CHAPTER V 



THAT THE DETERIORATION HAS BEEN IN FALLING 

 AWAY FROM THE ARAB 



Now, what is the deterioration from ? I answer, 

 from the Arab. I venture to think that the main 

 stock of the English thoroughbred is Arab in a very- 

 much greater degree than is generally supposed, and 

 to a very much greater degree than racing men are 

 willing to admit. 



So many people have been led to think that the 

 Arab blood in the English thoroughbred was a 

 sprinkling only, that I am induced to enlarge on 

 this. Indeed, I had myself always adopted that 

 view till recently. The racing men mostly always 

 told me so. But, as I have said, in reality there 

 is now little else than Arab blood in most of our 

 thoroughbreds, except just enough of the ' old 

 Adam ' to spoil them and prevent them from being 

 pure. In an article in the ' Horse-breeder's Hand- 

 book for 1889- 1890,' the writer, Mr. Osborne, 

 refers to the attempts made to acclimatize Eastern 

 blood so far back as the Roman occupation, and 



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