24 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



Starves on a ration that the South African pony- 

 thrives on. I venture to say that it is not a mere 

 question of ration ; if that were so, the remedy would 

 be easy — give him another ration. But it is a ques- 

 tion of breed. The big Australian horse is soft, the 

 little one nearly pure; consequently, in difficulties 

 the one was all funk, the other full of pluck to the 

 end. The little one was, I take it, Arab. Major- 

 General Plumer's criticism was as to the big horse 

 as contrasted with the little one. 



A writer (I have the print, but have lost the 

 name and date), quoting the Liz^e Stock Journal 

 and ' Impecuniosus,' says that for many years past 

 the English thoroughbred has been bred for speed 

 alone, and that the great qualities of strength, stout- 

 ness, and courage, for which the breed was once 

 famous, have been completely ignored. He asks, 

 ' What cross-bred horse could be as well fitted to 

 produce hunters as old Panic ?' And he says that 

 there were fifty years ago any number of equally- 

 stout thoroughbreds, but that at the present day 

 tiiey are few and far between. In their absence he 

 affirms that no better sire than such a sound Arab 

 as that mentioned by ' Impecuniosus ' could be 

 wished for as a sire for hunters. 



Lord Kitchener wired to the Queensland 

 Government that the Victoria miofht ' be fitted 

 up with as many small stout horses as she can 

 carry '; and his lordship in a telegram (December 1 1, 

 1900) says : ' English horses arriving are still too 



