Much that is romantic has been written about the Arab horse. The following is one account of its creation: "Allah created the horse out of the wind, as he created Adam out of the mud. When Allah willed to create the horse, he said to the South wind, 'Condense thyself and let a creature be born of thee,' and the wind obeyed. Then came the angel Gabriel and, taking a handful of this matter, he presented it to Allah, who formed it into a horse, dark bay or chestnut. 'I have called thee horse,' said Allah; 'I have created thee, Arab; I have attached good fortune to the hair that falls between thy eyes. Thou shalt be the lord of all other animals; men shall follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Good for pursuit as for flight, thou shall fly without wings.'" According to the Venerable Bede, the English people were in the habit of using saddle horses so early as the year 631, but how these animals first came upon our island no one has ever said, nor will any person be ever able to say; those we read about in the early times referred to, must have been very coarse and of small value compared to the blood stock of the present day. But even before there came an infusion of foreign blood, much care was evidently being exercised in mating the sexes, and in the modes of feeding and treating various kinds of horses; they seem to have been classified at an early age according to the uses for which they were designed. In 1512, there were "gentill horsys," superior cattle, a kind which made good chargers; there were also "palfreys," or horses of an elegant description, trained for the use of ladies and invalids of rank; "hobys" were horses of a strong and active kind, held at one time in high repute and useful for many purposes; "every man has his hoby," is a phrase that probably originated from the commonness of these animals; the other kind was deemed useful for the carrying of burdens. There were also chariot or "charotte" horses, curtals or horses with a short tail, parade or show horses known as "gambaldynges," as also the "amblynge" horse much used by ladies. A considerable impetus was given to horse-breeding in England in 1588, in which year several fine Spanish horses were washed ashore from some of the wrecked vessels of the Armada. These animals were reputed to have been taken to Newmarket and other places with the view of improving the native breed; but as regards this, and indeed most of the so-called facts about the horse-breeding of that period, no very reliable evidence exists.