THE HORSE. 



that the merest novice could not possibly con- 

 found them. Besides these primitive stocks, a 

 thousand breeds, as they are called, have been 

 produced by domestication, so that at the present 

 time it would require volumes even for their 

 enumeration. 



DOMESTICATED VARIETIES. 



The following is a brief notice of the leading 

 varieties or breeds now common in Britain : 



The Arabian. 



The Arabian horse is considered to occupy the 

 highest rank among the numerous cultivated 

 varieties, and embodies that qualification in its 

 purest condition, known by the term thorough- 

 bred. The pure Arabians are somewhat smaller 

 than our race-horses, seldom exceeding fourteen 

 hands two inches in height. Their heads are very 

 beautiful, clean, and wide between the jaws ; the 

 forehead is broad and square ; the face flat ; the 

 muzzle short and fine ; the eyes prominent and 

 brilliant ; the ears small and handsome ; the nos- 

 trils large and open ; the skin of the head thin, 

 through which may be distinctly traced the whole 

 veins of the head. The body may, as a whole, be 

 considered too light, and the breast rather narrow; 

 but behind the arms, the chest generally swells 

 out greatly, leaving ample room for the lungs to 

 play. The shoulder is superior to that of any 

 other breed ; the scapulae, or shoulder-blades, 

 incline backwards, nearly in an angle of 45 ; the 

 withers are high and arched ; the neck beautifully 

 curved, and the main and tail long, thin, and 

 flowing ; the legs are fine, thin, and wiry, with 

 the pasterns placed somewhat oblique, which has 

 led some to suppose that the strength was thereby 

 lessened, which is by no means the case ; the 

 bone is of uncommon density, and the prominent 

 muscles of the forearm and thigh prove that the 

 Arabian is fully equal to all that has been said of 

 his physical powers. 



The Arabs of the Desert have made the breed- 

 ing of horses their sole occupation for ages 

 bygone ; and from their strict attention to certain 

 rules, they may be justly regarded as the first 

 breeders in the world. They take infinite trouble 

 in grooming their steeds, and are extremely 

 regular in their hours of feeding them morning 

 and evening. They get but little drink, and that 

 is supplied to them two or three times a day ; 

 they conceive that much water not only destroys 

 their shape, but also affects their breathing. In 

 spring, they are pastured on dry aromatic herbage ; 

 and during the rest of the year they are fed on 

 barley, with a small quantity of straw ; and they 

 are the hardiest horses in the world. The Arab 

 trains his horse by kindness, and never on any 

 occasion strikes it ; the consequence is, that the 

 animal shews a degree of affection and tractability 

 in which most British horses are quite deficient 

 The pure Arab horse is employed only for riding, 

 and possesses great fleetness. 



The Arabs are exceedingly particular regarding 

 the pedigree of their horses ; and they have 

 amongst them a breed which they declare has 

 descended from a horse of King Solomon. It 

 must not, however, be supposed that all the horses 

 of that country are of the finer kinds ; for the 



Arabs have three distinct breeds ; the two inferior 

 kinds, they allege, were introduced from India and 

 Greece. The superior kinds they call nobles; 

 and they are never sold without a pedigree, which 

 is most scrupulously attended to. 



The British Racer. 



The British race-horse is a cultivated breed, 

 originally sprung from the Arabian, and to which 

 is traced the quality of being thorough-bred. The 

 skins of race-horses are delicate, with short hair, 

 usually tending to the bright-brown or bay gener- 

 ally characteristic of the horses of the East, and 



Race -horse. 



sometimes to the gray, prevalent likewise among 

 the Arabs and Barbs. They are frequently chest- 

 nut, which may be looked upon as a mixture of 

 the dun or tan colour of some of the races of 

 Northern Europe with the finer brown or bay ; 

 and sometimes, though very rarely, they are of the 

 bright-black common to the great horses of the 

 plains of Germany. They are of medium height, 

 rarefy exceeding fifteen hands. Their form is 

 that which an almost exclusive attention to the 

 property of speed has tended to produce. They 

 have the broad forehead, the brilliant eyes, the 

 delicate muzzle, the expanded nostrils, and the 

 wide throat, characteristic of their Eastern pro- 

 genitors. Their light body is comparatively long, 

 and suited to the extended stride. Their chest is 

 deep, so as to give due space to the lungs, but 

 comparatively narrow, preventing the fore extremi- 

 ties from being overloaded, and the limbs from 

 being thrown too far asunder in the gallop. Their 

 shoulder is oblique, to give freedom of motion to 

 the humerus ; and their haunch is long and deep, 

 beyond that of any other known race of horses, 

 indicating the length of those bones of the hinder 

 extremities on which the power of progression 

 essentially depends. Their limbs are long and 

 muscular to the knee and hock, and below, ten- 

 dinous and delicate ; and their pasterns being 

 long and oblique, give elasticity to the limbs. 



The pedigree of race-horses is always a matter 

 of consequence to the breeder and purchaser of 

 these animals, and is preserved with the same 

 degree of care as the genealogy of many a noble 

 family. By jockeys and others, therefore, a list or 

 stud-book is kept of the sires and dams of their 

 horses, which can be exhibited if required. The 

 pedigree of many fine racers of the present day is 

 traced through stud-books to the Darley Arabian 

 a horse purchased by a Mr Darley at Aleppo, 



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