THE MODERN ARAB 



29 



the feet with iron shoes, and tlius they arc enabled to grow into the form 

 which nature has designed for them as the most suitable to bear the super- 

 incumbent weight. 



Pure Arabs are considerably smaller than our modern thoroughbreds, 

 seldom exceeding 14 hands 2 inches in height. The head is remarkable 

 for the width across the forehead, which is also full and square, while the 

 muzzle is finer, the face more hollowed out, and the jaws more fully 

 developed in their proportions than in any other breed with which we 

 are acquainted. The eye is full and soft, yet sparkling with animation 

 on the slightest excitement ; the ear is small ; the neck arched ; the 

 shoulders obliq^ue, but muscular : the withers moderately high and thin ; 



' CIIAEAN " AN AEAB STALLION. 



the chest rather light in girth, but the back ribs deep in proportion, and 

 the hips, though narrow, well united to the back by a rounded mass of 

 powerful muscles. The croup is high, and the tail set on with a consider- 

 able arch. The bones of the leg are large in proportion to the size, and the 

 tendons full and free, the suspensory ligaments being particularly strong 

 and clean. The hocks are large and free both from curbs and spavins ; and, 

 lastly, the feet, though small, are sound, and capable of bearing an amount 

 of battering which few well-bred English horses can sustain. The prefixed 

 engraving of " Chaban," an Arabian stallion shows most of these points 

 extremely well, and the general characteristics of the breed are particularly 

 well indicated by the artist, who took the sketch from a celebrated Arabian 

 of high caste in the stud of the King of Wurtemburg. 



