REVIEW. 625 
can be obtained for him, as the life of a freebooter is often 
made to depend on the endurance of his horse 
“Whenever competent judges shall go into the heart of 
the Desert, ready to give high prices, they will obtain very 
valuable horses, but such persons must look to fine form and 
true action, as well as endurance. On no account must they 
select horses with straight shoulders or weak loins. Neither 
must they object to a horse on account of low stature , because 
when our system of feeding is applied to small but vigorous 
Arabs, the progeny obtained from them will, like that ob- 
tained from their predecessors on our turf, be only too much 
disposed to acquire high stature, in doing which they, after a 
time, wholly lose the compact and strong form of their 
ancestors. 
“ There is no doubt that the stature of our early race-horses 
did not exceed fourteen hands, while that of our present 
ones is rarely less than sixteen hands, and often more, while 
they have lost the fine symmetry of their ancestors, that 
performed so long and so well great tasks. 
“Nothing is more certain than that there are Arab horses 
to be found more agreeable to ride than any others in the 
world, save a very few of our thorough-bred, or nearly 
thorough-bred, horses; but these are now become such rare 
exceptions as only to make us regret the more that the great 
mass of our well-bred horses are become so bad for all useful 
purposes. Even those that are so agreeable are usually dis- 
posed to lameness when ridden at a quick pace on hard 
roads, and can rarely carry more than very light weights.” 
It does not appear that the qualities inherent in the Arab 
himself, how T ever high in caste, are such as, in a general way, 
to recommend him to an English rider ; neither are his native 
properties improved by cross and cultivation ; still, he pos- 
sesses the blood in his veins which we want — the stamina we 
require or ought to seek for, and which we are rapidly losing in 
pursuing the same system, with the same blood, ad infinitum . 
We must not expect, however, to derive the meditated ad- 
vantages from the Arab, on the first, or the second, or even 
third cross probably ; though ultimately there would seem 
every probability of our attaining so desirable an end, and 
thereby improving not only our breed of racers, but even- 
tually that of our hunters and hackneys as well, to an incal- 
culable extent. The experiment is "worth making, it bids 
xxvi. 81 
