14 THE HORSE, ASS, AND MULE 



French government mated sixty Thoroughbred mares with pure 

 Arabian stalHons at the national stud at Pompadour. The object 

 was to obtain Anglo-Arab stallions for service in the government 

 studs. These crossbred stallions are usually placed in low, soft 

 districts, where the horses are coarse and of inferior bone. The 

 progeny from such stallions have more refinement and quality 

 than those obtained by other matings. At the present time one 

 important use for Arab sires is breeding to Welsh, New Forest, 

 Exmoor, or similar ponies to produce crossbreds for polo playing. 

 In 191 3 fifteen Arabian stallions were shipped to West Virginia 

 to be used on farm mares in the blue-grass counties of that state.^ 

 The present-day recognition of the Arab horse in America is 

 very slight. The breed is not popular among horsemen, and 

 although for many years efforts have been made to interest the 

 people in Arabs, but very few are to be found on the American 

 continent. The argument advanced is that our own American 

 saddle horses are far superior to the Arab for riding in the 

 saddle, while for speed in harness nothing compares with our 

 trotter or pacer. In the opinion of most horsemen there is 

 no special place or use for the Arab in America. The advocates 

 of the Arab regard him as a premier saddle horse or pony and 

 assign him large credit in the development of the breeds of light 

 horses. " The Arab horse is par excellence the general utility 

 animal," writes H. K. Bush-Brown, ^ "and as such has no equal 

 because of his intelligence, docility, fleetness, and endurance, and 

 his strong back makes him the best weight carrier in the world." 

 Professor H. F. Osborn states that^ "the unpopularity of the 

 Arab in some quarters is due to mistakes which have been made 

 in breeding and environment or nurture. It is impossible to rear 

 the Arab and preserve it true to type without regard to the hardy 

 conditions in feeding methods and environment of the semi-desert 

 regions of Arabia where these animals were originally bred." In 

 his opinion the chief value of the Arab to-day will be in giving a 

 finish to cavalry stock and the saddle type in general, " but the 

 mixture can only be made in the most scientific manner." 



' Breeders^ Gazette, May 21, 1913. 



2 Arabian National Studbook, Vol. I (1913), p. 9. 



* Ibid. p. 3. 



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