1 6 The Arab Horse 



Recognition of the preponderating in- 

 fluence of this prepotent animal was made 

 in a most practical manner both in Eng- 

 land and America between 1850 and i860, 

 America acting first. In 1855 the New 

 Orleans Jockey Club, at a meeting at the 

 old Metaire Race Course, asked Mr. Keene 

 Richards of Kentucky to go to Arabia 

 and try to secure some of the coveted 

 blood. About the same time, Admiral 

 Rous of England, having conferred with 

 other great breeders, secured the ap- 

 pointment of Mr. W. S. Skene as H. M. 

 Consul General at Aleppo. He went 

 with the definite purpose of cultivating 

 the friendship of the Bedouin tribes, 

 especially of the Anazah, the great breed- 

 ing tribes of the desert, and of learning 

 from them, if possible, the family of 

 horses that produced the Darley Arabian, 

 also if more of the same blood could be 

 obtained. A few years later, Captain 

 (afterward Major) Roger D. Upton, of 

 the 7th Lancers impressed by the superi- 

 ority of the Turkish cavalry in the Crim- 



