14 Indian Racing Reminiscences. 



have of permanently improving English race-horses 

 by an admixture of Arab blood, as if the differences 

 between the various breeds of horses were not the results 

 of the effects of climate, selection, stable management, 

 Avork, and training. I make bold to say that if one 

 thousand Arab mares and fifty Arab horses of the 

 purest Desert breed were imported into England, bred 

 from strictly among themselves, and managed after our 

 .style, that the sixth generation would be undistinguish- 

 able from ordinary English animals. 



The English and Australian horses which run in 

 India are about the same class as the somewhat non- 

 descript animals that run for hunters' races on the flat 

 in England. As a rule, the colonials more than hold 

 their own, as they are better able to stand the climate, 

 and have sounder feet and legs than their English 

 ■cousins. 



It is an undoubted fact that the drier the country in 

 which horses are foaled and brought up, the sounder and 

 stronger are their hoofs. I am convinced from experi- 

 ence, though it is difficult to prove the case to demon- 

 stration, that the same rule holds good with respect to 

 bone, tendon, and ligament. The conformation of the 

 fore-legs of well-bred Walers, though not to the same 



