34 THE HORSE 



superior in quality on the same principle that a man whose father is white 

 and whose mother is a negress is superior to him whose mother is white 

 and whose father is a negro. El Berdoune is that class in which both 

 sire and dam are badly bred. This animal is a stranger to our country. 

 The value of a horse is in its breeding." 



THE PERSIAN HORSE 



SIR JOHN MALCOLM and Sir Robert Ker Porter, both of whom resided 

 many years in Persia, are the chief authorities on this subject. The former 

 says : " A variety of horses are produced in Persia. The inhabitants of 

 the districts which border on the Gulf still preserve here those races of 

 animals which their ancestors brought from the opposite shore of Arabia. 

 In Fars and Irak they have a mixed breed from the Arabian, which 

 though stronger is still a small horse compared with either the Toorkoman 

 or Khorassan breed, which are most prized by the soldiers of Persia. 

 Both these latter races have also a great proportion of Arabian blood." 

 Sir Robert thus alludes to them : " The Persian horses never exceed 

 fourteen or fourteen and a half hands high ; yet certainly on the whole 

 they are taller than Arabs. Those of the Desert and country about Hillah 

 seem very small, but are full of bone, and of good speed. General custom 

 feeds and waters them only at sunrise and sunset, when they are cleaned. 

 Their usual provender is barley and chopped straw, which, if the animals 

 are picketed, is put into a nosebag and hung from their heads; but if 

 stabled, it is thrown into a lozenge-shaped hole, left in the thickness of the 

 mud wall for that purpose, but much higher up than the line of our 

 mangers, and then the animal eats at his leisure. Hay is a kind of food 

 not known here. The bedding of the horse consists of his dung. After 

 being exposed to the drying influence of the sun during the day, it becomes 

 pulverized, and in that state is nightly spread under him. Little of it 

 touches his body, that being covered by his clothing, a large nummud from 

 the head to the tail, and bound firmly round his body by a very long 

 surcingle. But this apparel is only for cold weather ; in the warmer season 

 the night-clothes are of a lighter substance, and during the heat of the day 

 the animal is kept entirely under shade. At night he is tied in the court- 

 yard. The horses' heads are attached to the place of security by double 

 ropes from their halters, and the heels of their hinder-legs are confined by 

 cords of twisted hair, fastened to iron rings and pegs driven into the earth. 

 The same custom prevailed in the time of Xenophon, and for the same 

 reason, to secure them from being able to attack and maim each other, the 

 whole stud generally consisting of stallions. Their keepers, however, 

 always sleep in their rugs amongst them to prevent accidents, and some- 

 times notwithstanding all their care they manage to break loose, and then 

 the combat ensues. A general neighing, screaming, kicking, and snorting, 

 soon rouse the groom, and the scene for a while is terrible. Indeed no one 

 can conceive the sudden uproar of such a moment who has not been in 

 Eastern countries to hear it, and then all who have must bear me witness 

 that the noise is tremendous. They seize, bite, and kick each other with 

 the most determined fury, and frequently cannot be separated before their 

 heads and haunches stream with blood." 



