THE HORSE. 
XIII 
HISTORY. 
a very dry and arid region, their characters have become adapted to these conditions of climate and food. They are more com¬ 
pact than the horse of Barbary, having a rounder body, shorter limbs, with more of sinew, or what is termed bone. Yet they 
are of the smaller class of horses, very little exceeding, on a medium, fourteen hands, or fifty-six inches in height. As compared 
with the horses of countries abounding in the grasses, their aspect is lean, their form slender, and their chest narrow. But the 
slimness of figure of these horses is not inconsistent with muscular force; and their movements are agile, their natural paces swift, 
and their spirit unmatched. The power of their delicate limbs is indicated by the well-marked muscles of the fore-arm and thigh, 
and the starting sinews of the leg. The shoulder is sufficiently oblique; the withers are elevated; the hack is moderately short; 
and the quarters are good. The head is well-formed ; the forehead broad; the ears are somewhat long, but alert; the eyes full 
and clear ; the veins prominent;—the whole rather indicating a happy union of gentleness and spirit, than that fiery temper which 
is associated with the common ideas of the Desert Horse. Bishop Heber, in the narrative of his journey through the Upper 
Provinces of India, gives, in a passing notice, a more correct notion of the Arab than the more laboured descriptions of others :— 
“ My morning rides,” says he, u are very pleasant. My horse is a nice, quiet, good-tempered, little Arab, who is so fearless, 
that he goes without starting close to an elephant, and is so gentle and docile that he eats bread out of my hand, and has almost 
as much attachment and coaxing ways as a dog. This seems to be the general character of the Arab horses, to judge from what 
I have seen in this country. It is not the fiery dashing animal I had supposed, but with more rationality about him, and more 
apparent confidence in his rider, than the majority of English horses.” 
The figure in the Plate represents correctly the form of the genuine Arab. The horse here represented was taken in an at¬ 
tack by an Arab tribe on a party of the Royal Family of Persia, when journeying on a pilgrimage. The Arab chief who headed 
the attacking party was killed, and his charger, running into the Persian ranks, was taken. A ransom, enormous for so poor a 
tribe, was subsequently offered by the Arabs for their noble horse, but refused; and he was brought to England by Sir John 
M‘Neil. He stands fourteen and a half hands high. He is gentle in the highest degree, and so thoroughly trained to that kind 
of exercise which the Arabs are careful to teach their horses, that he may be gallopped round the narrowest circle. When his 
portrait was in the course of being painted, he was languid from the cold of the weather. It was wished to rouse him for a 
little, and the idea occurred of trying the effect of some tones of simple music. The sounds no sooner struck his ear than his 
whole frame was agitated; his heart throbbed so violently as to be seen beating; and so great was his excitement, that it was ne¬ 
cessary instantly to stop the music. Some chord of feeling, it seems, had been struck : perchance he was reminded for a moment 
of his desert home, and of the friends from whom he had been so rudely severed. 
The horses of England would perish under the scanty nourishment, the toils, and privations of the Arab. These Desert 
horses subsist on the scantiest fare, and are patient of hunger and thirst in a degree unknown in any other races except the Afri¬ 
can. They feed on the scanty plants which the borders of the desert supply, and when these are wanting, they are fed on a little 
barley, with chopped straw, withered herbs, roots dragged from the sands, dates when these can be obtained, and in cases of need, 
the milk of the Camel. They drink at long intervals, and in moderate quantities. They bear continued exposure to the fiercest 
heat, and day after day pursue marches of incredible toil through the burning sands of the wilderness. The temper of these beautiful 
horses is no less happily moulded than their bodily powers to their condition. They are gentle, patient, and attached to their rude 
and simple protectors. This, indeed, is to be regarded as the effect of training as much as of temperament; for these horses, 
under the charge of Europeans, frequently manifest a vicious and indomitable temper. But the Arab treats his horse as a com¬ 
panion, never beats him, but cheers him with his voice, and only uses him with seeming cruelty in those demands on the physical 
powers of the animal which necessity requires. In the desert, the mare of the Bedouin and her foal inhabit the same tent as him¬ 
self and his children. She is the friend and playmate of the little household; her neck is often their pillow, and the children roll 
upon and caress her and her foal, and no accident ever happens. The mare of the Arab thus acquires a docility and attachment 
to man which nothing afterwards destroys. She is obedient to her master’s voice, and will neigh when she hears his footsteps. 
Without a bit she will obey the slightest motion of the rider, stand at a word, or put herself at speed in an instant. Such is the 
creature so happily formed for the scanty herbs, the thirst and toils of the desert. These fine little horses have extended over all 
the East, and their descendants retain for a long time the characters which had been imprinted upon them in their native wil¬ 
derness. 
The horses of Arabia are produced in the greatest numbers in the countries bordering on Syria and the Euphrates, and there 
likewise the finest races are reared; nay, a great part of the horses called Arabian are in reality produced beyond the true geo¬ 
graphical bounds of Arabia. The larger part of Arabia consisting of sands and rocky deserts, has never in any age been 
fitted for the rearing of many horses; and it is altogether an error to suppose that these steril regions are countries abounding 
in horses. Not only are the countries too barren for the rearing of horses, but the burning climate of the greater part of the 
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