>I am just reading about the latter years of the Civil War (1645+), when both >parties regularly replaced horses killed in combat, by scouring the >neighbourhoods they marched through. For work-horses, that would be - >hardly cavalry steeds, I assume. The cavalry didn't ride any poncy delicate arabs only fit for titupping about London streets. - they were heavily equipped and were regularly charging across country, heavy plough, soggy valleys, so draught horses would be ideal/ The farmer who lived here got warning of the approach of Prince Rupert on one of his marauding expeditions after horses and fodder. He is sup[posed to have had a promising colt, which he his by upending a stone trough over it. Can't see this - it could only have been a very tiny foal and it would have yawped for its mother. He could have done better by using trees and bushes as natural cover, and sticking his plate and pewter in the trough. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society