284 REMARKS ON VARIOUS BREEDS OF HORSES. 



any Arab in India for f mile. Taking the time test, which 

 has been applied with great precision to the running of Arabs, 

 we find that their performances in India have been much 

 inferior to those accomplished by the English ponies, Lord 

 Clyde (formerly belonging to Mr. John Watson), Predominant, 

 and Labby (by Wisdom), and by the Australian pony mare 

 Achievement, none of whom exceeded fourteen hands in 

 height. Although Arabs are not race-horses, they are ex- 

 cellent hacks, and particularly excel as light cavalry troopers. 

 In these respects the small Arab, not exceeding 14.2, is, as a 

 rule, undoubtedly better than the bigger Arab. A son of the 

 Desert of the best type has a handsome and intelligent head, 

 with broad forehead, large, " kind " eyes, straight or concave 

 line of the face, large nostrils, well carried ears, lean and wide 

 jaw. His neck, if somewhat coarse, is well set on to his 

 head, has a good crest, is carried bravely, and is fairly long. 

 His shoulders are well sloped, although they often err, from a 

 galloping or jumping point of view, on the side of thickness, 

 and his breast is tolerably broad. He has capital legs and 

 feet. His withers are often somewhat low and thick. His 

 loins are flat, broad, and powerful. For roundness of barrel 

 and length of back ribs, for levelness of croup, and for 

 beautiful carriage of the tail, he is certainly without equal 

 among horses. He is not unfrequently higher over the croup 

 than at the withers, which, in that case, will have a conse- 

 quent tendency to be unduly low and thick. I do not think 

 that his hocks and gaskins are as good as those of well-bred 

 English or Australasian animals. In justice to the Arab, I 

 must point out that the heaviness of his forehand, as com- 

 pared to that of the English thoroughbred, is due to the 

 laro-e size of the muscles which attach his shoulders to his 



