EuROrEAiM-BRED ArAHS. 33 



reeding, and Count Alfred Andrassy a stallinn of the Czyndery or Tartary breed. The greater 



irt of the remainder are stallions and brood mares, selected for exhibition from the Government 



studs at Babolna, Mezohegyes, Kisber, and Debreczin. These are of English, Norman, Spanish, 



Lippizaner, and Arab origin ; but on looking through the whole of the Hungarian horses, one 



cannot fail to remark the manifest preponderance of Arab blood." 



"AtBolzna, in Hungary, a great royal stud is maintained for breeding nothing but Arabs, 

 which formerly enjoyed a European reputation ; but, whether from the poverty of the soil or other 

 causes, this stud, which consists of over 600 horses, has very much deteriorated. 



"The late King of Wurtemburg had a passion for Arab horses. Whilst Crown Prince he 

 rode through the last campaign against Napoleon I. on an Arab charger, which he afterwards 

 sent into a stud he had established in 1810 near Stuttgard ; but it was not till he came to the 

 throne, in 18 17, that the stud attained the large proportions which it maintained till his death, 

 in 1864. His Majesty took extraordinary pains to obtain all the best blood from the East. 

 By his marriage with a Russian princess he was enabled to procure some very high-bred mares 

 from the Caucasus ; and he sent special commissioners to Hungary, Russia, Sj-ria, Constan- 

 tinople, and Egypt, for the purchase of horses. 



" On the death of William IV., he bought, at Hampton Court, the black horse Sultan, said to 

 have been the highest-caste Arab ever brought to this country, and which had been presented to 

 the English monarch by the Imam of Muscat. Altogether his Majesty succeeding in procuring 

 for his stud no fewer than eighteen horses and thirty-six mares, all of pure Arab blood and 

 birth ; and in 1861 the stud contained over 100 brood mares, fifty-one of which were Arabs. 

 It will thus be seen that during half a century and more, during which the stud was conducted 

 with royal magnificence, every opportunity was afforded for trying the effect of Arab crossings. 

 Freiherr von Hiigel, who was chief of the stud, writing in the lifetime of the king, speaks most 

 favourably of the results, so far as the breeding of pure Arabs was concerned. According to 

 him, the produce became bigger and stronger than their parents. It is to be apprehended, 

 however, that, as in India, where the breeding from pure Arabs was also for a long time at- 

 tempted, although the young produce became much longer in the leg than Arab-born horses, 

 what they gained in size they lost in symmetry and compactness. Abbas Pacha, late ruler of 

 Egypt, made a shrewd remark to Von Hiigel when he was describing the pure Arabs in the royal 

 stables at Stuttgard : ' Even if you succeed in getting hold of genuine Arabs, you will never 

 breed pure Arabs from them, for an Arab is no longer an Arab when he ceases to breathe 

 the air of the desert.' With respect to half-bred stock, the crossing of Arabs with Wurtem- 

 burg mares failed signally, as it did with Russian and Polish mares, but it succeeded better 

 with those from Persia and the Caucasus. With sixteen English hunting mares imported in 18 16, 

 and crossed with Emir, an Arab horse purchased at Damascus, an excellent strain of carriage- 

 horses was produced. A similar importation of Yorkshire and Irish mares in 1822, which 

 were crossed with another Arab, Mahmoud, laid the foundation of the present fine breed of 

 carriage-horses which are to be seen drawing the royal carriages, averaging 17 hands in 

 height. The king's favourite colours were black and grey. From the English mares and 

 Mahmoud descend the greys, whilst the blacks owe their origin to mares procured trom the 

 Thakehnen stud, in Prussia."* 



* One of the finest .\rab crosses I ever saw was of the Wurtemburg !)reed. He was a charger, ridden, in 1844, by the landlord 

 of the " Two Swans" at Frankfort, an officer in the mounted Burgher Guard of that city — a beautiful grey, over 15 hands 2 inches, 

 with fine charger action, very docile, and full of courage. He was old, and had never been shod ; his hoofs perfect. To be sure, he 

 had never done anything beyond walking exercise, except on days of drill and parade. — S. S. 

 F 



