550 THE HISTORY OF THE HORSE 



the turf than the pure-bred Barb or Arabian, proving how great had been 

 the influence of the incorporation of the old Englisli blood with that of the 

 Eastern horse. The celebrated horses, the Darley and Godolphin Arabians, 

 impressed upon the British racing stock a vigour, a power, and a physical 

 development which has been handed down through succeeding generations 

 " fi'om sire to son". The great Eastern horse, to which we owe so much, 

 has preserved through thousands of year.s a distinct line of descent from 

 the days when Ninus, King of Assyria {2227 B.C.), marshalled his chariots 

 and horses in battle and Pharaoh pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea 

 (1401 B.C.). This breed of horses, wdiose existence at the above dates is 

 recorded, were the primogenitors of the Barb and Arabian, who have 

 through countless ages improved the various indigenous species of the 

 world; and at the present day the quality, whenever noticed in foreign 

 horses, has always been obtained directly from the Arab or indirectly 

 from the British thorough-bred, which has impressed his likeness on all 

 our existing breeds from the cob to the cart-horse, to which the American 

 trotter is indebted for much of his excellence, and which, into whatever 

 country he enters, is acknowledged to be king of the equine race. 



