ARABIAN HORSES. 281 



India, of parents imported from England, bears un- 

 mistakable evidence of his birthplace ; and in the 

 second or third generation the colonized thorough- 

 bred loses all resemblance to the native English 

 stock. 



No doubt, as the writer just quoted maintains, the 

 race horse of to-day cannot be improved by an infusion 

 of Arab blood. He is bigger, faster, than the Arab, 

 and could beat him over any distance short of one 

 hundred miles j perhaps indeed over any distance 

 whatever. It is probably the same in regard to 

 trotting horses ; and yet, as I have mentioned, the 

 Arabian formation, especially as it is found in the 

 Anazeh family, closely resembles that of a typical 

 trotter. Moreover, the Arabian trotting gait seems 

 to be much the same as that of our horses. Thus 

 Major Upton writes : " When trotting, the hind legs 

 of the Arabian appear to be, and often may be, too 

 long, and there is too much reach for a pleasant trot- 

 ting pace [not for speed] ; yet with good riding some 

 will trot grandly.'*' This is precisely what might be 

 said of an American trotter if used as a saddle horse. 

 However, the Arabian horses are deficient in trotting 

 action forward ; and on the whole it is very doubtful 

 if any gain in trotting speed could be made at this 

 late day by an Arabian cross. 



But if the object were, not to obtain a race horse, 

 either at the running or trotting gait, but to produce 

 a family of fine saddle or driving horses, especially 

 the former, for general use, then indeed it might be 

 well to breed from Arabian stock. Success would be 

 certain. The only question would be whether you 

 could reach your end the more quickly by this means, 



