IO GENERAL GRANT'S ARABIAN STALLIONS, 



to most landsmen in the saddle : indeed, I considered General Beale 

 fortunate in being able to leave General Grant's Arabians in charge of 

 so able a gentleman, during his trip to California. Remember, this 

 was the spring of 1880, and the horses had been at "Ash Hill" only 

 since the fall of 1S79. 



I was impatient to see the Arabs ; so after dinner Paymaster Smith 

 ordered his light wagon, and as I write I think of that delightful ride to 

 "Ash Hill." Arriving there, the smiling, happy-faced little darkies 

 greeted us with " massa" dis and " massa" dat, as in the old days, the 

 happiest of my life. 



In front of the stables, upon a beautiful table-land overlooking acres 

 of meadow pasturage, with scattered barns and hay-ricks, was a level 

 spot of close, fine turf, splendid to show horses upon. Upon this the 

 colored groom Addison led out first the Arab Leopard. He was a 

 beautiful dapple-gray, fourteen and three-quarter hands high ; his sym- 

 metry and perfectness making him appear much taller. As he stood 

 looking loftily over the meadows below, I thought him the most beau- 

 tiful horse I had ever seen. With nostrils distended and eyes full of 

 fire, I could imagine he longed for a run upon his desert home. Addi- 

 son gave him a play at the halter, showing movements no horse in the 

 world can equal but the thoroughbred Arabian. He needed no 

 quarter-boots, shin-boots, ankle-boots, scalping-boots, or protections of 

 any kind ; and yet the same movements this Arabian went through 

 would have blemished every leg and joint upon an American trotting- 

 horse, even though he had been able to attempt the to him impos- 

 sible activity. 



He was now broug-ht to a stand-still that I might examine him; not 

 cocked on one leg, pointed in another, or straddled, as our horses would 

 be after such violent exercise, but bold and erect on all fours, as when 

 first led out. 



I began at his head. The ear was very small and fine, much as Old 

 Henry Clay had. The muzzle was small and fine, the mouth handsome, 

 and lips very thin, as were the nostrils. Between the eyes he was full 

 and broad, while the eyes themselves were large, brilliant, and of the 

 speaking kind. I lifted the lids, and they, too, were thin and delicate, 

 not coarse and heavy, as in our big-mouthed, thick-lipped, long, heavy- 

 eared American horse. The jowls were very deep, but wide between 

 (so much condemned in Henry Clay). The windpipe was large and 

 free, running low into the breast. The neck was beautifully arched, 

 giving the impression of a thin crest, which I expected to find, from 



