
Hunting 118, 161, 162, 179, 180,
187, 192, 218, 241, 253, 261
Huntingdon, race at, 220
Hyde Park Meeting, 224
" Hyksos, The " 2
Hypanis, the (River Bug), 21
Hyperenor, 12
Hypnotism of horses, 289-290
ICENI, the, 75, 117
Ill-treatment of horses, 100, 105,
129, 271, 272
India, 36
Influence of the horse on history,
96, 97, 103, 104, 183, 281-284
Ireland, 17, 18, 74, 75, 115, 116, 252
Iron Age, the, 15, 17, 19, 22
Iron Horseman," "An, 227
" Isokelismos," 30
JAMES I., at Lincoln, 219; encour-
aged gambling, 210 ; improve-
ment of horses under, 203 ; liked
tall horses, 215 ; love of racing,
202, 209, 210 ; made Newmarket
"a royal village," 205; present
of horses from Naples, 207 ;
Royal studs of, 207 ; trained his
horses, 220 ; wrote on horses, 220
James II., as a sportsman, 261 ; at
Winchester races, 262
Joan of Arc, 137, 138, 279
Job, the steed of, 5
Jockey Club, the, 174, 270
Jockeys, 113, 209, 220, 253-254,
265, 291
John Selwyn, 187, 189
Julius Caesar describes battle, 70, 71 ;
horses in time of, 105 ; reference
to the Iceni, 75
"KANTAKE," 21
King Arthur, 82
King John, in, 113
King's Master of the Stud, 264
" LAMRI," 82
Law commandeering horses for
kings, 119; forbidding exporta-
tion of horses, 149-154 ; forbidding
Law commandeering — continued
Roman Catholics to keep valu-
able horses, 264 ; maintenance of
horses, 151-154
" Leger," the, 288
Libya, 16
Libyans, the, 4, 7, 17, 20, 21, 29
Lincoln Race Meeting, 219
Lord Arundel (1377), 133
Lord Cardigan's " Ronald," 285
Lord Herbert, 179, 180
Louis XIV. arranges races at St
Germains, 255, 256
Love for horses, Adhils', 83 ; Alex-
ander the Great's, 59 ; Anne's,
267, 276 ; Boadicea's, 77 ;
Charles II. 's, 246-257; Eliza-
beth's, 187; Gradasso's, 94;
Henry VIII. 's, 165; Mahomet's,
88 ; Mary Queen of Scots', 189 ;
of the ancients, 97 ; Richard II. 's
128; Roderick's, 93; William
the Conqueror's, 108 ; Xeno-
phon's, 38, 48
MACEDONIAN soldier, 19
Macedonians, the, 46
Mahomet, encourages horse breed-
ing, 86 ; goes to heaven on
Alborak, 89 ; the mule of, 87
Marathon, 46
Mares' milk as food, 37
Mares, the Royal, 250, 257
" Marocco," 184, 185
Marquis of Mantua, 157
Mary, Queen of Scots, good horse-
woman, 192; her horses, 192;
love of horses, 191
Mary II., 153
Maximilian, the Emperor, 141, 142
Menelaus, 10
Menesthus, 10
Mesmerising horses, 289, 290
Mexico, 169, 170
Monmouth, the Duke of, 255-257
" Morocco Barb," 225
Mounting, 43, 59, 64, 66
Mounting block, 64
Mycenae, the, 6
Mycenean Greeks, 20; period, 6,
19
INDEX
301
Mythological horses, 10, 62, 94,
97-100, 136
NAMING horses, 157, 194
Napier's " Molly," Sir Charles, 279
Napoleon I.'s horses, 200; " Mar-
engo,"279
Neolithic Period, 4
Netherby races, 76
Newcastle, the Duke of, 226-228,
235, 247, 249, 257
Newmarket, 144 ; at end of seven-
teenth century, 258, 259 ; Charles
II. 's favourite meeting, 247, 248 ;
described by Shadwell, 251, 252 ;
early history of, 222 ; Edward
II. stops a tournament at, 124 ;
Elizabeth at, 175 ; famous flat
race arranged at, 220 ; first im-
portant races at, 223 ; fox hunt
near, 253 ; historic race meeting
at, 248; horses of, 117, 118;
Iceni at, the, 75 ; incident at,
254 ; James I. present at, 206,
209, 217 ; Marocco, foaled at,
184 ; rebuilding of race stand at,
247 ; Spanish Armada horses at,
222, 223 ; the royal village, 205 ;
under William III., 263-265
Newspaper account of races, the
first, 224
Normans, 20
Northern America, no horses in,
1 68
Nose bands, 18, 286
Numidians, the, 64, 281
OAKS, the, 290
O'Byrnes, the, 127, 128
Oliver Cromwell, 233, 234
Olympic games, the, 25, 27, 31,
32> 37
O'Moores, the, 127, 128
Opposition to coaches and railways,
237, 238
" Ormonde," 288
Oxen used by Roman Catholics, 264
PALE, the, 127
Parthenon frieze, the, 29, 30, 39, 64
Patroclus, 12
Pausanias, 44
Pedigree through dams, IOO, IOI
Pegasus, 1 6, 98
Peloponnesian War, 24
Persia, 36, 37, 43
Persians, the, 20, 31, 33, 36, 46
Persimmon, 288
Phallas, 10
Phrenicus, 37
Pictures of horses, 61, 62, 137, 225,
279
Pictures of races, 220
Plinth of North Cross, Ireland, 115
Points of horses, 40, 41, 47, 50, 66,
68, 80, 140
Priam, 10
Prices of horses, 55, 125, 177, 178,
203, 214, 229, 235, 274
Prizes, II, in, 205, 208, 245, 254,
255, 262, 275, 291
Pylian breed, the, 10
QUEEN ANNE, a "turfite," 267;
condemned tail-docking, 271 ;
founded Ascot, 270 ; love of
horses, 265, 276 ; revived racing
rules, 270
Queen Elizabeth, ill, 114, 153,
175, 178, 187, 193, 206
RACECOURSES as pleasure grounds,
245
Race horses, 33, 49, 160, 199 ; ages
of, 271 ; development of, 173,
202-205, 289; Elizabeth's interest
in, 144; Edward III.'s interest
in, 124; fondness of the Greeks
for, 53 ; from Spanish Armada,
222, 223; James I.'s love for,
205, 206, 208 ; naming, 157 ;
nineteenth century, 288 ; present
to King Athelstanof, 91 ; present
to Edward III., 125 ; present to
Henry VIII. , 158; reinstated
by Charles II., 245; Richard
I.'s, 113; Richard II. 's, 129;
sold at a loss, 242 ; tails of, 272 ;
training of, 156
Rameses, 2
Rarey, 12
Richard I., Ill, 113
J02
THE HORSE IN HISTORY
Richard II., 128-130, 246
Richard III., 138, 139
Riding bareback, 29, 38, 59
Riding masters, 41
Riding matches, 154, 176, 218, 220
" Roan Barbary," 128, 129
"Robert the Devil," 288
Roderick and " Orelia," 93
Roger de Bellesne, Earl of Shrews-
bury, 107
Roguery on the Turf, 174, 175
Roland and " Veillantiff," 92, 93
"Rowley, Old," 246; Rowley
Mile, 247
Royal Ascot, 270
Royal cream-white horses, 289
Royal Mares, the, 250, 257
Royal Stud, 148, 149, 207, 216
Russia, 123
SADDLE-CLOTHS, 59, 63, 82, 155
Saddles, 59 ; among early Greeks,
38 ; among the Romans, 63, 81 ;
in Ireland, no; in races, 155;
of the Mongols, 291 ; of the
Normans, no; scorned, 40, 64;
used by Angles, 88, 89
" Saga of Burnt-Njal," the, 95
"St Gatien," 288
St George's Cup, 208
Salisbury, race gathering at, 177
Sarmatian, 44
"Savoy," of Charles VIII. of
France, 138, 139
Scandinavian barrows, 91
Scandinavians, the, 95
Scythians, the, 34, 36, 281
Seius' horse, 27
Severus Alexander, 75
Shakespeare's horses, 181-183
"Shibdiz," 82
Shields, 20, 115
Shire horses, 140, 144
Shoes, ancient objection to, 42 ;
Shortage of horses, 125, 282
Sicilian coinage, 27
Sicilians, 31, 36
Sicily, 22
Sigynnoe, the, 15, 24
Simo, 38, 50
Simon de Montfort, 118
Sir Eustace de Hecche, 120
Smerdis, death of, 37
Solomon, 6
Spanish Armada survivors, 222
Spartans, the, 25
" Spumador," 82
Spurs, in time of Henry II., 113;
Irish, no; John Selwyn's, 188;
of " Blanche Rose," 155 ; of the
Greeks, 57 ; of the Wife of Bath,
131 ; of the Romans, 65
Stage coaches, 238-240
Stakes, at Newmarket, 254 ; in
Mongolia, 291 ; Louis XIV.'s
Plate, 255 ; St George's Cup,
208; silver bells as, 177, 205-
208, 245 ; snaffle as, 177 ; under
James II., 262 ; won by de-
scendants of Eclipse, 291 ; won
by Seigneur Nicolle Dex, 154,
156
Stallions, adapted for coach use,
240 ; Arabian, 76, 203, 204, 264,
267-270, 289; celebrated seven-
teenth-century, 257 ; celebrated
eighteenth-century, 267-270, 273-
276 ; colour of, in ; Dutch pur-
chase racing, 226 ; Eastern breed
of, 114 ; fed on eggs and oysters,
178; importation of, 76, 114,
116, 148, 203, 204, 207, 212,
226, 264 ; law against exporta-
tion of, 1 66 ; shire, 144 ;
Spanish, 107,227, 230; thorough-
bred, 288
Staying power, 105, III
Stirrup leathers, 228
found in tomb of Childeric, 42,"*~*~Stirrups, 40 ; in Ireland, 1 10
83 ; in lieu of rent, 119; leather
caps used by Romans as, 73 ;
made of reeds, 42; regularly
used, 83 ; silver and gold, 73 ;
sixteenth - century, 146, 155;
superstitions about, 280, 286
regularly used. $8_: standing in,
220 ; unknown to Bedouins, 287
Stud, 274, 288; Charles II. 's, 250,
257 ; Cromwell's, 243 ; Cumber-
land Lodge, 267 ; Duke of
Newcastle's, 251 ; Edward III. 's,
INDEX
303
Stud — continued
125; Elizabeth's, 144; estab-
lished by William the Conqueror,
114 ; King's Master of the, 264 ;
Marquis of Mantua's, 157 ;
modern farms, 116; Royal stud,
148, 149, 207, 216 ; Wolsey's,
144
" Sumpter horses," 193
Superstitions, 78, 79, 121, 123,
213-215
Superstitions about horseshoes, 280,
TARENTUM, 22
Tartars, the, 36, 123
Theobald's, race meeting at, 245
Thessalians, the, 21
Thessaly, 50, 54, 61, 62
Thetford Race Meeting suppressed,
219
Thomas a Becket, 113
Thoroughbreds, 114, 197, 199, 230,
251, 274, 275, 288, 293; de-
velopment of, 288 ; Dodsworth
included in royal stud, 250 ;
English, introduced \nto France,
231 ; fed on eggs and oysters,
78 ; in Richard II. 's reign, 130 ;
introduced into America, 287 ;
management of, 215 ; Mr T. A.
Cook on, 267 ; nineteenth cen-
tury, 288; of William III., 263;
sold at a loss, 242
Thracian horses, 14
Thracians, the, 12, 14, 122
Three-year-olds, 271, 288
Thurii, 37
Trainers, 156, 220, 221, 230
Trappings, 13, 14, 34, 159, 237,
257
Trickery in racing, 174, 176, 205,
209, 270
Tripods, II
Trojans, the, 4, 28
Troy, 28, 29
Tryers and gentlemen tryers, 177,
218, 220
Turf, the, 145, 157, I73-J76, 205,
231, 245, 251, 255, 261, 264, 265,
273-275. 288
Turkish horses, 215, 243, 244
Two Thousand, the, 288
VALERIAN, the Emperor, 43
Varni, the, 89
Vedic Aryans, the, 20
Veneti, the, 36, 101
Verus, the Emperor, 80
Veterinary surgeons, 221
Vicious breeds, 104
"Villiers Arabs, "204
WAGERS, at Newmarket, 205 ; be-
tween Charles II. and Sir Robert
Carr, 254 ; by David Hume,
174; first allusion to, n ; in
reign of Henry II., 113 ; in reign
of Henry III., 116, 117 ; on flat
racing, 2 1 8, on Lord Hadding-
ton's race, 220
"Warned off the Turf," 174, 270
Washing horses' legs, 45
Wealth expressed by number of
horses, 81
Weights, 262
Wellington's "Copenhagen," 278,
279
Wheels of chariots, 20
White animals sacred, 33, 36
White hoof, a, 214
White horse, the, 21, 31, 32;
banner of, 69, 91, 92; beloved
of the gods, 33, 122; criminal
act to wound a, 123 ; divination
by sacred, 79; Joan of Arc's,
I37> 138; Mahomet's Alborak,
89 ; Napoleon's, 279 ; not liked
for work, 67 ; of Chinghas
Khan, 121-123 ; of the Scandi-
navians, 95 ; of Selene, 98, 99 ;
sacrificed, 33, 36, 50, 78, 123;
superstitions about, 123; stud
of Richard III., 139; "White
Surrey" of Richard III., 139;
"White Turk," of Cromwell,
279
William the Conqueror, 97, 103,
108-110, 114
William III., Acts against Roman
Catholics possessing horses, 264 ;
304 THE HORSE IN HISTORY
William III. — contimied Wolsey, Cardinal, 141-145
for development of horses, 153 ; Wooden Horse of Troy, the, 28
court of, 259 ; interest in horses,
263-266 ; statue in Dublin, 236, XENOPHON'S advice to riders, 44,
237 45 ; early life of, 45 ; kindness
William Stephanides, no to horses, 38, 49; rules, 39, 40
Winchester Meeting, the, 262 Xerxes, procession of, 34, 50
Windsor Great Park, 267
Windsor, stud at, 125 ZEUS, car of, 34
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH.
RETURN
TO-
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
202 Main Libran
LOAN PERIOD 1
HOME USE
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date,
Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405.
ni IP AS STAMPED BELOW
FORM NO. DD6
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
BERKELEY, CA 94720
( N5382s"io')476^A-32
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11