12 THE HORSE 



can live on rations on which an ordinary horse would 

 starve, and fling himself into camp with undaunted 

 courage after such toil that most other horses would 

 have succumbed by the way. His pluck is such that 

 he will face cheerfully any danger when he under- 

 stands what is required, to which generations of pig- 

 stickers will willingly bear witness, as well as the 

 participators in many a gallant fight. One thing is 

 essential, however. He must be left entire, as Nature 

 made him, for when subjected to a humiliating opera- 

 tion, as our War Office have sometimes been ill-advised 

 enough to order, his spirit departs, and he is no longer 

 the same gallant animal he was. His is a chivalrous 

 nature. Treat him like a friend, be kind but firm, and 

 never treat him harshly or ill-temperedly, and he will 

 respond to the utmost, and give up his life to save yours if 

 you have to ask him for his last effort, in your dire need. 



English judges are frequently at a loss when they 

 first meet with Arabians, as they expect to find the 

 high wither they are accustomed to associate with 

 " shoulders " ; and when they see the broad, rounded 

 wither usual in Arabians they at once exclaim, " What 

 wretched shoulders ! " It is really nothing of the kind ! 

 The shoulder-blade may be, and commonly is, well 

 sloped with the utmost freedom of action, although the 

 withers are rounded, and comparatively low ; and this 

 latter formation, with corresponding muscular develop- 

 ment, is actually a sign of weight-carrying capacity. 

 The Englishman, too, is taught by the ordinary artist to 

 expect to see delicate, gazelle-like legs, and does not 

 always appreciate at their true worth the great back- 

 sinews — the ropes which move the leg-bones — which the 

 Arabians as a race are remarkable for possessing. The 

 artist, also, is apt to sketch the head in repose termi- 

 nating in a square muzzle, and reduced to the elegant 

 proportion necessary " to drink out of a pint-pot," 

 which tradition holds an Arabian should be able to do ; 

 and therefore, when the long tapering muzzle of a stallion 

 is seen, with nostrils resembling those of a camel, and 



