This is a fascinating topic, and I'm glad that it was introduced.

] Fat men would ride cobs, short fat horses who could bear their weight,
] Actually, the Welsh Cob, as a breed, was developed as a carriage horse.Though I am sure you are right about Fat men finding sturdy horses for themselves;-)

The Cob actually is a type of horse, except for the Welsh Cob--a breed--, developed, as you say, as a pulling and farming horse. As a type, the cob is a compact, muscular, small horse with tremendous bone and tractable temperament. It's an 18th century term, but the type has been used since feudal times.

] Perhaps, but no-one sems to refer to them by breed. Usually it's just a "horse" or a "plough horse" or something like that. Do you have any quotes to share on this? I'd be very interested to know of specifc breeds being mentioned..I've got a bit on cows , quite a lot on pigs, and something on sheep, but on horses, I have nothing. And that's strange, because even in the breeding mania of the 1750's, no-one seems to have specialised in horses.

I wish I did have some Regency books to turn to here--I have certainly been looking because sporting is my passion; what I do have, though, are my horse books, and the breed histories contained in them. The story with many of them is similar; the breed origins are very old, but between 1750 and 1850, breeding began to become selective and registries and stud books came into existence. So, while I cannot speak to your earlier comment about the farmers in the books you've read not mentioning horses by name, I can tell you that they would have had options as to kinds of horses to pick. The Shire, for example, an English draft horse, were in great demand in the 18th and 19th centuries (my book says they came from William the Conquerer's horses), the Suffolk Draft (or Punch) originated in 1760, but was considered for a time in the 19th century to be the best of the British breeds, and the Clydesdale originated in the late 18th century. At this point, a lot of farmers were starting to experiment with breeding. The Clydesdale came about as a result of crossing native English mares with imported Flemish stallions. The Shire involved crossings of Thoroughbreds with the older Black Horses of the Midlands and Fens and the Old Black English Cart Horses. As I said before, I can't account for the reasons behind this, but my guess is that the Industrial Revolution created a great need for good solid working horses and because science was developing and farmers were benefitting. If anyone has any books to recommend on this subject, I would love to learn more.