Agricultural History Review, Volume 39 Part 2 (1991), pp. 126–142

This article attempts to review the importance of the horse to the economy of modern Wales and in considering the various regional types, provides some indication of the efforts made towards equine improvement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries both by the various agricultural organizations and officially-sponsored bodies. The introduction of English breeds at the expense of the genetic improvement of local stock, the economic uncertainty ofhorsebreeding, the unwillingness of smaller farmers to pay realistic stud fees and an obsession with the improvement of male at the expense of female lines, restricted the extent of improvements of both saddle and draught animals. By the time organizations like the RASE, the Hunters' Improvement Society and the Royal Commission on Horsebreeding had begun to make some impact, the urban horse in Wales and elsewhere was sinking into decline. The horse, nevertheless, remained the principal power unit on Welsh farms until the end of the Second World War. 

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