CHAPTER V 



THE ARAB STOCK 



By common consent the beautiful and hardy horses 

 reared by the natives of the Nejd district of Central 

 Arabia are acknowledged to display the finest de- 

 velopment of which the equine type, as modified for 

 speed alone, is capable. It is true, indeed, that 

 they are outclassed both in the matter of stature 

 and speed by the modern thoroughbred ; but that 

 animal is but a derivative from the Arab crossed 

 with the blood of the horses of Western Europe 

 and Northern Africa, and its superiority is solely 

 a matter of careful selection and breeding. The 

 type was fully present in the Arab, and has 

 merely been improved and developed. That the 

 Arab type, with which may be grouped the Barb 

 of Northern Africa, is markedly distinct from the 

 original tarpan-like horses of Western Europe — the 

 so-called cold-blooded horses of the Germans — is ad- 

 mitted on all hands ; and the only question is as to 

 the extent and degree of this difference. In other 

 words, are the Arab and the Barb referable to 

 Equus caballus, as typified by the original horses 

 of Scandinavia, or do they represent a species by 



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