ARAB HORSE BELONGING TO AUTHOR 101 



except roll. Half-past eight still saw me in the 

 same spot, no nearer to the Bois than I was at six 

 o'clock. The brother of the man to whom the horse 

 had previously belonged happened to be going out for 

 a ride with his sister, and saw me, and remarked, ' The 

 sooner you get off that horse and walk home the better, 

 for he has lost one of the hoofs off his fore-feet, and 

 will most probably kill you,' etc. To my surprise and 

 disgust I discovered that not only had the brute very 

 badly overreached, but had actually pulled half of his 

 hoof off with the shoe. I have always understood 

 that, for his size, no horse can compare with an Arab 

 in point of strength, and that morning's work most 

 conclusively proved to me that such is the case. After 

 a time this horse got quite fond of me, and I often 

 rode him in the Row, but he invariably attracted so 

 much attention as to be a nuisance, and so I sold him. 



I shall never forget Mr. Rice's face when one day I 

 rode into his yard in Piccadilly and asked for stable- 

 room, to enable me to get away from the crowd. He 

 said, ' I never saw a head and neck like this Arab's ;' 

 and he was perhaps one of the best judges in the 

 United Kingdom. He certainly was a lovely horse. 



Arabs are, without doubt, the most tractable of all 

 horses, and when they are treated with kindness from 

 the time they are foaled, become as affectionate as 

 dogs, and will use their every power in the service of 

 their master, and evince the most wonderful sagacity. 



The Arabs have, however, a most cruel and peculiar 

 method of testing if a horse is of the pure Kochlani 

 breed. They take a young three-year-old, which has 

 never before been mounted, and having galloped it 

 for some fifty or sixty miles, ride it into a lake up to 



