AEABIAN nOESE.j 



THE HOES^:, AND 



[AEABIAIf HOESE. 



horse among their own or neighbouring tribe 

 for a covering stallion, which they travel about 

 with, as Europeans do ; and it is very difficult 

 to purchase him, at least during the covering 

 season. The horse serves three mares daily 

 at about one Spanish dollar each, and travels 

 from tribe to tribe, at times to a great distance. 

 They allow their horses to cover as early as 

 two years old ; and frequently the mares are 

 not older. It happens, however, that not 

 unfrequently they are worthless at three or 

 four years old. Stallions, mares, and foals 

 all graze together. 



The Arab generally rides without a bridle : 

 a halter, with a nose-band covered with iron 

 like a cavesson, serving him instead. In lieu 

 of a saddle, his noble courser has only a piece 

 of wadded linen, with two napes for stirrups, 

 fastened on his back ; and, as in many parts of 

 Grermany, he seldom has the hind feet shod. 



The many scars seen on Arabian horses, 

 have been caused by firing, which is much 

 practised, as a remedial agent, in cases of 

 disease. Many of the horses — even two-year 

 olds — are disfigured by scars above and beneath 

 the fetlocks, which at first might be taken 

 for splents, but which originate from the iron 

 manacles by which they are fastened to prevent 

 them being stolen, to which they are much 

 exposed from their being, during the whole of 

 the day, left out grazing, and at times suffered 

 to stray from the camp to a considerable dis- 

 tance. At night, however, every Arab has 

 each animal before his tent, with one of his 

 legs tied, which prevents him from going far 

 from the spot where his master has, for the 

 time being, pitched his fragile abode. 



Eegarding the formation and shape of their 

 stallions, the Arabs seem to be quite indif- 

 ferent. If the animal runs well, is of the 

 proper origin, and has no superstitious marks, 

 they use hiai as such, and will, without hesi- 

 tation, put him to their best mares; but if 

 the origin of the most splendid-looking stallion 

 is doubtful, and his marks ill-favoured, he would 

 not be put to the worst of mares. In candour 

 it must be owned, that though the stallions 

 may have great faults in point of form, they, 

 at the same time, have extraordinary qualities ; 

 for as soon as they are mounted, all defects 

 vanish. It would be almost impossible to 

 detect any, so noble is their appearance. 

 22 



Many stallions with ugly hind-quarters, and 

 with their tails set very low, appear, when they 

 are mounted, to carry their tails so erect, that 

 one might doubt whether they were the 

 same horses. A few of the finest horses, so 

 far as look goes, exhibit all the character- 

 istics of English thorough-breds, but are 

 much more active and pleasant to ride, when 

 broken in a little after the European fashion. 

 When they are taken raw from the desert, 

 and wholly unused to bridle or spur, they 

 walk with terror on any paved way. They 

 are then difficult to be made to trot, as their 

 habit is to jump, at once, out of a walk into a 

 full gallop, and stop as suddenly ; but being 

 very docile, they are easily broken-in properly. 



The five principal races, which are said to 

 have originated from the five favourite mares 

 of the Prophet, and which only deserve the 

 name of Kohlan, are mostly met with at 

 Bagdad and Orfa. Some European judges 

 prefer the Nedgid to the Kohlan ; but the 

 Oriental prejudice always returns to the 

 Kohlan, as its race is bred more in and in, 

 like our own race-horses. Although it is 

 difficult to say, with any sort of certainty, 

 whether a horse is a Nedgid or Kohlan, 

 yet it may be remarked that the former 

 has somewhat of a Eoman nose and high 

 forehead ; whilst a true Kohlan, with a 

 genuine certificate, has a nose drawn inwards 

 like a jack or pike, large eyes, wide nostrils, a 

 broad front, and a beautiful head. One may 

 buy without difficulty a stallion ; but an Arab 

 seldom parts with a mare ; and, if pressed by 

 necessity, he manages as follows : — First, the 

 price is agreed upon: the purchaser then 

 begins to use the mare, and the first and second 

 foals are delivered to the seller, who, if he likes, 

 has the right to deliver, in return, one foal for 

 the dam. These conditions often vary ; for at 

 times the owner will not sell above a fourth of 

 the mare ; which, in the Arabian language, is 

 called purchasing one foot. 



As few, if any, of our readers are likely to 

 visit Arabia for the purpose of purchasing 

 horses, seeing that a better breed now exists 

 in our own island, it is unnecessary to dilate 

 on the different tribes of desert Cheicks, who 

 may, and may not, be trusted in their horse- 

 dealing transactions with strangers. We may 

 observe, however, that many of the more 



