I go The Arabian Horse, 



in those days. Perhaps the fashion was guided by the 

 constitution and capabilities of the horse. 



This formation in the so-called thorough-bred horse 

 does and must necessarily affect all other breeds in the 

 country ; the standard or chief breed gives the tone to 

 all others — to our hunters and troop-horses. 



Colonel Shakespeare states, the horses in the Hydera- 

 bad Deccan are superior to any other native breed in 

 India. They owe their superiority to the pure stock 

 from which they were derived, the Arabian. So many 

 as 500 Arab horses were imported into the Deccan at 

 the commencement of this century. The best troop- 

 horses bred in the late Company's studs had Arab 

 horses for their sires. The most successful Government 

 stud was one in the Madras Presidency, and that was 

 because the high-caste Arab was almost entirely used 

 as a sire. 



The horses of the Hyderabad Deccan possess many 

 of the fine points and qualities of their progenitors, the 

 Arabians. Their temper, endurance, freedom from dis- 

 ease, longevity, capability of work and keeping con- 

 dition on small quantities of food, their high courage 

 and natural aptitude for being broken in, together with 

 their attachment to their riders, come direct from the 

 desert blood. Such qualities are admirable for all 

 descriptions of riding-horses, and especially for cavalry 

 horses, and, it would appear, can only be obtained by 

 direct Arab blood. 



During the late war it was constantly reported from 

 many sources that horses derived partly from Arabian 



