THE HORSE. 185 



and if the rider happens to fall, they are so ma- 

 nageable that they stand still in the midst of their 

 most rapid career. The Arabian horses are of a 

 middle size, easy in their motions, and rather in- 

 clined to leanness than fat. They are regularly 

 dressed every morning and evening, and with 

 such care that the smallest roughness is not left 

 upon their skins. They wash the legs, the mane, 

 and the tail, which they never cut, and which 

 they seldom comb, lest they should thin the hair. 

 They give them nothing to eat during the day ; 

 they only give them to drink once or twice ; and 

 at sunset they hang a bag to their heads, in which 

 there is about half a bushel of clean barley. They 

 continue eating the whole night, and the bag is 

 again taken away the next morning. They are 

 turned out to pasture in the beginning of March, 

 when the grass is pretty high, and at which time 

 the mares are given to the stallion. When the 

 spring is past, they take them again from pasture, 

 and they get neither grass nor hay during the rest 

 of the year ; barley is their only food, except now 

 and then a little straw. The mane of the foal is 

 always clipped when about a year or eighteen 

 months old, in order to make it stronger and 

 thicker. They begin to break them at two years 

 old, or two years and a half at farthest : they 

 never saddle or bridle them till at that age, and 

 then they are always kept ready saddled at the 

 door of the tent from morning till sunset, in or- 

 der to be prepared against any surprise. They 

 at present seem sensible of the great advantage 

 their horses are to the country : there is a law, 



