This is of particular importance in relation to the records of the horse in England's history, for there can be no doubt that a great part of our thoroughbred racing stock is descended from these very early importations.
That remarkable feats of horsemanship were performed in the reign of Elizabeth is beyond dispute, but unfortunately the particulars obtainable are extremely meagre.
Of Sir Robert Carey's historic ride upon the death of the queen, details worth recording are given. No sooner had the queen breathed her last, we are told, than Sir Robert Carey, notorious sycophant that he was, who for days and nights had been loitering about the queen's bed-chamber and displaying the keenest anxiety as to her condition, set off on horseback to convey to the heir, King James, the news of her death.
“So great was his desire to bring the news to King James before that monarch had heard it from any other source,” we read, “that with the lamentations of the dead queen's women still ringing in his ears he left the bedside of his kinswoman and benefactress and started to announce the important tidings to King James, an act quite as indelicate as it was wholly unauthorised.”
Sir Robert's indelicacy, or alleged indelicacy, however, is no concern of ours. As a feat of endurance, his ride was truly an extraordinary one, for he actually galloped the whole distance from London to Edinburgh, about 400 miles, in less than sixty hours, though during the journey he had at least one severe fall.
How many horses he rode I have not been able to ascertain, but that he had made in advance full preparations for this journey is more than likely, as it is beyond dispute that he had covered the first 160 miles by nightfall on the day after he started. The exact time at which he set out we are not told.
What made the feat more wonderful still was the condition of nearly all the roads in England during Elizabeth's reign, with the exception of the Roman roads and a few besides, some north of Doncaster being really little more than tracks.
That Sir Robert Carey was well repaid for his enterprise may be gathered from the statement that King James I. “rewarded him for being the first to bring him the glad news, by granting him signal favours.”