MY QUEST OF THE ARAB HORSE 



breeds of Arab horses — a large and a small, 

 but that is incorrect. There is but one general 

 breed, and this breed is subdivided into many 

 families, all of which are different and dis- 

 tinct. All the families are descended from 

 certain great historic mares. 



Among the Bedouins all the emphasis is 

 placed upon the maternal line. As long as 

 the sire of a horse is known to be "Chubby" 

 (meaning a thoroughbred from which an 

 Anezeh would be willing to breed), he is of 

 little account. The colt gets its value from 

 the blood of the mother. That seems curious, 

 too, in a country where women are very little 

 more than slaves. 



Ill-advised supporters of the Arab horse in 

 this country have brought him into a great 

 amount of criticism by trying to show that he 

 is a racer in our sense of the word. In our 

 sense of the word! Thank heaven he is not. 

 The average American race-horse of to-day ( I 

 yield to no one in my admiration of such splen- 

 did animals which men like James R. Keene 

 breed) exists simply that bookmakers and 

 gamblers may "earn" a living by robbing the 

 ignorant and gullible of money they cannot af- 

 ford to lose. 



[248] 



