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and well placed, small and delicate legs, well tbimcd hinder quarters 

 and good firm hoofs. Their character a dashing courage, activity, 

 speed, excellence of temper, stoutness, surefootedness; hardy in con- 

 stitution and easily maintained. Their chief defect is said to he, that 

 they carry their noses so high as to be apt to strike the rider's face, 

 unless ridden with a martingale; in truth a most weighty defect 



The Persians then are probably the star-gazers o{' our old veterinary 

 writers, by them, according to an usual error, called Arabians, for this 

 defect is occasioned by malconformation of the head and neck, from 

 which the true-bred Arabians are free. The head is attached abruptly 

 to the neck, and although finer towards the muzzle, is thick at the 

 junction, whence the muzzle is protruded, it is to he pig-headed. But 

 liow are we to reconcile this defect in the Persian Horses, with the 

 ancient, and indeed modern, account of their natural well-reining and 

 curvetting ? If they are really marked by such defect, I have seen 

 several Persian Horses, under the name of Arabians, particularly 

 among those brought over on the late return of our army from Egypt. 

 One of these I have examined within these few days, his head and 

 feet, proving to my conviction, that he was not a true-bred Arabian. 



Were I inclined to deal in conjecture, I should surmise that the 

 original breed of Persia was a compound of those of Tartary and 

 Arabia, between which, the former country may be said to be placed. 



Persia is one of the greatest breeding countries in the world, and 

 prodigious numbers of Horses are annually raised on the plains of 

 Fersepolis, Media, Ardtbil and Derbeiit : those bred in Kurdistan, are 

 in the highest estimation both for size and figure. India, I apprehend, 

 lo be the chief mart for Persian Horses. On the borders of that coun- 

 try, and of Arabia, were to be found, according io Marcus Paulas and 

 other old writers, studs of white mares, some of them extremely nume- 

 rous, even to the amount of thousands in a stud. 



There is in Persia, considerable variation from the Turkish style of 

 management, and much in favour of the former. The Persians, it is. 

 said, ride and even manage with a snaffle bridle, and know nothing of 

 spurs. Their Horses are never gelt, are ridden with their full tails; 

 arc kept in clothes as with us, and groomed in the nicest style. Their 



curry- 



