546 CONTINENTAL HORSES. 



being on comparatively short legs, and showing a dash of 

 Arab blood (Fig. 545). The majority of this kind are 

 grey. On first seeing them, I thought they were a dis- 

 tinct variety of Russian horses, but could obtain no data 

 in support of that conjecture. In Russia, it is not the 

 custom to add carriage horses to the list of geldings. 



Count Alexis Orlov formed a breed of Orlov saddle 

 horses, principally by crossing Arab with English tho- 

 roughbred horses, and also by using Danish and Dutch 

 blood, with a dash of native strains. The patriarch of 

 this breed was the chestnut Arab, Saltan, who was the 

 sire of the bay Saltan II. (out of an Arab mare), and the 

 grand-sire of Alexis's favourite hack, Svirepoi II. The 

 dappled bay Yachma, who was the son of Achonok and 

 the grandson of Svirepoi II. was the great sire of Orlov 

 saddle horses for many years in the Khrenovoya stud, 

 and thus played a part similar to that which Barss per- 

 formed in the production of Orlov trotters. 



Count Alexis Orlov died in 1810, and his daughter 

 sold the stud to the Russian Government for eight 

 million roubles in 1845. From this Orlov stud, all the 

 other Russian trotting studs were formed. De Simonoff 

 and de Moerder, both of whom are high officials in the 

 Russian Government studs, say that the pure Orlov 

 breed is not now maintained in Russia. Prince Nicolas 

 Sherbatov, who is one of the great leaders of agriculture 

 in Russia, most kindly directed my attention to this 

 mistake, which I also recognised, when I stayed with 

 Colonel Ismailov at the Grand Duke Dimitry's Dou- 

 brovka's stud, of which he was in charge. The Grand 

 Duke Dimitry purchased the country around Doubrovka 

 from the Derfelden family, and formed a stud there in 

 1888 with pure Orlov trotters, pure Orlovo-Rostopchin 

 saddle horses (Fig. 548), English thorough-breds, and pure 

 Ardenne farm horses of the mountain type (p. 500). 



Count Rostopchin, who was a contemporary of Count 

 Alexis Orlov, was his great rival in horse-breeding. He 



