X Preface 



thoroughbred is a very different creature 

 from its Arab ancestor; in some respects 

 superior, in others inferior. 



On the second great question, in what 

 part of the world this noble breed lived 

 in its wild state, Ridgeway has advanced 

 a largely original opinion, widely differing 

 from that of Blunt and other great au- 

 thorities on this subject, that the wild 

 ancestor of the Arab did not belong in 

 Arabia at all but had its home in Africa, 

 especially in the ancient country of Libya, 

 lying west of Egypt. He goes so far as 

 to give this wild horse a distinct name, 

 Equus lihycus, in reference to its Libyan 

 home. 



I am strongly inclined to believe that 

 Ridgeway is right. He certainly brings 

 forth a great mass of evidence of every 

 conceivable kind that the noble horse 

 which has been raising the quality of the 

 horse blood of Europe and western Asia 

 from time immemorial came not out of 

 Arabia but out of northern Africa. His 

 view is naturally directly opposed to 



