534 THE HISTORY OF THE HORSE 



of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, and others, and also biographies 

 of celebrated horses in which the pedigrees of these animals are clearly 

 traced back for thousands of years, their performances narrated, and 

 their services rendered to their masters in battle and in the chase re- 

 corded, the highest praise always being bestowed upon the descendants 

 of the mares ridden by the prophet in his flight from Mecca to Medina. 

 It is not to be wondered at that Mohammed valued the horses of the 

 desert so highly when we consider the services they rendered to their 

 masters in war, and that, without their assistance, the vast Mohammedan 

 conquests could not have been secured. The horse consequently became 

 an object of the utmost respect, and means were resorted to in order 

 to ensure that the Arab horse, in all his purity of descent, should be 

 handed down to posterity. It is owing to his purity of blood that this 

 animal, both in the past and in the present, has made such a useful stock- 

 getter. No otlier horse in the world can be depended upon to stamp 

 his likeness on his progeny as the Arab, and it is for this reason he has 

 improved the various breeds of horses throughout the world. It is thought 

 by many that the Barb is a better horse and a more celebrated sire than 

 the Arab, and in this opinion Arabian authorities agree; but they do 

 not consider that this animal forms a distinct breed, only that he has 

 descended from Arabs which were imported into Africa, and in that 

 country produced offspring superior to those grown in Arabia. 



Accounts of the migration of the Arab horse into Africa, and thence 

 into otlier parts of the world, tend to show that European horses have 

 derived their best qualifications more from the Barb than the Arab, i.e. 

 from the region of the Sahar-a; and it certainly is the Ijreed that both 

 in prose and verse is the most highly praised. But whether they are 

 both of the same descent is not of much importance, since one fact is 

 patent, namely, that from both breeds European horses have obtained 

 those characteristics designated quality and high breed. There is little 

 doubt that it was with Barbary horses the Moors invaded Spain, and 

 that during the many years they remained there the blood of the Barb 

 was communicated to her native l)reeds, from which crosses the jeiniet 

 and the celebrated Spanish war-horse arose. The exploits of these im- 

 proved breeds have been handed down to us both by Spanish and by 

 Arabian authors. We are told of their feats of daring and their splendid 

 performances, and to what a great extent the smiles of the fair sex and 

 their commendation incited the equestrians to deeds of valour. These 

 were the days of chivalry and of a civilization introduced into Andalusia by 

 the Moors and the Jews. This great intellectual development was checked 

 by the expulsion of the Moors and the Jews, who, nevertheless, left behind 



