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Galloways and Fell Galloways

There are references to Galloways in Shakespeare (1597):—

Doll Tearsheet: For God's sake, thrust him down stairs: I cannot endure such a fustian rascal.

Pistol: Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway nags? (Henry IV part II)

Dr Johnson later construed the term "Galloway nags" as "common hackneys", carrying the modern sense of "we can spot rubbish when we see it". And in a satire by Bishop Hall also published in 1597:—

Gervase Markham in 1660 wrote:

"Also in Scotland there are a race of small nagges which they call Galloways or Galloway nagges which for fine shape, easie pace, pure metall and infinit toughness are not short of the best nagges that are bred in any country whatsoever; for soundness in bodie they exceed the most races that are extant, as dayly experience shows in their continuall travellings, journeyings and fore-huntings." (Markham)

John Spreull (1646-1722) in 1706 wrote that he bought and sold "fine Scots galloway horses". He stated:

"Search the custom books at Port Glasgow where I myself entered and payed [export] dutie for 50 or 52 mostly ston'd horses and maers which I shipped in a great ship of 400 Tunn for Surinam an Dutch Plantation for a brood of horses, and they were almost all Highland Galloways excepting some few ...

"And for certaintie the borderers on both Scots and English side came oft to Dunbarton fair and bought small droves of them when they carried up their cattle. And what gentleman did ever ride post in any or all of the roads of England and never met with a Scots galloway, if they have not, I am sure I have, and I have frequented the roads there ... and still when I had some Scots galloway it was coveted and often bought from me. And I can aver as a truth that an Scots galloway of 40 or 50 shils ster [sterling] per piece will ride farder and kill and beat and founder an English Geldin of 20, 30, 40 or 50 £ ster price. If they continue long I know them ride 40 or 50 miles a day; and then they are kept easilie and can feed upon the Orts [leavings, leftovers] of others. It's true English Geldings 30, 40, or 50 £ ster price may run [gallop], and course [race] and do wonders, yet I shall kill them with a Scots galloway of 40, 50 shil or 5 £ ster price, through long fatigue and time, scarcity and wants incident."

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) wrote in his "Tour Through Scotland":

"Besides the great number of sheep and runts, as we call them in England, which they breed here; they have the best breed of strong low horses in Britain, if not in Europe, which we call pads, and from whence we call all small truss-strong riding horses Galloways. These horses are remarkable for being good pacers, strong, easy goers, hardy, gentle, well broke, and above all, that they never tire, and they are very much bought up in England on that account."

So we have two views of the value of the Galloway: one, that he's "common", both in the sense of numbers and by direct comparison with the high class racehorse; and the other, that he is short, strong and infinitely useful. He is a Toyota pickup or a twelve-year-old Ford or Vauxhall hatchback, as opposed to a Ferrari.

RACING ADVERTISEMENTS: Newcastle Courant

The "Courant" was the nearest thing to a Cumbrian local paper at the time.

PENRITH RACES in Cumberland, 1736.

ON Wednesday the 16th Day of June next, will be run for on the usual Course on Maidenhill, a Purse of 15 Guineas, by any Horse, &c. not exceeding five Years old this Grass, to be certify'd for; three Heats, each Heat 3 Miles; five Year olds to carry 9 Stone, four year olds 8 Stone; One Guinea and a half Entrance.

On Thursday the 17th Day of June, will be run for a Purse of 8 Guineas by Galloways, 14 Hands to carry 9 Stone, all under to have the usual Abatement; three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles; Fifteen Shillings Entrance.

On Friday the 18th Day of June, will be run for a Purse of 12 Guineas by any Horse, &c. 14 Hands to carry 9 Stone, all above or under to carry more or less, as is usual in give and take; three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles; Twenty Five Shillings Entrance.

BRAMPTON RACES In the County of Cumberland, 1736.

ON Wednesday the 9th Day of June, will be run for by Galloways, a Plate Value 5 Guineas, given by the Right Honourable the Earl of Carlisle; 14 Hands carrying 10 Stone, and all under that Size to have Allowance of Weight for Inches, as is usual in Galloway Plates; three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles, carrying 10 Stone, and so in Proportion. Entrance one Guinea.

On Friday the 11th Day of June, a Plate Value 5 Guineas, will be run for by Hunters, that can be proved to be Hunters last Season; each Horse, &c. carrying 10 Stone, three Heats, each Heat 4 Miles; And that no Horse, &c. shall run for the said Plate that has won the Value of 10£ at one Time; Entrance 7s 6d.

12 June, 1736

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, being the First, Second, and Third Days of July, will be run for on Brampton Moor near Appleby in Westmoreland, three Purses of Gold of Ten, Five, and Twelve Guineas, raised by Subscription, and run in Manner following.

THE first Ten Guineas given by Walter Plummer and John Ramsden, Esqrs. Members for the said Borough, on Thursday the First of July, by Galloways, 14 Hands carrying 10 Stone, and Weight for Inches over and under, 4 miles to a Heat.

On Friday Five Guineas, by Ponies, 13 Hands carrying 9 Stone, Weight for Inches under, 4 Miles to a Heat.

On Saturday Twelve Guineas, give and take, 14 Hands carrying 10 Stone, weight for Inches over and under, 4 Miles to a Heat.

A new local newspaper, the Cumberland Chronicle, details races held in West Cumberland in 1777:

4 July - "a Match of FIFTY POUNDS, and a Purse of FIVE POUNDS, by any Horse, Mare, or Gelding, that never won Fifty Pounds, Matches excepted". 4-year-olds to carry 7.5 Stone; 5-year-olds 8.5 Stone; older horses 9 Stone. Best of 3 heats (4 miles each)- "Three to run, or no Race."

5 July - "a Match of Fifty Pounds, and a Purse of Five Pounds, by any Horse, Mare, or Gelding"; 14 Hands to carry 8 Stone; "higher or lower, Weight in Proportion". Best of 3 heats (4 miles each) - 3 to run or no race.

Both days - "a SADDLE will be Run for"; "A HAT, of Ten Shillings and Six-pence, for Footmen".

"All Horses, &c. to appear, and enter" before 4pm on 3 July "at JOHN DALE'S, of Lamplugh-Cross, or at JOHN ASKEW'S, of Millgill-Head, where proper Attendance will be given and Care taken of all Horses, &c. and be Subject to Articles then produced."

"No Person to have either Tent, or Booth, &c. without Consent of the
Stewards of the Course." Horses to be on the ground, ready for starting, at 1pm on race days.

Notice that the terms of the races vary - 4 July [1777] is weight-for-age, and 5 July is weight-for-height, where 14 hands is the mean. The distances were quite usual for the time: three heats of 4 miles.

The much shorter distances of today were introduced as tests or "futurities" to determine the ability of horses younger than four years and their suitability for longer races in adult life. Fast single races between 5 furlongs and 2 miles have now become the norm due to economic pressures (over shorter distances, horses can compete sooner). Hence the earlier maturity of the modern racing Thoroughbred, when compared with mountain and moorland breeds of pony. It is sometimes forgotten, when discussing the foundation sires of the TB, that the Darley Arabian, Byerley Turk and Godolphin Arabian could not reproduce themselves in a vacuum! They were crossed onto British mares, the "running horses" and "Galloways"; that is, sisters of the ancestresses of our present native breeds. The Curwen family of West Cumbria (see below) were breeders of horses for similar races to those in the advertisements shown here, and their animals were known by the name of "Galloways".

Surveys

However, Andrew Pringle, writing in official mode for the Board of Agriculture in 1794, noted that "The (Westmorland) Commons are numerous, extensive and valuable ..." and added that they were mainly stocked with Scotch sheep, black cattle and geese. He observed frustratingly briefly that "a few ponies of the Scotch breed are reared upon the commons, but the practice not being general, need not be dilated upon." (Pringle) Fortunately small newspaper advertisements of the period give us more detail about the "Scotch" type of pony. It seems reasonable to assume the "Scotch" pony is the same as the "Galloway", given that Galloway, Scotland, is just across the Solway from Cumbria; Pringle did not seem to think it necessary to explain his term, which suggests it may have been in common use and widely understood.

Support for this comes from Tuke, writing, in the same national survey, of the North Riding of Yorkshire: "Horses constitute a considerable part of the stock of the high parts of the western moorlands; the farmers there generally keep a few Scotch Galloways, which they put to stallions of the country, and produce a hardy and very strong race in proportion to their size, which are chiefly sold to the manufacturing part of the West Riding and Lancashire, to be employed in ordinary purposes." (More notes on the 1794 surveys of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland can be found on the Countryside half of the site.)

His counterparts Bailey and Culley wrote of the horses of Northumberland: "those bred in the county are of various sorts, descended from stallions of various kinds, from the full blood racer, to the strong, heavy, rough-legged black. From the full-blood stallions and country mares, are bred excellent hunters, road and carriage horses, and from the other kinds of stallions are bred the draught horses, which in general, are middle sized, active animals, well adapted to the husbandry of this county."

In his own part of this 1794 survey, for the Galloway region, Webster wrote that: "Tradition states that the antient Galloway horses sprang from a Spanish breed, which escaped from a vessel of the Armada that was wrecked upon the coast. Some of these are yet to be met with; their shape, which is in general good, does not exceed their other properties, being esteemed high spirited, very hardy and easily maintained."

On the Scottish side of the Border, similar Parish surveys were conducted between 1791 and 1799 in which it was noted: from Twynholme (Kirkcudbright, Galloway region): "The old breed of Galloways, so highly valued for spirit and shape, and which continued a long time after the wreck of the Spanish Armada, when several stallions were thrown upon this coast, is almost entirely, if not totally extinct." [How much trust one can put in the "Spanish Armada" story, I am not sure; it crops up in other breed backgrounds as well, and to believe it as a source for all of them stretches credulity quite a long way. It may in reality reflect a continuous tradition of trade along the Atlantic seaboards from very early times, that has by default become attached to this one seaborne historical event.]

These Parish surveys in the Dumfries and Galloway areas yield almost no other comment on specific horse breeds, though from Wigtown (Wigtownshire, Galloway region) it was reported: "… the breed of horses has been greatly improved. The little galloways, the native produce of this place, are totally worn out; and a breed much larger, and abler for the purposes of agriculture, brought originally from the West of Scotland, has been introduced."

A further survey in 1814 drew the following remarks on Galloways:

The province of Galloway formerly possessed a breed of horses peculiar to itself, which were in high estimation for the saddle, being, though of a small size, exceedingly hardy and active. They were larger than the ponies of Wales, and the north of Scotland, and rose from twelve to fourteen hands in height. The soils of Galloway, in their unimproved state, are evidently adapted for rearing such a breed of horses; and in the moors and mountainous part of the country, a few of the native breed are still to be found. The true Galloways resemble the Spanish horses in some very characteristic features, particularly in their faces. This similarity makes it probable, that the breed has been indebted for its improvement, to the Spanish horses that are supposed to have escaped from one of the vessels of the Armada, that had been wrecked on the coast of Galloway. This ancient race is almost lost, since farmers found it necessary to breed horses of greater weight, and better adapted to the draught. But such as have a considerable portion of the old blood, are easily distinguished, by their smallness of head and neck, and cleanness of bone. They are generally of a light bay or brown colour, and their legs black. The name of Galloway is sometimes given to horses of an intermediate size between the poney and the full-sized horse, whatever may be the breed. (Sinclair)

130 years after Gervase Markham's observations, this type of strong, clean-boned pony had more or less vanished as a breed.

Gait

Advertisements of the 18th C indicate that the term "Galloway" was also applied locally to smaller ponies, down to 11 or 12 hands. As we saw above, there were races in Cumberland for "Galloways" of 14 hands, and also on the same day for "horses" of 14 hands, so the distinction cannot have been solely one of height but must have been based on type, breeding or perhaps the gaits at which they worked best. Although Defoe mentioned that they were "easy pacers" he may only have meant that they were a comfortable ride; we can't be sure from this whether they trotted "square" or were "gaited", ie, moved laterally in the pace, or in four-beat time in a running walk, singlefoot or rack.

Height or Type?

As for the "ponies" of 13 hands, while the earliest use we know of the term "pony" is recorded in the mid-17th C (1659, powny, from Scottish, apparently from Fr. poulenet "little foal"), Lawrence asserted in 1829:

A horse below thirteen hands in height … is styled a poney; above that height, and below fourteen hands, a galloway. Fashion, however, rules the roast in all things, and of late it has become the ton to nickname galloways, and almost sized horses, ponies, quasi pets; and I have lately heard Tattersall [horse auctioneer in London] himself announce, from the pulpit, a poney for sale, which bordered very nearly on fourteen hands. The word or term has also been, of late years, curtailed, as I humbly conceive, of its fair orthographical proportion. It is now spelled pony, a literal abridgement, according to my observation, by that celebrated journal The Times, by way of the laudable economy of a single letter in an advertisement.

Galloway seems to have begun life as a breed-type appellation, then been adopted as a generic term based mainly on height - rather as the term "hoover" has been adopted for "vacuum-cleaner".

Before making any judgements on usefulness or commonness by height it is helpful to have some data about the heights of horses in, for instance, military use: the British Army's 2nd Dragoons in 1813 (Morgan) employed animals of the following heights:

16 hands, 57 horses
15.2 hands, 256 horses
14.2 hands, 340 horses
14 hands, 55 horses

More than half the Dragoons were mounted on horses of "galloway" size.

"A horse between thirteen and fourteen hands in height is called a GALLOWAY, from a beautiful breed of little horses once found in the south of Scotland, on the shore of the Solway Firth, but now sadly degenerated, and almost lost, through the attempts of the farmer to obtain a larger kind, and better adapted for the purposes of agriculture."

"There is a tradition in that country, that the breed is of Spanish extraction, some horses having escaped from one of the vessels of the Grand Armada, that was wrecked on the neighbouring coast. This district, however, so early as the time of Edward I, supplied that monarch with a great number of horses."

He does not call the Galloways "ponies" although in other places he talks later of Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies, both of which fit the "under 13 hands" criterion (and which, he says, are ugly!).

"The pure Galloway was said to be nearly 14 hands high and sometimes more; of a bright bay or brown with black legs, small head and neck, and peculiarly deep [body?] and clean legs.Its qualities are speed, stoutness and sure-footedness over a very rugged and mountainous country."

Again, the term "clean" legs is used - which probably implied the flat, flinty quality of bone that we see in a good Fell or Dales pony today, not that the legs carried no feather. (The preference for large amounts of feather is a modern one, and a small amount of feather was probably an old characteristic of all the British natives; see the discussion on horses in Chaucer's time.)

Although Youatt and Sinclair both said that the pure stock was nearly impossible to find by the 1820s, the term "galloway" was still in use in Cumbria in very recent times (I heard it in spontaneous use by farmers in 1985) for any stout general purpose pony, but particularly the Fell, often under the combined expression "fell-galloway". It seems very likely that the ancestors of our modern Fells included Galloways.

Youatt adds that "many of the galloways now in use are procured from Wales or the New Forest; but they have materially diminished in number." Here he is probably using the term in its generic sense rather than a breed name.

Youatt also quotes Dr Anderson:

"There was once a breed of small elegant horses in Scotland, similar to those of Iceland and Sweden, and which were known by the name of galloways; the best of which sometimes reached the height of fourteen hands and a half. One of this description I possessed, it having been bought for my use when a boy. In point of elegance of shape it was a perfect picture, and in disposition was gentle and compliant. It moved almost with a wish, and never tired. I rode this little creature for twenty-five years, and twice in that time I rode a hundred and fifty miles at a stretch, without stopping, except to bait [feed/water] and that not for above an hour at a time. It came in at the last stage with as much ease and alacrity as it travelled the first. I could have undertaken to have performed on this beast, when it was in its prime, sixty miles a day for a twelvemonth running, without any extra-ordinary exertion."

Literary references

Sir Walter Scott in The Fair Maid of Perth (1828) describes a smith riding a "strong black horse of the old Galloway breed, of an under size, and not exceeding fourteen hands, but high-shouldered, strong-limbed, well-coupled, and round-barrelled … A judge of the animal might see in his eye that vicious temper which is frequently the accompaniment of the form that is most vigorous and enduring, but the weight, the hand, and the seat of the rider, added to the late regular exercise of a long journey, had subdued his stubbornness for the present." Scott contrasts it satirically with another's "great trampling Flemish mare ... with a huge piece of hair on each foot and every hoof full as large in circumference as a frying pan".

Endurance: the same tale twice told

Jonty Wilson, the Kirkby Lonsdale blacksmith, wrote in 1978 of a feat of endurance performed in the 18th century by a Galloway based in Kirkby Lonsdale. Edward Linsay (a Scot who is said to have arrived in Cumbria with the Old Pretender's army in 1715) went into partnership with Thomas Singleton as a carrier using packhorses. They were based in Kirkby Lonsdale at the rear of the Queen's Head inn. (Wilson)

Singleton was evidently the more sporting-minded of the two, being interested in cockfighting and dogfighting. He took a wager of 100 guineas that he could ride 1000 miles in 1000 hours. He rode for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and Wilson says it took him nearly 7 weeks -- although 1000 hours is just under 6 weeks. He rode one of the partnership's pack horses, a 13-2 Fell stallion named Black Sampson. When the pony died it was buried near Biggins, in Kirkby Lonsdale. Wilson wrote that he knew the exact spot.

Note: F W Garnett (1910) and C Richardson (1990) both quote Youatt's version. They cite this as happening in 1701, and give the rider's name from that source as Sinclair:

"A galloway, belonging to Mr Sinclair, of Kirkby-Lonsdale, performed at Carlisle the extraordinary feat of a thousand miles in a thousand hours." This was performed on the "old Carlisle racecourse" (Fawcett, who differs a little again in that he states the wager was for 500 guineas and the date 1704).

Wilson, however, says the Linsay-Singleton carrier partnership was struck up after the 1715 Rising and that according to parish records Edward Linsay married in 1736 while Singleton's wife and newborn son died in the same year -- so there is something like a 35 year discrepancy and the names do not match! Were there two wagers of this sort, the later following the example set by the first? Was Wilson mistaken in his facts, wherever he got them from?

It is hard to judge, because even Youatt was not contemporary with the 1000 hour feat performed in 1701. His first edition of "The Horse" is 120 years later ( "The Horse" was constantly in print from its first edition through to the 20th century; Garnett's copy was dated 1831, and the 4th edition is dated 1908). He is nearer to the ride in time than is Wilson; Wilson gives more detail. If anyone has access to the sources either is quoting, or to records from Kirkby Lonsdale we would welcome information to clear this up.

A similar though less gruelling feat was performed in 1754 by a Mr Corker when he rode a Galloway pony 100 miles a day for 3 consecutive days over the Newmarket race course.

Terms: Ponies, Galloways, and Cobs

The real feature in all these tales is the remarkable endurance of ponies covering long distances without much rest. Partly this can be explained by the animals working long days in their normal job and being fit and conditioned to such stresses; but more than one writer has commented on the toughness of ponies, and the ease with which they enable people to travel, when compared with larger types of horse.

Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 9th Edition 1881, says a pony "must be less than 52" (13hh) from the ground to the top of the withers; else he is a Galloway." And a cob "should not exceed 14.1hh".

In Volume VIII of the Polo Pony Stud Book (1901), an introductory section "The Taproot of Polo Pony Breeding" quotes Mr S Burke who approves several ponies in history that were "not over pony size": the grey Bald Galloway (by St Victor's Barb), who was not only a sire of several top racehorses of his time, but a noted sire of mares in the Thoroughbred stud book; his daughter the Warlock Galloway; the Shield Galloway; and the Mixbury Galloway (Polo Pony Stud Book). The Mixbury Galloway was said to be a pony of 13-2 by the Curwen Barb (from a German magazine of 1825, "Zeitung für Pferdeliebhaber" 1825 Heft 18) owned by the Curwen family from West Cumbria. Whether such well-bred Galloways actually featured in the ancestry of Fell ponies, is very hard to decide; most likely the two strains existed in parallel as cousins through the female line.

References for these readings are on the Thanks page.