size.' The English thoroughbreds are certainly flatter, more lathy and of less 

 swelling development than the best Arabians; the Arabians have longer shoiilder- 

 blades in proportion to height, and it is only the first blood of England that comes 

 nearer the Arabian in obliquity. Muscle starts out of the Arabian in a way I never 

 saw in the best trained English racer. Bone is of a closer texture, more heavy 

 when a cubic inch of each is weighed. First-class Arabians have as large hocks as 

 English horses ; their feet, as a rule, larger. All good Arabians have the same high, 

 full and long quarters, and tails set on high and carried well. Nedjed is a country 

 where the best horses are to be found. 



"Abd-el-Kader thus describes the Arabian: 'Every horse of noble race fas- 

 cinates the eyes and rivets the gaze of the enthusiastic spectator. In a pure-bred 

 Arabian the moral and physical qualities are inseparable one from the other.' The 

 truth and faithfulness of this cannot fail to be recognized by any who know the 

 Arabian horse. I give an account of an Arabian sent as a present to the late emperor 

 of the French from Abd-el-Kader after his residence had been fixed at Damascus. 

 It was written, no doubt, by one more conversant with European horses than Ara- 

 bians: 'The horse Emir is eight years old, color brown, with a very silky skin, 

 three white fetlocks ; some white, but not too much, about his face ; he has some white 

 spots about the size of a small pea on his neck and shoulders ; he stands fourteen hands 

 and one inch high; has a good, long, lean head, well set on; ears slender; his eye 

 mild and intelligent ; his mane and tail light and the hair fine ; a handsome, straight, 

 strong neck, longer than one generally sees with other Arabs; his shoulders are 

 long and well laid in, each of these points showing much quality; he has great legs 

 and quarters ; ribs and back wide to a degree ; hoofs black, strong, wide at the heels, 

 and deep; joints large; knees and hocks very good. He is all over a remarkably 

 strong, thick-made horse, but to my taste too thick to be speedy, and sinks a 

 little too much upon his fetlocks ; but we cannot have perfection. His action is more 

 elastic than might be expected from a horse of his build and strength. He is as 

 gentle as a sheep, without being duU; he looks like what we would call a craving, 

 but very aristocratic animal.' • • 



"I venture to offer a few remarks. The writer is at a loss to understand how 

 so strong and powerful a horse can have speed, although he sees and admits his 

 actions to be elastic. If he had been more conversant with the Arabians he would 

 have known that the rare combination of points to be found only in the Arabian 

 permits of a horse being strong, powerful, enabled to carry weight, and with good 

 speed, and all done with light and elastic action. And why object to his springy 

 and elastic pasterns, the means provided by nature to secure his good action and 

 preserve him from accidents? Has not rather the European eye been perverted 

 by studying a false and imperfect model? I think, too, he must have been mis- 

 taken in the long head. The Flying Dutchman, who was more distinguished for 

 elastic action and for springy pasterns than perhaps any other English racehorse, 

 was a sound horse, and I have seen it noticed that upon one occasion, when trainers 

 were only allowing their horses to take gentle canters and for short distances, Fobert 

 was sending the Dutchman over the hard ground for mile gallops; but, as was re- 

 marked, he was one of the very few sound ones. 



" 'But the Arab is so small!' is the remark made by many of his detractors. 

 He is low in stature, but is no weed. He is not a small, but really a large, horse. 

 Those who do not know the Arab cannot understand this. They say if a horse 

 fourteen and one-half hands has as much power as one fifteen and one-half or 

 sixteen hands, he must be out of proportion — they are ever guided by the English 

 standard. They see the pretty Galloways or ponies in London or Paris, about four- 

 teen hands or a little over, perhaps capable of carrying eight or nine stone, and there- 

 fore argue, the Arab, being about the same height, it is the same with him. But 



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