Breed of Horses Act 1535 & Horses Act 1540

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 They were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.

Breed of Horses Act 1535

The Breed of Horses Act 1535 (27 Henry VIII, c. 6) mentions a marked decay in the quality of the breed, the cause it is claimed that "in most places of this Realme little horsis and naggis of small stature and valeu be suffered to depasture and also to covour marys and felys of very small stature".^[1] The statute thus required each owner of enclosed deer-parks to possess a minimum of two mares whose height was to be above thirteen hands high in order for them to be bred with horses of no shorter than fourteen hands high.

Horses Act 1540

The Horses Act 1540 (32 Henry VIII, c.13) ordered that no stallion under 15 hands (60 inches, 152 cm) and no mare under 13 hands (52 inches, 132 cm) was permitted to run out on common land, or to run wild, and no two-year-old colt under 11.2 hands (46 inches, 117 cm) was allowed to run out in any area with mares. 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."^[2]

The requirement for swingeing culls of "under-height" horses was partially repealed by a statute of Queen Elizabeth I in 1566 (8 Elizabeth I, c.8) on the basis that the poor lands could not support the weight of the horses desired by Henry VIII because of "their rottenness ... they 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.^[3]

Notes

↑ W. H. R. Curtler (August 25, 2005), A Short History of English Agriculture, EBook #16594, retrieved 2011-04-06
↑ Wortley 2008, pp. 541–542
↑ Safety in the Wilderness, The Fell Pony Museum, May 2004, retrieved 2011-03-22

References

Lehmberg, Stanford E. (1970), The Reformation parliament 1529-1536, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-07655-2
Wortley Axe, J (2008), The Horse - Its Treatment In Health And Disease, Hewlett Press, ISBN 1-4437-7540-1

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes UK Statute Law Database Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Act of Sederunt, Act of Adjournal

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