History of the horse in Britain
Encyclopedia
The known history of the horse in Britain starts with horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 remains found in Pakefield, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

 dating from 700,000 BC, and in Boxgrove
Boxgrove
Boxgrove is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about five kilometres north east of the city of Chichester. The village is just south of the A285 road which follows the line of the Roman road Stane Street.The parish has an area of...

, Sussex, dating from 500,000 BC. Early humans were active hunters of horses, and finds from the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

 have been recovered from many sites. At that time, the ancient Briton peninsula was attached to the continental mainland by a low-lying area now known as "Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...

," and land animals could migrate freely back and forth between the areas that are now Britain and continental Europe. Domestication of horses
Domestication of the horse
There are a number of hypotheses on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were truly wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. How and when horses became domesticated is disputed...

 in Britain, and use of horse-drawn vehicles, dates back to at least 2500 BC, and by the time of the Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 invasion British tribes were assembling armies which included thousands of war chariots.

Horse improvement
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...

 as a goal, and horse breeding
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 as an enterprise, dates to early mediaeval times; King John imported a hundred Flemish stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...

s, King Edward III fifty Spanish stallions
Iberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....

, and various priories and abbeys owned stud farm
Stud farm
A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry, is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English stod meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding" Historically, documentation of the breedings that occur on a stud farm leads to the...

s. Laws were passed restricting and prohibiting horse exports and to cull horses considered undesirable in type. By the 17th century, specific horse breed
Horse breed
Horse breed is a broad term with no clear consensus as to definition, but most commonly refers to selectively bred populations of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a very broad sense to define landrace animals, or...

s were being recorded as suitable for specific purposes, and new horse-drawn agricultural machinery was being designed. Fast coaches
Coach (carriage)
A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...

, with teams of horses with Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 blood, could make use of the better roads, and coaching inn proprietors owned hundreds of horses to support the trade. Steam power took over the role of horses in agriculture from the mid-19th century, but horses were still being used in warfare
Horses in warfare
The first use of horses in warfare occurred over 5,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of horses ridden in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons...

 for almost another century as their speed and agility over rough terrain was unequalled. By the 1980s almost all working horses had become a thing of the past, and the horse in Britain today is kept almost wholly for recreational purposes.

Pleistocene epoch

The earliest horse remains found, in the area that today is Britain and Ireland, date to the Middle Pleistocene
Middle Pleistocene
The Middle Pleistocene, more specifically referred to as the Ionian stage, is a period of geologic time from ca. 781 to 126 thousand years ago....

. Two species of horse were identified from remains at Pakefield, East Anglia, dating back to 700,000 BC. Spear damage on a horse shoulder bone discovered at Eartham Pit, Boxgrove, dated 500,000 BC, showed that early humans were hunting horses in the area at that time.

In the Late Pleistocene
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...

, beginning c. 126,000 years ago during the Eemian interglacial
Eemian interglacial
The Eemian was an interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 114,000 years ago. It was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age, the most recent being the Holocene which extends to the present day. The prevailing Eemian climate is believed to...

 phase, the land which now comprises the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 was joined to the rest of Europe by an extensive land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...

, extending from approximately the current coast of North Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 to as far south as the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. This allowed migration back and forth across this bridge for humans and fauna for several millennia; hunters could follow their prey (including equids) as the climate fluctuated.

While much of the archaeology of Britain from this time is drowned under the modern seas, remains have been discovered that show horses were present, and being hunted, in this period. Significant finds include a horse tooth
Horse teeth
Horses' teeth are often used to estimate the animal's age, hence the sayings "long in the tooth", "straight from the horse's mouth" and "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth".- Types of teeth :At five years of age a horse has between 36 and 44 teeth...

 dated between 55,000 and 47,000 BC and horse bones dated between 50,000 and 45,000 BC, recovered from Pin Hole Cave, part of the Creswell Crags
Creswell Crags
Creswell Crags is a limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England near the villages of Creswell, Whitwell and Elmton...

 system in Northern England. Additional horse remains from the same era have been recovered from Kent's Cavern
Kent's Cavern
Kents Cavern is a cave system in Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable for its archaeological and geological features. The caves are a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument , and are open to the public.-Prehistory:The caverns and passages at the site were...

. In Robin Hood Cave, also part of the Creswell Crags system, a horse tooth was recovered dated between 32,000 to 24,000 BC, and some of the earliest prehistoric artwork in Britain was also recovered—an engraving of a horse, on a piece of horse bone. A goddess figurine
Mother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...

, carved from horse bone and dated 23,000 BC was recovered from Paviland Cave in South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

.

Horse remains dating to the later part of this period - the closing stages of the Ice Age - were found at Farndon Fields, Nottinghamshire, dating to 12,000 BC Mother Grundy's Parlour, also in the Creswell Crags system, contains horse remains showing cut marks indicate that hunting of horses occurred there around 10,000 BC. A study of Victoria Cave in North Yorkshire produced a horse bone showing cut marks, evidence of hunting, dating to around 10,000 BC. Much additional archaeology of Britain from this period is probably drowned under modern seas, but remains unearthed to date show that horses were present in what is now Britain, and being hunted, during the last Ice Age.

Holocene, pre-domestication

The Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...

 period began 11,700 years ago (around 10,000 14C
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

) and continues to the present. It has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS 1
Marine isotope stage
Marine isotope stages , marine oxygen-isotope stages, or oxygen isotope stages , are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth's paleoclimate, deduced from oxygen isotope data reflecting changes in temperature derived from data from deep sea core samples...

, considered an interglacial
Interglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...

 in the current ice age
Quaternary glaciation
Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...

. Horse remains also have been found that dated to this period, though again, much evidence of Mesolithic fauna in the area of Britain is now drowned under the North Sea, Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

s, and the English Channel, and sites currently under excavation are still being washed into the seas in an ongoing process.

During the Devensian glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....

, the northernmost part of the prehistoric Briton peninsula was covered with glacial ice, and the sea level was about 120 metres (393.7 ft) lower than it is today. The ice went through several phases of advance and retreat in this period, and much of what is now the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 and English Channel was an expanse of low-lying tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

, that around 12,000 BC extended up to the modern northern point of Scotland. In 1998, the archaeologist B.J. Coles named this low-lying area "Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...

", in which the Thames river
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 flowed far northwards of its current route and entered the westward-flowing Rhine as a tributary. Human hunters roamed this now-drowned land. By about 8000 BC, this area had a varied coastline of lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

s, saltmarshes
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

, mudflat
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...

s, beaches, inland streams, rivers, marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

es, and sometimes lakes. It may have been the richest hunting, fowling and fishing ground in Europe available to the Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 culture of the time.

Horse remains dated to 8,000–9,000 BC have been recovered from Sewell's Cave, Flixton, Seamer Carr, Uxbridge, and Thatcham. Remains dating to 7,000 BC have been found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar,

Although there is an apparent absence of horse remains between 7000 BC and 3500 BC, there is evidence that wild horses remained in what had been the Briton peninsula after the islands were separated from Europe. Pre-domestication wild horse
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...

 bones have been found in chamber tombs
Severn-Cotswold tomb
Severn-Cotswold is a name given to a type of Megalithic chamber tomb built by Neolithic peoples in Wales and South West England around 3500 BC.-Description:...

 dating to around 3500 BC. which is a clear indication that indigenous wild horses remained in the British Isles after the flooding of Doggerland and separation of the prehistoric Briton peninsula from mainland Europe at around 6,500 BC.

Domestication through pre-Roman times

The Beaker People
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...

 and the Battle-Axe people
Corded Ware culture
The Corded Ware culture , alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture, is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic , flourishes through the Copper Age and culminates in the early Bronze Age.Corded Ware culture is associated with...

 seem to have combined with the native Ancient Britons around 2500 BC to form what is known as the Wessex culture
Wessex culture
The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British archaeologist Stuart Piggott in 1938...

. Domestication of the horse
Domestication of the horse
There are a number of hypotheses on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were truly wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. How and when horses became domesticated is disputed...

 and the use of wheeled horse-drawn vehicle
Horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...

s was established by the time these incomers were settled, and archeological investigation from the 1970s has shown that domesticated ponies
Pony
A pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...

 were on Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

 by 1500 BC. Horse-related artifacts dating to the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 show that by this time horses were being used regularly in battle.

Excavations of Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 sites have recovered horse bones from ritual pits at a temple site near Cambridge, and two Iron Age chariot burial
Chariot burial
Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with his chariot, usually including his horses and other possessions....

s (one of a woman and one of a man), including horse harness
Horse harness
A horse harness is a type of horse tack that allows a horse or other equine to pull various horse-drawn vehicles such as a carriage, wagon or sleigh. Harnesses may also be used to hitch animals to other loads such as a plow or canal boat....

, were discovered at Wetwang Slack
Wetwang
Wetwang is a Yorkshire Wolds village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated west of Driffield on the A166 road....

. The majority of Iron Age chariot burials in Britain are associated with the Arras culture
Arras Culture
The Arras culture is an archaeological culture of the Middle Iron Age in East Yorkshire It takes its name from the cemetery site of Arras near Market Weighton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which was discovered in the 19th century...

, and in most cases the chariots were dismantled before burial. Notable exceptions to this rule are the Ferrybridge and Newbridge
Newbridge chariot
The remains of an Iron Age chariot burial, were found near the Bronze burial mound of Huly Hill, at Newbridge, Scotland, 10 km west of Edinburgh in advance of development at the Edinburgh Interchange. The chariot was the first of its kind to be found in Scotland and shows Iron Age Scotland in...

 chariots, the only ones to be buried intact. The Newbridge burial has been radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

 to 520–370 BC, and the Ferrybridge burial is likely to be of a similar date.

Towards the end of the Iron Age in Britain
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...

 (Celtic Britain), there is much evidence for the use of horses in transport and battle, and also for extensive trade between the ancient Britons and other cultures. A collection of Iron Age artefacts from Polden Hill in Somerset included a very large hoard of horse gear, indicating that by this time horses were being extensively used, and a rare cast copper alloy 'cheekpiece' dating from the late pre-Roman Iron Age was found in St. Ewe, Cornwall. The horse was an important figure in Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic religion
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...

 and myth, and is symbolised most memorably in the hill figure of the White Horse
Uffington White Horse
The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long , formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk...

 close by the Iron Age hill fort of Uffington Castle
Uffington Castle
Uffington Castle is all that remains of an early Iron Age hill fort in Oxfordshire, England. It covers about 32,000 square metres and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the eastern end...

 in Oxfordshire.

Roman era to William the Conqueror

By the time of the Romans' first attempted invasion of Britain (55 BC), the British tribes were proficient horsemen; Caesar's
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

 forces were met by Kentish cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 and war chariots - the chariots particularly came as a surprise to him as the Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....

, with whom he had previously been fighting, did not use chariots in warfare. By the time Caesar had taken steps to learn from his first hard lessons, he found himself facing a well-organised and well-led British army under Cassivelaunus, with over 4,000 war chariots. To the east of the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

, the Romans also encountered the Gabrantovici, or "horse-riding warriors." Archaeological investigations have uncovered a large amount of horse dung
Manure
Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil...

 in a well at the Roman fort in Lancaster, and the bones of many horses in a well at Dunstable, which may have been a Roman posting-station. Horses were also used as meat animals, but a revival of the horse-worship Epona
Epona
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain and the presence of foals in some sculptures suggested that the goddess and her horses were leaders of the...

 cult may account for horse carcasses buried whole.
One of the earliest records of British horses being recognised for their quality and exported dates from this era; the Romans were sufficiently impressed by the British horses that they took many of them back to Italy to improve their own native stock. Some of the earliest evidence of horses used for sport in Britain also dates from Roman times, with the uncovering of a chariot-racing arena at Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

 in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

.

With the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain was the invasion and migration of Germanic peoples from continental Europe to Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, specifically the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain after the demise of Roman rule in the 5th century.The stimulus, progression and...

, the variety of uses to which horses were put can probably best be illustrated by the number of words for 'horse' in Old English; these distinguished between carthorses (two words), pack horses (two words), riding horses (three words), horses for breeding (three words), horses suitable for royalty and aristocracy (five words, of which three were mainly used in poetry), and warhorses (one word). There was no word for "plough horses," and no evidence that horses were used for ploughing in Anglo-Saxon times. This was still done by ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...

 teams; horses were predominantly used for transporting goods and people. There is some evidence that horses were occasionally eaten, either in a hard winter, or possibly ridden until five years of age and then slaughtered for meat. The Vikings seem not to have used horses in war as a general rule, though there is reference to Viking cavalry fighting at Sulcoit (Ireland). Their primary use for horses - some of which they captured or seized on invasion, and some of which they brought with them - was to facilitate rapid travel.

Horses held religious significance to the Anglo-Saxon pagans. The 8th century English chronicler Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...

 records that Hengist and Horsa (Old English "stallion" and "horse", respectively) lists the two as Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 kings who founded England in Britain. Modern scholars, however, recognize Hengist and Horsa as having been horse deities venerated by the pagan Anglo-Saxons, yet, after Christianization, euhemerized
Euhemerus
Euhemerus was a Greek mythographer at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedon. Euhemerus' birthplace is disputed, with Messina in Sicily as the most probable location, while others champion Chios, or Tegea.-Life:...

 into ancestors of the royal English house. Hengist and Horsa are ultimately considered to stem from the divine twins
Divine twins
The Divine twins are a mytheme of Proto-Indo-European mythology.*the Greek Dioscuri*the Vedic Ashvins*the Lithuanian Ašvieniai*the Latvian Dieva dēli*Alcis *Romulus and Remus*Hengest and Horsa...

 of Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European may refer to:*Proto-Indo-European language, the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages.*Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language....

 religion and have cognates in various other Indo-European cultures.

Mediaeval period to the Industrial Age

The improvement of horses for various purposes began in earnest during the early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...

. Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I , also called Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim and nicknamed "The Fierce", was King of the Scots from 1107 to his death.-Life:...

 imported two horses of Eastern origin into Great Britain during the reign of Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

; this is the first documented import of oriental horse
Oriental horse
The term oriental horse refers to the ancient breeds of horses developed in the Middle East, such as the Arabian, Akhal-Teke, Barb, and the now-extinct Turkoman horse. They tend to be thin-skinned, long-legged, slim in build and more physically refined than other types, but with great endurance...

s. King John imported a hundred Flemish stallions in order to continue the improvement of the 'great horse' for tournament and breeding.

Records show that horse ownership was widespread by the 12th century. The horse was a vital tool for work in the harrowing of land for arable crops in the relatively new open field system
Open field system
The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...

. Tenants, as well as landlords, were involved in land-harrowing, and therefore would have had horses for this task. In addition, horses and carts were in frequent use for transport of farm goods and implements between more widely-scattered farming areas than before, and villagers were obliged to transport such items in their own carts, and must therefore have had both a cart and a horse; though the poorest villagers may have had to rely on one horse for all their farm work. The necessity for carting produce in this way also revolutionised communication between villages. Horse-breeding as an enterprise was well underway by the 14th century; records show that Hexham Priory had eighty broodmares, the Prior of Durham
Prior of Durham
The Prior of Durham was the head of Durham Cathedral Priory, founded c. 1083 with the move of a previous house from Jarrow. The succession continued until dissolution of the monastery in 1540, when the priory was replaced with a deanery church.-List:...

 had two stud farms, Gilbert d'Umfraville had significant grazing lands for mares, Rievaulx Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx. It is located in Rievaulx , near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, England.It was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England and was dissolved by Henry VIII of England in 1538...

 owned a stud farm, and horse-breeding was being carried out both east and west of the Pennine range.

The improvement of horses was not restricted to the nobility and aristocracy, as shown by one of the most notable events of this period at the coronation of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu in her own right from 1279 until her death in 1290, succeeding her mother and ruling together with her husband.-Birth:...

 in 1274. Hundreds of horses were effectively given away by guests, as recorded in an old manuscript chronicle of the time. This gift to the people is probably the largest mass input in history, free of charge, of quality bloodlines into the livestock of the common people.

Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 imported fifty Spanish stallions, and three 'great horses' from France. He was a passionate supporter of both hunting and the tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...

, and introduced horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 to England, in which Spanish horses known as "running horses" were primarily involved. Post-horses and stages
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 were introduced during the reign of Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

, with horses being kept specifically for this purpose.

Britain has a long history of legislation aimed at improving horses and preventing the good horses being sold abroad. By the time of the Hundred Years War, the English government banned the export of horses in times of crisis; Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

 passed a number of laws relating to the breeding and export of horses in an attempt to improve the British stock, under which it was forbidden to allow uncastrated male horses to be turned out in fields or on the commons; they had to be "kept within bounds and tied in stalls
Stall (enclosure)
A stall is a small enclosure of some kind, usually less enclosed than a room.-Market stall:A market stall is usually an immobile temporary structure erected by merchants to display and shelter their merchandise...

." (The term "stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...

" for an "entire" horse dates from this time; stallion = stalled one.) This ruling caused so much inconvenience that the practise of gelding
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...

 horses became widespread. Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 introduced additional laws
Breed of Horses Act 1535
The Breed of Horses Act 1535 and the Horses Act 1540 were pieces of legislation passed by the Parliament of England designed to improve the national stock of horses through equestrian eugenics. They were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863....

 aimed at improving the height and strength of horses; no stallion under and no mare under was permitted to run out on common land, or to run wild, and no two-year-old colt
Colt (horse)
A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....

 under was allowed to run out in any area with mare
Mare
Female horses are called mares.Mare is the Latin word for "sea".The word may also refer to:-People:* Ahmed Marzooq, also known as Mare, a footballer and Secretary General of Maldives Olympic Committee* Mare Winningham, American actress and singer...

s. Annual round-ups of the commons were enforced, and any stallion under the height limit was ordered to be destroyed, along with "all unlikely tits whether mares or foals."
During the reigns of Queen Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 and Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

, laws introduced with the aim of reducing horse theft required that all sale transactions of horses had to be recorded. The laws for swingeing culls of "under-height" horses were partially repealed by a decree by Queen Elizabeth I in 1566 on the basis that the poor lands could not support the weight of the horses desired by Henry VIII because of "their rottenness ... they
They
They is thethird-person pluralpersonal pronoun in Modern English.-Usage:The "singular" they is the use of this pronoun as a gender-neutral singular rather than as a plural pronoun. The correctness of this usage is disputed....

 are not able to breed beare and bring forth such great breeds of stoned horses as by the statute of 32 Henry VIII is expressed, without peril of miring and perishing of them", and thus many ponies of Britain's mountain and moorland pony breeds in their native environments escaped the slaughter. Human population expansion in Britain and the resulting necessity for improvements in transport increased the demand for good horses; the introduction of the four-wheeled wagon early in the reign of Elizabeth meant that much heavier loads could be safely hauled, but brought with it the necessity for horse teams capable of hauling those heavier loads over the poor roads of the time. Where loads were suitable, and the ground was exceptionally poor, pack horses
Packhorse
.A packhorse or pack horse refers generally to an equid such as a horse, mule, donkey or pony used for carrying goods on their backs, usually carried in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. ...

 had an advantage over wagon
Wagon
A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....

s as they needed fewer handlers, were faster, and could travel over much rougher ground. Horse transport was so extensive at the time that on one morning alone 2,200 horses were counted on the Shoreditch-to-Enfield road.

In the early 16th century, horse teams were beginning to replace ox teams in ploughing work because of their greater speed, strength and agility, particularly on lighter soils; in heavier soils ox teams still had the advantage, both because they pulled more steadily, albeit more slowly, and because they could do the work though fed on grazing alone in the wetter pastures. The use of horse teams was possible in part because of the increased amount of land being used for the oat
Oat
The common oat is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed...

 crop, which was necessary for hard-working horses.

Horse ownership was more widespread in Britain than in continental Europe during the Tudor
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...

 and Stuart period
Stuart period
The Stuart period of English and British history refers to the period between 1603 and 1714, while in Scotland it begins in 1371. These dates coincide with the rule of the Scottish royal House of Stuart, whose first monarch to rule England was James I & VI...

, but suffered a decline in the harsh economic environment of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. With economic recovery, the numbers of horse owners increased again. Travel was becoming more popular, and the hiring of horses became widespread. A common practice at the time was for a traveller to buy a horse for a journey, and then sell it on arrival at his destination. Private races pitting one horse against another had taken place in Elizabeth's reign, but her successor James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

 brought the sport as it is known today into England from Scotland, set up public races in a number of places, and continued to import quality animals aimed at the improvement of this new, lighter, faster type of horse.

At the time of Gervase Markham
Gervase Markham
Gervase Markham was an English poet and writer, best known for his work The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman first published in London in 1615.-Life:Markham was the third son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham, Nottinghamshire, and was...

's writing of Cavalarice or the English Horseman in 1625, farmers were not only using packhorses, farm horses, and carthorses for their own use, but were breeding animals for saddle
Saddle
A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider or other load, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is the equestrian saddle designed for a horse, but specialized saddles have been created for camels and other creatures...

 and driving
Driving (horse)
Driving, when applied to horses, ponies, mules, or donkeys, is a broad term for hitching equines to a wagon, carriage, cart, sleigh, or other horse-drawn vehicle by means of a harness and working them in this way...

. Markham recommended crossing native horses with other breeds for particular purposes, suggesting Turks
Turkoman Horse
The Turkoman horse, or Turkmene, was an Oriental horse breed from the steppes of Central Asia, now extinct. Modern descendants include the Akhal-Teke and the Yamud horse breeds. Horses bred in Turkmenistan are still referred to as Turkoman, and have similar characteristics...

 or Irish Hobbies
Irish Hobby
The Irish Hobby is an extinct breed of horse native to the British Isles that developed prior to the 13th Century. The breed provided foundation bloodlines for several modern horse breeds, including breeds as diverse as the Connemara pony and the Irish Draught....

 as an outcross to produce riding animals, Friesland and Flanders
Friesian horse
The Friesian is a horse breed originating in Friesland, Netherlands. Although the breed's conformation resembles that of a light draft horse, Friesians are graceful and nimble for their size. During the Middle Ages, it is believed that the ancestors of Friesian horses were in great demand as war...

 horses as an outcross to produce light driving animals, and German heavy draft
Black Forest Horse
The Black Forest Horse, also called the Black Forest cold blood or Schwarzwälder Kaltblut, is a rare draft horse breed originating in southern Germany.- Characteristics :...

 horses to produce heavy haulage animals. Horse fairs were numerous, and some of the earliest mentions of specific breeds (Cleveland horses
Cleveland Bay
The Cleveland Bay is a breed of horse that originated in England during the 17th century, named after its colouring and the Cleveland district of Yorkshire. It is a well-muscled horse, with legs that are strong but short in relation to the body. The horses are always bay in colour, although a...

 and Suffolk Punch
Suffolk Punch
The Suffolk Punch, also historically known as the Suffolk Horse or Suffolk Sorrel, is an English breed of draught horse. The breed takes the first part of its name from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, and the name "Punch" from its solid appearance and strength...

 horses) date from this time. Large Dutch horses were imported by William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

 when he discovered that the cart horses of his era were not strong enough for the task of draining the Lincolnshire Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....

. These horses became known as the Lincolnshire Blacks
Old English Black
Old English Black is an extinct horse breed.During the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the conquerors took some of the Great Horses from Europe across the English Channel and crossed them on native mares. Eventually, a distinct type evolved that was known as the Old English Black...

. The descendants of these animals have become the English heavy draught horses
Draft horse
A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...

 of today. By the middle of the 17th century, these concerted efforts at improving the British horse had taken effect; their reputation throughout Europe had become so good that, according to Sir Jonas Moore in 1703, "since the peace treaty with France, farmers had been offered by Frenchmen three times the accustomed price for their horses..."

During the reign of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, the passion for racing and racehorses, and for swift horses for the hunting field, became the focus of horse breeding to the point that there was a dearth of the heavier horses used in tournament and for warfare. This led to complaints, as there was still a need for the stronger, more powerful type of horse. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

 racing declined, and Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 not only banned racing but ordered that all race horses and spectators at such an event should be seized. He concentrated on the breeding of animals suited as cavalry horses, by encouraging crossbreeding of lightweight racing horses with the heavier working horses, and effectively produced a new type of horse
Warmblood
Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds, primarily originating in Europe, registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sport...

 altogether. The export of any horse other than geldings was prohibited, but after the war this resulted in hardship for horse breeders, as demand for their horses had been significantly reduced with the ending of hostilities. An illicit trade in horses flourished, as the well-to-do from all over Europe wanted to buy the vastly-improved British stock. It was not until 1656 that legislation removed the restrictions on horses for export.

Designs for horse-powered agricultural implements were being constantly improved throughout the period. By 1600, a lighter plough which could be drawn by just two horses, the "Dutch plough", was found in the east of England; this was followed in 1730 by the lightweight Rotherham plough, an unwheeled swing plough. It was advertised at the time as being able to reduce ploughing times by a third, or using a third less horsepower for the same ploughing time. The improved seed drill
Seed drill
A seed drill is a sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them. Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common practice was to plant seeds by hand. Besides being wasteful, planting was very imprecise and led to a poor distribution of seeds, leading to low...

 and horse-hoe were invented by Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (agriculturist)
Jethro Tull was an English agricultural pioneer who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, and later a horse-drawn hoe...

 in 1731, but it was over 100 years before these designs were in common use. The earliest horse-powered threshing machine
Threshing machine
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...

s, which were installed permanently in barns, were developed towards the end of the 18th century.

The first fast coaches, known as 'Flying Coaches', trace their history to the spring of 1669. Prior to that date travelling from London to Oxford by coach involved an overnight stay at Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...

, but the heads of Oxford University sanctioned an ambitious project to complete the journey between sunrise and sunset. The project succeeded and was quickly copied by a similar project from Cambridge University, and by the end of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

's reign Flying Coaches ran three times a week from London to all the major towns, covering a distance of around fifty miles a day in good conditions. During the same period, the history of the Thoroughbred horse begins, with native mares being crossbred to Arab, Turk and Barb horses to produce excellent racehorses; the General Stud Book
General Stud Book
The General Stud Book was the original breed registry of the United Kingdom for horses. It specifically was used to document the breeding of Thoroughbreds and related foundation bloodstock such as the Arabian horse....

giving clear and detailed pedigrees was produced at the end of the 18th century, and Thoroughbred horses of today can trace their lineage back with great accuracy to 1790.
The close of the 18th century also saw the birth of the Mail coach
Mail coach
In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...

 service, and the start of the "Golden Age of Coaching." The horses required for these faster coaches came often from outcrossing heavy farm mares to the lighter racing type of horse, as they required speed, agility and endurance combined with strength. The aristocracy and gentry were prepared to pay high prices for matched teams of quality horses, and so farmers sold the best of their animals on at a good profit, keeping the lower-quality animals for their own work, and for sale as saddle horses. The coaching trade grew from the carriage of goods trade; some of the public transport was provided by farmers, who could keep a large number of horses on their own farms much more cheaply than those who had to buy in food and forage for the animals. Primarily, though, it was the proprietors of the coaching inn
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...

s who accounted for most of the trade. In many cases the proprietor of the inn would work his horse teams solely in his local district, but some owners had many coaching establishments and could provide transport over much greater distances. There was also the obvious advantage to the owner of these strings of coaching inns that not only were the passengers on the coaches paying for their coach fare, but they would also be buying meals and drinks, and often also paying for overnight accommodation, from the owner's inns along the route. Some of these inn-proprietors owned hundreds of horses.

19th and 20th centuries

For hundreds of years, horses had been the primary source of power for agriculture, mining, transport and warfare, but this was about to change. The year 1801 saw the beginning of the end for the golden age of coaching, as Parliament passed an Act to allow the Surrey Iron Railway
Surrey Iron Railway
The Surrey Iron Railway was a horse drawn plateway whose width approximated to a standard gauge railway that linked the former Surrey towns of Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham...

 Company to start building a line between London and Portsmouth. This became the first of the railway companies, and was the first line to carry passengers. This Act was followed in short order by many others, averaging around one fresh Act each year from then until 1821. By 1840, lines had been laid down by the Grand Junction
Grand Junction Railway
The Grand Junction Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was merged into the London and North Western Railway...

, the London and Birmingham
London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway ....

, the Great Western
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

, the Bristol and Exeter
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...

, the London and Southampton
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...

, the London and Brighton
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...

, the Birmingham and Gloucester
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is a railway route linking Birmingham to Gloucester in England.It is one of the world's oldest main line railways and includes the famous Lickey Incline, a dead-straight stretch of track running up the 1-in-37 gradient of the Lickey Ridge...

, the North Midland
North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham and Leeds in 1840.At Derby it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station...

, the Hull and Selby
Hull and Selby Railway
The Hull and Selby Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1840, connecting Hull with the Leeds and Selby Railway-Origins:...

, the Great North of England
Great North of England Railway
The Great North of England Railway was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle. In 1850 it was absorbed by the North Eastern Railway ....

, and the Newcastle and Carlisle
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, occasionally referred to as the Tyne Valley Line, is a railway line in northern England. The line was built in the 1830s, and links the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear with in Cumbria. Formal opening took place on 18 June 1838.The line follows the...

 Railway Companies. The number of rail miles expanded from 1,497 in 1840 to 6,084 by 1850 and horse-drawn passenger coaches became virtually obsolete. The steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

 was also beginning to drive the horse out of the farmer's fields. A letter from Alderman Kell to the Farmer's Magazine in 1849 makes the point: "Enough, I trust, has been said, although perhaps not mathematically correct, to show that horses are kept at vast expense in comparison with a steam engine that eats only when it works." With the invention of the portable steam engine in the 1840s, promoted by the Royal Agricultural Society
Royal Agricultural Society
The Royal Agricultural Society of England was established in the United Kingdom in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science". The RASE aim is to promote the scientific development of agriculture. The society received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840.From its early days the society...

, even small farmers could use these new machines. One man could invest in a portable machine, and recoup the cost by hiring it out for hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...

making and harvest - and the only use for horses was to move the machine from one place to another. By 1914, the numbers of working horses in Britain had been decimated. While in 1849 it was estimated that there were around two million horses in Britain, though other sources suggest a population of 3.3 million in late Victorian Britain, and one million working farm horses in 1900; by 1914 this had dropped to between 20,000 and 25,000.

Horses and ponies began to be used inside Britain's mines (pits) in the 19th century, for the work of hauling the "tubs" of coal and ore from the working face to the lifts in deep mines or to the outside in the shallower mines. Many of these ponies were Shetlands
Shetland pony
The Shetland pony is a breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles. Shetlands range in size from a minimum height of approximately 28 inches to an official maximum height of 42 inches at the withers. Shetland ponies have heavy coats, short legs and are considered quite intelligent...

, as their small size was combined with great strength. A stud farm for the sole purposes of breeding ponies for the pits
Pit pony
A pit pony was a type of pony commonly used underground in coal mines from the mid 18th up until the mid 20th century.-History:Ponies began to be used underground, often replacing child or female labour, as distances from pit head to coal face became greater...

 was established in 1870 by colliery owner the Marquis of Londonderry. In order to stop the practice of the best stallions being sent to work in the pits, the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society was formed in 1890.

The horse in World War I
Horses in World War I
The use of horses in World War I marked a transitional period in the evolution of armed conflict. Cavalry units were initially considered essential offensive elements of a military force, but over the course of the war, the vulnerability of horses to modern machine gun and artillery fire reduced...

 still held its own in direct combat cavalry charges, and nothing as yet was as effective as the horse in moving scouts, messengers, supply wagons, ambulances, and artillery quickly on the battlefield; the horse could refuel itself to some extent by grazing when not working, and could cope with terrain which no engine of the time could handle. Warfare, however, had a further devastating effect on the horse population. Thousands of animals were drafted for the war effort, with the result that for some breeds numbers were so reduced that the breed was in danger of disappearing altogether. Many breeds were saved by the efforts of a few dedicated breeders who formed breed societies, tracked down the remaining animals and registered them.

By 1984, only 55 ponies were still used by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

 in Britain, chiefly at the modern pit in Ellington, Northumberland
Ellington, Northumberland
Ellington is a small village on the coast of Northumberland, England. Ellington is four miles from Ashington, six miles from Morpeth and twenty miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne....

. Probably the last colliery horse to work underground in a British coal mine, "Robbie," was retired from Pant y Gasseg, near Pontypool
Pontypool
Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....

, in May 1999.

21st century

Working horses all-but disappeared from Britain's streets by the 21st century; among the few notable exceptions were the heavy horses pulling brewers' drays. However, after over 300 years of using the dray horses, with the move to the new brewery in 2006, even the Young's Brewery team of Shires
Shire horse
The Shire horse is a breed of draught horse or draft horse . The breed comes in many colours, including black, bay and grey. They are a tall breed, with mares standing and over and stallions standing and over. The breed has an enormous capacity for weight pulling, and Shires have held the world...

 retired from delivery work and embarked on a new career with the head horsekeeper, offering heavy horse team driving as a recreational event, though they continue to appear at opening ceremonies for new Young's pubs and other publicity events.
There are still working brewery horses in other areas, such as the Wadworth's Shires horses in Devizes, but working teams are becoming increasingly rare. In some areas, such as the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....

, local farmers and commoners still use horses to round up the thousands of semi-feral
Semi-feral
A semi-feral animal is an animal that lives predominantly in a feral state, but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be due to having been born into a domesticated state and then reverting to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grows up in essentially wild...

 ponies grazing on the open Forest during the drift season, and Britain's police forces still use horses
Mounted police
Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...

 in crowd control, but other than such niche areas, the horse in Britain today is almost entirely kept for recreational purposes. They compete in all equestrian disciplines
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

, carry riders from novice to advanced on trekking and trail-riding
Trail riding
Trail riding sometimes called horse or pony trekking is riding outdoors on natural trails and roads as opposed to riding in an enclosed area such as a riding arena. The term may encompass those who travel on horses, on mountain bikes, or on motorcycles and other motorized all-terrain vehicles...

 holidays, work in riding schools
Riding academy
A riding academy or riding center is a school for instruction in equestrianism, or for hiring of horses for pleasure riding.At the time of the Napoleonic Wars large buildings were constructed for them, like Moscow Manege, Mikhailovsky and Konnogvardeisky maneges in St Petersburg....

, provide therapy for the disabled
Riding for the Disabled Association
The Riding for the Disabled Association, also known as the RDA is an United Kingdom based charity focused on providing horse-riding and carriage driving lessons to people with both developmental and physical disabilities....

, and are much-loved companions and hacks
Hack (horse)
Hack within the activity of equestrianism commonly refers to one of two things: as a verb, it describes the act of riding a horse for light exercise, and as a noun, it is a type of horse used for riding out at ordinary speeds over roads and trails...

. The horses and riders of Great Britain have also made a mark at the Olympic games
Equestrian at the Summer Olympics
Equestrianism made its Summer Olympics debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. It disappeared until 1912, but has appeared at every Summer Olympic Games since. The current Olympic equestrian disciplines are Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping...

, and in the 21st century have medaled consistently in Eventing
Eventing
Eventing is an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding...

.
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