ARABIAN HORSES. 269 
long, swinging stride, the hind feet considerably over- 
stepping the print left by the fore feet, — overstepping 
from twelve to eighteen inches, —sometimes, if care- 
ful observers may be trusted, even as much as two or 
three feet. Above all, she swings her head from side 
to side, and looks about with curiosity, as she goes. 
This mark of alertness and vivacity is among the 
Bedouins a sine gua non of good breeding. ‘The son 
of a certain sheikh being about to purchase a horse, 
asked advice of his father. ‘The old man answered 
simply, “Get one whose ears are ever in motion, 
turning now forward and now backward, as if he 
were listening to something.” 
In truth, a well-bred horse, the world over, exhibits. 
similar indications of a lively spirit, and of an in- 
quiring mind. There is no pleasure in the use of a 
horse who fails to prick his ears, and to keep them in 
motion; and it would be a short but not seriously 
inadequate description of a good roadster to say that 
you can drive him fifty or sixty miles in a day with- 
out taking the prick out of his ears. . The head of our 
Gomussa mare is the first and chief part of her to be 
examined. 
Whyte-Melville wrote : — 
“ A head like a snake, and a skin like a mouse, 
An eye like a woman's, bright, gentle, and brown, 
With loins and a back that would carry a house, 
And quarters to lift him smack over a town.” 
This comparison of the head of a horse to that of 
the snake has often been criticised, and yet I think 
an Arab would perceive the force of the simile. The 
head of an Arabian horse when he is excited, writes 
one, “seems to be made up of forehead, eyes, and 
