144 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



space to the horses of Europe (other than thorough- 

 breds, which are discussed later), since nearly all 

 of them have been more or less crossed with 

 foreign blood. Professor Ridgeway, for instance, 

 points out in one passage^ that "the black horses 

 of Western Asia, Spain, and Italy all result from 

 a mixture of the African bay [Barb] with the 

 indigenous horses of Asia and Europe " ; while in a 

 second ^ he mentions that " Wlirtemberg possessed 

 a notable breed of horses, the best of which result 

 from imported Arabs with an admixture in a small 

 degree of the English thoroughbred and the 

 Trakehaen " ; and in a third, ^ after referring to the 

 modern origin of the Russian Orlov trotter, he 

 observes that " there is only one heavy Russian 

 breed of draught-horses — the Beetewk, called after 

 the river of that name. . . . In 17 12 Peter the 

 Great was so struck by the good qualities of the 

 horses of that locality that he imported Dutch 

 stallions to improve the breed, and later on it was 

 crossed with the Orlov trotter." 



In connection with Russia, it may be mentioned 

 that the Kalmuks and Kirghiz own half-wild troops 

 of coarse-bred horses, doubtless derived in great 

 part from the original tarpan of the steppes, and 

 much less altered by crossing with alien blood 

 than the horses of Western Russia. Kalmuk 

 horses, which are largely used in the Russian 



^ op. cii., p. 320. * Ibid., p. 344. * Ibid., p. 350. 



