14 The Book of the Horse. 



purchased at the sale, as a four-year old, by Captain Speke, of East Lackington, near Taunton 

 a scion of the same family that has since produced the great African explorer. Captain 

 Speke was then quartered at Kidderminster, and rode the young Arab for one season with 

 the harriers of my grandfather, Mr. John Knight, of Wolverley. On his regiment being 

 suddenly ordered to India in the spring, the horse was sold for him by Mr. Knight to his 

 kinsman and neighbour, Mr. Childe, for the sum of ^^^25. 



"The little grey, as described by an old sportsman who knew him well, was hardly 15 hands 

 high, with small bone below the knees, yet with large knees and hocks, and singularly powerful 

 back and loins. He was a surprising jumper; yet his pre-eminence depended chiefly on 

 his peculiar manner of galloping over deep ground without sinking into it. His owner named 

 him ' Skim,' from this power of skimming over the surface while other horses were struggling 

 along fetlock deep. 



" Mr. Childe, who rode about twelve stone, at first declined to buy him, thinking him 

 too small for a hunter, and afterwards bought him to ride in the Park. But when the horse 

 came to Melton in the autumn, his superiority and lasting qualities soon became apparent, 

 and for a series of years Childe's grey Arabian was the leading horse in most of the famous 

 run.s of that era, so celebrated in the annals of English fox-hunting." 



SYRIAN ARABS. 



"Where are the good horses .' was my first question," says Mrs. Burton, "when I had been at 

 Damascus a couple of days. Except those that have been taken from the Bedawin, or by com- 

 pulsion by Turkish officials, or accepted from them as bartll, you will have a difficulty in seeing 

 them. You will see, perhaps, a dozen or two of half-breds and three-quarter-breds ; the rest are 

 kaddishcs — but many of these are good serviceable animals. The famous mares are kept in 

 the desert and in seclusion from Turkish eyes." 



"For travelling purposes the Rahwan is the best animal. He is generally a 12 hands 

 Kurdish pony, and he ambles along like a carriage and pair. He is never tired, nor does he 

 tire you. You have to learn to ride him. I found the pace a bore, and alwa)'s returned to 

 my own horses with pleasure ; yet those are wiser than myself who travel thus, for they 

 cover twice the usual distance without fatigue. On long journeys I use two horses, riding 

 them on alternate days, the extra Rahwan and donkeys run loose like dogs. Half-bred 

 Syrian horses have certain disadvantages for marching. They must have full or even extra 

 rations when hard worked. They come out in the morning too hot to hold, and look as if 

 they wanted to kill and eat one. You cannot ride near anybody. About the middle of the 

 day they settle steadily to work and leave off" play — by that time your back is well-nigh 

 broken by tlieir fantasias under a broiling sun. At night they rest till about twelve. When 

 the camp is sound asleep, it is aroused by a noise as if Hades had broken loose, and you 

 find that they have either bitten their ropes through, or, if the ground be sandy, uprooted 

 their pegs — irons a foot and a half long — by pawing and pulling alternately. Then they scour 

 the camp screaming, lashing out, and fighting, nor can any man with safety separate them. 

 And it is a sight to see them. Their ears lie back on their necks, their extended nostrils 

 snort steam as they rear on their hind legs, with fore legs almost embracing each other, and 

 their teeth fastened into each other's necks, and the set-to either disables them or leaves 

 ugly scars next day." 



" No one can afford blood mares of the three great Arab races. Several men buy and have 

 a share in one, like a railway company, and they divide the profits of her offspring. The 



