AEAB HOUSES.] MODEEN VETEEIXAET PEACTICE. [aeab horses. 



a bay colt, brotlier to Mendizabel, by Mer- 

 chant, out of INEisuomer's dams. These tliree 

 yearlings averaged, each, iit'teeu hands two 

 inches high ! 



As tar as the example of these yearling colts 

 go, there can be no cause for suspecting de- 

 generacy ; for, with their immense growth, 

 they had substance as well as height — one of 

 which might be taken for four years old. If 

 these splendid and gigantic animals had bad 

 justice done them, they would not have been 

 put to severe work before five or six years 

 old; yet they were going into training at 

 Newmarket directly. Where there was so 

 much strength and substance developed at so 

 early a period, surely it cannot be unnatural 

 to suppose that, if time were given for the con- 

 solidation of those powers, instead of racing 

 them at two years old, we should not have to 

 deplore the want of durability in our racing- 

 stock. If we sin against nature, however, we 

 must take the consequences ; for we can never 

 do that with impunity. 



It might be interesting here to draw a com- 

 parison between the English racer and the 

 parent stock, as to the difference between them 

 in point of size. The principal cause of this, 

 perhaps, arises out of the superior kind of food 

 which the one receives to the other, and which 

 thus increases the structural economy of the 

 animal. We will, however, rather proceed to 

 give a description of two of the most beautiful 

 Arabs ever seen in this country. They were a 

 ])resent from an Eastern prince, the Imaum of 

 Muscat, to his majesty William the Fourth, 

 and show the difference, in a most striking 

 manner, of the present breed of English racers 

 to that from which they are derived. 



The first \vas a black stallion, standing four- 

 teen hands three inches high, branded M on 

 the off-quarter. Tiiis horse was the most 

 esteemed of the two; his colour, in Arabs 

 of the highest class, being rarely or ever met 

 with. Tears were consumed in selecting this 

 pair sent to his majesty, and no limit put upon 

 their price. Great as the difficulty has ever 

 been to convey a just idea of the horse with 

 the pencil — to put upon paper, words to effect 

 such a purpose, is a ten times more hopeless 

 task. 



The first impression that the sight of this 

 little, unpretending animal, made upon one, 



was anything but such as are in accordance? 

 with our usual anticipations. The issue waa 

 precisely such as one experiences in contem- 

 plating a highly-finished picture— tlie moro 

 you gaze upon it, the more its beauties be- 

 come developed. In this country, we are by no 

 means familiar with the Arab — many have not 

 even seen one: but if the portraits with which 

 every sportsman is familiar of the Darley or 

 Godolphin Arabians, be faithful delineations 

 of the animals they profess to represent, the 

 whole model of the Arab horse, as shown by the 

 one in question, differs toto ccelo from them. 

 " Here I had before me," continues the author 

 of this description, " one, selected by a prince 

 whose subjects have ever been celebrated for 

 trafficking in the purest blood of the desert. I 

 could not doubt his claim to legitimacy. I 

 have said his height is fourteen hands tliree 

 inches ; bis form so angular, that at the first 

 glance it seems to defy all claim to symmetry. 

 The whole character of shape and bearing is 

 closely allied to that of the deer. When you 

 come to a minuter examination of the parts, 

 individually, then you are convinced how pure 

 the fountain must have been whence such 

 blood was obtained. The bead of this horso 

 can be likened to nothing but exquisitely 

 chiselled marble; there is literally no flesh 

 upon it ; it is marble, too, to the touch. The eye 

 is small, but clear to transparency ; the cheek- 

 bones are prominent ; and there is a fixedness 

 about the ears that helps you to think you are 

 really looking upon the work of the sculptor. 

 The jaws stand very far asunder, the nostrils 

 are large and high, and the windpipe is of an 

 extraordinary size. The neck is light, and set 

 on similarly to the deer's : the shoulders more 

 fleshy and upright than suits our taste ; but, 

 below the knee, the legs are perfection : you 

 find quite as much bone as in the largest sized 

 English blood-horse, and the tendons are in 

 your grasp like iron. His carcase, without 

 being very full of substance, is round, and 

 tolerably deep ; his quarters, what we express 

 by vulgar. His thighs are very thin and 

 sinewy, his loins narrow, his hocks perfectly 

 clean and slightly inverted — he is what we call 

 * cat-ham'd.' The tail is well set on ; the dock 

 small; the hair fine and scant, giving it the 

 appearance of a mule's more than that of a 

 horse. His shanks are short, and hard aa 



Gl 



