Early Education. 93 



What is pvit forward in this country as a plea for the 

 deterioration, degeneracy, and want of endurance of our 

 thoro2igh-hrQd horse, is considered by the Arabs abso- 

 hitely necessary to the development of the inherent 

 good qualities of their horse. General Daumas was in- 

 formed by Abd-el-Kader that in the Sahara the pure-bred 

 descendant of the Arabian is taught to lead when a foal ; 

 when it has entered on its second year (a yearling, in 

 fact), it is ridden a mile or two, or even sixteen ; and 

 after it has completed eighteen months they do not fear 

 to fatigue it. The Emir also states that unless a horse 

 has been broken from a foal, he will never be able to 

 perform the great feats and long journeys for which the 

 Arabian is justly famed. Should his education be put 

 off until he is four years old, he is almost worthless ; Abd- 

 el-Kader would decline to buy such a horse. This is 

 his experience after having seen upwards of 10,000 colts 

 reared. He also affirms, when he has made long and 

 rapid marches at the head of 12,000 or 15,000 horsemen, 

 horses, however lean, if they had been early broken into 

 fatigue, never fell out of the ranks. The same system 

 is pursued by the Arabs in the East — early training and 

 hard work is the rule. M. Petiniaud, who wandered 

 among the Arab tribes from Diarbekir and, Aleppo in 

 the north, to the confines of Nejed in the south, thus 

 writes to General Daumas : ' I have witnessed in Asia 

 what you have written of in Africa.' 



In an article (I think in 'The Times') some few years 

 ago, I noticed the following : ' Although the staying 

 qualities of our racehorses are certainly on the decrease, 



