AEABiAN noESE.] MODERN VETERINAET PRACTICE. [peiisia.k nousE. 



During the government of the AVahabees, 

 horses became scarcer and scarcer every year 

 among the Arabs. Foreigners rose to be large 

 purchasers of them, and carried them into 

 Yemen, Syria, and Bassora, which latter place 

 supplies India with Arabian steeds. The 

 reason assigned for their masters parting with 

 their animals was, that they were afraid of 

 having them taken from them by their chiefs ; 

 for it had become the custom, on every frivo- 

 lous pretext of disobedience or crime, to pro- 

 nounce the most valuable Bedouin mare for- 

 feited to the crown. 



For the purchase of Arabian horses of true 

 blood, Syria holds the highest rank in the 

 opinion of judges ; and Nauran is considered 

 the best district, as the horse can there be pur- 

 chased at first-hand, on account of the Arabs 

 encamping there during the spring. For a 

 person, however, pursuing the trade as a profes- 

 sion, Damascus would be the best place to live 

 in. Those animals which are bought for the 

 Indian market at Bassora, are obtained at 

 second-hand from Bedouin dealers, who get 

 them from the Montifell Arabs, who do not 

 pay much attention to the preservation of 

 purity in the breed. 



In considering the characteristic features in 

 the form of the Arab horse, there is a great 

 deal to excite admiration. His neck is long and 

 arched, and springs gracefully from the chest. 

 After the head, the shoulder is superior to 

 that of any other breed. The shoulder-blade 

 has a beautiful backward inclination ; and with- 

 out the smallest indication of clumsiness, is 

 thickly laid with muscle. The legs, though 

 fine and small, are strong and solid. In short, 

 every feature about him, marks his superiority, 

 and justifies the belief in his capability of 

 accomplishing many of the feats which have 

 been chronicled of him. 



The comparative excellences of Oriental 

 horses are thus estimated by a writer in The 

 Sportsman: — "Taking the comparative excel- 

 lence of the diff'erent races, Nejid, between 

 the desert of Syria and Yemen, is generally 

 reckoned to produce the grandest, or noblest 

 horses. Hejaz, extending along the Red Sea, 

 from Mount Sinai to Yemen, and including 

 in it Medina and Mecca, the handsomest; 

 Yemen, on the coast of the Red Sea and the 

 Indian Ocean, and the most fertile part of 



Arabia, the most durable; Syria, the richest 

 \r\ colour; Mesopotamia, the most quiet: 

 Egypt, the swiftest; Barbary, the most pro- 

 lific; and Persia and Koordistan, the mos*-. 

 warlike." 



The introduction of the Arabian into En'> 

 land, and the influence he has had on our 

 own racing-blood, will be noticed in aaother 

 place. 



THE PERSIAN HORSE. 



When, in the days of antiquity, the Persian 

 horse was considered the best for cavalry in 

 the East, the improved Arabian breed had no 

 existence. He is of larger growth than the 

 Arabian, and his principal points are thus 

 described by Berenger : — " They are, in general, 

 small-headed; they have long and somewhat 

 too fine foreheads, and they are rather too 

 narrow-chested; their legs are a little small, 

 but their croups are well- fashioned, and their 

 hoofs good and firm. They are docile, quick, 

 light, bold, full of spirit, capable of enduring 

 much fatigue, swift, sure-footed, hardy in con« 

 stitution, and contented with almost any pro- 

 vender." This is a high character ; but since 

 the time when Berenger wrote, we believe this 

 breed has somewhat degenerated. It is this 

 animal which figures on the Assyrian sculp- 

 tures in the British Museum ; and it was one 

 of this species which Alexander the Great 

 received and esteemed as a valuable and most 

 acceptable present. Under the reign of Cyrus 

 they became remarkable for the splendour of 

 their trappings. In Sketches of Persia, by 

 Sir John Malcolm, he says, that a variety of 

 horses are now produced in Persia ; but that 

 the inhabitants of the districts which border 

 on the G-ulf, still preserve, in a state of purity, 

 those races of animals which their ancestors 

 brought from the opposite shore of Arabia. 

 In Ears and Irak there is a mixed breed from 

 the Arabian, which, though stronger, is still 

 a small horse compared with either the Toorko- 

 man or Khorassan breeds, which, by the sol- 

 diers of Persia, are most prized. Both of these 

 latter races have a large proportion of Arabian 

 blood in them. 



Sir R. Ker Porter gives the following ac- 

 count of the Persian horses, and the mode 

 in which they are managed : — 



•' The Persian horses never exceed fourteen 



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