a horse has a Jibbah, if not altogether peculiar to, is most marked in the Arabian, 

 and when seen in other kinds of horses, as in the thoroughbred horse, it is, I think, 

 evidence of Arab blood, and traceable to some remote Arab ancestor. The shape 

 of the Jibbah in which the Arab delights gives a large brain cavity, adds greatly 

 to the beauty of the head, and gives an expression of great nobility, and thus in this 

 point, as in others of the Keheilan, usefulness and beauty go hand in hand— in 

 him the expressions are synonymous. The Jibbah, or forehead, is somewhat different 

 in the horse and the mare. In the mare it is usually rounder and more decidedly 

 prominent, often strikingly so, and descends in a graceful and easy line to the nasal 

 bones. When a horse has such a forehead, he is said by the Arabs to have a Jibbah. 

 "The Mitbeh is a term used to express the manner in which the head is set on 

 to the neck, and especially refers to the form of the windpipe and to the manner 

 in which the throat enters or runs in between the jaws, where it should have a 

 slight and graceful curve. This permits of a gracefiU and easy carriage of the head, 

 and enables it to be either brought in or extended at will or necessity, with almost 

 or perhaps quite the same prolongation as the neck. This, of course, gives great 

 freedom to the air passages, and the Keheilan is essentially a deep breathed and a 

 good and long winded horse. 



"The ears, to be perfect, should be so placed that they point inward, so that the 

 tips may almost touch ; the outline of the inner side of the ear should be much curved, 

 and, as it were, notched about half-way down. In the horse the ears are generally 

 smaller and more pricked; in the mare they are usually rather longer and more open. 

 "These three features, Jibbah, Mitbeh and ears of the above description, go a 

 long way to form a perfect head. 



"The hock of the Keheilan is large — may be called very large; for when you 

 find a horse of fourteen hands three inches with a hock often as large and which 

 would measure as much as the hock in many hunters of sixteen hands, it cannot 

 be anything but very large. The point of the hock (os calcis) is well defined, and 

 often so prominent as at first sight to look almost unnatural— as if it had been 

 enlarged by accident. And from the hock of the tendon or back sinew runs down 

 to where it passes the sesamoids in a clean, well-defined manner, which not only 

 gives a very clean look, but, I submit, acts in the horse with an advantage similar 

 to that gained in the human subject by a well-formed heel and arched instep. 



"We were much struck by the general development of the fetlock-joint, pasterns, 

 and feet, all of which are pre-eminently good. It is not sufficient to say the pasterns 

 are long and elastic ; all the above-named points are larger and stronger and of greater 

 development and as if more adapted for use than those in other horses, and the upper 

 and lower pastern bones, in their direction and conjunction with the foot (os pedis) 

 appear to act with greater advantage. There is a great depth of leg at the sesamoid 

 bone, and the head of the shank-bone is also large. There is a marked combina- 

 tion of strength and elasticity in these complicated joints, which appears to be very 

 peculiar to the Arabian horse. 



"Another thing we noticed (which I think of some consequence) is that there 

 was not that decided disparity in size between the hind and fore legs below the hocks 

 and knees, which is so often observable in many of our horses, especially, I may 

 say, in some of our racers. Although the hind leg may be slightly deeper than the 

 fore leg, it is so in a less degree. On reflection it struck us as an admirable adap- 

 tation of parts to the distinctive kinds of work they respectively have to perform. 

 Strength and bone in the fore legs are essential to receive the additional weight thrown 

 on them by the impetus given by the hind extremities when the horse is in rapid 

 motion, and we thought the great reach of the Arabian propelled by the great power 

 of his loins and quarters is amply provided for and counterbalanced by the formation 

 of the various parts of the fore legs and fore hands as I have endeavored to describe 

 them. 



33 



