122 MY HORSE ; MY LOVE 



' There has often been such a doubt expressed.' 



Possibly General Grant's letter to Mr Huntington on the 

 subject may convince the unbelieving, and I am glad to be 

 able to show it to you. 



Did he ever drive these horses ? 



' They were possibly not broken to harness, but if so, 

 he denied himself a great pleasure, and the immediate 

 disposal of Leopard to General Beale, and of Linden to his 

 son, showed his interest and confidence in the infusion of 

 Arab blood. He hoped that from them a new and better 

 type of horse might be created. They were then the only 

 Arab stallions in America, it is said, and their progeny are 

 a most distinctive and superior type.' 



Have you seen any of the direct progeny of General 

 Grant's Arabs, Count? 



'Abdul Hamid IL, a golden sorrel, and Abdul Hamid 

 ni., a bay, are a son and grandson of Leopard. Although 

 Leopard and Linden are greys, strange to say none of their 

 progeny are grey. Abdul Hamid HL was from an own 

 sister to the dam of his sire, Abdul Hamid H. Both these 

 stallions are much larger than their sire and grandsire, 

 Leopard. Their dams were Mary and Topsy Shepard, 

 by Jack Shepard, a son of Henry Clay, from a grand- 

 daughter of imported Messenger. The heads of this 

 Leopard family are uniformly fine and clean, with straight 

 faces. Their limbs show their good blood, and their hocks 

 are clean, as if chiselled from marble. They show fine 

 trotting action, all to the credit of their sire. Leopard.' 



Was Linden's produce there also? 



' Hegira, by Linden, was from a daughter of Henry Clay. 

 This horse stands fifteen and one-half hands high barefoot, 

 and is a rich, dapple coal-black. Linden was purchased 



