164 CYCLOPEDIA OF LHTS STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



Vn. American Thoroughbreds. 



The thoroughbred hortse of America i.s of course the descendant of 

 English ancestors. It is probably true that the American thoroughbred 

 is a su])erior animal to the English thoroughbred ; and this opinion is 

 certainly fortified by the triumphs of American horses in England and 

 France, in their greatest races, in the year 1881. A horse transi)orted 

 from one country to another, entirely different in climate, might be par- 

 doned for not performing as well there as he would do at home. Yet, 

 our horses have won laurels in England and Fvance from the very best 

 thoroughbreds there, and in their most exacting races. 



In the S6uth, there has always been a passion for the spoils of the 

 field, and liiuch attention has been devoted to the breeding of horses of 

 speed and bottom. Interest in fine horses is growing in tlie North from 

 year to year, but while we have some high-caste breeding studs in the 

 North, the South, and especial I3' Kentucky and Tennessee, still holds the 

 lead. It will not be necessary here to go into a detailed history or 

 description of the American thoroughbred. Importations made before 

 the revolutionary war, and continued from time to time have given us a 

 horse that has no superior on the earth ; one that has at last snatched 

 victory from the best of English horses on their own turf. In France, 

 American horses have held their own against the best of English and 

 French thoroughbreds. 



VIII. The Arabian. 



The Arabians profess to trace the ancestry of their horses back to the 

 time of Solomon, yet in the light of authentic history, their horses before 

 the thirteenth century were not of a character worthy of special notice. 

 The horse of the desert receives the personal care and affection of his 

 master. To the Arab the horse is not only a companion in solitude, but 

 is also his only means of locomotion in arduous and perilous journeys. 

 It is not strange, therefore, that these nomads of the desert should bestow 

 much care upon the breeding and rearing of their horses ; and during the 

 past seven centuries, such care has been bestowed. The Arabs undoubt- 

 edly did understand the true principle of breeding, care, feeding, selec- 

 tion and training, at a period when Arabia was the seat of learning, and 

 all Europe was enveloped in the gloom of the dark ages, or was just 

 beginning feebly to see the dawn of the revival of letters. 



Arabian travelers of the last century do not agree as to the number of 

 distinct breeds of horses in that country. A Mohanmiedan writer who 

 seems to have had candor, and a good opportunity for gathermg facts di- 

 vides them into six tribes, as follows • 



