HORSE. 



rudely prepared. The wina of these horses is par- 

 ticularly good ; and they can be pushed at their 

 full speed for a long distance without injury to it. 

 They carry their heads, and also their tails, in a 

 \ery graceful manner ; the position of the latter is 



775 



and when it is ascertained that any Arab is in pos- 

 session of such a horse, it may be had for a small 

 fraction of the price which would otherwise be set on 

 one of the same intrinsic worth. Crossing with 

 Arabian horses improves every other breed of the 



often tried to be imitated in this country by means ; horse, whatever may be the size and character ; and 

 which are equally clumsy and barbarous. As is the | for crosses of this kind the stallion is invariably pre- 



case in this country, the horses of Arabia are divided 

 into ignoble and noble the former being doomed to 

 drudge, while the latter are used for the saddle, highly 

 esteemed, and much attended to by their owners. 

 They call the former by a name which means, " with- 

 out pedigree ;" and the latter another name, which 

 signifies a pedigree, which would be venerated even in 

 the Principality " Known for two thousand years." 

 The tradition is, that those horses are descended from 

 the veritable stud of King Solomon, and have not 

 been once crossed or corrupted in the blood since he 

 sat upon the throne in Jerusalem ; but, be that as it 

 may, they are unquestionably noble animals, held in 

 great esteem, often of enormous price ; and we may 

 suppose that among a people so romantic and so 

 poetical in their language as the Arabs, the most won- 

 derful stories are told concerning them. " If," says 

 the Arabian story, " you meet one of the faithful in 

 the desert, mounted upon a Kochlani, and he shall 

 say ' God bless you,' before you can say, ' and God's 

 blessing upon you,' he shall be out of your horizon, 

 for the whirlwind toils after him in vain." 



The utmost attention is paid to the breeding of 

 these horses, that they may not be tainted even by 

 accident. The coitus always takes place in presence 

 of a witness, who remains twenty days afterwards to 

 watch the female. The same witness is also present 

 when the colt is cast, and a regular certificate is made 

 out within the first seven days. If these circum- 

 stances are not attended to, and the legitimacy can- 



not be established by the proper certificate, the 

 marketable value of the horse is greatly diminished, 

 whatever may be his real qualities as an individual ; 

 and contrary to the custom which takes place in the 

 rearing, at least of half-bred horses, in many parts of 

 this country, as much attention is paid to purity of 

 blood in the female as in the male. The best horses 

 are understood to be bred by the Bedouins of the 

 north part of Arabia ; and, though the horses often 

 fetch an immense price, the genealogy is invariably 

 reckoned from the mother. This is at least one of 

 the reasons why the Arabs are so careful that the 

 noble mares shall not be contaminated by the ignoble 

 horses. It is not possible in all cases to prevent an 

 occurrence of this kind ; but when a cross does take 

 place the colt loses caste, and is considered to sprmg 

 from the father which has no pedigree. On the other 

 hand, an improved cross breed between the noble 

 horses and the ignoble mares is very frequently en- 

 couraged ; but in order that the progeny in this case 

 may not be confounded with the true blood, it takes 

 the' designation of the mother ; and how much soever 

 it may be improved, it is still ignoble. The Arabs in 

 many instances breed horses for sale to the people of 

 other nations ; and those of the pure blood are more 

 readily and cheaply obtained from the people about 

 the towns than from the tented Arabs of the w-ilder- 

 ness ; for the latter have a strong affection for their 

 horses, and will hardly part with them at any price. 

 It sometimes happens, however, that there is an un- 

 lucky mark upon the horse, which really does no 

 harm except to the superstitious feelings of the owner; 



ferred. This is of some advantage independently of 

 securing, as it is understood to secure, a better pro- 

 geny ; for it leaves the mares in Arabia, where they 

 are much more scrupulously attended to than they 

 would be in almost any other country ; and as the 

 increase of the race depends more on the number of 

 mares than on that of horses, the leaving of the former 

 in the country enables many more to be bred. In 

 crossing by an Arabian, or "barb," as it is sometimes 

 called, as being first introduced into Spain through 

 the states of Barbary, the first progeny always par- 

 takes of the good qualities of the Arabian ; but if the 

 other branch of the cross is very different from an 

 Arabian in appearance, the form of the progeny is 

 often ungainly in the immediate generation. But, 

 upon a principle which we cannot very well explain, 

 the succeeding generations improve in symmetry, and 

 do not fall off in the spirit and other good qualities 

 of the first cross. Thus a horse may be bred with 

 any fraction of pure blood in him, and render at the 

 same time a spirited and handsome horse for any 

 purpose, except the most rough and heavy ones. We 

 have already said that the essential character of the 

 Arab is not that of a draught horse of any description, 

 and therefore if mere strength of draught be the ob- 

 ject it cannot be improved by this species of crossing. 



The Persian horse is evidently a cross with the 

 Arabian, but in which way or with what breed it is 

 not easy to say. According to our notions, its head 

 is rather handsomer than that of the Arab ; and it is 

 a more weighty animal, but it wants the spirit and 

 continuation of exertion which are so characteristic 

 of the other. For short distances, these horses are 

 nearly, if not altogether, as fleet as Arabian?, but 

 they have not equal wind. The Persians, however, 

 pay great attention to purity of blood in their best 

 horses; and in former times the horses of this country 

 were much improved by the introduction of some 

 stallions from Persia ; and the race, bred by crossing 

 with these, was once greatly celebrated for its swift- 

 ness on the turf; though, since the real blood was 

 introduced, our swift horses are vastly superior to 

 what they were then. 



The Turkish horses resemble the Arabs still more 

 than the Persian ones ; and they are used almost 

 solely for the saddle. 



The Barbary horses appear to be a cross with ler.s 

 Arabian blood than either the Persian or Turkish. 

 They have the line of the head convex, and the chest 

 broader ; and thus they are not so well adapted for 

 swift running as the Arabs ; but they are showy 

 horses, and understood to be very docile. Their 

 general height is about fourteen hands. 



The Tartar horse to which we have already alluded 

 appears, from all the accounts we have of it, in the 

 different districts which are inhabited by the various 

 Tartaric hordes. It is, however, very general in 

 central Asia, and in the south-east of European 

 Russia, where the breeds differ a good deal according 

 to the nature of their pasture and food, and the kind 

 of treatment they meet with. Their forehead, as 

 already observed, has still a good deal of the Arabian 



