The Breed of Horses Act 1535 and the Horses Act 1540 were Acts of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

, which aimed to improve the national stock of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s through

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and ra ...

. The Acts were repealed by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1863 The Statute Law Revision Act 1863 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whol ...

The Acts

The Breed of Horses Act 1535 ('' 27 Hen. 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''". The statute thus required each owner of enclosed

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

-parks to possess a minimum of two

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

s 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. The Horses Act 1540 ('' 32 Hen. 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."

Legacy

The requirement for swingeing culls of "under-height" horses was partially repealed by a statute of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

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.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Breed of Horses Act 1535 and Horses Act 1540 Acts of the Parliament of England (1485–1603) 1535 in law Equine genetics 1535 in England Horses in the United Kingdom Genetics in the United Kingdom Animal law Agriculture legislation in the United Kingdom