xvi PREFACE 



If it be objected that we shall lose height by using 

 the Arab, the answer, furnished by experience in all 

 parts of the world, is that height is the last con- 

 sideration that need weigh with us in our endeavour 

 to produce a useful type of horse. Mr. W. Scawen 

 Blunt, whose experience in breeding Arabs, both in 

 England and Egypt, is unequalled by that of any 

 Englishman, made it his endeavour some years 

 ago to increase the height of his pure Arab stock in 

 Sussex. 



Mr. Blunt found no difficulty in grading Arabs up 

 a few inches, but having done so, he was forced to 

 the conclusion that the merit of the horse does not 

 increase in ratio with the height ; and, recognising 

 that the Arab averaging 14 hands i inch or there- 

 about was in all respects a more serviceable horse 

 than the animal he had graded up 3 or 4 inches 

 higher, he has since continued to breed Arabs to the 

 height Nature determined for them. 



Height is indispensable in the racehorse in order 

 to obtain the necessary stride, but for real work the 

 smaller and more compact horse has been proved 

 infinitely superior. The small horse has greater 

 staying-power, is not inferior as a weight-carrier, 

 thrives on coarser food, and recovers sooner after 

 exertion. 



With scarcely an exception, the hackney sires of 

 to-day descend in the direct line from the most 

 beautiful of the three great ' foundation ' sires — the 

 Darley Arabian. The Darley Arabian begat Flying 



