THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 185 



her. If he sells half, the buyer takes the mare, and is 

 obliged to let the seller take the mare's next filly, or 

 the buyer may keep the filly and return the mare. If 

 the Arab has sold but one-third of the mare, the pur- 

 chaser takes her home, but must give the seller the 

 fillies of two years, or else one of them and the mare. 

 The fillies of all subsequent years belong to the buyer, 

 as well as all the male colts produced on the first or any 

 following year. It thus happens that most of the 

 Arab mares are the joint property of two or three per- 

 sons, or even of half-a-dozen, if the price of the mare 

 be very high. A mare is sometimes sold on the re- 

 markable condition that all the booty obtained by the 

 man who rides her shall be shared between him and 

 the seller. 



It is not among the Arabs alone we find horses, like 

 ships, shared among several owners : the same thing 

 prevails in some parts of Ireland. An amusing in- 

 stance is mentioned in Lord George Hill's " Facts 

 from Groeedore :" " In an adjacent island, belonging 

 to this estate, three men were concerned in one horse ; 

 but the poor brute was rendered useless, as the unfor- 

 tunate foot of the supernumerary leg remained unshod, 

 none of them being willing to acknowledge its depen- 

 dency, and accordingly it became quite lame. There 

 were many intestine rows upon the subject ; at length 

 one of the ' company' came to the main land and 

 called on a magistrate for advice, stating, that the 



