The Turcoman Horse. 25 



constant galloping from their birth after their dams, and ridden by children from a year and a 

 half) ; the she-camels' milk with which the Arabs feed their foals (and which they think imparts 

 the camel's endurance) ; the oxygenation of the blood by being always in the open air ; the 

 kind treatment (preventing bad temper, which impedes development) ; have all a great combined 

 effect in bringing out the good qualities of a horse. A cubic inch of the tibia of a horse so 

 reared weighs twenty per cent, more than stabled stock. I have now a colt out of Test by 

 Touchstone, dam Tarella by Emilius, got by Chilton by Cowl, which I offered a few days ago 

 in the desert, as a present to any Arab who could catch him. They tried their best, but he 

 ran right away from them. I must say, however, that there were none present of those very 

 superior Arabs which formed my fifth experiment. This fifth experiment is, in my opinion, the 

 surest card of all. One has a greater choice, and need buy nothing without speed and stoutness ; 

 whereas, breed what you like, more than half your young stock will never be racers. The fact is 

 this, there is blood and stride in the desert which has never been seen out of it. 



" The Indian market is supplied by the Aghel tribe, who go about the desert buying 

 chiefly colts rather than fillies, never paying more than five thousand piastres {£ifi), and sell 

 with a small profit to the great purchasers at Bagdad and Quaid, who pass them on after a 

 year or two to the Bombay dealers. The Arabs will not give their best blood and figure for 

 that price ; in fact, as you will have found out by this time, it is difficult to get them to sell 

 it at all. I am perhaps the only one who has ever succeeded. I help them in their business 

 with the Turkish pachas, prevent oppression, enable them to trade in safety with English ex- 

 porters of wool ; and even after a deal of trouble on my part, I buy a first-class horse or 

 mare from them as a great favour, and at a long price. I have just sold, for instance, two 

 mares to the Emperor of Russia for ^^500. One of them was of this class, and cost me i^300 ; 

 she had great speed and stoutness. She belonged to the almost extinct breed of Scglawi Jedran. 

 She would have made a fortune in India; such a stride — 15 feet i inch. The Arabs say no 

 one ever got such a mare from them before. I have another now in my stable which cost me 

 ;^30O. She is of equal breed (Maneghi Stedrudj), equal height, beauty, and lasting power ; but, 

 unfortunately, she has no great speed, otherwise I would propose to send her to you." 



From internal evidence it may be assumed that this Scotch correspondent was John 

 Johnstone, Esq., successor of Andrew Johnstone, of Heath Hall, Annandale, the breeder 

 (amongst other turf notabilities) of the celebrated race-horse Charles XII. Mr. Johnstone kept 

 in 1872, and had kept for many years, a racing-stud at Sheffield Lane Paddocks, Yorkshire. 

 Before he returned to England he was a celebrity in the Calcutta Hunt Club, famed in songs 

 celebrating the chase of the wild boar as " Josto, King of Speares," and very successful on 

 the Indian turf. He bought a celebrated Calcutta Arab race-horse, Minuet, which " The Druid " 

 relates carried his owner, weighing thirteen stone, in a famous run with Sir Watkin Wynn's 

 hounds, and could screw through or jump anything. But a part of Sir Watkin's country is better 

 suited to ponies than full-sized horses ; indeed, before a Pytchley huntsman superseded a Welsh- 

 man, the huntsman in the mountain country frequently rode a pony. 



Minuet and other Arabs were put to the stud by Mr. Johnstone ; but up to 1S78 no race- 

 horse and no remarkable hunter had resulted from experiments tried under very advantageous 



circumstances. 



TURCOMAN HORSES. 



The Turcoman horse had the reputation of being an ugly inferior brute until brought into 

 notice by Baker Pacha in his interesting book, "Clouds in the East." 



The Turcoman horses appear quite thorough-bred, yet often reach the height of 16 hands, 

 E 



