136 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



show off the docility of the breed to my guests by 

 mounting — I ought to say, at seventy-three, by 

 climbing on to — my old sire, now twelve years old, 

 in the paddock, without either saddle or bridle, and 

 I have done this though close to him on the other 

 side of the fence was another stallion. I have 

 ridden him in great crowds and tents and shows 

 and sports at Glenelg on Commemoration Day, 

 and when he has got excited I have only had to 

 speak to him to calm him down. This after 

 several years at the stud. 



Mr. W. G. Palgrave says that it is well known 

 that in Arabia horses are much less frequently 

 vicious or refractory than in Europe. Why, that is 

 in the breed ! Then he adds that this was the 

 reason why geldings there were so rare. Miss Sara 

 Linard, in her recent book on the horse, 1902, 

 quotes a horse - parade described in the Daily 

 Graphic of October, 1896, where four young 

 ladies rode four Arab stallions, which, she says, 

 before going to the stud are entirely safe, and 

 which she also says is the case with Arabs only, 

 ' who know how to behave themselves as gentle- 

 men.' Many young ladies, visitors at my farm, 

 from six or seven up, love to give my stallions 

 sugar. But they are pure bred. They are 

 'gentlemen.' 



I have read that the docility and the cleverness 

 of the breed are such that, in Arabia, they lead the 

 animal to bite and keep in the path those which 



