I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in Scottish history. For the student of Pictish matters it is essential reading. Buy it or order it from the library now.

The author sets out to prove that the Eriskay pony is the sole pure survivor of the once ubiquitous indigenous Scottish horse. In the course of his investigations much light is cast on the culture and ecology of the pre-Clearance Highlands. Nearly half the book is devoted to the "horses of the Pictish monuments". Mr Beck establishes, by sound methods of comparative analysis, that two types of animal are shown in the carvings, the most numerous being a native pony, close in many respects to the Eriskay. His comments on the Picts' advanced equitation are perhaps the most important and original part ofthe book. This may be the place to point out that the lady's horse, on the Hilton of Cadboll Stone, is a pacer (legs moving in pairs), which accounts for her managing to stay on without a modern side saddle. A particularly fascinating part of the book deals with what the author calls "type B", the larger Pictish riding horse, and its possible links backwards to the Roman military horse and forward to the Galloway and Clydesdale. The Galloway is now an extinct breed, fast entering the realm of myth. I would like to praise the author for his efforts and wish him every success in preventing the same fate from befalling the Eriskay pony.

This book would have benefited greatly from better illustrations. I also found its structure "bitty", making parts of it hard to follow. I am also confused by the arguments over the date of introduction of horseshoes. The museum basements of the Romanised areas of Britain have boxes of them from the early centuries AD, of both the iron hipposandal type (perhaps used as emergency spares) and the nail on variety still in use. Both the horseshoe and the iron tyred wheel with separate felloes are often credited as Celtic inventions. The Picts, not having paved roads, may not have found shoes as essential as did the Romans, but I would be surprised if they were ignorant of the technology.

Davin W Hood