THE COLONIAL HORSE 177 



The earliest importation of Arab blood appears to have 

 been a horse called Hector, who in 1820 was advertised as 

 a pure Persian standing in Sydney. In 1823 Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane imported an Arab stallion named Satellite at con- 

 siderable cost from Bombay. 



This horse was used by the New South Wales Government 

 to breed horses for their police force. Though a small 

 animal, he was very shapely, and his produce were con- 

 sidered without rivals in the colony for endurance and weight- 

 carrying power. About five Arabs have been imported into 

 New Zealand, one by Sir Gracroft Wilson, in 1854, and the last, 

 called Arab Child, in 1875. These, so far as I am aware, were 

 not put to any special description of mare, but simply the 

 ordinary breeding or hackney mare, and the activity, spirit, 

 and powers of endurance of these horses were very remark- 

 able. 



They were perfect hackneys, well built, and though not 

 generally very high, were capable of getting through any reason- 

 able amount of work in the day, and seemingly never tired. 



In the earlier days of horse-breeding in Australia, about 

 1850 to 1855, a good deal of Arab blood was introduced 

 from India. The descendants of these importations were ex- 

 tremely hardy horses, and they used frequently to be ridden 

 a hundred miles in the day without shoes, being often without 

 a drop of water, and they never had by any chance anything 

 else to eat but grass. This class used to be bought on the 

 breeders' runs for about 3/. a head, and were worth on an 

 average about 5/. in the Sydney market. Many of these 

 horses were bred on the Hunter River, and were rather light 

 and very active hardy horses, standing about 15 hds. 2 in., very 

 few going beyond this height. Large ' mobs ' of this class 

 were driven overland from New South Wales to Melbourne, 

 which took about a month, and there were great risks during 

 the drive of their straying at night time. Some of them were 

 therefore hobbled every night, and a man was always kept on 

 the watch to keep them together and to see which way the 



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