Preface ix 



Secondly, in what part of the world did 

 the wild horses which gave rise to the 

 Arabs have their natural home and breed- 

 ing grounds? 



On the first point, as to the entire 

 separateness of the Arab breed as an 

 original or natural breed from other 

 horses, I am convinced not only by the 

 arguments and facts brought forth by 

 Sansan, Ridgeway, and others, but by 

 my own observations that nature en- 

 dowed the so-called Arab with many of 

 its finest qualities, and that the Arabs 

 have improved the breed but without 

 greatly modifying it. The methods of 

 horse rearing adopted among the Arabs 

 are calculated to produce a fine and hardy 

 race but the methods of selection chiefly 

 of mares are not calculated to modify a 

 race very rapidly. As soon as the English 

 took hold of the Arab breed and began 

 to select both mares and stallions for a 

 specific purpose, namely, for high speed 

 at short distances, they produced very 

 rapid modifications, so that the modern 



