The Eno-lisk Horse. 



•^ 



blood, ' the true son of Arabia Deserta, without a drop of 

 EngHsh blood in his veins.' If such can be proved to be 

 the case, our horse is entitled to be called thorough-bred. 



Others hold the opinion that our horse's excellence is 

 to be attributed to the consummate skill in breeding ex- 

 hibited in this country, rather than to the procuration of 

 original stock of good description. And there are some 

 who have no knowledge of the history or antecedents 

 of our thorough-bred horse. 



What is generally understood by the term ' thorough- 

 bred ' is any horse or mare which may have a place in 

 the Stud Book, and can be traced partly (certainly not 

 altogether) up to Arabians, Barbs, Turks, Persian, Egyp- 

 tian, and other horses of Eastern blood, which, to say 

 the least, is a very vague and incomplete definition or 

 explanation of the term. 



Thorough-bred means bred from the best blood, com- 

 pletely bred ; or, it might be put, completely or entirely 

 bred from the best blood — not merely the best that may 

 be at hand, but the very best procurable — such which 

 has been kept pure, and has not suffered from degene- 

 racy ; bred completely from a pure and original race. 



The state of the horse in this country at the time 

 immediately preceding the arrival of the Darley Arabian 

 appears to bear some resemblance to that of the inhabitants 

 of England during the Saxon period, before the Conquest. 

 Although nominally Saxon, for a long period Norse blood 

 had been dispersed throughout the land. Norsemen, 

 from Norway and Denmark, the same race, had overrun 

 many parts of England ; and at the time of the Con- 

 quest the country was ready to receive a further infusion 



