148 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



when crossed with Arabs, they are largely exported 

 into Turkey. They stand from 14 to 14^ hands. 

 The true Persian may be regarded as a derivative 

 from the Turkoman stock, specially modified by a 

 greater infusion of Arab blood. 



The Turkoman, or Turki, horse takes its name 

 from Turkestan, its original home, although it has 

 spread into Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor. 

 There are several strains, of which the finest in- 

 habit the country to the south of Lake Aral and the 

 Sir Daria, or Oxus. Standing from 15 to 16 hands 

 in height, and capable of great endurance, these 

 horses have large, Roman-nosed heads, ewe-necks, 

 slender bodies, and long limbs. Although gener- 

 ally bay or grey in colour, some of them are 

 black with white feet. The speed of these horses 

 and such beauty as they possess are due to Arab 

 parentage, grafted on an original stock doubtless 

 more or less nearly akin to the Mongolian tarpan ; 

 and it is noteworthy that the Turkoman horses to 

 the north of the aforesaid line are much smaller 

 and show much less evidence of Arab blood than 

 those to the south of the same. 



Farther east the Turkoman gives place to the 

 Mongolian pony, and the nearly related breeds of 

 Bhutan, Nepal, Spiti, Ladak and Yarkand, to which 

 allusion has been already made in the chapter on 

 the tarpan, where mention is likewise made of the 

 striped dun Kathiawar horses and the piebald 



