278 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
take the pains to avoid an obstacle such as a stone, 
and will frequently trip over it, knowing full well 
that she can always save herself with the other leg. 
But I have driven this same mare down a mountain 
side, where the only road was the dry bed of a rocky 
stream, and there she picked her way in perfect 
safety, without taking a false step. 
The smallness of the Arabian horse is due partly, 
at least, to scantiness of food. “Horses, mares, and 
colts, all alike, are starved during a great part of the 
year, no corn being ever given, and only camel’s milk 
when other food fails. They are often without water 
for several days together, and in the most piercing 
nights of winter they stand uncovered, and with no 
more shelter than can be got on the lee side of the 
tents. Their coats become long and shaggy, and they 
are left uncombed and unbrushed till the new coat 
comes in spring. At these times they are ragged- 
looking scare-crows, half starved, and as rough as 
ponies. In the summer, however, their coats are as 
fine as satin, and they show all the appearance of 
breeding one has a right to expect of their blood.” 
The cow-pony of our Western and Southwestern 
States is akin to the Arabian, being descended from 
the Barbs (in part Arabian) that the Spaniards 
brought over when they conquered South America; 
and the cow-pony and the Arabian horse fare very 
much the same in winter, and undergo a similar 
change in spring. “The cow-pony,’”’ writes Colonel 
T. A. Dodge in a private letter, “in many places, in 
the winter, looks like a bear. His hide becomes fur, 
and his legs are as big as barrels. But when he 
scours out in the spring, he is as fine as any thorough- 
