Henry VIII. went a good deal further in his efforts to foster and promote the breeding of good horses. In 1514 he absolutely forbade the export of horses abroad, and extended the prohibition to Scotland. He obliged all prelates and nobles of a certain degree, to be ascertained by the richness of their wives’ dress, to maintain stallions of a given stature. He made the theft of horse, mare, or gelding a capital offence, and deprived persons convicted under this law (37 Henry VIII., c. 8) of the benefit of clergy. And by two Acts, the gist of which will be found on page 5 et seq. of Ponies Past and Present, he made a vigorous attempt to weed out the ponies whose small size rendered them useless.

It is to be borne in mind that the King’s legislation against the animals that ran in the forests and wastes aimed definitely at the greater development and perfection of the Great Horse. Armour during Henry VIII.’s time had reached its maximum weight, and a horse might be required to carry a load of from 25 to 30 stone;[5] hence very powerful horses were indispensable.

Henry’s interest in horseflesh was not confined to the breed on which the efficiency of his cavalry depended. He was a keen sportsman, who took a lively pleasure in all forms of sport, and he appears to have been the first king who ran horses for his own amusement. It would hardly be correct to date the beginnings of the English Turf from Henry VIII.’s reign, as the “running geldings” kept in the Royal Stables at Windsor seem to have been run only against one another in a field hired by the king for the purpose.

The Privy Purse Expenses contain very curious scraps of information concerning the running geldings, their maintenance, and that of the boys retained to ride them. There is mention of “rewardes” to the keeper of the running geldings, to the “children of the stable,” and also to the “dyatter” of the running geldings. This last functionary’s existence is worth notice, as it indicates some method of training or dieting the horses. Nearly seventy years later—in 1599—Gervaise Markham produced his book, “How to Chuse, Ryde and Dyet both Hunting and Running Horses.”

In the year 1514, the Marquis of Mantua sent Henry VIII., from Italy, a present of some thoroughbred horses; these in all probability formed the foundation stock of our sixteenth-century racehorses. The Privy Purse Expenses quoted above refer to “the Barbaranto hors” and “the Barbary hors,” which are doubtless the same animal. A hint that it was raced occurs in the mention of a payment to Polle (Paul, who as previous entries show, was the keeper of this horse), “by way of rewarde,” 18s. 4d., and on the same day (March 17, 1532), “paid in rewarde to the boy that ran the horse, 18s. 4d.”

That curious record, The Regulations of the Establishment of Algernon Percy, Fifth Earl of Northumberland, which was commenced in the year 1512, gives us a very valuable glimpse of the private stud maintained by a great noble in Henry VIII.’s time. The list of the Earl’s horses “that are appointed to be in the charge of the house yearly, as to say, gentell horseys, palfreys, hobys, naggis, cloth-sek hors, male hors,” is as follows:—

“First, gentell horsys, to stand in my lordis stable, six. Item, palfreys of my ladis, to wit, oone for my lady and two for her gentell-women, and oone for her chamberer. Four hobys and nags for my lordis oone (‘own’ in this connection) saddill, viz., oone for my lord, and oone to stay at home for my lord.

“Item, chariot hors to stand in my lordis stable yerely.

“Seven great trottynge horsys to draw in the chariot and a nag for the chariott man to ride—eight. Again, hors for Lord Lerey, his lordship’s son and heir. A gret doble trottynge hors called a curtal, for his lordship to ride out on out of towns. Another trottynge gambaldyn hors for his lordship to ride on when he comes into towns. An amblynge hors for his lordship to journeye on daily. A proper amblynge little nag for his lordship when he goeth on hunting and hawking. A gret amblynge gelding, or trottynge gelding, to carry his male.”

In regard to these various horses, it may be added that the “gentell hors” was one of superior breeding; the chariott horse and “gret trotting horsys” were powerful cart horses; the “curtal” was a docked great horse; the “trottynge gambaldyn” horse one with high and showy action, and the “cloth sek” and “male hors” carried respectively personal luggage and armour.