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the well-bred Barb is a typical light cavalry horse or saddle hack. The Tuni- 

 sian Barb varies mi.ch in size, attaining at times 15-3 hands at the withers, 

 whilst at others, particularly when mountain-bred, he is no more than a stout, 

 active, sure-footed pony. Unfortunately, the general carelessness of the 

 native temperament reacts quite as much on the horses of Tunisia as upon 

 other forms of livestock:. Sound and unsound horses are more or less in- 

 discriminately mated together, whilst their general growth is allowed to 

 become stunted from lack of proper nourishment. In most cases young horses 

 are broken in to saddle work at too early an age, or at all events, carelessly 

 set tasks beyond their powers of endurance. Hence, strained tendons and 

 general limb blemishes are rather the rule than the exception. The absence 



Tunisian Barb Mare. 



of fences to keep back horses within their pasture grounds leads the natives 

 to hobble them when they are put out to grass. These rough hobbles are 

 rarely examined or removed, and permanent injury to the limbs are usually 

 the result. The Arab shows great appreciation for an easy ambling gait ; 

 hence, one of their first occupations is to teach the horse to amble at command, 

 by methods that are more effective than humane. Unfortunately, undue 

 reliance on this mode of motion invariably leads to a sort of shuffling move- 

 ment of the limbs and a common tendency to stumble in most horses broken 

 in by the Arabs. 



On the whole, it would appear that well-bred Barbs are difficult to secure 

 in a country in which one would expect them to be numerous. There are two 



