FOREIGN HORSES 15 



mare, should be long, but fine and delicately cut, like 

 the ears of a gazelle. 



"It must be remarked that the head and tail are the 

 two points especially regarded by Arabs in judging of a 

 horse, as in them they think they can discover the surest 

 signs of his breeding. The tails of the Nejd horses are 

 as peculiar as their heads, and are as essential to their 

 beauty. However other points might differ, every horse 

 at Hail had its tail set on in the same fashion, in 

 repose something like the tail of a rocking-horse, and 

 not as has been described ' thrown out in a perfect 

 arch.' In motion the tail was held high in the air, and 

 looked as if it could not under any circumstances be 

 carried low. , . . 



"With regard to colour, of the hundred animals in the 

 Hail stables there were about forty greys or rather 

 whites, thirty bays, twenty chestnuts, and the rest 

 brown. We did not see a real black, and of course there 

 are no roans or piebalds, or duns, for these are not Arab 

 colours. The Emir one day asked us what colours we 

 preferred in England, and when we told him bay or 

 chestnut he quite agreed with us. Nearly all Arabs 

 prefer bay with black points, though pure white with a 

 very black skin and hoofs is also liked. In a bay or 

 chestnut, three white feet, the off fore-foot being dark, 

 are not objected to. But, as a rule, colour is not much 

 regarded at Hail, for there, as elsewhere in Arabia, a 

 fashionable strain is all in all." 



In the desert no written pedigrees are kept, and the foal 

 takes rank according to the family of his dam ; but then the 

 greatest care is taken that she visits only a stallion of the 

 highest caste. In a way this accords with the teaching of 

 Bruce Lowe, to follow the lineage of the dam, in reckoning 

 the descent of a horse. The " mark of the Prophet's 

 thumb," above alluded to, refers to the ancient legend that 

 Mahomet put his seal upon five favourite mares by imprint- 

 ing his thumb upon them, and their famiJies are frequently 

 said to form the select " upper classes " of the desert under 

 the distinguished title of " EI Khamsa." 



