Part 16

It is impossible, we think, to get a pure race out of a stock the blood of which is impure. On the other hand it is a well authenticated fact that it is quite possible to restore to its primitive nobleness a breed that has become impoverished,—but without any taint in its blood,—whether through insufficient food, want of proper care, or excessive and unsuitable work: in a word, a race may be restored, the degeneracy of which has not been occasioned by any admixture of blood.

In default of public notoriety, it is by actual trial, by speed combined with bottom, that the Arabs form their judgment on horses, and recognise the nobleness and purity of their extraction. But the form likewise reveals the higher qualities. A thoroughbred horse is one that has three things long, three things short, three things broad, and three things clean. The three things long are the ears, the neck, and the fore-legs. The three things short are the dock, the hind-legs and the back. The three things broad are the forehead, the chest, and the croup. The three things clean are the skin, the eyes, and the hoof.

He ought to have the withers high, and the flanks hollow and without any superfluous flesh.

"Dost thou accomplish a journey at great speed with steeds high in the withers and fine in the flanks?"

The tail should be well furnished at the root, so that it may cover the space between the thighs.

"The tail is like unto the veil of a bride."

The eye of a horse should be turned as if trying to look at its nose, like the eye of a man who squints.

"Like to a beautiful coquette who leers through her veil, his glance towards the corner of the eye pierces through the hair of the forelock which covers his forehead as with a veil."

The ears resemble those of an antelope startled in the midst of her herd.

The forelock, abundant.

"In the hour of pain mount a slender mare whose forehead is covered by silky and flowing hair."

The nostrils, wide.

"Each of his nostrils resembles the den of a lion; the wind rushes out of it when he is panting."

The cavities in the interior of the nostrils ought to be entirely black. If they are partly black and partly white the horse is of only moderate value.

The fetlock, thick.

"They have fetlocks that resemble the down which is concealed beneath an eagle's wing and like him they grow black in the heat of battle."

The fetlock joints, small.

"The fetlock joints of their hind-legs are small, but the muscles on both sides stand out prominent."

The hoof, round and hard.

"The hoof should resemble the cup of a slave. They walk on hoofs hard as the moss-covered stones of a stagnant pool."

The frogs, hard and dry.

"The frogs concealed beneath the hoofs are seen when he lifts his feet, and resemble date-stones in hardness."

"When my courser rushes towards a goal he makes a noise like to that of wings in motion, and his neigh resembles the mournful note of the nightingale."

"His neck is long and graceful as a male ostrich's. His ear is split in two and his black eye full of fire."

"In the elegance of his form he resembles a picture painted in a palace. He is as majestic as the palace itself."

If by protruding his head and neck in order to drink from a stream that flows level with the ground, a horse can remain upright on all fours without bending either of his fore-legs, be assured that his form is perfect, that all parts of his body harmonise with one another, and that he is thoroughbred.

Among the horses of the tribes of the Sahara, those of the Hamyân, the Arbâa, the Oulad-Naïl, and their respective branches, are the most patient of hunger and thirst, the most capable of enduring fatigue, the fleetest gallopers, and the most able to keep up a good pace for several days together without stopping,—very different in that respect from the horses of the Tell.

There existed in ancient times several stallions whose fame has come down to us. Among others, el Koura, of the tribe of the Beni-Timin, and Aouadj, "the concave," of the tribe of the Beni-Helal. On the subject of this latter, the following anecdote is told: His master being asked, "what canst thou relate of a surprising nature in connection with thy horse?" recounted this anecdote: