6o4 



ASIATIC AND NORTH AFRICAN HORSES. 



think any mare is good enough, if she is able to bear 

 a foal. Hence the predominance of equine weeds in that 

 country. The colts (which are very seldom castrated) 

 and fillies are put to work as soon as they can carry a 

 rider, and it is no uncommon sight to see a lo or 12 stone 

 man riding a yearling in a heavy native saddle. Although 

 these animals are " ragged " in appearance, they are 



notoby] [VV. A. BELLA GANA. 



Fig. 583. — Mr. B. Messervey's bay Tuvkoman horse {15.3). 



capable of doing much work on small rations of inferior 

 food, which generally consists of barley, broken and 

 bruised straw (kah ; Arabic, tibn), and dried lucerne. 

 During the Eastern process of threshing, the straw is 

 converted into tibn, which is far better than chopped 

 straw for making a horse masticate his grain-food properly. 

 " Though the Persian kings in the fifth century B.C. 

 bred the largest and best horses in Asia, these were not 

 of an Arab strain. These horses were kept largely in 



