412 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



slender, and their crests very fine ; the withers sharp 

 and high, producing a beautiful forehand. They are, 

 however, faulty in the breast, being too narrow, and 

 the quarters and flanks too flat, with the back some- 

 what bent. Bosman thinks them the most beautiful 

 in the world. One of these horses was sold in Grand 

 Cairo in 1816 for a sum equivalent to one thousand 

 pounds sterling. 



Several of these steeds have been imported into 

 Europe, and some into England ; but they did not 

 turn out so well for breeding from as was expected. 

 This failure might possibly arise from not breeding 

 them with the kind of animal to which their qualities 

 are likely to be the most useful. It is very probable 

 that they might improve our cavalry horses by 

 crossing them with three-part bred mares. 



SECTION IV.— AMERICAN HORSES. 



Horses are found in vast numbers in a wild state 

 in the immense plains of South America, extending 

 from the shores of La Plata to Patagonia. They are 

 an emancipated race, emanating from those which 

 were carried thither by the Spaniards, after their 

 discovery of the new continent ; and have increased 

 with such astonishing rapidity, that they are to be 

 seen in troops of many thousands. Azara affirms 

 that they sometimes congregate in squadrons of not 

 less than ten thousand individuals. They are invari- 

 ably preceded by a leader, by whose movements they 

 are governed ; and all they do seems to be conducted 

 in a systematic style. 



These immense troops do not always feed together, 

 but are dispersed into smaller herds ; though when 

 disturbed they congregate, and continue so until th^ 



