18 THE HORSE. 



Journey to Khorasan) thus relates the impression which they made on him: 

 " They are deficient in compactness. Their bodies are long in proportion 

 to their bulk. They are not well-ribbed up. They are long' on the legs, 

 — deficient in muscle, — falling off below the knee ; — narrow chested, — 

 long necked, — head large, uncouth, and seldom well put on. Such was 

 the impression T received fi-om the first sight of them, and it was not for 

 some time that their superior valuable qualities were apparent to me." 



THE TARTAR AND CALMUCK HORSE. 



The horses of the other parts of Tartary, comprehending the immense 

 plains of Central Asia, and a considerable part of European Russia, are 

 little removed from a wild state : they are small and badly made ; but 

 capable of supporting the longest and most rapid journey, on the scantiest 

 fare. The foals, from the earliest period, are exposed to the inclemency 

 of the weather, have little to eat, and follow their dams in the longest 

 excursions, and, therefore, soon acquire a very great power of sustaining 

 fatigue. They must be hardy for another reason. The Tartars live much 

 on the flesh of horses, and, consequently, those animals that are unable to 

 support the labour of their frequent rapid emigrations are soon destroyed, 

 and only the more vigorous preserved. 



The horses, which range at large over the plains, are divided into herds, 

 at the head of which are placed two stallions, who carefully prevent them 

 from intermingling with each other, and it is rarely that a foal is lost. On 

 the approach of a strange herd, the stallions drive their own into a close 

 body, place themselves in front, and, if necessary, attack and drive off the 

 others. As the stallion-foals grow up, they are driven away from the 

 herd, and are seen straggling about at a distance, until they are strong 

 enough to form herds of wild mares for themselves. 



These horses, or those of a similar breed and habits, were beaten by not 

 the first-rate English blood-horses, in a race which fairly put to the test 

 both their speed and stoutness. On the 4th of August, 1825, a race of 

 the cruel distance of more than forty-seven miles was run between two 

 Cossack and two thorough-bred English horses — Sharper and Mina. The 

 most celebrated Cossack horses from the Don, the Black Sea, and the 

 Ural, were sent ; and, after numerous trials, the best were selected. On 

 starting, the Cossacks took the lead at a moderate pace, the English 

 following at about three or four lengths, but before they had gone half a 

 mile, the stirrup-leather of Sharper broke, and he ran away with his rider, 

 followed by Mina, and they went more than a mile, and up a steep hill, 

 before they could be held in. 



Half the distance was run in an hour and four minutes. Both the 

 English horses were then fresh, and one of the Cossacks. On their re- 

 turn, Mina fell lame, and was taken away. The Cossack horse, likewise, 

 began to flag, when the accompanying Russians began to drag him on by 

 the bridle, throwing away the saddle, and putting a mere child on his 

 back. Sharper, likewise, evidently shewed the effects of the pace at which he 

 had gone when running away, and was much distressed. The Cossacks 

 then had recourse to foul play, and actually carried on their horse ; some 

 dragging him on by a rope, and the bridle at his head ; and others pulling 

 him on by the tail, and riding alongside of his quarters to support him, 

 and relieving each other at this fatiguing work. Sharper did the whole 

 distance in two hours and forty-eight minutes, and the Cossack horse was 



