96 THE iioitsE. 



known and referred to, as having notoriously amended our 

 horse — by proof of stock begotten of superior qualities, and 

 victorious on the turf through long generations — but few are 

 true Arabs. 



We have, it is true, the Darley Arabian, the Leeds Arabian, 

 Honey wood's White, the Oglethorpe, the Newcome Bay Moun- 

 tain, the Damascus, Cullen's Brown, the Chestnut, the Lonsdale 

 Bay, Combe's Gray and Bell's Gray Arabians ; but what is 

 generally called the Godolphin A/'aMan, as it seems now to be 

 the i^revailing opinion — his origin not being actually ascer- 

 tained — was a Barb, not an Arab from Arabia proper. Against 

 these, again, we find Place's White Turk, D'Arcey's Turk, the 

 Yellow Turk, Lister's or the Straddling Turk, the Byerly Turk, 

 the Selaby Turk, the Acaster Turk ; Curwen's Bay Barb, Comp- 

 ton's Barb, the Thoulouse Barb, Layton's Barb Mare, great- 

 great-grandam of Miss Layton ; the Koyal Mares, which were 

 Barbs from Tangier, and many other Barb horses, not from the 

 Eastern desert, heading the pedigrees of our best horses. 



In this connection, I would observe that the very reasons for 

 which the Marquis of Newcastle condemned the Markham Ara- 

 bian — viz., that when regularly trained he could do nothing 

 against race-horses — on account of which condemnation he has 

 i-eceived a sneer or a slur from every writer w^lio has discussed 

 the subject, are those which, at this very moment, prevent 

 prudent breeders from having recourse to oriental blood of any 

 kind. 



They cannot run or last against the English horse. They 

 have not the size, the bone, the muscle, or the shape, if we ex- 

 cept the beautiful head, the fine neck, thin withers, and admira- 

 bly long, deep and sloping shoulders, which are the inevitable 

 characteristics of the race. Therefore, all men who breed with 

 an eye to profit, — and howsoever it might have been in the 

 olden times of the Turf, there are few now who have not an 

 eye to it, either as hoping to win oji the turf, or to ]>roduce sala- 

 ble stock — prefer to jDut their mares to known English winning 

 liorses, proved getters of winners, of unquestioned bottom and 

 stoutness, rather than to try stallions of the desert blood, con- 

 cerning Avhich nothing is known beyond the attested pedigree, 

 and the visible shapes 



