MY QUEST OF THE ARAB HORSE 



was a powerful animal, but he had been in war 

 evidently while very young, and so had a few 

 bad splints. I was afraid to take him. When 

 I asked to see him gallop, his owner, the old 

 Bedouin, a small man far under the average 

 height, riding a saddle without stirrips, flung 

 himself on the horse like an animal and gal- 

 loped over the rocky ground in a big circle. 

 The horse was all action and held his tail high. 

 The faster the horse moved the better he went, 

 and I found it hard, though it had to be done, 

 to refuse him just because of a few splints. 



When horses were brought for us to in- 

 spect, Akmet Haffez told me not to seem over- 

 pleased, no matter how beautiful the animal 

 was. If, after I had looked a horse over and 

 decided that I wanted him, I was to wink at 

 him and then, if the horse could be bought un- 

 der our conditions and no others, he would get 

 him. 



When the Bedouins were showing a horse, 

 or mare, it was quite a relief to see an animal, 

 where the defects, if any, were never con- 

 cealed. They just brought the horse and 

 squatted down by him. No attempt was made 

 to straighten his mane. If he had a blemish, 



[114] 



