92 LIGHT HORSES: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



of the desert.' For such a class of horse the Italian Govern- 

 ment would be an eager competitor, and from Buenos Ayres 

 large orders might be confidently anticipated. Khaled is good 

 enough to hold his own against all comers on the flat or 

 between the flags, to carry a first flight fourteen-stone man in 

 the Shires, would mount the Prince of Wales to perfection at 

 the head of the Tenth, or Lady Clara Vere de Vere in the 

 Row, and could not be passed over by the most critical judge 

 for one of the Queen's Premiums. 



" This account is embellished with a portrait of * Speed of 

 Thought,' a pure Keheilan - Seglawi Arabian, bred by the 

 Gomassa tribe of the Anezah, the property of the writer. 

 ' Speed of Thought ' was a dark, rich chestnut without white, 

 save a star. His near eye had been knocked out by the point 

 of a lance in a razzia. Height 14.3, girth 72 inches, measured 

 85 inches below the knee, and stood on perfectly-shaped feet, 

 tough as the nether millstone. He was possessed of super- 

 lative quality from head to heel, of great muscular develop- 

 ment ; sinews clean and hard as pin- wire, and stood fair and 

 square on the best of limbs and joints. High couraged, as 

 proved when he beat the famous horse Long Trump by a 

 short head after a desperate race ; full of what the Americans 

 term * vim ' ; a strong, vigorous galloper ; his bold, free, and 

 jaunty walk, quite up to five miles an hour, being the theme 

 of general admiration. Across country, though somewhat 

 headstrong, he was as clever as a cat, and would face any- 

 thing, no matter how big, how yawning, and on parade bore 

 himself bravely, as became his ancestry. Great depth through 

 the heart, strong shoulders, a muscular neck with marked 

 breadth in front of the withers and immediately behind the 

 ears, denoting lung, staying, and weight-carrying power. The 

 nearest approach I have seen to this aseel son of the desert 

 was Count de la Grange's ' Consul,' the winner of the French 

 Derby, but this undoubtedly clever and shapely thoroughbred 

 lacked his fine fibre and finish. A better constitutioned, 

 sounder, or gamer horse never looked through a bridle, and 



