The Racer. 97 



formees, son allure ferme.' These quotations appear 

 to be very significant. 



It might be sufficiently flattering to the Arabs, if they 

 cared about other people's concerns, to know that the 

 Arabian horse had given such excellent points to ours, 

 as we find by the above description he formerly pos- 

 sessed ; but we can hardly have cause to congratulate 

 ourselves, when we compare our'cheval de course' of 

 the present day with the animal M, Moerder shows him 

 to have been ' dans sa forme primitive.' Formerly he 

 was distinguished by his fine carriage, by his beautiful 

 head, of the Arabian type, his small ears, his short back, 

 his long and elegant neck ('gracicux' well expresses it), 

 his high and straight croup, his well set-on tail, his 

 strong and well-formed limbs, and his good true action. 



All these are eminently the attributes of the Arabian, 

 and, according to M. Moerder, were to be seen origi- 

 nally or formerly (in a modified degree, I think must be 

 understood) in the breed of horses derived from him, 

 which we call thorough-bred. Do we see all these points, 

 as a rule, in the modern racer ? Are they the invariable 

 or prevailing characteristics .'* The answer must be in the 

 negative. The grand carriage of the Arabian is not 

 seen ; the head is very often quite the reverse of the 

 Arabian's ; he has often long and large ears instead of 

 small ones ; his neck, though sometimes long, is as often 

 short, and very seldom ' gracieux ' ; his back has certainly 

 become elongated. Alas ! what shall we say when we 

 come to the high quarter, such as is seen among 

 Arabians. Ours is but very drooping. Instead of the 



H 



