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LIBRARY
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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
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NATURAL HISTORY
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COPYRIGHTED 1907 BY JftMES A.LAWRENCE
CLAY KISMET'S FIRST FOAL
CLAY ECLIPSE
when twent>=one days old.
Among the prizc-i^'inucrs at Madison Square Garden, Neiv York City, igo6. Color red chestnut; height at maturity, 16-2.
Sire Clay Kismet, dam Lady Washington by Hegira, and he by General Grant's Linden Tree. Bred and raised by Mr. Randolph Huntington.
Clay Eclipse is a splendid example of the type and quality of Clay Kismet's foals, and he is sire of our stallion Abdul Eclipse.
I I
THE PURE ARABIANS^
AXD C^^iAAA^ /
AMERICO-ARABS
{HUXTIXGTOX HORSES)
1 Catalogue Containing History, Opinions
and Suggestions relative to the
Arabian Horse anJ
Horse Breeding
I OoS
HARTMAN STOCK FARM,
COLUMBUS, OHIO
of
^^S^t-'^^-rJc
Introduction
"// is faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth looking at." — Holmes.
^N writing the following sketch of our collection of our pure Arabians as well as our Huntington Clay Arabs, I have tried to keep my enthusiasm for these royally-bred horses in reasonable bounds. If I seem overconfident as to the usefulness of their blood, I hope I may be pardoned on the grounds that I believe I am better acquainted with their breeding and blood influence values than any one outside of Mr. Huntington, who bred them. Besides, the brilliant fame of the Arabian horse in the world's history is such as to place "Arabian horse enthusiasm" on the list of pardonable offenses. The pure Arabian stallions Khaled and Anizeh, as well as the Arabian Clay stallions Clay Kismet, Hegira, Islam, and Abdul Hamid II, certainly rep- resent the best accomplishments in horse breeding of Mr. Huntington's valuable and instructive life's work. I consider these his masterpieces.
The creation of these six wonderful stalUons, along with many other good ones, amounts to nothing less than a great feat, to be accomplished in one man's lifetime, when it is remembered and understood that two and three, and in some instances four and five generations of the Clay dams of Clay Kismet, Hegira, Islam, and Abdul Hamid II were also bred by Mr. Huntington. If his country- men do not appreciate such exclusive blood and noble effort it is not the fault of Mr. Huntington, for certainly he has done his part well. His manner of in- breeding was such as to refine and strengthen the blood of the Clay mares to a degree that especially prepared them for a perfect union with the Arabian blood which he introduced through the sire. I consider the basic blood plan, and ex- ecution by which the last mentioned four horses were created, as scientifically correct as well as unique and masterful. With his world of profound knowledge of blood influence and select horse breeding, coupled with his honest and painstaking nature, the ultimate success of his plans is assured, though they are finished by others. It will be noted that there was nothing accidental in Mr. Huntington's horse breeding ; on the contrary all was carefully planned and matured with religious precision and skill, regardless of cost and the endless sacrifice and hardship it entailed upon him, which can be endured only by men of his genius and natural breeding skill.
The two pure Arabian stallions Khaled and Anizeh I regard as not only the purest of pure, but also the equal, if not the superior, of any Arabians bred in civilization. It is the good fortune of this plant to own the great Khaled, and we have several of the offspring of Anizeh.
It is also the good fortune of this concern to own the celebrated Clay Kismet, who is half-brother to Khaled, both having been sired by the matchless royally- bred pure Arabian Nimr. Hegira and Abdul Hamid II are both still alive, and, notwithstanding they are now about thirty years old, both are still perfectly
potent and splendidly preserved. Islam died by accident. Anizeh is alive and in a state of splendid preservation, for the Arabian and Arabian-Barbs have almost double the life expectancy of any of the ordinary substrains of horseflesh.
We possess an own daughter of Islam and her son Arabian Kshot, by Khaled. We own also considerable of the offspring of Clay Kismet and some of Hegira's blood, also a grandson of Abdul Hamid II. Besides, we have a mare in foal by the beautiful Abdul Hamid II. As can be seen further along in this catalogue, we also have four very choice pure Arabian mares, two of which are sired by Khaled and two by Anizeh, one of which is a daughter of the celebrated Naomi, the mother of Khaled.
Through the special kindness of Mr. Huntington we are able to reproduce in this catalogue life-like pictures of the two Arabian stallions, Leopard and Linden Tree, as well as a splendid likeness each of the great Henry Clay and Islam, all from the original drawings by the late talented artist, Kittridge. Mr. Huntington has also favored us with the privilege of using two rare photos of the two celebrated desert-bred progenitors of Khaled and Clay Kismet, Maidan and the renowned original Kismet.
The fact that we own some of the blood of Hegira, Anizeh, Abdul Hamid II, and Nimr, we have included their portraits with those of Clay Kismet and his son and daughter. Clay Eclipse and Kathleen, also Khaled, drawn by the greatest of all modern horse artists, George Ford Morris, who is a real blessing and boon to one who has a horse catalogue to get up. The fidelity to the subject which Mr. Morris maintains in his portraits is such as to place him in a class by him- self. His skill to inject life and individuality into his work is excelled by none.
The reader who will peruse these pages carefully will discover that only the very purest and best blood obtainable was a characteristic feature of Mr. Hunt- ington's horse breeding career; time has not recorded a single instance in which his horse breeding principles have ever failed to bring a prompt and generous reward. All truly great animal breeders are very exacting in the selection of foundation blood ; once right, always right.
Our Clay Arabians, like our pure Arabs, possess the largest size ever seen in Arabian bred horses, which is combined with elegance, clean and faultless limbs and feet, wonderful grace of action, reliable dispositions, and that "do or die" gameness always to be found in Arabian bred horses.
The Arabian horse is as wonderful in mental development, courage and in- telligence as he is in physical perfection and endurance.
Our conditioner, who has had a lifetime of experience in the care and feeding of horses, marvels at the hardiness and easy keeping qualities they possess.
They are great eaters and easily fattened, and possess the consequent large, hardy middles.
The Arabian is honest, cheerful, vigorous, patient, enduring, fleet,' handsome, graceful, intelligent, kind, and last, but not least, the purest in blood of all of the equine race.
If Ohio horse breeders do not see fit to avail themselves of the rare and un- usual opportunity to breed to these royally-bred horses, it will prove their own
future loss; as we will offer the services of the nobly-bred pure Arabian stallion Khaled, also his half-brother Clay Kismet, and four royally-bred blended Arabian stallions during the season of 1908. Mares in considerable numbers have already been booked to these horses for the coming season from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and a number of additional Western states.
The old Morgan race of horses is daily referred to, as is also the wonderful Golddust family, as being among our greatest achievements in American horse breeding. Justin Morgan, the original progenitor of the Morgan race of horses, was only fourteen hands high, and his greatest sons and grandsons were rarely over fourteen hands and two inches. The Golddusts, however, of Kentucky, were of a coach size.
Those who doubt that the Morgans were almost pure Arabians only need to compare the steel engraving of the Morgan horse Ethan Allen, reproduced in this book (from Wallace's Stud Book), with the pictures of the pure Arabians Nimr, Khaled and Anizeh, as well as with the cuts of the Clay Arabian horses Clay Kismet, Hegira, and Abdul Hamid II, also herein contained. The Morgan horse is all but extinct, and can only be revived to its original greatness by fresh infusions of Arabian blood. As stated elsewhere in this book, the -^Gold- dusts were lost as a result of the Civil War. The so-called Morgan type cannot mean anything else to those who are informed than simply an Arabian race.
There is an increasing demand for the old Bashaw, Andrew Jackson, Clay, Golddust, and Morgan kinds of horses which America once had in plentiful num- bers. They possessed high breeding, refinement, spirit, beauty and honesty to a degree that fitted them for almost any kind of use from that of a charger to match- less road and coach horse qualifications.
The great American trotters of the present day are rapidly becoming like the English runners, a racing machine, and a single purpose proposition. They have been bred so persistently for speed regardless of individuality and confor- mation that they have rapidly lost in all points except speed.
It is the purpose of the Hartman Stock Farm to encourage the production of a blood-like horse through Arabian blood suited to all of the useful purposes that the Golddusts, Andrew Jacksons, Clays and Morgans were.
While our stock of these Arabian bred horses is fairly complete, we can hardly think of selling any of them as yet. We will, however, offer the services of some five or six stallions as above stated.
The Prevailing Colors of the Arabian Horse
It has always been a source of great regret to me that so few people have
taken the trouble to properly know anything as to what an Arabian horse really is.
When one speaks of an Arabian horse, the popular impression is usually
*GolddHsts were produced as a result of the union of a stallion called Vermont Morgan {inbred to Justin Morgan) with a daughter of the imported Arabian Zilcaadie, which produced in i8^s L. L. Dorsey's stallion Golddust, one of the most beautiful and potent horses known in history.
that he must be either a snow-white or spotted circus nag, of common blood and form. The truth is so far from that, we are told by the various writers who have visited the horse breeding tribes of the Arabian Desert, that about fifty per cent, are beautiful bays, about twenty per cent, are chestnuts, and the remaining thirty per cent, are greys, with only an occasional brown and very rarely a black.
In spite of all slander and misrepresentation that has been heaped upon the splendid shoulders of the Arab horse, he is still spotless morally and physically; for he is a great weight carrier; and his good blood will enable him to outlive even the inseparable twin brothers, ignorance and prejudice.
A gentleman who has just visited the Bedouin tribes of Arabia informs me that he was advised in such a way as to thoroughly believe it, that there are not to exceed about six hundred stallions and mares, young and old, all told, of the very highest caste, in the entire desert, among all of the tribes combined. We glean from various writers that there are in the neighborhood of about one hundred thousand tents among all of the Bedouin tribes ; allowing four persons to a tent, we have about four hundred thousand Bedouins ; and only about six hundred of the highest rank of horses ; for we learn that there are many Arabian horses there which the Anazeh tribes do not consider as worthy to reproduce from. Hence it is plain to be seen that the choicest specimens are hard to procure and necessarily very expensive. The French government offered Rev. F. F. Vidal, of England, twenty thousand dollars for the renowned desert-bred Arabian stallion Kismet (grandsire of Khaled and Clay Kismet), but did not succeed in the pur- chase of him. Mr. Huntington afterwards leased and imported him as fully de- scribed further on in this pamphlet.
We are further informed by those who have visited the Arabian tribes of the desert lately that there is seldom a time when there is not a representative there from either Russia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy or Spain who often only secure one or two specimens after many months of travel and hardships.
It is for many reasons impossible to buy all Arabians that one might see and desire; one common circumstance is that a fine animal may be owned by six or eight Bedouins jointly; then, too, it is often the case that such correct horse breed- ing tribes as the Anazeh are not in position to be able to spare the breeding qual- ities of certain animals. In such cases purchase is impossible.
The review of England's past horse breeding history which is contained in these pages is not given with any belief that it is at all new to well-posted students of horse breeding affairs. I believe it is a history, however, that should not be forgotten by anyone who may wish to excel in horse breeding, for it contains so much valuable experience and such an endless amount of good lessons and dem- onstrations in favor of the two great desert breeds, which have ever proven to be the very quintessence of all that is great and prepotent in the horse kingdom. I also hope I may be pardoned for extensive quotation, for I desire that those who read this pamphlet shall know how the Arabian horse is regarded by most-eminent authorities — those who have devoted endless time, pains, labor and research in mastering this deep and interesting subject ; for is it not true that a perfect knowl- edge of the past is essential to a better understanding of the future? The shadows
The original and famous Americo=Arab Stallion
CLAY KISMET
Sire Nimr by Kismet (desert hred^ .
Dam the six-times inbred Clay mare Gipsy Clay by Simmons Clay, by Walker Clay, by Henry Clay. Foaled May ji, iSgj. Color red chestnut. Height 16-2. Bred by Mr. Randolph Huntington. The property of Hartman Stock Farm.
s
j
of the past yield knowledge more readily than the undecipherable unwritten pages of the future. We must, therefore, review the past and mark well each correct pathway in our breeding careers, by the guide boards of past experience and accomplishments.
The world-renowned desert-bred *Darley Arabian, bred to the Arabian mare Betty Leedes, produced England's greatest race horse. Flying Childers, who was likely the greatest of all of England's marvelous achievements in the creation of reproducing races of animal life.
Not only is England the greatest horse breeding country in civilization, but she is also just as pre-eminently the leader in classified breeding of cattle, sheep, swine and dogs.
Betty Leedes, the dam of Flying Childers, was by Careless from a sister to Leedes, by Leedes' Arabian, from a mare by Spanker out of a Barb mare, who was Spanker's own mother. Spanker himself was by D'Arcy's Yellow Turk, from a daughter of the Morocco Barb, and Old Bald Peg, by an Arabian horse, from a Barb mare. Careless was by Spanker from a Barb m.are, hence the dam of Childers was closely inbred to Spanker.
The revival of the Arabian horse into civilization at frequent intervals over the past seven or eight hundred years is a fact in itself sufficient to prove their indispensable value, rarest excellence and generous blood. He has been subjected to every form of horse breeding trial and blood tests known to civili- zation, but his pure and plastic blood has never failed to respond to whatever has been demanded of him, it mattered not whether it was a draft horse or a roadster, a charger or a trotter, a runner or a coach horse, for direct return to his never failing blood has promptly given it in most generous quality, always superior to that which could be obtained from any indirect source.
I believe I am safe in saying that no government stud in the world can boast of a collection of Arabian bred horses that are superior to those possessed by the Hartman Stock Farm, thanks to Mr. Huntington's valuable collections and breed- ing. We have collected as many of Mr. Huntington's Arabians as we could get, and have arranged to continue their breeding and preservation. The blood of the Arabian bears a relation to horse breeding that is similar to the relation which alcohol bears to whisky, ale, wine, etc., or yeast to the leaven, etc.
I regard Fate as at her most cruel pitch when she permitted Mr. Hunting- ton's glorious work and unfinished plans to be so murderously thwarted as they were when his genius and skillful hand had all but appUed the finishing master strokes to a noble ambition and sublime achievement in the interests of animal life. It is evident to me that Mr. Huntington's every horse breeding plan and theory was founded on the staunchest rock of good reasoning, and that every result foretold by him will yet ripen into a rich harvest of reality, and that the crowning reward of good effect that must follow every well-directed cause will further exemplify his wealth of wisdom in the great arts of basic blood breeding.
*See article in this pamphlet, "Arabian and Barb Horses in England and Their Blood Influ- ence on Horse Breeding of that Country."
7-
The Origin and Evolution of Our Pure Arabian
Stallions and Mares, as Well as Americo-
Arabs or Huntington Horses
N offering the stud services of the pure Arabian stallion Khaled and his half-brother, the Americo-Arab or Huntington horse Clay Kismet,^ along with a number of other royally bred Arabian horses, it becomes necessary to explain just what they are, that the breeders may better understand the blood influence they will impart, and to better know the purpose for which they are intended.
Something over forty years ago Mr. Randolph Huntington, of New York State, began to carefully collect the best of the celebrated Arabian bred Clay horses to be found, and he began a systematic process of inbreeding them in order to intensify the most excellent qualities of that great race of horses. Mr. Huntington, as is well known, is a breeder and writer on the subject of blood influence and animal breeding of world-wide fame.
It was his ambition to create a strictly American bred National horse, which he desired should possess the trotting instinct which all Americans know is the best suited to our country and general use. It was his plan to combine the blood of the Clays which he had carefully selected and purified by inbreeding, with that of the Arabian and Barb, or parent blood of the Clay. Mr. Huntington is the best American authority on the value and uses of the Arabian and Arabian- Barb blood in scientific blending as required in the creation of coach and trotting horses. He was the most thorough student in all of the branches of select animal breeding, and has always been a champion of the Arabian and Arabian- Barb bloods rather than a promiscuous use of mixed and uncertain bloods, and hence uncertain results, that is too often the practice among American horse breeders. Some time after Mr. Huntington's Clays were well on the way to a high state of purity as the result of his intelligent and persistent inbreeding, the two stallions Leopard and Linden Tree arrived in America as presents to General U. S. Grant from his majesty Abdul Hamid II, the Sultan of Turkey. These two beautiful and royally bred horses arrived at New Haven, Connecticut, by Steamer Norman Monarch, March 31, 1879.
Mr. Huntington concluded after much careful investigation as well as his extensive experience in breeding to these horses, that Linden Tree was a *Barb Arabian pure and simple, and that Leopard was a pure Arabian horse of the Seg- lawi-Jedran strain from the desert of Arabia. I am confident he is correct in this conclusion. Linden Tree was a dark steel-grey and Leopard a beautiful dapple grey. Both horses stood about fourteen hands and three inches high and were pronounced to be wonderfully fine, perfect and bloodlike. Leopard was five years old, and Linden Tree was four years old at the time of their arrival in America.
*Barb- Arabian, the horse of the Berber and Arabian tribes of the Sahara Desert.
8
These two beautiful and rare horses were presents from the Sultan on the occasion of General U, S. Grant's visit to Constantinople while on his memo- rable trip around the world.
The arrival of the two Grant Arabians was a fortunate event in Mr. Hunting- ton's horse breeding career as has since been proven, for he began to make prepa- rations at once to select three inbred virgin Clay mares to breed to each of these noble horses, which he accomplished in the years of 1880-81. The stallions which were produced through Mr. Huntington's efforts by the Grant horses were the all but perfect stallion Abdul Hamid II, as a result of the union of Leopard and the beautiful Clay mare Mary Shepard. Abdul Hamid II was foaled June 25, 1881, a golden chestnut, fifteen hands and one inch in height. (See cut on page 10 a.) The union of Linden Tree and the Clay mare Tachista produced the wonderfully handsome game trotter and sire of trotting speed, Hegira, foaled July 9, 1882, sixteen hands high, blue-black in color. (See cut on page 30a.)
The union of Linden Tree and the Clay mare Nell Andrews produced the game and handsome chestnut horse Islam, foaled May 12, 1882, height fifteen hands. (See cut on page 14a.)
We are the fortunate possessors of blood of all of these splendid horses. Islam's blood is producing a most game and perfect type of horse which strongly resembles the much talked of Morgans, but with much more size.
Mr. Huntington imported (about nine years after the arrival of the Grant horses) one of the greatest pure Arabian mares that ever lived, called Naomi, which will be more fully described further along. Naomi was bred to General Grant's horse Leopard and produced one of the most perfect horses I ever saw, called Anizeh, red chestnut in color, and fifteen hands high. (See cut on page 18 a).
It seems a most extraordinary circumstance that Mr. Huntington should have been the only American horseman who was sufficiently posted in horse breeding to realize the blood value of these rare horses of General Grant's, when on the other hand we v/itness men who call themselves horsemen clamoring for horses of most common blood and breeding. At no time in Mr. Huntington's life was his genius and horse breeding knowledge more in evidence than when he bred to the General Grant Arabians.
The Arabian cause is so full of merit and honesty, and there is not the slight- est element of fad, fashion or fancy about the breeding of them. His generous blood has always supplied the bone, sinew, endurance and recreative power to the horse of civilization.
The results obtained by Mr. Huntington's matings with the General Grant Arabians was so gratifying that he became interested in further purchase and importation of Arabian horses. While he was breeding Clays in America, and long before the General Grant Arabians came to America, there were some very important happenings in Arabia and England of which Mr. Huntington kept very close account. There was an importation from Arabia into England of one very rare Arabian stallion and two mares in the fall of 1875, by Hon. A. A. Sandeman, M. P. from Kensington, and director-in-chief of the Bank of Eng- land, for which Mr. Sandeman paid $62,500.00 in gold. The stallion was called
Yataghan. The two mares were Haidee and Zuleike, all chestnut in color, and they were all of the *Maneghi-Hadruji strain, also called long-necks, registered in Weatherby's General Stud Books of England.
Yataghan and Haidee were full brother and sister.
Haidee bred to her brother Yataghan produced the celebrated red chestnut mare §Naomi, after which Haidee died. Mr. Huntington, who had followed up the importation of this great trio and their career in England, patiently waited and watched for an opportunity to buy Naomi, all that was left of Mr. Sandeman's Haidee and Yataghan. In the year 1888 Mr. Huntington was rewarded for his pains and long waiting by the purchase of Naomi, who was imported that year to Rochester, N. Y., IJ. S. of A.
This particular strain is the largest, fleetest, and best-winded of all the strains. Naomi attained the great size of 15-2!, which was likely the largest pure Arabian mare ever known up to that time. We have, however, one of her daughters and one granddaughter which are also 15-2,
Naomi produced the splendid chestnut stallion Anizeh by General Grant's pure Seglawi-Jedran Arabian stallion Leopard, May 10, 1890. Naomi foaled a chestnut filly while she was the property of Rev. F. F. Vidal, of Needham Market, Suffolk, England, called tNazli, sired by a Maneghi-Hadruji Arabian called Mai- dan, who was celebrated for great speed and long distance races. (See cut on page 54«-)
Mr. Huntington was anxious to procure a pure Arabian stallion of the same strain as Naomi in order to produce Arabians pure in one strain of Arabian blood. After Naomi's importation to America, her daughter Nazli was bred to the re- nowned, undefeated, desert-bred Maneghi-Hadruji Arabian stallion fKismet. (See cut on page 66a.) Kismet was chestnut in color and was scant fifteen hands high. Kismet's race career in India and England is the most brilliant and re- markable ever witnessed in civilization. Mr. Huntington had tried repeatedly to buy Kismet, and finally found it utterly impossible to buy him outright, but
*Major R. D. Upton's comments on the Maneghi strains of Arabian horses, in his book, after his extensive travel in Arabia, and his mastery of the Arabian horse history, are as follows:
"The Maneghi appeared to us a favorite strain, for both horses and mares of this family are to be found in most tribes of Bedouins; and we thought, with the exception of Keheilet Ajuz, there were more horses than mares among the Anazeh, certainly among the Sabaah, of the Maneghi family than any other."
^Kismet, foaled in the Arabian desert in iSyj, taken to India by Abedur Rhaman in 1882. In 188 J and 1884 he swept everything before him on the race track, never losing a race or heat. His total winnings for those seasons in India amounted to jo,ooo pounds {$1 §0,000).
KISMET'S RACES IN INDIA AND ENGLAND
Bangalor, July 12, 188 j; the Mysor Cup; i 1-4 miles, carrying ijg pounds. Bangalor, July 14, 188 j; the Mysor Purse; i 1-2 iniles, carrying 1J4 pounds. Bangalor, July ig, 1884; Aga Khan's Purse; i 1-2 miles, carrying 1J4 pounds. Poonah, Sept. 8, 188 j; Aga Khan's Plate; i 1-4 miles, carrying 126 pounds. Poonah, Sept. 11, 188 j; Aga Khan's Purse; i j-4 tniles, carrying iji pounds. Hyderabad, Nov. 22, 188^; Deacon Handicap; i 1-2 iniles, carrying iig pounds. Bombay, Feb. 12, 1884; The Derby; i 1-2 miles, carrying ij6 pounds. Bombay, Feb. 14, 1884; Aga Khan's Purse; I 1-2 miles, carrying ijj pounds. Immediately after this race Lieutenant Broadwood brought Kis- met to England, where he became the property of Col. R. D. Coyningham, V. C. Kismet defeated the great racer Asil at Newmarket and Satuiow Park, both two-mile races. Kismet was ridden by the famous rider Fred Archer, who pronounced him the gamest horse he ever rode. This Kismet, as will be seen by pedigree, is the grandsire of Clay Kismet.
^Naomi's produce, page '/§.
XNazli's produce, page y§. 10
The all but perfect Americo=Arab Stallion
ABDUL HAMID II.
Drawing is from a photograph taken when he was 21 years old.
Grandsire of our stallion Abdul Eclipse.
Sire General Grant's Pure Arabian Leopard {desert bred).
Dam the Clay mare Mary Shepard. Foaled June 2j, 1881. Color golden chestnut.
Height 1 5-1. Bred and raised by Mr. Randolph Huntington .
Abdtd Hamid 11, in addition to being one of the most beautifid horses that ever lived, pos- . sessed wonderful grace of action and a most perfect disposition. He is also renowned ' as a sire.
was, however, able to arrange a contract in which he (Mr. Huntington) was compelled to give bond for a large amount and to pay heavily for his use in his private stud in the United States. The contract provided that Mr. Huntington was to have the right to breed him to Naomi (his pure Arabian mare of the same strain), and to breed him to nineteen Clay fillies. The bond given was to insure his safe return. In addition to the bond Mr. Huntington was compelled under the contract to insure him at a large valuation in the Lloyds, which was to be kept in force until Kismet was returned to England. The life insurance policy was to be payable to the owner. Rev. F. F. Vidal, in case of death, and he was thus imported to the United States by Mr. Randolph Huntington in the year 1891. After his arrival by the Steamer Canada, November 10, 1891, he was taken to the Cattanach Infirmary on Forty-second Street, New York City, with a tempera- ture of 106, resulting from pleuro-pneumonia, and died a few hours later — a great financial loss to Mr. Huntington, to say nothing of the great loss to the horse breeding interests of America. His skeleton, one of the most remarkable ever seen, is preserved in the American Veterinary College, 151 West Fifty-fourth Street, New York City, as a specimen in clinical lectures. Notwithstanding the great loss occasioned by the death of Kismet, Mr. Huntington, intense in a high purpose, and who is as persistent as destiny, immediately cabled Rev. F. F. Vidal, of England, who still owned Naomi's daughter Nazli, with a chestnut male foal at foot, then about six months old, produced by the union of Kismet and Nazli above referred to. Mr. Huntington succeeded in the purchase of Nazli and her son sired by Kismet, called Nimr (see cut on page 22a), which gave him a family of pure bred Arabians, all pure in one strain of blood. Nimr was bred to his grandmother, Naomi, and produced the giant chestnut stallion Khaled (see cut onp age 26a), who attained the great height of fifteen hands, three and one-half inches, which is, without any doubt, the largest Arabian stallion ever seen. Early in the 1890's Mr. Huntington's treasurer defaulted in a large Sum and involved him to such an extent that he was forced to the auction block in a dis- persal sale at American Institute Building, New York City, February 22 and 23, 1894. The sale included about one hundred head of Mr. Huntington's choice inbred Clays and Clay-Arabian stallions and mares. Notwithstanding the great depression in horse affairs in America at that time, Mr. Huntington's sale reached the splendid average of something over $1,800 per head. He was, how- ever, able to retain all of his pure Arabians and a few of his choicest inbred Clay mares, and soon possessed another splendid start, which he continued up to the time of his retirement two or three years age. One of the best of all his mares was one called Gipsy Clay, six times inbred to old Henry Clay. He refused a large offer for her, made by William N. Sargeant, who broke and trained Goldsmith's Maid, St. Julien, Gloster, Bodine and others belonging to the Goldsmiths, but he would not part with her, as he desired to breed her. He considered Gipsy Clay especially suited to unite with the pure Maneghi-Hadruji blood, a thing which he had waited and planned so long to do. Accordingly she was bred to the beautiful chestnut stallion Nimr in June, 1894, and on May 31, 1895, Gipsy Clay foaled the celebrated chestnut stallion Clay Kismet
(see cut on page 6c7), another important factor in this remarkable horse breeding history. The pure-bred Arabian stallion Khaled was foaled at about the same time as Clay Kismet, and these two colts were stable and pasture companions until they were something over two years old. Khaled, being an inbred Pure Arabian, was a very high-tensioned colt, and persisted in riding his big half- brother Clay Kismet. The owner thought there could be no harm come from it, as the colts never quarreled, but to his horror, when it was too late, he discov- ered that Khaled, in his process of hanging on Clay Kismet's back, had caused a sway and lowness. Clay Kismet grew to the giant size of sixteen hands, two inches. He is in many ways the most remarkable horse we have ever seen. He has proven to be a very potent and impressive sire of coach, saddle and long- distance road horses. He possesses a lovable disposition, capital, large, fiat bone, the highest perfection in feet, an unusual and exquisite head and neck, match- less shoulder and wither and the characteristic Arabian grace and elegance of action, high and perfect carriage of tail, and the richest red chestnut in color. Clay Kismet is regarded by the most critical and learned authorities as being one of the rarest and most richly bred coach type of horses in the v/orld. When mated to well-bred mares it is within his capacity to produce the highest ideal of coach, saddle and all-day road horses. Clay Kismet and his half-brother, the pure Arabian Khaled, are certain to prove most valuable to the horse breeding interests of Ohio for many years to come. There is a tide today in trotting horse breeding circles toward a larger and if possible handsomer type, and it is my belief that Clay Kismet and Khaled will fill these demands to the highest ideal in both blood and individuality.
We bred to Clay Kismet and Khaled while they were owned at Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. We have carefully observed the history and interesting horse breeding of Mr. Huntington for many years, and we have all but envied him the possession of these nobly bred horses, little dream.ing that we should ever be able to own them. Our possession of the various Huntington Arabian horses which we have, was only made possible through a series of peculiar mis- fortunes and strange circumstances.
The pure Arabian Khaled produces a very fine and elegant type of foals which are usually about sixteen hands high and whalebone in quality, which show in a marked degree the elegance and grace of their sire, usually red chest- nut in color, and capable of filling with almost equal adaptability the saddle, coach and road requirements. Clay Kismet produces foals considerably larger than those by Khaled, which are usually about sixteen hands, two inches in height, and which are especially adapted to the coach uses as well as the saddle and road uses. His foals possess his exquisite beauty and perfection to a striking degree. The first son of Clay Kismet, called Clay Eclipse, from Lady Washing- ton, a daughter of Hegira, was among the prize winners at Madison Square Gar- den Horse Show, New York City, 1896. See cut of Clay Eclipse on first page, which shows him when twenty-one days old. Clay Eclipse is a splendid repre- sentation of Clay Kismet's productions as to general type, splendid short backs,
12
long and well-carried necks, perfect heads and shoulders, and they all possess the Arabian beauty of their sire.
It was only during the last few years of Mr. Huntington's breeding expe- rience that he permitted any of these rare horses to serve other than his own mares.
Remarks by Mr. John Gilmer Speed
The able writer, John Gilmer Speed, has remarked in his very admirable book, "The Horse in America" :
"To most horsemen in America the name of Arab is anathema. They will have none of him. So far as their light goes they are quite right in their prejudice. But prejudice in this instance, as in most others, is the result of ignorance."
Mr. Speed further comments on Mr. Huntington's Arabian-Clay produc- tions in part as follows :
"Henry Clay was one of the greatest horses that ever lived in this country. He was very fast, very strong, and as game as it was possible for a horse to be. He founded a distinguished family, and from that family Mr. Randolph Huntington, of Fleetwood Farm, Oyster Bay, Long Island, by crossing Clay mares with Arab and Barb stallions, has created a type of as splendid horses as ever touched the earth. And it is a great pity that the United States Government has not long ago taken over all of Mr. Huntington's horses, so as to perpetuate this new and useful type into a great national horse."
Mr. Speed's remarks concerning Clay Kismet and others of Mr. Hunting- ton's productions, we quote in part as follows:
"His second attempt proves that he is entirely right, as he produces with an absolute certainty two classes of as admirable horses as I have ever seen. The first, and the one that ought to be most useful, is represented in the illustration in this book of Clay-Kismet, and the other by Nimrod. Clay-Kismet is sixteen and one-half hands high, and is as perfectly adapted for a carriage horse as any I have seen — as well adapted even as the Golddust, of which I spoke in the Morgan chapter. His symmetry, finish and high breeding adapt him for this, while the cleanness of his action gives a final perfection that cannot fail to excite admiration in those who know and love horses. He is by an Arab stallion fifteen hands in stature, out of a closely inbred Clay mare, the union resulting in a horse larger than either sire or dam. It is a singular thing that even the purely bred Arabs, mated by Mr. Hun- tington and bred on his place, increase very much in size and action. For instance, Khaled when I last saw him was fifteen hands three and one-half inches high, which is something like a hand taller than either Naomi, his dam, or Nimr, his sire. Here was an interesting instance of inbreeding, as Naomi was the grandam of Nimr, the sire of Khaled.
"These Clay-Arabians are as remarkable for their intelligence and docility as are the Morgans. Their action is as clean and elegant, and their bottom cannot be surpassed. If this double accomplishment of a single private owner be suffered to be wasted, it will be a pity indeed, as well as a national reproach."
The following remarks by Mr. Speed relate to Dr. Salmon's selection for the U. S. Government stud :
"I need not explain to the readers of this book that I do not entirely agree with Dr. Salmon in his views of the American trotting horse, but in the main I do agree with him in the selection of his mares."
13
Mr. Speed further states :
"But I wish Dr. Salmon had selected as his stallion a horse that was in blood and conformation similar to Clay Kismet."
Of the many who have collected and are breeding the Huntington horses (Arabian and Clay), Mr. Charles H. Brush, of Hopkinton, N. Y., has one of Clay Kismet's best sons, called Clay Kermit, and has succeeded in establishing an excellent start by securing some good mares, which are giving him telling results in union with Clay Kermit. He wrote us, under date of February i8, 1907, as follows:
"It gives me great satisfaction to know that you have Clay Kismet — that he is in the hands of some one who knows his value and how to use his blood. I be- lieve that he is capable of doing more to improve the horses of America than any horse alive if the right kind of mares are given him and the resulting produce are properly mated. When the United States government horse breeding experiment was started in Colorado I at once thought of Clay Kismet as the horse that, if used as the leading sire, would insure success. I want to congratulate you on being his owner."
Mr. Brush is a naturally gifted breeder, and is very conservative and exact- ing in the blood which he selects for breeding purposes with which to create a plant, and is the kind of a breeder that will be heard of later.
Advantages to be Derived by Breeding to Arabian Horses
It is well known by all who have taken the pains to become posted in past horse breeding accomplishments, as well as to study the actual results obtained by Arabian blood infusions into those of kindred blood, that the Arabian will impart tone and stimulant, lovable and reliable dispositions, honesty, courage, activity, cheerfulness, speed and endurance, as a result of his flinty bone and a heart that is larger and better than is possessed by any of the manufac- tured breeds of civilization, as well as the perfect construction of his wind- pipe and the manner in which his head is set onto the neck, which is of an entirely different angle than is found in any horse other than a pure Arabian or one rich with direct Arabian blood infusion.
Furthermore, an Arabian bred horse possesses a grace, elasticity and ease of movement possessed by none of his degenerated cousins in civilization. The Arabian blood will impart the faculty of enduring long journeys in either the har- ness or the saddle.
There is a constantly increasing number of American trotting and pacing horses, as well as English thoroughbred horses, that are very poor eaters and hence bad keepers, from which cause many are incapable of enduring the rigid training necessary in the preparation for even one-mile sprints. Fresh Arabian blood infusions will remedy this evil and give them the best of digestive powers
ISLAM,
BV QE ML. qR AN T S ARAB UINDFN TREE,>\
DAIv^ NELL ANDREWS BY "r E D BIRD," ,?V\
av HENRY CLAY.
r
1^-
Wfil-ps Ai-ab,<:a >7c/Av|
AQEL 4YEARS, IV1/AY \^ , ' \&&e,
HEIQHT 15 HANDS,
COLOR DARK CHESTNUT.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year iSSo, by Randolph Huntington, for his Clay history, and published
here by his special pertnisston.
Sire of our mare Colette, ami grandsire of our young stallion Arabian Kshot. Islam unfortunately died by accident without leaving very many of his excellent sons and daiighters. He ivas one of the gamest road horses that ever lived.
14o
and a hardy constitution to be derived from no other source; for the Arab is the most constant and eternal eater, and the greatest precaution is necessary to pre- vent them from becoming too fat. The Arabian possesses a mental grandeur and intelligence amounting to vivacity, and to an extent that is mdescnbable, even by close observers. Race horse people are constantly compelled to apply every conceivable remedy to weak tendons and faulty hocks and jomts, and m fact bad legs of a very large per cent, of both the trotters and English runners, all of which can be improved by the Arab and Barb.
Pure Arabians and Americo-Arabs in the Hartman Stock Farm Collection
Pure Arabian Stallion
Khaled Red chestnut; 15-332; foaled May 24, 1895; family or
(See also extended pedigree strain of the Maneghi-Hadruji exclusively. Sire Nimr ^ ^''^^"■■* by Kismet. Dam Naomi by Yataghan, dam Haidee.
Service fee $200.00 payable at time of service, with free return privileges.
Pure Arabian Mares
Khaletta Red chestnut; foaled April 13, 1903; family or strain of
Maneghi-Hadruji and Seglawi-Jedran. Sire Khaled by Nimr and he by Kismet. Dam Nazlina by Anizeh, he by General Grant's Leopard. Second dam Nazli by Mai- dan, dam Naomi.
jSJaxlita Red chestnut; foaled June 20, 1899; family or strain Ma-
neghi-Hadruji exclusively. Sire Khaled by Nimr and he by Kismet. Dam Nazli by Maidan from dam Naomi.
Narkeesa Red chestnut; foaled May 21, 1897; family or strain of
Maneghi-Hadruji and Seglawi-Jedran. Sire Anizeh by General Grant's Leopard and from dam Naomi. Dam Naomi by Yataghan from dam Haidee.
Nazlina Red chestnut; foaled April 13, 1897; family or strain of
Maneghi-Hadruji and Seglawi-Jedran. Sire Anizeh by General Grant's Leopard from dam Naomi. Dam Nazli by Maidan and from dam Naomi.
Americo-Arab Stallions
(Iluiitiiigton Horses.)
Clay Kismet Red chestnut; foaled May 31, 1895; blood influence of
{See also extended pedigree Maneghi-Hadruji Arabian and Arabian-Barb Clay; 16-2 page 74.) ^.^^^ g.^^ ^.^^ ^^^ Kismet. Dam Gipsy Clay by Sim-
mons Clay from dam Clay Queen.
Service fee, $100.00, payable at time of service with free return privileges.
15
Clay Childers Dark red chestnut; foaled March 13, 1901 ; blood influ- ence of Maneghi-Hadruji and Barb-Arabian with Arabian- Barb Clay; t6-o high. Sire Clay Kismet by Nimr and he by Kismet. Dam Lady Washington by Hegira and he by General Grant's Linden Tree.
Service fee, $50.00, payable at time of service, with free return privileges.
Claygira Brown; foaled March 17, 1903; blood influence of Ma- neghi-Hadruji Arabian and Arabian-Barb with Arabian- Barb Clay; 16-0 high. Sire Clay Kismet by Nimr and he by Kismet. Dam Clay Lily by Hegira by General Grant's Linden Tree from dam Lady Washington by Hegira.
Service fee, S50.00, payable at time of service, with free return privileges.
Abdul Eclipse Red chestnut; foaled May, 1905; blood influence of Ma- neghi-Hadruji and Seglawi-Jedran, Arabian and Arabian- Barb and Arabian-Barb Clay; 15-1 high. Sire Clay Eclipse by Clay Kismet, he by Nimr, he by Kismet. Dam Martha Dot by Abdul Hamid 11.
Service fee, S50.00, pa)'^able at time of service, with free return privileges.
Arabian Kshot Red chestnut; foaled March 25, 1907; blood influence of
Maneghi-Hadruji, Arabian, Barb and Arabian-Barb Clay. Sire Khaled by fUmr and he by Kismet and from dam Naomi. Dam Colette by Islam, he by General Grant's Linden Tree.
Service fee, $50.00, payable at time of service, with free return privileges.
Santa Mingo Bay; foaled March 13, 1907; blood influence of Maneghi-
Hadruji Arabian and Arabian-Barb Clay. Sire Imamzada by Imam. Dam Santa Clara by Clay Kismet, he by Nimr and he by Kismet from dam Miss Capt. Lewis.
Nazar Black; foaled August 24, 1907; blood influence of Ma- neghi-Hadruji and Seglawi-Jedran Arabian with Arabian- Barb Clay. Sire Anizeh by General Grant's Leopard. Dam Lady Washington by Hegira, he by Linden Tree from dam Claydust.
Americo-Arab Mares
(Hiintingtoit Horses.)
Colette - -Chestnut; foaled March 26, 1895. Sire Islam, he by
General Grant's Linden Tree. Dam Lena Stevens.
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Kathleen - Red chestnut; foaled April 27, 1904. Sire Clay Kismet by
Nimr, he by Kismet. Dam Heiress by Maidan from dam Legacy.
Lady Washington .Brown; foaled February 22, 1888. Sire Hegira by Gen- eral Grant's Linden Tree from dam Tachista (Nell Pixley). Dam Claydust by Kari Golddust from dam Tachista (Nell Pixley).
Clay Lily Brown; foaled July 19, 1897. Sire Hegira by General
Grant's Linden Tree from Dam Tachista (Nell Pixley). Dam Lady Washington by Hegira, he by General Grant's Linden Tree from dam Claydust by Kari Golddust and from dam Tachista (Nell Pixley).
Witch Hazel- Grey; foaled 1893. Sire Czarewitch by Tom Roger by
Geo. Wilkes from dam Peri by Edwin Forest. Dam Shepherdess by Young Jack Shepard by Jack Shepard by Henry Clay from dam Nell Andrews.
Miss Capt. Lewis.- -Chestnut; foaled May 31, 1886. Sire Spink by Andy Johnson by Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson by Young Bashaw^ by Arabian Grand Bashaw. Dam Miss Lewis by Hoadley's Messenger from dam Lady Jones by Wallace's Arabian Phenomena.
Clarissa - Chestnut; foaled June 30, 1902. Sire Clay Kismet, sire
Nimr by Kismet. Dam Witch Hazel by Czarewitch by Jim Rogers by Geo. Wilkes by dam Shepherdess by Young Jack Shepard.
Clio -Chestnut roan; foaled February 5, 1904. Sire Clay Kis- met by Nimr by Kismet. Dam Queen Truth by Clay Truth by Ashland by Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson from dam Nell Andrews.
Santa Clara Chestnut; foaled 1903. Sire Clay Kismet by Nimr, he by
Kismet. Dam Miss Capt. Lewis by Spink by Andy John- son by Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson.
Cleopatra Chestnut; foaled 1901. Sire Clay Kismet by Nimr by
Kismet. Dam Miss Capt. Lewis by Spink by Andy John- son by Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson.
Hazel Kirk -Chestnut; foaled 1906. Sire Clay Childers by Clay
Kismet by Nimr by Kismet. Dam Witch Hazel by Czarewitch by Jim Rogers by Geo. Wilkes from dam Shepherdess.
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Sayonara Grey; foaled June 27, 1906. Sire Clay Childers by Clay
Kismet by Nimr by Kismet. Dam Dainty Clay by Young Jack Shepard by Jack Shepard by Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson.
Dagmar .—Bay; foaled August 3, 1905. Sire Gouniead by Hussar
from dam Egoistka. Dam Clay Lily by Hegira by Gen- eral Grant's Linden Tree from dam Lady Washington by Hegira by Linden Tree.
Zora Chestnut; foaled 1905. Sire Gouniead by Hussar from
dam Egoistka. Dam Corinne by Clay Kismet by Nimr by Kismet.
Witchcraft- Grey; foaled April 26, 1905. Sire Clay Childers by Clay
Kismet by Nimr by Kismet. Dam Witch Hazel by Czar- ewitch by Jim Rogers by Geo. Wilkes from dam Shep- herdess by Young Jack Shepard by Jack Shepard by Henry Clay.
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The graceful and beautiful pure Arabian Stallion
ANIZEH
Maneghi=Hadruji and Seklawi=Jedran Strains.
Sire of our filly Anagira and our colt Nazar, also of our Pure Arabian mares Narkeesa
and Nazlina. Sire General Grant's Pure Arabian Leopard {desert bred).
Dam the celebrated Pure Arabian mare Naomi. Foaled May lo, iSgo. Color red chest- nut. Height ij-i. ■
Anizeh has proven to be a most excellent sire. He possesses a most perfect high rolling motion in his action, and is also capable of trotting fast, both of which traits are unusual in a pure bred Arabian. Bred and raised by Mr. Randolph Huntington.
18a
Blood will Assert Itself According to Its Class and Qual- ity; Environment is Only a Humble Servant; Blood will Win when Environment Fails
^HROUGH an innate love for the close study of the creation of all vari- eties of animal life I have spared no pains, labor or expense in re- search, experiment and closest observation, with a desire to fathom a thousand mysteries which became apparent from time to time in my animal breeding pursuits. I have wasted not only money, but that still more precious commodity called time, in not only reading, but listening to those common and erroneous and contagious idle theories about environment and purely external influence in animal breeding, so common with those of limited information or who are superficial in knowledge of blood influence. My known contact with animal breeding for a lifetime has been such as to victimize me to listen with passive respect to a countless number of discourses or "brain storms" on the subject of environment as the more potent factor than blood itself in breeding influence. To have attempted to meet or set right such wanderings and mental confusions would have, in many instances, amounted to a sudden defeat of a long prided private wisdom in the presence of friendly listeners, and hence a pitiful and almost cruel exposure of igno- rance of blood influence would follow, for such wisdom is usually passed around with an almost bigoted self-assurance.
It is true that early, constant and softer growth of animal life is promoted to a greater extent on a flat, rich, moist and succulent food-producing soil, in a cool, equable and temperate climate, than occurs in a dry, hot, barren and hilly land; and yet when we are about to conclude that we are on "terra firma" in this conclusion we remember that the great elephants abound in Africa.
With all we are willing to grant environment, that is, food, and especially a climate even or equably tempered throughout the year, is conducive of early and constant development in horses, as is the case in the valleys of France, the plains or Fens of England, and the flats of Ostfriesland, and Oldenberg, Germany, and Flanders of Belgium.
The moral is we must not jump at conclusions. We must not expect to be called rational if we talk or pretend to believe that grass just across an imag- inary line which divides two States, as Ohio and Kentucky, or Kentucky and West Virginia, or the slight difference in climate and environment of Indiana or Missouri from that of Kentucky and Ohio will make any material difference in horse breeding results if the blood in each State is the same.
England has bred the mammoth Shire draft horse with just as much success as she has the English thoroughbred, and the environment of England has not taken the long hair off the Shire, and neither has it added it to the thoroughbred. The hair and skin of the thoroughbred is just as flne today as it was a hundred
19
years ago, and the hair and skin of the Shire is just as coarse as it was a hundred years ago, and yet both can be changed through the blood in due time.
The bone of the Shire continues to be large and porous and that of the thor- oughbred fine and flinty, and blood is the only thing that will change either.
The bluegrass and limestone stories of Kentucky and Ohio will never change a cart horse into an Arabian in ten thousand years.
An American Percheron horse importing company printed a long and tedious composition in their catalogue to the effect that the Percheron horse was kind in disposition because they had been fed for ages by women and children in France. The writer of that statement evidently did not know that all foals except the Arabians are wild and afraid of man at birth, as are also all other young of do- mestic animal life, and I doubt if he knew that the Percheron, like all other va- rieties of horses, become very wild if not daily handled from birth, even though their great-great-great -great-grandmothers and fathers were fed three times per day by French women and children. If the Percheron is more kind, as I believe he is, than other draft horses, it is a blood cause — that he has more Arabian blood in his veins than other draft horses. I wonder if anyone believes that a Western cow pony would be any easier to "bust" (to break) simply because his parents were fed and raised by women and children.
The same environment hobbyists have stated that a white man would be- come black if in a hot climate; I grant he might in ten thousand years. The negro has not become white in a cold climate, except by copulation or blood union with a white race ; besides, if this theory were true the Eskimo should be a very white person in place of the dark-skinned race he is.
The State of Kentucky has made a specialty of light-weight blooded horses, that is, English thoroughbreds, and Arabian and Barb bloods, such as is contained in their saddle horses, which was derived from A. Keene Richards' Arabians along with English thoroughbreds, which means also Arabian and Barb blood, also her trotting stock, which also means Barb and Arabian, her Golddust, and Clays, etc., also Barb and Arabian, rather than draft or Flemish blood.
Now, please, what gives Kentucky fine horses? Was it Flemish or draft blood refined into Arabian bloods and Barb bloods by their bluegrass and the name Kentucky, or was it Arabian and Barb blood in the beginning, and Arabian and Barb blood all the time that did? It was blood first, last and always, of course, and blood is the all-important factor along with good feed and care that will produce blooded horses. Blooded steeds have never been produced by any- thing but Arabian and Barb blood. Imaginary virtues of grass patches of some certain little spot over that of another has never amounted to anything in horse breeding unless coupled with blood and the all essential application of mating, selection and strict adhesion to kindred bloods, and consanguinity. We grant, of course, that horse breeding can be more successfully carried on in Ohio or Kentucky than in Greenland.
It is not only instructive, but also invigorating to read the genuine and truth- ful writings of the very few who have penetrated into the very core and center of a subject, and who have through a lifetime of toil, observation and experience
20
become thoroughly informed. One of the most striking examples of rational soundness is that matchless old volume, "The History and Delineation of the Horse in all His Varieties," by that eminent English scholar and horseman, John Lawrence, published in 1809, whose noble birth did not prevent him from mas- tering a subject as humble and ordinary as pertains to the origin as well as the correct breeding of horses.
We submit the following first few pages from the first chapter of Mr. Law- rence's able work above referred to, as it relates to environment, for this pro- found and imperishable work stands with but few, if any, peers as a classic and text-book pertaining to horses and horse breeding. Volumes without number are finding sale on the book markets, on this same subject, which cannot fail to add confusion to ignorance in many cases, for the reason that the average writer has too often lost sight of the fundamental principles and teaches the building on sand rather than rock, in blood propositions, of horse creations. The same can be as truthfully said of some of the horse paper articles and writings, for there is much taught to suit the hour and the purse. We hope we shall not be charged with antagonism or heresy as a result of our frankness.
As we review horse affairs of the past we are again reminded that there is "nothing new under the sun," for we learn that things which are today believed to be new were old a thousand years ago. We quote from Mr. Lawrence as follows :
Antiquity of the Horse— Natural History — Classification — Speculations on His Origin
"The transcendent consequence of the horse to man in every possible stage of human existence has been the invariable theme of writers on the subject from the earliest records of literature. Indeed it is impossible to conceive any other, out of the vast variety of animals destined by nature to human use, which can with the least prospect of success dispute with this favorite the palm of his master's pre- dilection and attachment. Throughout all those revolving ages which the magical power of letters enables us to call up in review there is not one in which that axiom does not stand self-evident. It is an attachment of a truly rational nature and to a most worthy object. The very idea of being supported at ease by an auxiliary and borrowed animal power, and of being safely borne from place to place at will with a pleasant and gentle motion or with the rapidity of lightning, must have im- pressed the minds of the first discoverers of the mighty benefits with ineffable de- light. Such sentiments and feelings have been incessantly echoed down to us from the primitive times.
"The general beauty, the harmony of proportions, the stateliness and delicacy of the superior species of this paragon of brute animals could not fail of inspiring admiration in the breasts even of savage and untutored men. Time and the im- proving faculties of man gradually developed the various uses and qualifications of the horse. Endowed by nature with a portion of intellect, with a generous pliability of disposition and fortitude of heart, with vast and energetic bodily powers, he was found capable of bearing a sort of social part in all the pleasures and labors of man. He was associated with his master in the pleasures of the journey and chase; he shared willingly and with ardor in the dangers of the martial field, and with a sturdy prowess partook in the humble labors of cultivating the soil for mutual subsistence. By the most illustrious nations of either ancient or modern times the horse has
21
ever been esteemed of the highest worth and consequence, and treated with a dis- tinction and attendance befitting his rank as the first of domestic animals, approximat- ing in society and service to human nature. It is among the most savage and debased tribes of men only that the breed, condition and comforts of this noble animal have been neglected.
"To ascertain the period, or even to form a probable guess on the first domes- tication of the horse, and determine to what nation of antiquity the honor of his subju- gation appertains, although sometimes attempted by the curious and inquisitive, has never returned any other fruit than the labor or amusement of the enquiry. Notwithstanding we are convinced of the fact of his early subjugation, the date of it lies concealed beyond the impassable horizon of a too remote antiquity; in fine, it is one of those truths which stand not in need of proof. It is sufficient that the earliest writer whose works have reached our times describes the horse as having been immemorially in the subjection and servitude of man.
"Natural historians have agreed to designate the horse by the following Generic character:
"Front teeth in the upper jaw, six parallel.
"In the lower jaw, six somewhat projecting. • ^'Canine Teeth, one on each side, in both jaws, remote from the rest.
''Feet, with undivided hoofs.
"The horse genus seems to be susceptible of far less variety of form than our other domesticated animals, although applicable to a greater variety of uses. A native of every country in the old world, it forms matter of curious speculation that he should be found in no part of the new, or America, abounding as that im- mense country does, both upon the continent and the islands, with soils and pro- vision so well adapted to his support, and so amply as that fact has been proved by his multitudinous increase in those countries since his first introduction by the Span- iards and other Europeans.
"Is it, then, that there was one or a limited number of spots upon the earth on which the horse originated, and whence he emigrated or was selected to replenish other regions? There is a very obvious reason which ought to set all such specu- lation at rest — there can exist no physical possibility of reducing them to facts. The non-existence of the horse in America previous to its discovery by the Europeans has, however, been disputed, but I recollect not by whom or upon what ground.
"In a division of the equine genus into its original and artificial varieties and their appropriations I shall propose the following concise theory, sufficient, I ap- prehend, for every useful or practical purpose. The horse, then, may be rationally supposed to have consisted originally of two grand divisions, or species — the silken- ' haired, flat and fine-boned Courser, and the full-bodied, coarse and rough-haired steed adapted to draft and the most laborious purposes. It is also, indeed, probable that size may have been an original distinction in these and all other animals, since we often see so much perfection and originality of form in the smaller sizes as to render it almost impossible to attribute such accident to degeneration.
"From the above original species may fairly be derived all those numerous varieties which we at this day witness in different parts of the world. vSoil and climate most indubitably have considerable effects through a long course of ages in producing varieties of form, color character and properties. The largest animals are generally found to be the production of the rich lowlands of temperate climates abounding in rich and succulent food. The fine-skinned, with elegant symmetry, dry and solid bones, large tendons and the highest degree of muscular energy — in fact, bearing the general characteristics of wild animals — are bred under warm and southern skies, upon a dry soil, on the hills in the desert.
"As we advance toward the ungenial northern climes we find the domestic
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The pure Arabian Stallion
NIMR
Maneghi=Hadruji Strain.
Sire of Clay Kismet and Khaled. Sire the renowned desert bred Arabian Kismet.
Dam the pure bred Arabian mare Nazli by Maidan and from dam Naomi. Color red chestnut. Height 15-1.
Nimr was conceded by all to be one of the most perfect horses that ever lived. Imported by Mr. Randolph Huntington in the year i8gi.
animals void of external symmetry, coarse in hide and flesh, and their bones, al- though of greater bulk, porous and comparatively deficient in substance and weight. We here approach the native regions of the Cart Horse, and we have just stated the natural characteristic distinctions between him and the Courser. There are doubt- less anomalies or variations in this, as well as in most other cases — ^the high northern latitudes produce small and active animals, whilst the dromedary and the elephant are bred in the arid and barren deserts of the south, soils, it might be supposed, the least adapted to the production and support of animals of such a vast bulk.
"Either because such is the fact, or for the sake of obtaining a convenient hypothesis, we make Arabia the native or breeding country of the Courser, and that part of Europe formerly denominated the Netherlands, or Low Countries, the aboriginal soil of the large draught horse. Without stopping to enquire whether the two species originally sprang up or grew in these particular countries, a thing which we can never ascertain, we will pass on to facts which we really know — namely, that those two regions are not only peculiarly adapted by nature, soil and climate each to the production of its respective indigenous species of the horse, but that the largest and most beautiful and highly qualified have been, from the earliest periods of which any accounts are extant, procured from thence. From Arabia has issued the prototype of the best-shaped, speediest and most lasting racer, and from Bel- gium the draft horse of the greatest bulk and weight in the world.
"To advert cursorily to the common hypothesis which we have rejected — that all horses are derived from the same single primitive species, and that varieties are purely accidental, and the effects of varying soil and climate — we must remark that such opinion, whether simply true or false, has given rise to the most absurd con- jectures. For these the otherwise justly celebrated Buffon has distinguished him- self beyond all other writers, and it is difficult to read with grave face his system of species and variety in the canine genus, with his derivations and his metamorphoses of one species into another merely from the change of air and food. This acute naturalist, as well as our British farmers, had overlooked the possibility, or rather almost inevitability, of intercopulations.
"In truth, allowing full force to the arguments derived from the effect of soil and climate, it is equally true there are certain landmarks and boundaries of spe- cific character in both the animal and vegetable creation which nature will never permit to be passed. No length of time or naturalization upon the marshy soil of Belgium, it may safely be pronounced, would be sufficient to transform the high- bred, silken and bounding Courser of Arabia into the coarse, bluff and fixed horse of the former country, nor would the sojournment of the latter during any number of ages in the south have the effect of endowing him with those peculiar properties of body which distinguish the aboriginal southern horse. Of that which would probably happen in this case we are enabled to judge from the experience of cen- turies. The least practical eye can distinguish in our race horses a separate breed from the common one of the country — to-wit, that of the southern horse — with the facility that a man, although no draper, can discriminate between linsey-woolsey and silk. The interchange above supposed would doubtless have the effect of in- creasing the bulk of the Courser and reducing that of the draft horse, but the natural and unchangeable characteristics of each would remain unassailable by any other medium than that of intercopulation, through which we know, by experience, also, they may be merged and in effect annihilated."
We quote verbatim Chapter II from the able pen of the late Major Roger D. Upton, as given in his instructive book, "Newmarket and Arabia," published in 1873, following which we also submit in part the valuable results of his extensive travel and research in Arabia, concerning the Arabian horse, as given in his val-
23
uable work, "Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia," published in 1881. Major Roger D. Upton was captain of the late Ninth Royal Lancers, of England, and one of the best informed horsemen of his country. Major Upton's extensive knowl- edge of horse breeding affairs of England, together with his consequent knowl- edge of the English thoroughbred and the Arabian horse, as gained from his many years of service in the military affairs of his country in India, etc., is such as to establish his opinions and conclusions concerning the Arabian horse as the highest modern authority.
The clever manner in which he has mastered the genealogical element and evolution of a subject as remote as that of the Arabian horse can be detected in the following pages of this pamphlet. We regret that the two above valuable books of Major Upton's are out of print and very hard to procure. They, like other books herein quoted, should be in every horseman's library. Major Upton's knowledge of all subjects pertaining to the horse was so thorough and broad that he could justly claim immunity from the common English contagion, called prejudice against all things not English.
Description of the Arabian Horse — Objection Taken to the De- scription— Argument in Support of the Description— More Minute Description of the Arabian Horse — Described by Different People— Some Exceptions Against the Arabian— The Horse Defended — Proofs Offered in Defense.
"Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
"Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
"He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
"He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted: neither turneth he back from the sword.
"The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
"He swallowed the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
"He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunders of the captains and the shouting." — Job, Chapter xxxix.
"Notwithstanding the appearance of the Arabian is generally supposed to be well known, this history would not be complete unless his features and character- istics were set forth. And there may still be some who do not know him, and there- fore may be unable to recognize him in the above sublime description.
"It must be remembered it is not Job who speaks, nor are the words those of man; Job is standing dumb before his maker, and the words are those of the Al- mighty, spoken from out of the whirlwind. I find objection has been taken to the passage in the description of the horse of Arabia, 'Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?' and that it should be his beautiful mane, as no meaning can be attached to clothing the neck with thunder. I beg to differ entirely from this. Great force is given, and I think the exact idea intended to be conveyed is expressed by the word 'thunder,' which 'the beautiful mane' would not at all express, and which would quite alter the grandeur of the whole description.
"Thunder conveys the idea of great force, awe and majesty; it is lightning, and is emitted with terror. What term could more aptly express the force, strength
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and beauty of the Arabian horse's neck, especially when under excitement? And the whole description is of him in an excited state. A neck of a perfect arch, with immense swelling muscles, a splendid large throat, and windpipe of extraordinary capacity, and all set off by his beautiful flowing but light and fine mane, darting out, as the writer has sometimes seen it, like flashes of electricity, and covering the horse, as it were, with a glory — his eyes glowing and emitting flashes of fire and light ; his nostrils curled up and almost turned inside out ; the whole head seem- ingly expressed by eyes and nostrils, and that set on, or, as it were, darting forth from his neck of thunder. The description conveys to my mind and senses a true and vivid picture of that which my own eyes have seen.
"The Arabian is a horse of the highest courage, in stature about fourteen hands two inches; a horse of length, power and substance, combined with the elastic and the sinuous-like movement of the serpent. He is a very perfect animal; he is not exaggerated — in some parts large, meager and diminished in others; there is a balance and harmony throughout his frame not seen in any other horse — the quin- tessence of all good qualities in a compact form.
"The beauty of head, ears, eyes, jaw, mouth and nostrils should be seen to be appreciated — the ears small, but sufficiently open, pricked, and altogether well- formed ; the head short from the eye to the muzzle, broad and well-developed above ; the eye peculiarly soft and intelligent when quiescent, emitting light and fire when roused or excited, but very different to the strained, wild look and pained, staring ex- pression often seen in European horses; the nostril long and well chiseled, and crisp in appearance and to the touch, and capable of great distension ; the neck is a model of strength and grandeur, of which he can make a perfect arch. One feature, the throat, is particularly large and well developed; it is loose and pliant when at rest, and much detached from the rest of the neck. This feature is not often noticed — indicative not only of good wind, but of the capability of prolonged exertion without distress; great width between the jaws; shoulders of a slope rarely seen in English horses, but more powerful, longer, deeper and stronger at the base by the withers; lighter at the points. He is deep in the chest, the appearance of which is dimin- ished by his big and deep ribs ; back short, loins of immense power, and quarters long and strong, the whole beautifully turned; tail set on high and grandly carried in an arch, powerful in the gaskins; hocks and knees very good and large; these points much larger than seen in the European horse, not only in proportion to height, but often really so. Arms long, legs short, hard and clean; large tendons and ligaments; pasterns sufficiently long, large, powerful and springy ; fetlock joints well developed, affording room for the advantageous attachment of ligaments ; feet tough, sound and good and rather deep; an honest heart, a skin as soft as silk and a coat like satin.
"There is no weediness in the Arab — his splendid barrel will at once convince a judge of his wonderful constitution, and gives the expanse necessary for the play of heart and lungs; great power and ability to carry weight. Stand in front of him — you will see the swell and barrel of chest expanding far beyond his shoulders and width of breast. Look at him from behind — his great ribs extend far beyond his haunches on either side, whereas in the generality of English horses their flat sides are contained within the width of the breast, and are hidden from view when you stand directly in front, and so when you stand behind are the back ribs hidden by the quarters. This was not formerly the case. In examining a sketch of Eclipse drawn from measurements taken by M. St. Bel, the swell of the barrel is seen to extend beyond the breast and shoulders, showing at once how correct is the opinion that the modern horse has deteriorated in outward form.
"There is nothing more beautiful to contemplate than the Arabian horse. Not only does he exhibit perfect symmetry, but he is a fit emblem of nobility, gen- erosity and courage.
"The formation of the Arabian horse is so perfect there is nothing to spare, no
25
waste. His form is one essentially of utility. The space for the seat of the rider is sufficient, and at once fixes his true position; the weight is therefore carried on that part most adapted for it. The rest of his frame is taken up with the powers of progression. Nature, the unerring artist, has not made a mistake, and man with his improvements has not had the opportunity of spoiling him. If he be care- fully examined, it will be found that all the limbs of progression are longer and better placed than in any other horse — the scapulae, haunches, thighs and arms are all longer, which, added to the power of great flexion, give great extension, and will explain how the stride of the Arabian, although under fifteen hands, is, at all events, greater in proporiton to his size than that of any other horse.
"Whether we look at the Arabian as a whole, or analyze his points one by one, you can arrive at no other conclusion than that he is an animal of perfect form. It has been truly remarked that the longer he is looked at, and the more minutely he is examined, the more enraptured one becomes, and convinced one is looking at something genuine. Can this be said of any other horse?
"It has been said our thoroughbred horse resembles most the Arabian in the form of his figure, his limbs, his head and his countenance. It would be strange if he did not to a very considerable extent, considering the important part the Arabian has had in his origin ; but our horse certainly bears the marks of a mixed race. Let us look at some of the points in which a difference may be seen between the Arabian and his descendant, the English horse, where a departure from the pure model has taken place. In the Arabian, the head, countenance, ears, eyes, mouth, jaws are inimitable, and are not at all approached in beauty by any other breed; his neck is more beautiful and grander, and far more powerful. The shoulders of the Arabian are stronger than those of the English horse; the scapulae are broader at the base, and have a greater inclination backward — are of a better shape. Englishmen think the Arabian has a heavier shoulder ; it is really, although a more powerful, a lighter shoulder than that of the English horse.
"English horses are very thin, narrow and undeveloped about the withers — the latter are often high to a fault, but the base of the scapulae almost meet — whereas the Arabian horse shows some thickness there, and can better support weight; but the English horse is heavier at the shoulder points, and is much wider across the breast than the Arabian — a formation similar to the bulldog; it is a weak and very heavy shoulder compared with the Arabian. This broad and heavy breast is a fault I have frequently seen animadverted upon by a warm supporter of our English horse.
"The Arabian will be seen to barrel and swell out immediately behind the arms ; the English horse is flat there. Here is a direct departure from the advantageous form of the original pure blood. There has also been considerable alteration in the direction and form of the haunch, which, besides being a loss of power, is also a sign of want of breeding. The loins and quarters of the Arabian are more beautiful and far more powerful. They can hardly be called his greatest characteristics, but yet an Arabian might be known by his hind quarters. Another point, the pasterns, which in the Arabian are oblique and yielding, are strong and large in comparison with those of an English thoroughbred horse, as are all other joints. Youatt says : *In the formation of the shoulder, next to that of the head, the Arab is superior to any other breed.' Again, 'The shoulder blade has its proper inclination back- wards. It is thickly clothed with muscle, but without the slightest appearance of heaviness.' The same author says, 'The chest of the Arab may, perhaps, be considered too narrow, that being the opinion of the uninitiated or of those who have studied an imperfect and inferior model, whose judgment has been thereby perverted. But,' says the same writer, 'behind the arms the barrel generally swells out, and leaves sufficient room for the play of the lungs.' Youatt is still more em- phatic when stating the advantages of this formation, which gives a broad, deep
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The rare and nobly bred pure Maneghi=Hadruji Arabian Stallion
KHALED
Half brother to Clay Kismet.
Sire Nimr by Kismet (desert bred).
Dam Naom.i by Yataghan (desert bred). Foaled May 2^, i<Sgj. Color red chestnut. Height 15-3^. Bred by Mr. Randolph Huntington.
Khaled is likely the largest Pure Arabian stallion that ever lived. He has proven to be a splendid sire of large, hardy foals. The property of Hartman Stock Farm.
chest: 'It is to the mixture of Arabian blood that we principally owe this peculiar and advantageous formation of the chest of the horse. The Arab is light — some would say too much so before, but immediately behind the arms the barrel almost invariably swells out, and leaves plenty of room where it is most wanted for the play of the lungs, and at the same time where the weight does not press so exclusively on the four legs, and expose the feet to concussion and injury.' This confirms what has been stated of the perfect symmetry in the Arabian — everything is in its proper place.
"To fully appreciate the perfection of the Arabian horse, to the knowledge of a horseman that of an anatomist and painter should be added. By making studies of him with the pencil it is found with surprise how large a horse he is, and the diffi- culty there is of keeping him within the canvas or paper, and you become assured of the trueness of his proportion.
"Mr. Gifford Palgrave thus describes the Arab horses in an imaum's stables at Riad: 'Their stature was indeed somewhat low; I do not think that any came fully up to fifteen hands — fourteen appeared to me about their average — but they were so exquisitely well shaped that want of greater size seemed hardly, if at all, a defect; remarkably full in the haunches, with a shoulder of a slope so elegant as to make one, in the words of an Arab poet, "go raving mad about it." A little, a very little, saddle-backed — just the curve which indicates springiness without any weakness; a head broad above, and tapering down to a nose fine enough to verify the phrase of "drinking from a pint pot," did pint pots exist in Jajed ; a most intel- ligent and yet a singularly gentle look; full eye; sharp, thorn-like little ear; legs, fore and hind, that seemed as if made of hammered iron, so clean and yet so well twisted with sinew; a neat round hoof, just the requisite for hard ground; the tail set on, or rather thrown out, at a perfect arch; coat smooth, shining and light; the mane long, but not overgrown nor heavy. Their appearance justified all reputation, all value, all poetry.
" 'But if asked what are, after all, the specially distinctive points of the Nejded horse, I should reply, "the slope of the shoulder, the extreme cleanness of the shank and the full rounded haunch," though every other part, too, has a perfection and a harmony unwitnessed, at least by my eyes, anywhere else.
" 'The peculiar obliquity of the shoulder-blade gave them an easy, springy movement, which, combined with their splendid barrel, immense haunches, su- perbly set tail, delicate muzzle and magnificent crest, made them the "beau ideal" of a horse.'
"The following is a description of Major Gwatkin's Arab horse. Barefoot, considered by Mr. Elliott as the best specimen of the Arabian he had met with in India. It is very characteristic, and is almost identical with the preceding more general description: 'Barefoot is of the Nejded cast, eight years old, fourteen hands two inches ; is a silver gray, with a dark skin, blood head, full eye, large throttle, light neck; the shoulders are flat, with the muscular lines very distinct; withers well raised ; good arm, good leg, and the sinews large and well detached from the bone ; pastern of a moderate length. His back and loins are particularly beautiful, and convey the idea of great strength ; his quarters are finely turned and very muscular ; his temper is exceedingly good ; when led out to start he appears to great advan- tage, full of fire, yet very temperate, and when at work no horse could evince more vigor and determined courage. Other similar examples might be shown of the Arabian as known in India, and among them the beautiful and equally good little Honeysuckle.'
"A gentleman to whom I am much indebted, and who has for many years been in constant intercourse with the Bedouin sheiks from Nedjed, thus speaks of the Arabian: 'The Arab, although less swift for a short distance, is certainly stouter than the English thoroughbred horse; his stride is greater in proportion to their
27
size.' The English thoroughbreds are certainly flatter, more lathy and of less swelling development than the best Arabians; the Arabians have longer shoiilder- blades in proportion to height, and it is only the first blood of England that comes nearer the Arabian in obliquity. Muscle starts out of the Arabian in a way I never saw in the best trained English racer. Bone is of a closer texture, more heavy when a cubic inch of each is weighed. First-class Arabians have as large hocks as English horses ; their feet, as a rule, larger. All good Arabians have the same high, full and long quarters, and tails set on high and carried well. Nedjed is a country where the best horses are to be found.
"Abd-el-Kader thus describes the Arabian: 'Every horse of noble race fas- cinates the eyes and rivets the gaze of the enthusiastic spectator. In a pure-bred Arabian the moral and physical qualities are inseparable one from the other.' The truth and faithfulness of this cannot fail to be recognized by any who know the Arabian horse. I give an account of an Arabian sent as a present to the late emperor of the French from Abd-el-Kader after his residence had been fixed at Damascus. It was written, no doubt, by one more conversant with European horses than Ara- bians: 'The horse Emir is eight years old, color brown, with a very silky skin, three white fetlocks ; some white, but not too much, about his face ; he has some white spots about the size of a small pea on his neck and shoulders ; he stands fourteen hands and one inch high; has a good, long, lean head, well set on; ears slender; his eye mild and intelligent ; his mane and tail light and the hair fine ; a handsome, straight, strong neck, longer than one generally sees with other Arabs; his shoulders are long and well laid in, each of these points showing much quality; he has great legs and quarters ; ribs and back wide to a degree ; hoofs black, strong, wide at the heels, and deep; joints large; knees and hocks very good. He is all over a remarkably strong, thick-made horse, but to my taste too thick to be speedy, and sinks a little too much upon his fetlocks ; but we cannot have perfection. His action is more elastic than might be expected from a horse of his build and strength. He is as gentle as a sheep, without being duU; he looks like what we would call a craving, but very aristocratic animal.' • •
"I venture to offer a few remarks. The writer is at a loss to understand how so strong and powerful a horse can have speed, although he sees and admits his actions to be elastic. If he had been more conversant with the Arabians he would have known that the rare combination of points to be found only in the Arabian permits of a horse being strong, powerful, enabled to carry weight, and with good speed, and all done with light and elastic action. And why object to his springy and elastic pasterns, the means provided by nature to secure his good action and preserve him from accidents? Has not rather the European eye been perverted by studying a false and imperfect model? I think, too, he must have been mis- taken in the long head. The Flying Dutchman, who was more distinguished for elastic action and for springy pasterns than perhaps any other English racehorse, was a sound horse, and I have seen it noticed that upon one occasion, when trainers were only allowing their horses to take gentle canters and for short distances, Fobert was sending the Dutchman over the hard ground for mile gallops; but, as was re- marked, he was one of the very few sound ones.
" 'But the Arab is so small!' is the remark made by many of his detractors. He is low in stature, but is no weed. He is not a small, but really a large, horse. Those who do not know the Arab cannot understand this. They say if a horse fourteen and one-half hands has as much power as one fifteen and one-half or sixteen hands, he must be out of proportion — they are ever guided by the English standard. They see the pretty Galloways or ponies in London or Paris, about four- teen hands or a little over, perhaps capable of carrying eight or nine stone, and there- fore argue, the Arab, being about the same height, it is the same with him. But
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Arabs are masters of more than a light weight, aud have done some wonderful things under very heavy weights.
"A member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons thus speaks of an Arab fourteen hands one inch he had the opportunity of seeing a few years ago. He might not have seen many Arabs, yet his knowledge of anatomy enabled him at once to appreciate the horse : 'I consider him better able to carry fourteen stone than many horses that measure fifteen hands, and more elastic and easy to ride ; his hind quarters are longer and bigger than some horses at sixteen hands. I believe him to be the most perfect horse I have ever seen.' Here we have the acknowledgment from a professional man, who, after some thirty years' experience, during which period he must have seen some of the elite of England, that the one little Arab stranger, not a selected horse, was the most perfect specimen of the equine race he had met with ; and further, a declaration that in an animal of fourteen hands one inch actual greater size was found than in many of sixteen hands, yet with a perfect form. A small horse is not necessarily a weed, and one apparently very large may be in reality a small horse, may be light and weedy; another may be big, coarse and weedy. An overgrown horse, although he may have wonderful shoulders and quarters, big limbs and large bone, if he fails in his middle piece and loins, which is very often the case, is weedy; he is not in harmony — he lacks the constitutional powers to work his large frame. A small, light horse, with light and sloping shoul- ders, with powerful quarters and thighs, and even with great depth of chest, may also be a weed from being deficient in barrel, flat and narrow instead of swelling development, and faulty in the loins. These horses may have speed, they may be prepared and win a race, but they are not the horses that would have won the races a hundred years ago.
"It may be called heresy, but it is nevertheless proved, that very many of our celebrated modern racers are and have been nothing more nor less than weeds. Others have said the Arab's weak points are his shoulders, and his paces are bad — ■ nothing less than execrable. The paces of a horse (except the gallop) are very much what the rider makes them. Arabs have little or no trouble taken with their education. In India they are taught to walk badly, to step at a short, contracted pace, by their being constantly, and sometimes for weeks together, led by their syces (grooms) at the rate of about two miles an hour. It is hardly fair to blame a horse for the very faults man has taught him. I suppose one would not be far wrong in saying that ninety out of every hundred men who ride are carried as their horses choose to go, not as their rider likes. If a horse trots, his rider is content to go at a trot ; if he canters, the rider concludes that he cannot trot. So it is with the Arab — he has been taught a cramped action before at a walk. When his owner gets up, instead of correcting the errors that have been forced upon his horse, he contents himself by saying that no Arab can walk; the horse has probably never been tried at a trot, therefore it is said he cannot trot. I affirm that the Arabian can walk, trot and gallop. I have possessed some that would walk five miles an hour, and certainly one that could do that pace at the rate of six or more miles in the hour. The fastest trotter I ever rode — or perhaps have ever seen, unless among trained trotters — was an Arab. Even the detractors of the Arab allow that he will gallop at speed with ease and in safety over broken and rough ground. This is certain proof that his shoulders are not faulty, and a most incontestable proof that they are very perfect. Besides this I will give two illustrations, which will, I think, convince any horseman that the Arab must have good and perfect shoulders.
"Most must have noticed when riding on the grass by the side of roads, how • constantly their horses are putting their feet into the grips, or on the edge of them, which have been cut to carry off the water, and which, it would appear, they were incapable of avoiding, jerking and shaking their own limbs, and making it un- pleasant for their riders. I have known Arabs, on the contrary, either at a canter or
a trot, avoid these grips and obstacles by a most nimble management of their legs, whether extending one shoulder and one leg beyond the grip or putting one foot neatly down before concluding the usual length of pace. The other is the abiUty Arabs have of playing with their fore feet, even when at a tolerably smart gallop. If a bird or insect, no matter how small, suddenly flies across their path, without stopping they will make a pat at it like a kitten playing with a ball. Such feats, I hold, cannot possibly be performed except by a horse with good shoulders and a free use of them — bad shoulders and galloping bring the legs to grief. See the amount of galloping the Arab's legs can stand. Galloping one of my own Arabs at more than three-quarter speed on the race course at Amballah, the horse put his near fore foot into a fox's or rat's hole (such holes were very numerous). This let him down in depth to his knee, but did not bring him down — it scarcely made a dif- ference in his stride. Good shoulders or bad? I will give another instance, which I think displays not only the high courage of the Arabian, but his wonderful power and activity. The Arab I was riding, jackal hunting, would have been considered an old horse in England. He could not have seen less than twenty summers, had been a racer, had gone through two campaigns as a charger, but his legs were straight and clean as a foal's. After a kill, when riding slowly homeward, we came to the bank of a nullah. Some thought the bottom looked suspicious. I pushed my horse down, and was immediately up to the hips of my horse in quicksands. I would have got off if I could, but the horse never gave me a chance. His bounds and springs can only be described as astonishing. He lifted himself straight up out of the treach- erous soil over and over again, only to be again engulfed; still he did not give up, nor fall over, or succumb, and finally landed on a sounder bit. We escaped. I could not have believed any animal could have displayed such strength. Formerly on several occasions I had been bogged on Dartmoor, and have subsequently in forest lands in England, but I never found a horse behave under me like the old Arab. Five minutes afterward there was a whimper, an indication of a find; the gallant old horse's head was up, his beautiful little ears pricked, he was dancing on his legs, anticipating another gallop.
"As to the action of the Arabian, it is very well described by the writer of an old article who signed himself 'Picador:' 'Sit easily and flexibly on him, put your hands down, and set him agoing, and then you will experience a sensation delightful to the man who really can ride — he will bound along with you with a stride and movement that gives you the idea of riding over India rubber.' "
General Description of the Keheilan, or Arabian Horse, as Given by Major R. D. Upton in His Book, "Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia," published 1881.
"The following statements are based upon personal observation of the horses of the *Anazeh, which people by general consent are considered to have the best in Arabia. They will serve generally for the Arabian horse as a race, but in a marked and decided degree for the horses of the Anazeh.
"In the Keheilan, or genuine Arabian, horse (speaking in general terms from seeing a number of horses and mares at one time), setting on one side what may be called their great personal beauty, you are at once struck by the general appear- ance of character, of blood or high breeding — which features are very conspicuous — and their great general length. 'What reach, what stride these horses must have; they are natural born racers!* we both exclaimed at once. One is equally struck by the perfectly natural appearance of the Keheilan, He presents in his form of undisturbed structure the evidence of his origin from an uncontaminated
*The largest, richest ajid most select of all the Arabian Bedouin tribes of the Arabian Deserts
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The Americo=Arab Stallion
HEQIRA
Sire of Lady Washington, Clay Lily, and grandsirc of Clay Childcrs, Claygira, Anagira, Nazar, Hazel Kirk, Sayonara and Dagmar, all of ivhich are owned by this concern.
Sire General Grant's Barb- Arab Linden Tree {desert bred).
Dam Tachista by Henry Clay, he by Andrciv Jackson.
Foaled July g, 1882. Color bine-black. Height 16 hands. Bred and raised by Air. Randolph Huntington.
Hegira is one of the handsomest and gamest trotters I have ever seen. A Barb in type, *- and a sire of game fast trotters, coach horses and all-day road horses.
30a
stock, in the same manner as do lions, tigers and other animals which have been left undisturbed in a free and natural state and have not come under the destructive influence of man.
"It is a treat to see such a horse, although I know from experience many do not and cannot appreciate him at first. This is owing to the fact that his natural structure is different from that of the animals they have been accustomed to admire, which are made up of points some of which may be often very conspicuous and exaggerated, even while others are deficient, and which exaggeration and deficiencies they look for in vain in the Arabian. Throughout the whole frame of the Keheilan it is the extreme natural appearance of the horse, the absence of any one predominant or conventional point artificially produced, the beautiful balance of power and sym- metry displayed in his form, the just organization of sensorial and structural func- tions, which cause him to be so beautiful, so perfect an animal.
"The head is very beautiful — not only pleasing to the eye in its graceful out- line, but beautiful from its grand development of the sensorial organ, and the delicacy of such parts as are more subservient. It is not particularly small or short in its whole length, in proportion to the size or height of the horse, but it is large above the eyes, small and short from the eyes to the muzzle. The center of the eye more nearly divides the length of the head into equal parts than is observable in other horses ; from the top of the head to the center of the eye will often measure as much as from the center of the eye to just above the upper edge of the nostril. The head of the horse of the Anazeh especially tapers very much from the eyes to the muzzle, and the lower jaw does so equally or even in a greater degree to the under lip, and if these lines were prolonged they would meet or cut each other at a short distance only beyond the tip of the nose. The nostril, which is peculiarly long — not round — runs upward toward the face, and is also set up outward from the nose like the mouth of a pouch or sack which has been tied. This is a very beautiful feature, and can hardly be appreciated except by sight; when it expands it opens both up- ward and outward, and in profile is seen to extend beyond the outline of the nose, and when the animal is excited the head of this description appears to be made up of forehead, eyes and nostrils.
"Such a head is often supposed to denote a violent temper. It is the type, however, of the head of the Arabian horse, and is, we thought, more marked and to be seen more frequently among the Anazeh tribes than elsewhere. Every Arabian horse may be said to have a high temper to some extent, but it is balanced or con- trolled by the power of the large and well-developed cerebrum. The head I have described of horses we have seen denotes the highest order of qualities — intelligence, energy and unconquerable courage. It is almost human in its expression of nobility, dignity and sagacity. Other horses have much fire, but it is but too often the habitual and only expression, not one called forth by occasion and controlled at other times by higher organs; indeed, a spirit of the highest order is characteristic of the Arabian. With regard to the great development of the upper part of the head and the fineness of the muzzle, I have seen instances of the former measuring nearly two and one- half to one; witness a measurement of thirty-seven inches over the forehead and under jaws, taken in a line horizontal with the bone, against one of fifteen inches, or perhaps a line over, around the muzzle above the nostrils, and of perhaps just over thirty-seven inches around the forehead, and sixteen inches or just under around the muzzle, and there may be examples of even greater difference.
"The frontal and parietal bones, or walls of the skull above, are large, bold, well developed, and often prominent. The brain cavity is capacious, giving an appearance and power almost human. The nasal bones, on the other hand, are fine and subservient to the frontal, and of a delicate and graceful outline. The orbits of the eye are large and prominent, the eye is full, large and lustrous; it is very beautiful. The beauty is not so much dependent upon the size of the eye
31
visible through the eyelids, as it is derived from its depth and expression. The part of the eyeball seen between the eyelids may not be so large as is often to be seen in other horses, but it is very full; standing on one side of the animal and a little be- hind, the fullness of the ball and its prominence are very observable, and when the animal is excited the eye displays much fire, but it is seldom that any of the white is seen. The lids are particularly fine, the eyelashes long and silky. The face is lean and full of fine drawing. The muzzle is particularly fine, the lips long and thin (not fleshy) ; the upper lip well cut or chiseled, the lower lip small, well formed, compressed and terse. The nostril in a state of repose is very long, beau- tifully curled, delicate and thin; when the horse is in action or excited the nostril opens very wide, and gives a bold, square, sharp and vigorous expression. The lower jaws are fine, clean and set wide apart; the cheek-bones are sharply cut; the ears are beautifully shaped, pointed and well placed, and point inward in a marked and peculiar manner, which is considered a point of great beauty and a great sign of high or pure breeding. The neck is of moderate length, and of a graceful curve or gentle arch from the poll to the withers ; it is neither a light, weak neck nor a heavy neck, but it is a strong, light and muscular neck, with the splenius muscle well developed. The junction of the head and neck is very graceful; the head is well set on. The withers are high, and run well back, are well developed and not too narrow or thin. The back is short, the loins are powerful, the croup high, the haunch very fine, the tail well set on and the dock short. The quarters are both long and deep, the gaskins sufficiently full and muscular without being heavy, ponderous or vulgar ; the thighs are well let down ; the hocks are clean, large, -well formed, well placed and near the ground. The shoulders are long and pow- erful, well developed, but light at the points; the scapulae are long and of a good slope, and broad at the base; the arms are long, lean and muscular, deep at the elbow, which is well developed; the knees are large and square and deep; the tra- pezium, or bone at the back of the knee, is very prominent ; the legs are short, deep and of fair-sized bone, the tendons and ligaments large and well strung; the fetlock joint is large and bold, the pasterns are long, large, sloping, very elastic and strong ; the feet wide and open at the heels, and not very high in the desert. The chest is both deep and capacious, and in the perfection of its form differs considerably from that of any other kind of horse I have seen, not excepting the English racer or thoroughbred horse. It is neither too flat and narrow nor too round; it is a very happy and perfect medium, and of a beautiful form in section, securing large ca- pacity with great elasticity. His body, or trunk, behind the chest, is small, but formed like a barrel. He is essentially short above, but long below. The line from the withers to the setting on of the tail is short compared with the space of ground he stands upon from fore to hind feet. The skin is fine ; the hair is short, soft and silky; the skin is seen through the hairs to a greater degree than in other horses. The mane and tail are long, and hair often very fine. The whole of the hinder parts, from the haunch to the heels, taken collectively or in detail, show great ■ length. There is also a width of haunch noticeable — indeed, not only in the horses of the Anizah, but in most desert-bred Arabians in so marked a degree as to be almost a distinguishing feature, and many horses commonly called or known as Arabs are deficient in this respect. The general appearance of the Keheilan indi- cates the highest breeding and great nobility. He is a horse of high courage, easily excited and of a nervous temperament, but his high spirit and courage are tem- pered by his sagacity=
"The Arabs are very particular with regard to three points in connection with the head of their horse — the Jibbah, or forehead ; the Mitbeh, or form of the throat at its junction with the head, and the shape, size, direction and attitude of the ears.
"The Jibbah, or forehead, can scarcely be too large or too prominent to please an Arab. The formation of the frontal and parietal bones, which determine whether
a horse has a Jibbah, if not altogether peculiar to, is most marked in the Arabian, and when seen in other kinds of horses, as in the thoroughbred horse, it is, I think, evidence of Arab blood, and traceable to some remote Arab ancestor. The shape of the Jibbah in which the Arab delights gives a large brain cavity, adds greatly to the beauty of the head, and gives an expression of great nobility, and thus in this point, as in others of the Keheilan, usefulness and beauty go hand in hand— in him the expressions are synonymous. The Jibbah, or forehead, is somewhat different in the horse and the mare. In the mare it is usually rounder and more decidedly prominent, often strikingly so, and descends in a graceful and easy line to the nasal bones. When a horse has such a forehead, he is said by the Arabs to have a Jibbah. "The Mitbeh is a term used to express the manner in which the head is set on to the neck, and especially refers to the form of the windpipe and to the manner in which the throat enters or runs in between the jaws, where it should have a slight and graceful curve. This permits of a gracefiU and easy carriage of the head, and enables it to be either brought in or extended at will or necessity, with almost or perhaps quite the same prolongation as the neck. This, of course, gives great freedom to the air passages, and the Keheilan is essentially a deep breathed and a good and long winded horse.
"The ears, to be perfect, should be so placed that they point inward, so that the tips may almost touch ; the outline of the inner side of the ear should be much curved, and, as it were, notched about half-way down. In the horse the ears are generally smaller and more pricked; in the mare they are usually rather longer and more open. "These three features, Jibbah, Mitbeh and ears of the above description, go a long way to form a perfect head.
"The hock of the Keheilan is large — may be called very large; for when you find a horse of fourteen hands three inches with a hock often as large and which would measure as much as the hock in many hunters of sixteen hands, it cannot be anything but very large. The point of the hock (os calcis) is well defined, and often so prominent as at first sight to look almost unnatural— as if it had been enlarged by accident. And from the hock of the tendon or back sinew runs down to where it passes the sesamoids in a clean, well-defined manner, which not only gives a very clean look, but, I submit, acts in the horse with an advantage similar to that gained in the human subject by a well-formed heel and arched instep.
"We were much struck by the general development of the fetlock-joint, pasterns, and feet, all of which are pre-eminently good. It is not sufficient to say the pasterns are long and elastic ; all the above-named points are larger and stronger and of greater development and as if more adapted for use than those in other horses, and the upper and lower pastern bones, in their direction and conjunction with the foot (os pedis) appear to act with greater advantage. There is a great depth of leg at the sesamoid bone, and the head of the shank-bone is also large. There is a marked combina- tion of strength and elasticity in these complicated joints, which appears to be very peculiar to the Arabian horse.
"Another thing we noticed (which I think of some consequence) is that there was not that decided disparity in size between the hind and fore legs below the hocks and knees, which is so often observable in many of our horses, especially, I may say, in some of our racers. Although the hind leg may be slightly deeper than the fore leg, it is so in a less degree. On reflection it struck us as an admirable adap- tation of parts to the distinctive kinds of work they respectively have to perform. Strength and bone in the fore legs are essential to receive the additional weight thrown on them by the impetus given by the hind extremities when the horse is in rapid motion, and we thought the great reach of the Arabian propelled by the great power of his loins and quarters is amply provided for and counterbalanced by the formation of the various parts of the fore legs and fore hands as I have endeavored to describe them.
33
"We remarked among the horses and mares we saw of the Anazeh that we had not seen a single one with an ewe, or a weak neck even, not excepting such as were in low condition and quite lean; they had beautiful necks, and strong. Nor did we see among the horses of the Anazeh — nor, I think, in other Bedouin tribes — any horses which were cut-hammed; yet among horses passing under the name of Arab are often seen cut-hammed animals. I believe that if the history of such could be ascertained it would be found that they were not Arabians, nor bred in Arabia, but that their dams were cut-hammed ponies or Galloways of a mixed or alien breed, the sires probably having been Arabian. Nor do I remember to have seen any horses or mares among the Bedouins of a black color, but in Syria and in the Turkish districts we occasionally did see blacks, and generally these were said to be Jelfon. I was struck, too, with another feature (I am not, however, prepared to say it is absolutely a distinctive one, to be seen in every Arabian, but it was noticed in so many instances that it looks something like it) — a line somewhat darker than the general color of the animal, to be seen in colt foals, running in continuation of the mane, along the spine, and to be traced for some way even among the long hair of the tail. I never saw it in a fiUy— it seemed pecuUar to the male sex; it is not obhterated with age ; it can be traced in old horses and in those of a very dark color. It is totally different to the markings of the zebra, quagga, or of any of the hybrids, or to the dark band to be seen down the back of certain dun-colored horses, often accompanied by asinine stripes or markings ; it appears rather as the first or primitive color of the animal, which tones away by almost imperceptible degrees from the back to the belly; it may be seen in lines on the males of other wild animals. At certain seasons and as the horse ages, and dependent also in some degree on his condition, the dark color spreads over the shoulders and upper part of the body, giving on the shoulders and the junction of the neck at the withers, and on the upper part of the body and quarters, an appearance as if shaded with black, which is most noticeable in horses of bay color.
"The horses of the Anazeh stand over a great deal of ground, as also does the desert-bred Arabian generally. We never saw one among the Anazeh which stood with the fore legs inclined backward and much under the body — which stood over, in other words — a thing, however, which is very often considered to be quite char- acteristic of the Arab horse. They all have a free, long, striding walk, the hind foot, I may say, invariably overstepping the place whence the fore foot on the same side has just been raised many inches, from twelve to eighteen inches being a quite common distance, and in some cases to an extent of two or even three feet, and at times, I think, more. The longest stepping horse we saw was a two- year-old colt — Seklawi Jedran ibn Nederi. Watching him walking hour after hour in the desert, we estimated the distance he overstepped to be considerably beyond three feet.
"As to the color, I do not pretend to restrict it; but among the Anazeh, bay appeared to us to be the most general, and I think is the favorite color among the Arabs. Horses of a very rich dark bay, rather than a brown color, are not uncom- mon; chestnuts and grays are less numerous, and together would not equal the number of those of a bay color. But these colors were all distinct, marked and good. The Arabs like a decided, or a clear, color. In other tribes of Bedouin the color among the gray horses was much less decided; gray horses were more nu- merous ; bay is thought not so general a color. In Turkish Arabia, which the Arabs call Erack, gray horses appear to be so numerous that gray might be said to be the usual color.
"Grogginess, or knuckling over at the fetlock-joint, either before or behind, we did not see among Anazeh horses; even those which showed signs of excessive hard work were upright on their legs and sound in the feet. Scars, enlargements from blows, and lesions, are often to be seen among the Anazeh horses, and the
34
The long yearling Americo=Arab Stallion
ARABIAN KSHOT
Sire the Pure Arabian K haled by Nimr, he by Kismet (desert bred).
Dam Collette by Islem, he by General Grant's Barb-Arabian, Linden Tree {desert bred).
Foaled March 25, igo6. Color dark chestnut. Bred by J as. A. Lawrence.
Arabian Kshot possesses almost perfect conformation, great substance and splendid action.
Property of Hartman Stock Farm.
34o
marks of the firing-irons on many parts of the body are common enough. The actual cautery is the sovereign remedy for almost all ailments. Scars from firing of the width of two fingers, and extending from the elbows to the stifle, along the whole side and belly, are very frequent; besides these, there are cicatrices from wounds, principally from the lance.
"It is not uncommon for Arab horses to stand back more or less at the knees; many are stag-legged, in fact. There is no prejudice among the Arabs against such a formation; many do not like it in England, whilst others, and among them members of the veterinary profession, do not object to it, and some even prefer it. I am not sure if such a formation is not generally accompanied with the best and most lasting of legs, and we observed that when the knees were a little back the heels were rather higher than usual. This stag-legged formation was of two kinds, one in which the whole of the fore leg, from the knee to the pastern, inclined for- ward; not only the metacarpal bones, but the back sinews, had the same direction, and in many cases by the time the animal was fully grown the leg had assumed an upright position. This kind may be described as accidental and genital, rather than structural. The other kind is that in which the back sinew is perpendicular to the ground, and the metacarpals only have the inclination backward to the knee, and this is further increased in some cases and to a certain extent by the size and prominence of the head of the shank-bone. This is a natural and structural for- mation. All desert-bred Arabs, at least, have a long-striding, free walk. "When trotting (which is quite an unusual pace among Arabs, as it is, indeed, to the horse generally ; for naturally the horse does not go at a trot for any distance — as a pace of the road and for harness the trot has been artificially acquired), the hind legs of the Arabian appear to be, and often may be, too long, and there is too much reach for a pleasant trotting pace; yet with good riding some will trot grandly, but it is far more labor to the Arabian than galloping, who from the present length of the hind extremities and his reach is essentially a galloper by nature, and the faster the pace the more easy and the more true the action.
"In height the Arabian in the desert, or rather (to confine my remarks more strictly to those we saw) the Anazeh horse, ranges from about fourteen hands one inch and a half to fifteen hands, but generally just under the latter height. We remarked that we did not see any that we thought as low as fourteen hands, or even perhaps fourteen hands one inch; some we measured proved to be fourteen hands three inches, which is a very general height, and several would be found, I have no doubt, quite fifteen hands. The height hardly varies a hand.
"The Bedouin of these tribes admit the superiority of the Anazeh horse over their own, not only by the fact that they use horses of that blood on all possible occasions, but they candidly told us, 'If you wish to see or want a superior horse, you must go to the Anazeh.' "
Major Upton continues as follows :
"There are some who aflfect to consider that horses were not known in Arabia until a recent date. For example, Youatt states that 'so late as the seventh cen- tury the Arabs had few horses, and those of little value.' But history says other- wise when it records the fact that Rabiah-al-Faras had the horses of his ancestors allotted to him. Reference to the accompanying table of descents will show that David, King of Israel, was probably, or might have been, contemporary with Rabiah- al-Faras.
35
"Isaac I — Ishmael.
"Jacob 2 — Kidar.
"Judah 3 — Hamal.
"Pharez 4 — Ifabet.
"Hezron (about 1635 B. C.) 5 — Salaman (owners of the five Keheilets).
"Ram 6 — Alhamaisa.
"Amminadab 7 — Alyasa.
"Nahshon 8— Odad.
"Salmon 9 — Oddo.
"Boaz 10 — Adnan.
"Obed 1 1 — Maad.
"Jesse 12 — Nazar.
"David 13 — Rabiah (on whom were entailed the
horses of his ancestors.) 14 — Solomon (B. C. 1033).
"So that more than a thousand years before Christ history not only records that horses were in Arabia, but specifies a certain class — the horses of Rabiah's ances- tors ; and Salaman, the direct ancestor of Rabiah, whose five Arabian mares founded the select family of 'Al-Khamseh,' was of the same number of descents from the patriarch Abraham as Hezron, the grandson of Judah, who flotu-ished about the year 1635 B. C, so that an authentic family of horses has been preserved in Arabia for 3,500 years.
"Thus written history informs us that a thousand years before the Christian era horses were allotted to and entailed upon a certain family. The Arab account states that a special breed, or family, was established by the selection of five mares which belonged to Salaman, the ancestor of the family, to whom later an allotment was made — determined by history to have been some six centuries before — and tradition says that upon Ismail, who was the direct ancestor of Salaman, the owner of 'The Five Mares,' lamenting over his barren heritage, the desert of Arabia, he was reassured and consoled by the announcement that the most valued gift to man had been reserved for him, which he subsequently discovered in the horse of the Kuhl race, upon his arrival at Hejaz.
"Besides 'Al-Khamseh' being the select family by which the Kuhl race has been preserved and authentically handed down, I think there is a select family of 'Al-Khamseh,' which is that possessed by the Anazeh ; for with regard to the horses which were entailed upon Rabiah al-Faras, considering the number of descents between Salaman and Rabiah al-Faras, it is probable the special allotment did not consist of the whole race or breed descended from Salaman's Five Mares, but of such only as had come down from Salaman to Rabiah through ancestors in direct descent from father to son, or, if such be not intended, that possibly some further selection was deemed advisable, and made probably by public consent. These were probably entailed upon Rabiah al-Faras to secure within certain bounds the blood of the five Keheilets, which had probably in the course of some generations become dispersed among many kindred families of Arabs from Adnan, This would show, it is true, two divisions in the select family of 'Al-Khamseh,' which divisions or classes I believe, however, to exist — first, the general family of 'Al-Khamseh,' which is to be found among most Bedouin tribes and tolerably freely dispersed throughout Arabia ; secondly, a more precise or select class among the Anazeh race.
"The text of history — 'Rabiah, sumamed al-Faras ("of the horses"), because he obtained the horses from his ancestors by hereditary law' — not only points back- ward to 'Al-Khamseh,' formed from the five mares of his ancestor Salaman, but, I think, indicates something more definite than a general consignment of the whole race of 'Al-Khamseh,' increased during an interval of some five or six centuries.
"It does appear why Rabiah was selected from the sons of Nazar, his father. He would appear to have been third, or perhaps the fourth, son, rather than the eldest born, but he and his brethren were fourth in descent from Adnan (the ancestor up to whom descents are usually traced). But had the allotment not been made to Rabiah, but to Aijad, the eldest son of Nazar, instead, the horses would have been carried by him to Erack, to which country, or district, Aijad be- took himself with his family. Likewise if no consignment by law had been made, and Modar, the second son and direct ancestor of the Koraish and of Mohammed, had inherited them, solely or conjointly with his brothers, the horses might prob- ably have descended to the Koraish at Mekka, on the one hand, but in such a re- stricted locality and in a district incapable of supporting any number of horses the especial selection would have dwindled away, and would probably have be- come very degenerate; it might, on the other hand, have been dispersed to various districts by the numerous tribes and families which came from Kias Aylon — the other son of Modar mentioned in history — to Erack, to the banks of the Tigris at Mosul and to the north of Syria. But to have entailed them upon Rabiah was a fortunate or wise step, for no other conclusion can be arrived at but that the horses descended from Rabiah throvxgh his son Asad to his grandson Anazeh, whose race inhabited Khaibar and afterward spread all over the pastures of Central Arabia (Najd), which race possesses the best horses. Thus by a most fortuitous arrangement the select breed formed by a selection from the original and universal pure breed of Arabis, the Kuhl race, or a portion of it, or a still more definite selection from it, has been preserved and handed down to the present day by that great and pecu- liarly exclusive people, the great Anazeh race.
"Whether the era of Keheilet Ajuz was before or since the days of Rabiah, and if before whether the horses inherited by Rabiah were solely from her, I can- not say. But it certainly appears to me that a special selection of horses does exist in the Anazeh tribes, and their tenacity and persistency in keeping it pure and select is shown by their refusing to acknowledge or to return to any strain which has departed from them into other hands.
"The Keheilan blood among the Anazeh tribes seems to proceed from them to other tribes, and thus the Anazeh horse influences and afifects all other strains (more or less) which there may be inside or outside of 'Al-Khamseh,' but never returns to the Anazeh.
"The term 'Al-Khamseh' (The Five) has reference only, I consider, to the five original mares of the Arab patriarch Salaman; it embraces all authentic lines of descent from 'The Five,' but does not infer that there are necessarily five families, or only five, at the present day. I think there is not any attempt on the part of the Bedouin, such as the Anazeh, to retain five families only as representatives of the original five, or indeed to limit the number of families or strains in 'Al-Khamseh.' These are very numerous, and when any such have established a well-merited rep- utation, and especially when other strains have sprung from them in turn, it appears to me that such often become the leading families. On the other hand, I think it is quite possible that a name or family might cease to have a place in 'Al-Khamseh' under some circumstances, i. e., it might cease to be considered worthy by the Anazeh.
"The blood of the five original mares collectively may have come down through five sources, bearing different names (original or otherwise), not that lines from the original mares were kept distinct from each other otherwise than in name, from the custom of calling the offspring after the family of the dam; or from the period of the Keheilet Ajuz it may have been preserved, as some suppose, through that one source.
"The accompanying chart may make the matter more clear; the roll of names which follows is a tolerably complete one of the families and strains considered and said to be in 'Al-Khamseh'— of many there is no doubt — and is so arranged as to
37
show them equally well, whether all are considered from Keheilet Ajuz or from four other lines collateral with hers, from the original 'Five.'
Keheilan or Kuhl Race
From whence five mares Patriarch, called "Al Five," whose descendants
of Salaman, the Arabian Khamseh," or "The Formed are one select family.
Collectively called "Al-Khamseh"
"The blood of either has come down through five lines bearing the original names, or substitutes of a later date, corresponding with the five original mares, or through one descendant — the Keheilet Ajuz,
'i. Keheilet Ajuz. Keheilet Heife. Keheilet abu Soara. Keheilet al-Esheir. Keheilet Kroash, Keheilet Shalua. Keheilan al-Denais. Keheilan al-Nowak. Keheilan Tamri. Keheilan Hadali. Keheilan Nowak Deber. Keheilan Jaizi. Keheilan al-Muson. Keheilan abu Junub. Keheilan Moyel. Keheilan Dahara. Keheilan Dabian. Keheilan al-Ghazala. Keheilan Shenin.
Keheilan Anazeh al-Derwish. Keheilan Ras al-Fadawi. Keheilan Jehab al-Tair. Keheilan Rodan. Keheilan Hrmaer. Keheilan Mendil. Keheilan Hamad. Keheilan Haloadj. Keheilan Abub. Keheilan Jahari. Keheilan Mahid. Keheilan Haraka. Keheilan Zuada. Keheilan Kinian, Keheilan al-Shaieh. Keheilan Aurif. Keheilan Raowaha. Keheilan Maijce Hamad. Keheilan Wadnan Harsan.
"These I understand to be just simple strains from the Keheilet Ajuz branch, many of which I have actually ascertained to be so.
"The Seklawi-Jedran family : •'Derived from Keheilet Ajuz.
Seklawi-Jedran. Seklawi-Obeiri. Seklawi-al-Abd.
38
The Americo=Arab Mare
KATHLEEN
Sire Clay Kismet by Nimr, he by Kismet (desert bred).
Dam Heiress, she by the Pure Arabian stallion Maidan {desert bred). Foaled April 27, igo4.
Color red chestmit. Height 16 hands.
Kathleen possesses extreme refinement, quality, beauty, action and perfect feet and limbs,
such as are always characteristic of Clay Kismet's foals. The property of Hartman Stock Farm.
38a
"The Abayan family :
"It is also believed to be derived from Keheilet Ajuz, and perhaps from Seklawi-Jedran.
"Also the following families, or second- ary families, understood to be off- shoots from Keheilet Aju7, and strictly of 'Al-Khamseh.'
"Also,
"And it is believed also the following :
"Also, "Also,
"Also,
"2, Managhi family:
Abayan Abayan Abayan Abayan Abayan Abayan Abayan
Sherakh.
Libneh.
Harreish.
Zahaine.
Fadaha.
Roajieh.
Obeideh.
Dahman abu Amr. Dahman Shawan. Dahman Moadjil. Dahman Khomias.
Abu Arkab.
Abu Arkab Swerha.
Abu Arkab al-Nadah.
Rishon Sherabi. Rishon Arjashi.
Rabdan al-Sheb. Rabdan Mashejed. Rabdan Zeliah.
Twaissan al-Kami. Twaissan Kyal.
Milliah.
Milliah Sharbons.
Milliah Taboor.
Managhi Hadruji. Managhi Sladgi. Managhi ibn S'beyl. Managhi Sadlah.
'3, Hadban family or strain, but certainly of 'Al-Khamseh' :
Hadban Euzehi. Hadban al-Fert. Hadban Mushaileh. Hadban Ghassil. Hadban al-Zaile.
*4. Jelfon or Jalfon family :
Jalfon Stom a.l-Balad. Jalfon Dahwah.
Homdani Simri. Homdani Jassel.
"Let me repeat here that all that are strictly of and in 'Al-Khamseh,' are ver- itably Keheilan; that some incline to the opinion that there are still five distinct families, which are not actually kept distinct, but have separate, distinctive names, from the custom of calling all animals after the family of the dam ; that the Keheilet Ajuz and her many strains being one, and that, having ascertained the Seklawi family, containing the three names I have given, to be of Keheilet Ajuz, and be- lieving the Abayan to be also from Keheilet Ajuz, I have ventured to class them
"Homdani family:
39
with the Keheilet Ajuz line, as one of the five. Let me repeat, moreover, that some incline to the opinion — among them Djabery Zadah Mohammed Ali (Effendi) — that all the families and strains given in the foregoing race are descended from Keheilet Ajuz ; and I must state that Djabery Zadah Mohammed Ali, who published in Arabia a short account of the Arabian horse, with a chart, gives a longer roll of names than I have shown, some of which I have not included because I had great doubt of their authenticity or correctness; so again I wish to observe that, although I have heard that all the names I have shown are of 'Al-Khamseh,' I am not sure whether several of them would not be discarded by the Anazeh.
"I have even myself some doubts as to Jelfon and Homdani, not perhaps whether they are in 'Al-Khamseh,' but as to the place they hold and how they are esteemed. '
"The distinguishing names of heads of families and strains are either those of the original owners or of subsequent substitutes, or mark some peculiarity, and, in some cases, events. Thus Homdani are the horses of a certain Homdan; Managhi are the horses descended from the 'long-necked one.'
"Although all in 'Al-Khamseh' are Keheilan (and may be possibly, or according to some, Keheilan Ajuz), the generic term Keheilan is seldom added to the Hadban, Managhi, Jelfon and Homdani families ; but Keheilan is almost always used as a prefix to Ajuz — thus, 'Keheilet Ajuz' — and most generally to a great variety of her sub- families. It cannot be taken as a proof that the other families are collateral with Keheilet Ajuz and not descended from her, or for vindicating the authenticity of a more recently established family, because secondary families undoubtedly Keheilet Ajuz are generally mentioned by their specific names only. Thus Seklawi, al- though of Keheilet Ajuz, has seldom the prefix of Keheilan ; nor has Abayan generally nor Dahman abu Amr and others this prefix. Euphony may be a general guide which is quite Semitic, although I have even heard Bedouins sometimes speak of a horse or mare shortly as 'Ajaz.' But I think there is a kind of rule to place Ke- heilan before such names as are those of simple strains, genuine, but such as have not established any branches or divisions, and that when a family has established itself by offshoots, Keheilan is dropped, except when emphasis or proof is required.
"Although 'Al-Khamseh' is acknowledged in Arabia as the authentic record of the Keheilan race, i. e., of the pure Arabian horses, whether there are other strains of Kuhl or Arabian blood collateral with, but outside and not incorporate in 'Al- Khamseh,' holding to some extent a similar relation to 'Al-Khamseh' as I think that select class does to that more select portion possessed by the Anazeh race (or perhaps sd, iy, msy, br, yo, yhr Keheilet Ajuz), is a question well worth considering.
"I consider that such collateral blood of the Kuhl race, or the remains of it, may and does probably exist in certain districts, and among certain communities of Arabs, scattered about in neighboring localities."
We give the following interesting comment by Lady Ann Blunt, of England, descriptive of the Arabian horse as seen by her among the Bedouin tribes, in the Desert of Arabia. Her Ladyship is not only among the most extensive breeders of the Arabian horse in the world, but is likely the best posted lady on this sub- ject in the civilized world. She has made a number of journeys into the very heart of the Desert. We give the following from "The Bedouins of the Euphrates," author Lady Ann Blunt, granddaughter of the literary genius Lord Byron, a publication of 1879.
"Today we have seen the most wonderful spectacle the desert has to show — the Roala camp. We came upon it quite suddenly, as crossing a low ridge of rising ground, we looked down over the plain of Saighal and saw it covered, as far as the eye could reach, with a countless multitude of tents and men and mares and camels.
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In the extreme distance, at least ten miles away, lay the lake of Saighal, glittering white in the sun; and the whole space between it and where we stood seemed oc- cupied, while east and west there was at least an equal depth of camp. We have estimated the whole number of tents at twenty thousand, and of camels at a hundred and fifty thousand; and, at the sight, I felt an emotion of almost awe, as when one first sees the sea. Nothing that we have seen hitherto in the way of multitude approaches to this. The Sebaa, with their allies, may be as numerous, but they have not a fourth part of the Roala camels, nor have we on any occasion seen them all collected thus in one place. It gave us, too, an immense idea of the real size of the tribe thus congregated, to find that, traveling at our usual pace, it was more than two hours before we arrived at Sotamm's tent, which stood, they told us, in the center of the camp, and that during all our route we were never a hundred yards away from a tent. Sheep there were none, however, except high up on the slopes of the surrounding hills, and we were struck by the comparatively small number of the mares. Camels seemed everything, and of these herd after herd were passed through, of a hundred, and five hundred, and a thousand strong. The tents them- selves are smaller than those of the Sebaa, and only the Sheykh's is an imposing one.
"The pure bred Bedouin horse stands from fourteen to fifteen hands in height, the difference depending mainly on the country in which he is bred, and the amount of good food he is given as a colt. In shape he is like our English thoroughbred, his bastard cousin, but with certain differences. The principal of these is, as might be expected, in the head, for where there is a mixture of blood the head almost al- ways follows the least beautiful type of the ancestors. Thus, every horse with a cross of Spanish blood will retain the heavy head of that breed, although he have but one-sixteenth part of it to fifteen of a better strain. The head of the Arabian is larger in proportion than that of the English thoroughbred, the chief difference lying in the depth of jowl. This is very marked, as is also the width between the cheek bones, where the English horse is often defective to the cost of his windpipe. The ears are fine and beautifully shaped, but not very small. The eye is large and mild, the forehead prominent as in horses of the Touchstone blood with us, and the muzzle fine, sometimes almost pinched. Compared with the Arabian, the English thoroughbred is Roman nosed. The head, too, and this is perhaps the most distinguishing feature, is set on at a different angle. When I returned to England the thoroughbreds seemed to me to hold their heads as if tied in with a bearing rein, and to have no throat whatever, the cause perhaps of that tendency to roaring so common with them.
"The neck of the Arabian horse is light, and I have never seen among them anything approaching to the crest given by his pictures to the Godolphin Arabian. The shoulder is good, as good as in our own horses, and the wither is often as high, although from the greater height of the hind quarters this is not so apparent. The forearm in the best specimens is of great strength, the muscle standing out with extraordinary prominence. The back is shorter than it is in our thoroughbreds, and the barrel rounder. The Arabian is well ribbed up. He stands higher at the croup than at the wither. The tail is set on higher, but not, as I have heard some people say, on a level with the croup. Indeed, the jumping bone, to use an Irish phrase, is often very prominent. The tail is carried high, both walking and galloping; and this point is much looked to as a sign of breeding. I have seen mares gallop with their tails as straight as a colt's, and fit, as the Arabs say, to hang your cloak on.
"The hind quarter in the Arabian is much narrower than in our horses, another point of breeding which indicates speed rather than strength. The line of the hind quarter is finer, the action freer, and the upper limb longer in proportion than in the English race horse. The hocks are larger, better let down, and not so straight. The cannon bone is shorter. The legs are strong, but with less bone in proportion
than back sinew. This last is perhaps the finest point of the Arabian, in whom a •breakdown' seldom or never occurs. The bones of the pastern joints are fine, some- times too fine for strength, and the pastern itself is long even to weakness. Its length is a point much regarded by the Arabs as a sign of speed. The hoofs are round and large, and very hard, though, from the barbarous method of shoeing and par- ing of the foot practiced by the desert blacksmiths, a stranger might doubt this. The toe is often cut ludicrously short, out of economy, to save frequent shoeing.
"The only defect of the Arabian as a race horse, compared with our own, is his small size. Inch for inch there can be no question which is the faster horse.
"It is commonly said in England that the Arabian has but one pace — the gal- lop; and in a certain sense this is true. Trotting is discouraged by the Bedouin colt breakers, who, riding on an almost impossible pad, and without stirrups, find that pace inconvenient. But with a little patience the deficiency can easily be rem- edied and good shoulder action given. No pure bred Arabian, however, is a high stepper. His style of galloping is long and low, the counterpart of our English thoroughbreds. He is a careless, but by no means a bad or dangerous walker. It is considered a great point of breeding that a horse should look about him to right and left as he walks ; and this, combined with the great length of his pasterns, makes him liable to trip on even ground, if there are slight inequalities in his road. I have never, however, seen him even in danger of falling. The horse is too sure of his footing to be careful, except on rough ground, and then he never makes a false step. The broken knees one comes across are almost always the result of galloping colts before they are strong enough over rocky ground, and, though a fearful disfigurement in our eyes, are thought nothing of by the Bedouins. The reputation so often given to the Arabian, of being a slow walker, is the reverse of true. Though less fast than the Barb, he walks well beyond the average pace of our own horses. His gallop, as I have said, is long and low, and faster in proportion to his height than that of any other breed. If one could conceive an Arabian seventeen hands high, he could not fail to leave the best horse in England behind him. As it is, he is too small to keep stride with our race horses.
"The Arabian is a bold jumper, indeed the boldest in the world. Though in their own country they had had absolutely no knowledge of fences, not one of the mares we brought home with us has made any difficulty about going at the fences we tried them at. One of them, on the evening of her arrival in England, on being let loose in the park, cleared the fence which is five feet six inches high. We pulled down the lower rails after this, and walked her back under the top one, a thick oak rail which was several inches higher than her wither. Another, though only four- teen hands two inches, clears seven yards in her stride over a hurdle. The mare I rode on the journey carried me over the raised water courses by the Euphrates in the cleverest way in the world, off and on without the least hanging or hesitation, and always with a foot ready to bring down in case of need.
"Of the galloping powers, as compared with those of English thoroughbreds, I cannot speak from experience. I do not, however, suppose that over three miles, the longest English race, an Arabian would have much chance against any but quite inferior animals. Over five miles it might be different, but over twenty I am con- vinced that none but very exceptional English horses would be able to go with them. The Arabians seem capable of going on for surprising distances under heavy weights without tiring ; and they have the advantage of being able to stand almost any amount of training without going 'stale.' The thoroughbred Anazeh horse will train as fine as any English race horse. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that the pure bred Arabian possesses extraordinary powers of endurance. On a journey he may be ridden day after day and fed only upon grass. Yet he does not lose heart or con- dition, and is always ready to gallop at the end of the longest march, a thing we have never ventured to propose to our horses on any previous journey.
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The well=known Morgan Stallion
ETHAN ALLEN
From Wallace's first stud book.
42a
"In disposition the Arabians are gentle and affectionate, familiar indeed almost to the extent of being troublesome. They have no fear of man whatsoever, and will allow anyone to come up to them when grazing and take them by the head. If they happen to be lying down they will not move though you come close to them. They are not to be intimidated by any lifting up of hands or sticks, for they do not understand that you can hurt them. It often amused us in the desert to see the mares come up to their masters and use them, as though they would one of them- selves, for a rubbing-post. This extreme gentleness and courage, though partly the effect of education, is also inherited, for a colt born and brought up in the stable is just as tame. It never thinks, as English colts do, of running around behind its dam for protection, but comes at once to anyone who enters the box.
"I have never seen an Arabian vicious, shy, or showing signs of fear. They do not wince at firearms, though they are not at all accustomed to them; and in England no railway train or sudden noise gives them the least alarm. In this they are very different from Barbs, Turks, and all other foreign horses I have had to do with.
"There is among English people a general idea that grey, especially flea-bitten grey, is the commonest Arabian color. But this is not so among the Anazeh. Bay is still more common, and white horses, though fashionable in the desert, are rare. Our white Hamdaniyeh mare Serifa, which came from Nejd, was immensely ad- mired among the Gomussa for the sake of her color almost as much as for her head, which is indeed of extraordinary beauty. The drawing at the beginning of this chap- ter is her very faithful portrait. Perhaps out of a hundred mares among the Anazeh one would see thirty-five bay, thirty grey, fifteen chestnut, and the rest brown or black. Roans, piebalds, duns and yellows are not found among the pure bred Arabians, though the last two occasionally are among Barbs. The bays often have black points and generally a white foot, or two or three white feet, and a snip or blaze down the face. The chestnuts vary from the brightest to the dullest shades, and I once saw a mottled brown.
"The tallest and perhaps handsomest horse we saw was a Samhanel-Gomeaa, a three-year-old bay with black points, standing about fifteen hands one inch. He was a little clumsy, however, in his action, though that may have been the fault of his breaking. He had bone enough to satisfy all requirements, even those of a Yorkshire man, but showed no sign of lacking quality."
Arabian and Barb Horses in England and Their Blood
Influence in Horse Breeding of that
Country in the Past.
It seems from all accounts that there was a small and unimportant race of ponies or small horses to be found in England at a very early day, as well as the ponderous war horse of Scotland and England ; the latter were in all proba- bility of Flemish origin.
The private horses of William the Conqueror (1066 to 1087) were of Spanish breed and others of the same kind were introduced by the Barons on their estates.
Roger de Bellesme, follower of William the Conqueror and later created Earl of Shrewsbury, imported some stallions from Spain into England, likely Jennets, about which Drayton, the poet, has much favorable comment.
The eleventh century was for many reasons favorable to the advancement
43
of England's horse interests. The Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror certainly contributed Norman horses of various varieties. We have every reason to believe that there were many Norman horses introduced into England after William the Conqueror's time, for the old-fashioned dapple-gray Shire and Clydesdale breeds were but httle different from the old Norman horses. Several importations of Spanish Jennet horses were received in England about 1182.
King John imported one hundred Flemish stallions (1167 to 12 16) into England. King Edward the Third's reign (1312 to 1377) was marked by the importation of fifty Spanish horses, likely Jennets. The wars of 1346 seem to have checked the improvement of horses and, Hke the Civil War of America, undid much that had been previously accomplished.
It is quite evident that there was a decided tendency toward the breeding and production of a lighter, quicker and speedier horse in the fourteenth century, which, however, was premature on account of the necessity of heavy and power- ful war horses to carry the heavy armors then in use for both the warrior and steed. Besides, the horseflesh of the lighter classes. Jennets, Normans, etc., did not seem to have produced anything of much value or consequence. It is most probable, however, that there was a gradual improvement which was accu- mulated from the selection and rebreeding of the stronger bloods that were cer- tain to become evident from even such a conglomeration of blood and breeding that seemed characteristic of England up to the latter end of the sixteenth century.
Carriages also came into use, which checked the previous custom of horse- back riding as a means of locomotion. The debut of carriages naturally acted as a new and permanent stimulant toward the encouragement of breeding a faster and more blood-like horse in place of the ponderous war horse which, up to this time, was the horse of England. (Latter end of sixteenth century.)
Henry the Eighth's reign (1491 to 1547) was conspicuous for his good work in the interest of the Enghsh horse. While some of his enactments were some- what arbitrary, they were of an intelligent order and there is good reason for the belief that gelding of stallions was originated by him as a means of encouraging greater size, in the promiscuously bred horses, that in the absence of fences seemed to pasture together at random.
The following from Brittannica is an apt illustration of the bad condition that existed as to horse breeding in England as recently as the sixteenth century, in spite of the many importations of Spanish, Norman and Flemish horses prior to that date. The following enactment went into force about 1523 :
"For as much as the generation and breed of good and strong horses within this realm extendeth, not only to a great help and defence of the same, but also is a great commodity and profit to the inhabitants thereof, which is now much decayed and diminished, by reason that in forests, chases, moors and waste grounds within this realm, *little stoned horses, and nags of small stature and of little value, be not suffered to pasture thereupon, but also to cover mares feeding there, whereof cometh in manner no profit or commodity.
*"Entire horses."
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"Section two of the act provides that no entire horse, being above the age of two years, and not being of the height of fifteen handfuls, shall be put to graze on any common or waste land in certain counties ; anyone was to be at liberty to seize a horse of unlawful height, and those whose duty it was to measure horses, and who refused to do so, were to be fined forty shillings.
"By Section Six, all forests, chases, commons, etc., were to be 'driven' within fifteen days of Michaelmas day, and all horses, mares, and colts not giving promise of growing into serviceable animals, or of producing them, were to be killed.
"By another act (27 Henry the Eighth, chapter 6), after stating that the breed of good, strong horses was likely to diminish, it was ordered that the owner of all parks and enclosed grounds of the extent of one mile should keep two mares thirteen hands high for breeding purposes, or, if the extent of the ground was four miles, four mares. The statute was not to extend to the counties of Westmoreland, Cumber- land, Northumberland, or the Bishopric of Durham, which might indicate that horses in those sections were of a better grade."
Henry took great pains to improve the royal stud. According to Sir Thomas Chaloner, a writer in the reign of Elizabeth, Henry imported horses from Turkey, Naples and Spain.
Gunpowder, too, was invented, which diminished the weight of the cavalry soldier by the use of a much lighter armor. A quicker and better bred horse be- came much more desirable. The invention of gunpowder and the invention of the carriage revolutionized the horse breeding industry. Hence, by the time James the First came to the throne (1603) the dawn of a new epoch was realized in horse breeding in England designated in thoroughbred running horse history as the second epoch.
While James the First was exceedingly fond of racing he regarded the best of the English horses of that day as being of little consequence. He gave five hundred guineas for an Arab stallion imported by a Mr. Markham, afterward known as the Markham Arabian, which was the first authentic account of an Arabian in England, as stated by Weatherby's Stud Book. "Brittannica" re- marks concerning this Arabian I give verbatim:
"The people having to do with horses at that time were as conservative in their notions as most of the grooms are now, and the Markham Arabian was not at all approved of. The Duke of New Castle, in his treatise on horsemanship, said that he had seen the above Arabian, and described him as a small bay horse not of very ex- cellent shape. In this instance, however, prejudice (and it is difficult to believe that it was anything else) was right, for King James' first venture does not appear to have been a success either as a race horse or as a sire, and thus Arabian blood was brought into disrepute."
It is plain to be seen from the above that the twentieth century is not the only age that was ever afflicted with blind prejudice against the use of Arabian blood in the breeding of high-class horses. Ignorance as to the indispensable value of Arabian blood is, however, very pardonable at a time as early as the beginning of the reign of James the First (1603). While there can be but one cause for prejudice or opposition to that giant blood, the Arabian, in the twen- tieth century, which is commonly called ignorance, or more genteelly expressed as superficial knowledge of horse breeding results in the past, ignorance as to
45
the value of Arabian blood is unpardonable at the present time in the face of the history of past horse breeding in England, America, Russia, etc. The Markham Arabian does, however, appear in the pedigrees of the thoroughbred of today.
James the First showed more signs of being a good breeder than any of his predecessors, for he immediately bought another Arabian horse which afterwards figures so conspicuously in English horse breeding, known as Place's White Turk, from a Mr. Place, who afterwards was fortunately connected with horse affairs under Cromwell, who also encouraged the breeding of Arabian horses.
Charles the Second's succession to the throne proved a most fortunate and beneficial event in horse breeding affairs of England, for he encouraged the introduction of Arabian and Barb blood. The efforts of James the First with Arabian blood was evidently in strong evidence during the reign of Charles the Second, for he (Charles the Second) sent his master of horse affairs East and pro- cured a lot of Arabian and Barb stallions and mares which along with many of their produce are referred to in English pedigrees as "Royal Mares," etc. One of the Royal mares, dam of the celebrated Dodsworth, was a pure Barb, foaled in England. She was sold when twenty years old in foal by the Arabian Helmsley Turk. The quotation from the London Field, as given by Mr. Randolph Hunt- ington in his "Memoir of General Grant's Arabian Horses," which we give in part, shows the number therein contained in the year 1643.
The Royal stud above referred to at —
"Tutbury fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians some time prior to July, 1643, as on the 236. of that month four government commissioners, viz : Mildemay, Lempricre, Carteret and Grafton, arrived at the stud for the purpose of making a true inventory of the race horses kept there, being part of the late king's personal estate. Their inventory shows twenty-thiee mares and their foals, fifteen mares four years old and upwards, sixteen three-year-old fillies and colts, seventeen two- year-old fillies and colts, twenty-two yearling fillies and colts, and twenty-three horses four years old and upwards; one hundred and thirty-nine head, all told."
The above were the result of the importation of Arabians, Barbs, etc., by James the First, Charles the Second and others, including some of the blood of the Markham Arabian.
Weatherby's stud book shows that the Stradling or Lister Turk (most likely an Arabian pure and simple) was brought into England during Charles the Sec- ond's reign by the Duke of Berwick from the siege of Buda.
During the reign of William the Third the celebrated Arabian stallion Byerly Turk was the first of the three great and prepotent Arabian horse kings which stand today as the three most important horses known in modern horse breeding an- nals, known as Captain Byerly's charger in King William's wars of Ireland, 1689.
The second of the three kings was the Darley Arabian, who is always alluded to as a genuine Arabian imported from Aleppoby by a brother of Mr. Darley, of Aldby Park, Yorkshire, about the end of the reign of William the Third. The exact date of the importation of this wonderful horse is not known beyond the fact that it occurred about 1700. The third horse of the three kings and famous trio was the Godolphin Arabian or Barb, which landed in England about 1725 to 1732.
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The failure of King James the First's Arabian, the Markham Arabian, to produce anything desirable was a result that seems to me most natural. For history bears no evidence of there having been any Arab or Arab-Barb horses in England prior to the Markham Arabian, and it is therefore most evident that the Markham Arabian's matings were most certainly of a heterogeneous char- acter, for the mares could not possibly have been other than a conglomeration in blood and breeding, likely some mixtures of Spanish, Flemish, etc.
The reader will note that each succeeding importation of Arabian blood gave results that were nothing short of marvelous. It will be noticed that King James was not discouraged with his results with the Markham Arabian, for he purchased another Arabian some time later on, known as Place's White Turk, which horse no doubt had the advantage of being bred to offspring of the Markham Arabian, for he left some valuable results, as was the case with the "Royal Mares" and stallions imported by Charles the Second, which did not only have the advantage of being bred to their own blood in King Charles the Second's Royal stud, but which also received the advantage of being bred to the get of the Markham Arabian and also to that of Place's White Turk and others imported by James the First. The celebrated Byerly Turk Arabian landed in England about 1689, which was, according to history, about seventy to eighty years after the importation of the Markham Arabian and Place's White Turk, and likely forty or fifty years after the establishment of Charles the Second's Royal stud.
The Stradling or Lister Turk Arabian also likely arrived in England some time prior to the Byerly Arabian. The world-renowned Darley Arabian landed in England about eleven or twelve years after Byerly Turk.
The great Godolphin Barb-Arabian came to England about twenty-five or thirty years after the Darley Arabian, hence it can be plainly seen that the Arabian blood which had accumulated up to and including the reign of Charles the Second was such as to give each succeeding importation of Arabians and Barbs a better and better chance to produce good breeding results by the gradual creation of brood mares that were kindred in blood with the succeeding imports.
It seems only natural that the three king Arabs should most naturally suc- ceed as they did, and still more to be expected they should have been much more productive than their predecessors, for England had accumulated much horse- flesh that was homogeneous to the blood of the three king sires as they appeared in England.
From the time of the debut of the three kings, Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arab, 1689, 1700 and 1730 respectively, horse breeding of the blood horse (Anglo-Arab) of England budded and blossomed as it did a little later in the United States under very similar conditions, and v/here the same sort of blood was being used from 1750 to 186 1. The beginning of the Civil War was the means of losing us much of the splendid blood we had previously gained. For there were in the neighborhood of 250 Arab and Arab-Barb bred horses imported into the United States from 1750 to 1825. (I quote this from memory of calculations which I made from Bruce's First American Stud Book some years ago, which I believe is exactly correct.)
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Arabian horses and Arabian-Barb horses, and Anglo- Arab horses (later bred and interbred to become known as English thoroughbred horses), such as Mes- senger, Diomed, Duroc, American Eclipse, Sir Archy, Boston and Lexington, as above indicated, found their way to America. Thoroughbreds of that day did not possess the positive and unchangeable blood influence of the thoroughbred of today. They were the Anglo-Arab. Their blood as handed down to the present day through the thoroughbred families has become an impressive and an un- changeable quantity, and the present thoroughbred does not possess the pliable, plastic and blendable qualities that were contained in the Anglo-Arabs, such as Messenger, Diomed, Duroc, American Eclipse, etc., above referred to, in the cre- ation of other blood than a Derby race horse. Their ancestors, the pure Arab and Barb, are for many reasons preferable to the present thoroughbred in the breeding of horses for all purposes other than the running race horse.
No one familiar with the English thoroughbred blood influence of today would dream of a thing as impossible and as ridiculous as to try to create new reproduc- ing types of horseflesh with the English thoroughbred as a principal factor. The *"Dame Sang" (half-breed) of France, or as commonly called in America the French Coach Horse, is a vivid illustration of the utter failure of the English thor- oughbred to create a reproducing race of horses. The Cleveland Bay is another instance where the thoroughbred failed to create a reproducing race of horses, for the failure of both the French Coach and Cleveland Bay is on every hand well known in America.
The Arabian and Barb blood is today, as it was a thousand years ago, pure and pliable as the gold ore of the Rocky mountains, capable of creating a repro- ducing metal in horseflesh for any purpose one may like, while the breeding by selection for one purpose only, and that to run, and inbreeding and reselecting and inbreeding for ages, all for one instinct to run, as the English thoroughbred was created, with many cold blood infusions in the beginning, all of which was equal to the heating and cooling and heating and cooling process which hardens steel, makes the thoroughbred of England today a piece of hardened or tem- pered steel which has necessarily departed from the pliable ore from whence it came — the Arab.
As I have said, the breeding of the Anglo-Arab (later known as the English thoroughbred breed) fairly budded and blossomed after the first quarter of the eighteenth century, which will ever remain a monument of wonderful horse breeding skill to England, for Arabian and Arab-Barb blood steadily flowed into England from the beginning of the reign of James the First (1603), to about the end of the reign of William the Third or the beginning of that of Anne, somewhere near 1732, which brings us to a point where England was well on the way in the breeding of a blood horse.
I know of no authentic history of any horse breeding age in modem civil- ization that equaled what was accomplished by England between 1700 and 1800,
*"Dame Sang" (half -breed) , French Coach created by crossing of Norman and English thoroughbred.
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and the reader must bear in mind what blood predominated in these marvelous horse breeding results.
It amounted to the reunion and mating of kindred blood — Arabian, Arabian- Barb, Turkish Arabian, etc.
Every country of Europe was glad to reimburse their government breeding studs from England's Anglo-Arabs as well as to import Arabians and Barbs and maintain them in purity to improve their war, carriage and even draft horses with, after the glowing success of England, France and Russia.
The first stud book known to civilization was Weatherby's General Stud Book, published in 1791, revised in 1803, and perfected in 1808. The publi- cation of 1808 was the foundation for the Anglo-Arab (English Arabian), finally called English thoroughbred. The English foundation of Eastern basic blood embraced one hundred and one Arabian stallions, seven Arabian mares, forty- six *Barb stallions, twenty-five Barb mares, twenty-eight fTurks, five tPersian, one §Egyptian, and four unknown foreigns; total, two hundred and seventeen Eastern horses and mares, **from which blood came the Anglo-Arab mares which Count Orloff bred to Smetanka (the pure Arabian) and thus created the basic blood of the Orloff trotters and coach horses.
From the above original 217 horses (the greater part of which were Arabians and Barbs) grafted on to English mares, many of which were of no known breed- ing, came the English thoroughbred running horse.
Nothing can prove the pliability of primitive blood such as the Arabian and the Arabian-Barb more than the fact that from these bloods France got her re- nowned draft horse, the Percheron; England her thoroughbred runner; Russia her Orloff trotters and coach horses ; Austria her charger ; America her Morgans, Clays, Golddusts, Denmarks, and finally the present trotter which stands today the result of the blood of the imported Arabian-Barb, Grand Bashaw, the Clays, the Morgans, etc., and further due to many direct lines of blood to the Godolphin Barb, the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Arabian, which is gained through the Clays, to say nothing of the countless other direct lines of Arabian blood that came in through the mediums of Anglo-Arabs, such as Messenger, Sir Archer, Boston and Lexington, who in turn include all the Arab and Barb blood of England's
**English marcs used in the year iTJJ by Count Orloff were called Anglo-Arabs.
*The horse of the Arabian and Berber tribes of the Sahara Desert.
■\TJie term Turkish horse is indefinite. There is no fixed breed of horses in Turkey. A Turk- ish horse might mean a Turkoman horse, a Barb horse, an Arabian horse, a coast Arab {impure Arabs bred along ilie Persian gulf coast), or the term might mean a horse with some or all of these bloods.
%A Persian horse, in all probability, is a Turkoman horse pure and simple. It might, how- ever, mean a modern part-bred Arab.
^Egyptian horses might mean a pure Arabian, perchance, or a pure Barb, or a mixed or bastard Arabian or Barb. Tlte reports of ordinary tourists as to Arabian and Eastern horses are seldom ever correct, as more than ordinary knowledge is necessary on such subjects. Horse barters are plentiful around coast towns and cities. Tlte NiscBan horse of ancient Media, frequently referred to with praises by all of the historians from Herodotus to Livy, and which were greatly prized by all kings and princes of the East, is thought to have been of Parthian extraction, and which is believed to be represented in Media at the present day by the stock of horses called Turkoman. Part-bred Arabians are also to be found in Media at tlte present time.
fame. The lot of Arabian and Arab-Barb blood which came to America after about 1750 brought prompt results wherever it happened to be found. The first real fast mare that appeared in American trotting horse history was Flora Temple. Her dam, Madam Temple, was sired by an Arabian horse owned by Horace Terry, of Dutchess County, New York. She defied the world for many years.
The GoJddust section of the Morgan horse was created by Morgan on sire side and the imported Arabian Zilcaadie and Anglo-Arab on dam side. There were likely few, if any, equals to this Golddust family of trotting horses outside of Andrew Jackson-Henry Clay blood, from any standpoint one may wish to view them. They were beautiful beyond description. And Golddust was undefeated as a trotter and in blood had no equal among American trotters outside of the Clays and Morgans and he produced both large and elegant. The Civil War was the means of the loss of the Golddust trotters. Golddust creation will ever stand as one of the most brilUant accomplishments in American trotting horse breeding history, as well as a lasting monument to the name of L. L. Dcrsey, the well- known Kentucky breeder.
The following quotations from the book published by the eminent John Law- rence, of England, in the year 1809, will give the reader a very correct idea of what the feeling was among horsemen of England at that time. It will be noted this quotation is from a book published about one year after the final revision and perfection of the Weatherby Stud Book:
"The superior speed and excellence of the horses of the desert of the Arabian and Mountain Barbs seems to have been a modern discovery, and made in this coun- try, which has in consequence produced horses without parallel for speed and endur- ance, in any part of the world or in any age."
John Lawrence further remarks (1809) :
"I shall begin with the original coursers, the Arabian and the Barb, proceeding to notice their varieties and their bastard produce in those countries of nearly the same parallel, or wherever they are found. Of these horses we are enabled to speak with all the certainty of experimental observation, their species having been long nat- uralized in this country, from successive importations of individuals within the last two hundred years. Arabia Deserta is allowed to be the breeding country of the purest and highest bred racers, that is to say, possessed in the highest degree of those qualities which distinguish the species, and which are generally best ascertained in their produce. This 'Glory of Arabian Zoology' is found in the northern part of the desert between Suez and Persia, and is bred by the Bedouin Arabs.
"Horses were formerly found in a wild state in these sandy, hot and barren regions, but it is not ascertained whether such be the case at present; an obvious improbability indeed, considering their great value, and that they never could have been very numerous in a country producing so little food. Mr. Pinkerton seems to think it rather probable that the Arabians were descended from the wild horses of Tartary, the latter having passed through Persia in order to be perfected in Arabia, an unfortunate surmise, far beneath the standard, I hope, of his other antiquarian conjectures. The Arabians divided their horses into three classes : the Kochlain or Kehilani, the Kehidischi, and the Attichi ; the first are the noble, as they are styled, or the original high-bred coursers, the produce of the middle or mountainous country, the blood of which has been preserved pure and uncontaminated by any alien mix- ture or cross, as the Arabs pretend, for more than two thousand years. However,
50
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iSSo, by Rar.dolph Huntington, for his Clay history, and published here by his special permission.
LEOPARD
.4;; Arabian stallioji foaled iS/j. Presented to General U. S. Grant by the Sultan of
Turkey and by him delivered in America May jo, iSjg. Sire of Abdul Hamid IT and AnizcJi. See cuts on pages loa and i<Sa.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iSSo. by Randolph Huntington, for his Clay history, and published here by his special permission .
LINDEN TREE
An Arabian stallion, foaled 18/4. Presented to General U. S. Grant by the Sultan of
Turkey and by him delivered in America May jo, iS/p. Sire of Hegira and Lslam. Sec cuts o)i pages 14a and joa.
50a
we may justly doubt the accuracy of an account like this in an affair that must neces- sarily be liable to accidental as well as wilful deviations; implicit credit is certainly often given to less creditable reports. The Arabians are, above all nations, attached to their horses, and the most scrupulous, both with regard to their pedigrees and their care and precaution in breeding. The names, marks, colours, ages and qualifica- tions of all the superior stallions and mares are generally known among the breeders of that country, as among the breeders of race horses in this; but they carry their scrupulosity and precaution far beyond us. On covering a mare, witnesses are called who give a solemn certificate of the consummation, signed and sealed in the presence of the Emir or of some magistrate. The names and pedigrees of the horse and mare are set forth in this instrument. This ceremony is repeated when the foal is dropped and a fresh certificate is signed, in which the day of birth is registered and the foal particularly described. These vouchers, like the title deeds of an estate, pass with the horse when sold, and in them consists a material part of his value. The prejudice of these people concurring with their leading interest, we need en- tertain the less suspicion of their fidelity, which is further confirmed by the testi- mony of ages in their favour, by the apparent marks of purity and integrity in their breed, and by the unrivaled excellence of those animals in which they deal and dis- perse over so many countries. The Kehidischi, or second class of Arabian horses, may be compared with the varieties of this country, which we call generally blood horses, meaning such as indeed show blood, but the pedigrees of which are not perfect. Thus the Kehidischi are not thoroughbred, but although perhaps, for the most part, the produce of stallions of the first class, yet in their breed there may have been many interventions of half bred or common bred mares. I have no doubt from various examinations I have had the opportunity to make, that the far greater part of the Arabian horses brought over to this country have been of this second class. The Attichi, or third class, are the common run of the horses of the country, mixed, per- haps, with a thousand adventitious crosses; and about the breeding or pedigrees of which no extraordinary care has been taken. It would be a matter of curiosity, indeed, could we ascertain why the horses of this particular district should have preserved that character of superiority from the earliest ages. Was this superiority proved at first from their performances and perpetuated in their descendants by breeding in and in, or at least admitting no alien cross, on the principle that like produces like? This is to assign to the ancient Arabian breeders a high proficiency in the science which ourselves have but lately attained. It is, however, very nat- ural for the proprietors of an exceUent race of animals or of excellent individuals, to suppose that such excellence may be continued by propagation, and success or even mere affection and habit would tend to perpetuate the practice, more especiaUy in countries where established customs have a sort of religious force. To act hon- estly by the inquisitive reader, it is necessary to tell the whole truth. It has been the fashion for some three or four score years or more, for aught I can tell, for our sporting people who have supposed themselves in the secret to talk of the horse of the desert, or the mountain horse, whether Arab or Barb, as the only original source of racing blood, aU other southern horses being of a secondary or spurious, at least suspicious, breed. I willingly join issue with them, but whether from early imbibed prejudice or from the weight of suflicient evidence I am scarcely able to determine. We have, perhaps, no criterion of form by which to distinguish the mountain horse; in fact, some which have been supposed such have had little to boast in that respect, according to our received ideas. Nor can we very well trace the descent of these favorites from those mountains or deserts in which it is taken for granted they ought to originate. It has always been a question whether the celebrated staUion called the Godolphin Arabian were really an Arabian or a Barb, but as far as I can judge from his portrait by Stubbs, he has far more the appearance of a Barb; and that he was really so there is a degree of probability from his having been procured
51
in Barbary. We may connect with these ideas, that in our early periods of racing, and even until of late, almost all the varieties of the southern horse have been in- troduced into this country — Egyptian, Syrian, Persian, Turkish, Grecian, and from such a medley of races has our famous English thoroughbred arisen. It is probable that amongst our first coursers even the Tartar, Hungarian and Spanish breeds were made use of, but our oldest pedigrees acknowledge no such crosses, although ex- periments of that kind may have been since tried by individuals. In favor of the es- tablished opinion, however, it may be urged that a few of the Arabians and Barbs have evinced by their produce an immense superiority over the common herd im- ported, and that the latter (Tartar, Hungarian and Spanish), in consequence are at this time in very low estimation."
We quote the following from the book, "The Arab, the Horse of the Future," written by the Hon. Sir James Boucaut, K. C, M. G., Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia, and heretofore three times Prime Minister of that state.
It is noteworthy that Mr. Boucaut is an English gentleman and is thoroughly conversant in English horse affairs, and is a strong advocate of the proposition of a new infusion or introduction of Arabian blood into the present English thor- oughbred, which he believes is rapidly degenerating on account of the English breeders having neglected to have made frequent fresh infusions of the parent or Arabian blood during the last hundred years. Mr. Boucaut is strong of the belief that a return to the Arabian horse in English thoroughbred breeding is the only thing that will save that great breed from further degeneracy.
We submit extracts from Judge Boucaut's book as follows:
"The general consensus of opinion of an age is, of course, valuable, but wheth- er so or not it is no good to breed the best for sale if most people think that the worst are better. People generally breed what they can sell. But certainly before the opinion of an era can be of value it ought to be founded on proper data and on con- sideration of both sides of a question.
"Supposing, however, that I am unduly interested in favor of the Arab, that would not detract from the weight of the opinion of the many eminently neutral men whom I shall cite. The small amount of interest which I have on the one side is as nothing compared to the large amount of interest of the hundreds of breeders of thoroughbreds on the other side, who not only will not hear a single word in dis- paragement of the favorite, but will not hear a kind word said in favor of any other man's favorite, and ridicule any attempt in that direction. 'The Thorough- bred' is English. Is that not enough? The placid contemptuousness of the English- man for everything foreign comes in at once to satisfy him without inquiry that, as an Englishman is worth two Frenchmen any day, therefore no horse in the world can possibly equal an English horse.
"Even if I do not get rid of my stock — I do not complain — I may lose a few hundreds which I can set off against the pleasure I have had in breeding them; but if the breeders of thoroughbreds do not get rid of their surplus and useless stock, great numbers of persons lose heavily. Who are interested in supporting their side of the case? Not only the breeders themselves, but racing owners, trainers, grooms, jockeys, stable-boys, bookmakers and sporting newspapers, not to mention vets, the makers of racing gear, and the runners of the 'tote.' All these from habit — they can't help it — are more or less constantly preaching sermons on the impec- cability of the English thoroughbred. Indeed, there are at present but few men in Australia, largely interested in horses, whose interests are not more or less bound
52
up with the thoroughbred breeders, for in this question breeders of heavy stock do not count. If the general public or the farming breeders should ever happen to think at all about the subject, they think as they have been educated from their youth up, having been taught to believe that the thoroughbred is the final outcome of every- thing that is wonderful in living matter. Beyond that they do not think, because most of them have no interest in thinking, and they have never heard anything to the contrary to make them think. It is therefore no wonder that very little had been heard about the Arab in Australia, the Arab thoroughbred — for thoroughbred he is, and he only — the wonder would be to have heard much.
"It has often been said 'the British public is a fool. Thirty-nine millions, mostly fools.' I do not say it. I deny it. The saying is only a popular way of putting the advice of the Times in favor of much advertising. But when every- body tells the British public to fall down and worship the English thoroughbred, forthwith it does — at least it does so in Australia. Why not? Nobody says anything to the contrary. It does not much concern the public, so it has no call to think. Perhaps, however, some of my Australian fellow colonists who are breeders of or- dinary horses for useful purposes, and who may read this little book, may deem it worth while to indulge in a thought or two. If they do, they will have plenty of material gathered in from many of the greatest men of the world.
"I may for convenience's sake mention what I propose to show, viz :
"i. The general — indeed almost universal^deterioration of thoroughbred horses both in England and Australia, and if in England necessarily in Australia, because the most of the best sires here have come from England.
"2. That the cause of the deterioration is chiefly the breeding for short-race gambling.
"3. That the root of the English thoroughbred and all that is good in him is Arab.
"4. The excellence of the Arab, and that he has not deteriorated.
"5. That the most certain mode of recuperating the breed of saddle and buggy horses, and even of the thoroughbred himself, as a real race horse, would be the infusion of a large amount of pure and fresh Arab blood of the desert breed.
"Notwithstanding the affected and adventitious worship of the English thor- oughbred— it has almost become a religion — there is at bottom a nearly uni- versal consensus of opinion as to his sad deterioration, and as to the cause of his deterioration. The opinion of one or two gentlemen might not be accepted, but on these points it is nearly everybody's opinion. The most sanguine and fanatic thoroughbred supporters hardly venture to affirm the contrary. I can hardly find a single man who does. They will tell you that the best horses are as good as ever, which I doubt. They may be as fast for short distances; the very statement that the best horses are as good as ever is pregnant with the admission that the general run is deteriorated, and that the breed, as a breed, is being ruined. And in the face of such opinions as I shall quote it would be foolish for the general horse breeder to be further carried away by the 'thoroughbred cult' without making inquiry. The authorities I shall cite on this are irrefragible, and if there were any who pretended that the thoroughbred had not deteriorated before the Transvaal war, they have had to admit since that war that they were wrong. The Boers, mounted on their Arab ponies, laughed at the pick of our English and Australian horses and literally ran rings around them. I have two sons who, with my consent, threw up their situations in my State to help the Empire, and joined Austral- ian contingents to fight the Boers, so I claim to have something rather more than mere book-learning. Viva voce information giving the practical experience of prac- tical soldiers who have fought hard is, I take it, somewhat more than book-learning.
"So long ago as 1874, Mr. DeVere Hunt, in his book, 'England's Horses in Peace and War,' wrote that England stood in great danger of really losing the horse
53
altogether as a sound and useful animal because of the many causes that had been for many years progressively co-operating to deteriorate. He might now almost ask, 'Have we not lost him? Is he not bred out?'
"A gentleman of racing proclivities recently mentioned to me, in discussing the question, that on looking into the pedigree of Carbine, as far as it was possible to trace it back, he found that it was so full of Arab blood as to be almost entirely Arab, a remark which induced me to look up the pedigree of some of the old sires, and I find that of almost all of them a similar remark could be made. For example, Eclipse has among his ancestors :
"Button's Bay Barb (two strains).
"The D'Arcy Yellow Turk (four strains).
"An old Morocco mare by an Arabian out of a Barb mare.
"Button's gray Barb (two strains).
"Leede's Arabian (two strains).
"The Lister Turk (five strains).
"The D'Arcy White Turk (five strains).
"The Oglethorpe Arabian.
"The Godolphin Arabian.
"St. Victor's Barb.
"The Fenwick Barb (two strains).
"The Helmsley Turk.
"The Chesterfield Arabian.
"Wilkinson's Turk.
"Fourteen distinct Arabs, many of them several times repeated, and many of his other progenitors also full of Arab blood.
"Again I ask, is it not therefore utterly absurd to pretend, as some people do, that the English thoroughbred is a distinct English breed with just an occasional infusion of Arab blood, as it were?
"I will give you another example. Take Whisky, bred by the Prince of Wales in 1789, greatly distinguished on the turf. I find in his pedigree seventy-four strains of Arab blood ; thirty-four different Arabs are named. He had :
"Eclipse (full of Arab blood as above mentioned). The Newcastle Turk.
"Herod (full of Arab blood). "Darley Arabian (four strains). "D'Arcy Yellow Turk (two strains). "Barb Mare.
"Leede's Arabian (ten strains). "Lister Turk (four strains). "D'Arcy's White Turk (five strains). "Button's Bay Barb. "Godolphin Arabian (four strains). "St. Victor's Barb (four strains). "Fenwick Barb (four strains). "Barb Mare.
"Byerly Turk (five strains). "Curwen's Bay Barb (three strains). "Selaby Turk (three strains). "Morocco Mare.
An Arab Barb Mare.
The Morocco Barb.
Arab Barb Mare.
White Legged Lowther.
Morocco Mare.
Brownlow Turk (two strains).
Bright's Roan Arab Mare.
Bethell's Arabian.
The Harpur Arabian.
Helmsley Turk.
Acaster Turk.
Ogelthorpe Arabian.
Barb Mare.
Place's White Turk.
The PuUeine Arabian.
The Byerly Turk.
"Thirty-four or more distinct pure Arab ancestors, the blood of many of them several times repeated, as in Eclipse, and many others, even if not, perhaps, entirely Arab, yet full of Arab blood. Yet some people say that there is no good in the Arab.
Published by permission of Mr. R. Huntington.
The weIl=known racer and steeplechaser
MAIDAN
Photograph from life when twenty=three years old. Pure Arabian. Maneghi=Hadruji Strain (desert bred).
Grandsire of Nimr and Kathleen, and great-grandsire of Clay Kismet, Khaled and others.
Height 15 hands. Color red chestnut.
54a
"All the old sires wiU be found, speaking generally, to be equally full of Arab blood. Mr. William Osborne, as I have mentioned, gives the names of the 173 Arab sires which, he states, were introduced into England from the reign of James the First down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. I have not troubled to take out the ped- igrees of the stallions and mares in either of the above pedigrees which I have not specially mentioned as being Arabs, but, as I have said, I think there can be little doubt but that many of them will be found to be quite as much Arabian; and then it must be remembered that the English running horse before the time of the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian or Barb must have been largely Arab,
"Web, Whalebone, Wolful, Wire and Whisky, the great family progeny of Waxy and Penelope, bred about 1790, have sixty-eight strains, including thirty-two differ- ent Arabs named.
"Blacklock, of whom it has been said that no horse in England is a stayer who has not got his blood, has forty-three strains of Arab blood. Touchstone, a com- paratively recent horse, bred when racing men were beginning to drop the Arab blood, has got twenty-one strains of recognized Arab blood, and Sir Peter fifty-nine strains of Arab blood. Tramp has fifteen different Arabs mentioned.
"I have above once or twice pointed out that Spanish horses had a good deal of Arabian blood in them. All readers of history or travel, or of novels of the early part of the nineteenth century, have learned this. We have many times in our lives read of the celebrated Spanish Jennet. Until very recently, however, I have taken the Jennet to mean a Spanish horse of a natural Spanish breed, but it will be seen that the Jennet is not really a Spanish horse at all, but an Arabian domiciled in Spain.
"The word is not Spanish ; it is derived from the Arab word Jeneta, a great Ber- ber nation noted for the value of its cavalry. Goldsmith says : 'Next to the Barb, travelers generally rank the Spanish Jenette.' In fact the Jennet was a Barb. It was a foundation of fact and not a dream of fiction which led Sir Walter Scott, in 'The Talisman,' early in the nineteenth century, to depict Saladin on his Arab, at the end of the twelfth century, riding rings around Kenneth of Scotland's huge charger. That was a preliminary illustration of the folly of hugeness which Oliver Cromwell realized and which was recognized at Omdurman, and which has since been brought home to the nation by the Boers. Before the Boer war many did not believe in the possibility of Saladin's achievement. De Wet has now taught them that it was true by illustrating it with examples.
"In the old romances which used to be the fashion before the latter half of the nineteenth century, frequent reference is made to the Jennet. For instance, Sir Walter Scott, in 'Ivanhoe,' speaks of a lay-brother leading for the use of Prior Aymer one of the most handsome Spanish Jennets ever bred in Andalusia, which, he says, 'merchants used at that time to import, with great trouble and risk, for the use of persons of wealth and distinction,' and he describes the horses of the Eastern at- tendants of Brian du Bois Guilbert as of Saracen origin, and consequently of Arabian descent, with fine, slender limbs and small fetlocks, and as forming a marked con- trast with the heavy Flanders horses for mounting the men-at-arms. Sir Walter Scott knew better than most men in England what was the history and what was the belief of the age about which he wrote (the end of the twelfth century), and would not have been guilty of anachronism, and his references show the belief in the Arab which existed at the period he refers to. The Crusaders were men of war — had founded their belief on actual experience. They did not want horses to ride and show off in Hyde Park. If the native breeds had been as good as the Jennet we should not have heard so much of the latter, either in Spain or in England, nor would they have brought them to England at a great trouble and risk.
"The 'Imperial Dictionary' gives the same meaning of Jennet: *A small Span- ish horse, properly Genet,' and gives a quotation from Prescott: 'They were mounted a la gineta, that is, on the light jennet of Andalusia, a cross of the Arabian.' These
S5
Eastern horses are mostly spoken of as Arabian, The same dictionary also gives the statement that the word 'genet' comes from the Berber tribe of Jeneta, who supplied the Moorish Sultans of Grenada with a body of horse on which they placed great reliance. The Moorish Sultans did not value horses for the mere power of half-mile sprinting, nor place great reliance on them for that reason. They wanted war horses for long and severe wars.
"The 'New English Dictionary' has the same meaning and derivation, with sev- eral examples, amongst which: '1463, item for a genett that my master lent hym in the northe country.' 1674, Milton: 'The Emperor rides in the field with all his nobility on Jennets and Txu-key horses.' • Prescott : 'Ferdinand and Isabella, royally attired, rode on a Jennet.' Goldsmith's 'Natural History': 'Next to the Barb travelers generally rank the Spanish Jenet, which was not unnatural if the travelers were men of experience, because the Jennet was almost a Barb or Arab.' We must therefore recognize that all the best of the horseflesh of England through- out the entire history of England is admittedly Arab.
"I venture to think that the main stock of the English thoroughbred is Arab in a very much greater degree than racing men are willing to admit.
"So many people have been led to think that the Arab blood in the English thor- oughbred was a sprinkling only, that I am induced to enlarge on this. But, as I have said, in reality there is now little else than Arab blood in most of our thoroughbreds, except just enough of the 'old Adam' to spoil them."
The above citations were given by Judge Boucaut concerning the origin and use of the name of Jennet, which has a direct bearing on the origin and descent of the Jennet, and I believe it is just as important toward the establishment of the origin of the so-called Andalusian horse of Andalusia.
The invasion and defeat of Spain by Arabians, Berbers and Moors some- time near the year 711 must have been the means of the introduction of Arabian and Barb horses into that country in great numbers. For history shows that five thousand Arabs or Saracens routed the great Gothic army which was under the leadership of Roderic, "the last of the Goths," after which Spain was more or less occupied by Berbers, Arabians, Moors, Egyptians, Syrians, etc., for hun- dreds of years, during which time Andalusia was entirely occupied for a long period by Arabians, Berbers, etc. In the face of these facts it seems very evident to me that the horses which were imported into England by William the Con- queror (1066 to 1087) as well as by Roger de Bellesme and others, referred to in history as Spanish horses and Spanish Jennets, were Arab and Barb mixtures. I shall be pleased to learn of a more likely source from which Spain could have obtained her original stock of steeds than Arabia and the Sahara.
The Arabian and the Barb horses are in evidence no matter at what time or place we search in past history; all evidence points to not only the great an- tiquity of these two important races of horses, but also conclusively proves that the blood cause for all greatness in past as well as present horse creations are directly traceable to the Arabian.
We submit the following in further support of Judge Boucaut's claim rela- tive to the origin of the Spanish horse and Jennet, from the splendid authority, John Lawrence, "The History and Delineation of the Horse in all His Varieties," published 1809:
"Agragas or Agrigentum, a town of ancient Sicily, was a mart for horses of high
56
reputation among the Romans. But Calpe, in Spain, was still of higher repute on the same account. Calpe was situated on a hill, in the farthest extremity of Spain, bounded by the Straits of Gibraltar, and opposite Abyla on the Barbary shore. The horses there bred were held by the ancients to be of the finest and most generous spe- cies, from which are descended the Gennets of Spain, so highly celebrated in modern times. From both ancient and modern descriptions of this breed, they were doubt- less originally derived from the opposite coast of Barbary, bearing the most striking characteristics of the Barb, with a certain degree of variation from change of soil, and probably of admixture with an aboriginal and shorter European breed. Vege- tius indeed plainly assigns to them that origin. This rare species spread itself over Betica, known in modern times by the names of Austria, Gallicia and Andalusia, where at present the very few Gennets which remain are to be found. They were denominated by Pliny thieldones, or tellers and measurers of their steps, and de- scribed by him, as they were found in modern times, when in the highest perfection, the period of which may probably have borne date with the Spanish Armada. The Spanish horses are celebrated by both ancients and moderns for the pliancy of their limbs, their free and unembarrassed action, and their cadenced pace. Justin, the Roman historian, speaking of these and the Lusitanian or Portuguese horses, affirms that they were endowed with such extraordinary swiftness that they might be said to be born of the winds ; whence the ancient fable that the mares of Lusitania were impregnated by the south wind."
We take the liberty of submitting the following from the able pen of Mr. Randolph Huntington, from his book, "General Grant's Arabian Horses, Leopard and Linden Tree," which is considerably used as a college text-book :
"I have been particular in following up these two Arabian stallions presented to General Grant. I deemed their blood of important value to us. I would not condemn such breeders as ridicule Arabians, but would ask questions.
"If Arabian blood is of no value, why does England go back in her records to so many importations of Arabian horses to create and sustain her national thorough- bred running horse? "Why does Russia take pride in referring to her Orloff trotting horse as of Arabian origin? Why does France through government statistics show that her famous Percheron draught horse is moulded from the pliable blood of the Arabian?
"When men condemn Arabian horses, let them cease to extol Messenger, Dio- med, Duroc, American Eclipse, Sir Archy, Boston, or Lexington, each of which owed its greatness to Arabian blood; Diomed and Messenger being, as the reader knows, close bred to the Arabian, and Messenger, which name has been the mouthpiece for our breeders and horsemen for seventy-five years, was three times inbred to the Godolphin Arabian.
"Young men think there has been wonderful improvement in our horses during the past thirty years. I do not think so. When I take up the little horseshoe nail, but a trifle heavier than an old-fashioned shawl-pin, or examine the shoe, the har- ness, the sulky, the tracks, the system of training, with other improved advantages towards increased rates of trotting speed, and then look at our inferior coach horses, and know the difficulty in obtaining even an ordinarily good pair, I must say that our horses have degenerated, while our mechanical ingenuity toward increased speed has augmented. That the number of trotting horses is greater than a few years ago, is because we have a greater number of horses, and because one hundred are now trained for speed where one was twenty years ago.
"England, Scotland, France and Russia have each a typical horse, capable of reproducing its type with excellence in any land to which it may be exported. They
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are the thoroughbred race horse, the Clyde, and the Percheron draught horses, and the Orloff trotting horse. Every one of these types is a thoroughbred in its country, based upon the Arabian ; and, exported to any land, will reproduce itself in a credit- able manner to export as our national horse. Our system of breeding is one of great mongrelization, which, as I have repeatedly written, means uncertainty with de- generacy.
"Our vast territory demands more horses than any other country. Our unlim- ited grass lands invite and encourage the breeding of horses, whether the owner of lands be adapted as a breeder or not. Our varied climates and soil, with everywhere abundant and excellent water, are most favorable to the raising of all kinds of stock for expoit.
"The producing of specialties in the horse is demanded by our uses, as well as required for general purposes.
"The demand for coach horses increases as our city people multiply and wealth increases. A high form of coach horse is in constant demand, but exceedingly diffi- cult to find. Such a horse is always a first-class farm horse, and can be a first-class road horse, profitable to every farmer to breed and to raise.
"Our territory is so great, and our commercial interests so scattered and extend- ed, that the road horse becomes an important feature, so connected with commer- cial and agricultural pursuits that it should be cultivated. Our great national sport is the trotting race, which in England is the running race. The race or running horse is good for the one purpose of running races. The trotting horse can be used for every purpose except running races ; hence to me it seems proper it should become our national horse to come under the intelligent head of blood and breeding with in- stinct to trot.
"A positive thoroughbred horse is a possibility ; and the independent nature of the American people is such I feel they should take a national pride in creating a national horse, independent of any other nation. The Arabian horse, as we know, is the foundation upon which England established her race horse, Russia her trotting horse, and France her draught horse.
"We have proven that from the Arabian we can get the highest rates of trotting speed. We know that its blood and instinct are more pliable to man's demands, for molding into different families, than are either of the European types cited. We know that our so-called trotting horse is not a positive reproducer of that ability. We know that each exceptional case of high trotting speed traces to the Arab not far away ; we know that the reunion or bringing together of bloods akin, of close affinity, gives the strongest results.
"Thus, when the blood of Henry Clay (which was but a third remove from the Arab) is bred to itself, increased speed is a certain result, and when reinforced with fresh Arabian blood, a higher type is the result, with the trotting instinct intensified.
"The law in animal life as relates to breeding of positive types is once away from a primitive blood, then three times back to it through different channels.
"As I have said, the horse Henry Clay was but a third remove from an imported Arabian paternal, and more than thrice back upon the maternal side. If his dam. Lady Surry, be discounted by some, they must remember she was far above the old 'Vintner mare' which has figured so disparagingly in the English race horse maternal foundation.
"Through Henry Clay's daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters we enlist the immortal names of Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay in dams. As the male since the first of man has given the name and founded the family, what more appropriate start could be made for a laudable and positively independent national horse than by bringing the foundation blood in the Andrew Jackson-Henry Clay daughters to a union with the pure, primitive, unquestioned blood of General Grant's Arabian stallions?
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iSSo, by Randolph Huntington, for his Clay history, and pMished here by his special permission .
The celebrated trotting horse sire
OLD HENRY CLAY
Owned by William W. Wadsworth.
By Andrciv Jackson, by Yoiiug Bashaw, by Im- ported Arabian Grand Bashazv. Foaled June, iSjy. Died April, iSdy. Color black. Bred by Jacob S. Piatt, of New York and Long Island. All of our Americo-Arabs emanate from this prepotent Arabian-Barb stallion as originally introduced through the dams.
Old Henry Clay, as can be seen elseivhere in- these pages, "was the most important factor in Amer- ican trotting horse breeding history, and founder of the Clay family.
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"By so doing we should honor ourselves in our to-be national horse, through three of the greatest names our country has possessed.
"First comes that of General U. S. Grant, known and respected by all of the nations of the earth, also loved by over fifty millions of people as no other great captain ever was. On the maternal side we have the General and ex-President in Jackson, who knew no fear; and in Henry Clay, a statesman without a peer. It is a singular coincidence that we should have these three immortal, national names attached to representative horses direct from the primitive horse, and independent of any other nation, from which and upon which to found and create 'The National Thoroughbred Trotting-bred Horse of America," General Grant, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay.
"Another disadvantage we have labored under: A sporting nature has grown and been cultivated by our young men during the war, which settled largely on trot- ting horses. The demand for trotters was great, with prospective large returns from their breeding. Hundreds of gentlemen of means, but in every other way un- fitted, purchased land and began the breeding of horses.
"Brood stock was selected by prejudice or fancy, without cultured ability for understandingly investigating the reputed breedings, through which to rate blood in- fluences for desired results. In short, the name was the governing power, blood and breeding being of minor importance.
"Horses of all classes were exceedingly scarce, and the demand was so great that venturers in breeding, in haste to get rich, thought more of prospective large money returns from their investments than of future advantages to the country through improved blood values. Prejudice swayed the breeding and buying public, so that after twenty-five years of unparalleled production of horses, as to numbers, we find the country flooded with mongrels, scarce worth the raising, and from which we are unable to select a reliable, self-sustaining, reproducing type.
"Our constant importation of stock horses from France, Scotland, England, and even German-Prussia, has not mended matters, but has still further mongrelized our bloods, because we have used them for crosses, rather than inbreeding each type to itself.
"If the different horses we continue to import have special merit to warrant such importations, why not breed them pure; then with our superior advantages in soil and climate, eclipse our cis-Atlantic neighbors in the growing of their own types? Poor America ! When will she arise to the privilege and dignity of breeding her own national type? The National Journal advocates of a name, seeing the mistake they had made in so strongly sympathizing with public prejudice in favor of that name, now began to print 'cross and out-cross,' which was soon taken up by the people, who wanted to know what they should 'cross and out-cross' with. This was soon fixed for another deal, and the theory of thoroughbred running-horse blood was blazoned on the 'out-cross' banner. By using it, the broken-down race-horse stallions, also weeds from that type, would be got rid of among the unsuspecting yeomanry, only, however, to entail another drawback to successful breeding of a 'national horse.' And thus the attempt by a single individual for good general results became a most stupendous undertaking. However, my faith was great, for I did know; and the resolve being made, I did begin; believing there were plenty of men in the country who would co-operate with me in this attempt.
"Kentucky had a great prestige in her brood mares, and sporting journals harped the string, 'cross and out-cross,' urging the use of broken-down thoroughbred run- ning horses as stallions.
"That others valued Arabian blood as I did, v/as evident from occasional impor- tation of it; but in no case can I remember their use being credited. From 1840 to i860 I knew of quite a number so imported, two standing at Boston, three in New Jersey, three in Maryland, two in Virginia, and four in Kentucky.
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"From the first, Arabian stallions worked into Kentucky, where they were used upon race-horse mares. Latterly, Mokhladi, Massaud, and Sacklowie, imported by the late A. Keene Richards into Kentucky, did more or less business upon all kinds of dams, as well as thoroughbred running breeds. I am willing to believe the public did not know, in truth, the value of Arabian blood in the coach, road and trotting horse, as well as race horse.
"When, however, credit is given to Kentucky for superior blood in her brood mares over any other State, and that superiority is credited to her through running- horse blood, which in an earlier day was the only type of horses that she bred, we are inclined to look for a more direct cause. In doing so, we find that for forty years their dams have been under the influence of Arabian blood ; no less than five different Arabian stallions having been imported directly into Kentucky since 1850. While these horses were obtained expressly to reinforce their running-horse blood, when they found it more important to breed general purpose horses (as coach, road, trot- ting horses and workers), they had the all-important Arabian blood to help them, whether to strengthen running or colder-bred mares. Now, in so writing of Ken- tucky, I will cite one single instance of which I have many, showing the direct and positive value of Arabian blood in the coach and trotting horse. In 1854 Mr. L. L. Dorsey, of Kentucky, bred a daughter of the imported Arabian Zilcaadie to a little inbred Morgan horse called Vermont Morgan. The get and produce was called Golddust, from his golden color. This colt, foaled in 1855, was bred upon the prin- ciple of once out and thrice back to a primitive blood, for Justin Morgan was Arabian bred.
"The horse Vermont Morgan was but fourteen and three-quarters hands high, and was inbred to Justin Morgan's blood. Now, when he is put to the daughter of imported Zilcaadie, one of the most beautiful stallion colts known in this country was the result —I mean L. L. Dorsey's stallion Golddust. He grew to be sixteen hands high, weighing very nearly thirteen hundred pounds, and for trotting speed was the peer of anything before bred in Kentucky. *He was trotted many races, never being beaten; one of them was a match race for ten thousand dollars, which he won by over a distance.'
"As a getter Golddust was the most positive sire for beauty, size and wonderful trotting speed in his colts, calling to mind Andrew Jackson, similarly bred, also im- ported Messenger, of similar breeding. It makes me nearly wild as I write, that I cannot induce men to put away prejudice and use reason. I do not wish the reader to obey my teachings, but would beg of every man interested in the breeding of horses to think deep, embracing every opportunity to enlighten himself. We have already too many writers who demand their readers to do as they say in print; I simply urge men to be better informed of themselves.
"Such a crop of colts as were the first get by Mr. Dorsey's Arabian bred horse had no parallel in the breeding of beautiful coach, road and trotting horses, except in the get of Imported Messenger, Andrew Jackson, and his son, Henry Clay, all three being similarly bred to Arabian blood influence. Moreover, these sons and daugh- ters of Dorsey's old Golddust had the same high nervous temperament possessed by the get of Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, also credited to the get of Imported Messenger.
"If I write too much, men will not read ; if I say too little, they will not under- stand. Men never trouble themselves to condemn and abuse what is of no value, or what they fully understand ; but will bring all their forces in wealth and prejudice to destroy what beats them or stands in their way, not stopping to study into the values of the obstacles.
"I have been charged with being over-enthusiastic in the matter of Arabian blood, called by us Clay. Now, I never began to contend for it as did Mr. Weaver, of Philadelphia, or Mr. Dorsey, of Kentucky, for each of these gentlemen contended
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for his individual horse. My contention has been for the blood, pro bono publico ; and even in that particular I was misjudged by friends, who would ask me 'if it was glory' I was after. Far from it.
"In the matter of Golddust : The war broke out, and his possibilities for Ken- tucky and the country at large were cut short. I remember a lot of horses and mares by Golddust which Mr. Dorsey sent on to Long Island at the beginning of the war. They were in a large barn near John I. Sneidicker's place, near the old Union track. I examined them many times, and will say that today such good horses are rare. After the war, attempts to establish Golddusts were frustrated from two causes ; first was owing to the multitude of coarse horses, more fashionable in the name, and second was the mistaken idea of improving the blood of Golddust through infusion of the blood of the rigid running horse with its instinct. Had Mr. Dorsey selected inbred Morgan and high type Clay mares for his horse he would by this time have created a •national coach, road and trotting horse' without equal in the world. The same could have been accomplished with Messenger, or with Young Bashaw or Andrew Jackson or Henry Clay. The opportunities for a 'national horse' have presented themselves, but have not been embraced because of want of inteUigent application to the object upon the part of gentlemen of means. General William T. Withers, of Kentucky, is now working towards such a base. I know him to be creating a supe- rior maternal foundation, but whether he will introduce the right form of blood in the male remains to be seen.
"Naturally, he will feel pride in establishing his breed through his Almont; and while Almont did possess largely of Arabian blood through Andrew Jackson and Pilot, and the maternal foundation will be solid through 'Clay' and Keene Richards' Arab mares, his results would be more uniform and every way more satisfactory, were he to make the king of his harem a direct descendant of a high-type Arabian stallion, through a Morgan, a Jackson or a Clay mare; but small mistakes by the in- dividual have disappointed more than one Napoleonic attempt."
From the writings of Mr. Randolph Huntington, who is the best authority on American Clay and Arabian breeding, we glean the following :
"The following shows the influence of Arab blood in Henry Clay and the dams of Clay Pilot, Clay and Pilot were both Arab and Barb bred horses, better in blood than the Orloff. Clay Pilot and Henry Clay were half-brothers by Neave's Clay, the first and best bred son of Cassius M. Clay, by Henry Clay, the Americo-Arab. Strader's C. M. Clay, Jr., was an inferior bred half-brother to Neave's C. M. Clay, Jr., by C. M. Clay, because of the dam ; and Harry Clay was inferior to Clay Pilot from same reasons ; and yet all were close bred to Henry Clay.
"Harry Clay got the dam of Electioneer, Clay Pilot got the Moor (a small black horse). Minnehaha was a daughter of Nettie Clay by Strader's Clay, the half-brother to Neave's Clay. In Minnehaha's paternal grandams we find a daughter of the imported Arab Stamboul, the Arabian being the direct blood cause for the Clay ex- cellence.
"Minnehaha, mated with the Moor (by Clay Pilot), produces *Beautiful Bells, a mare interbred to the one same Clay horse, Cassius M. Clay, by Henry Clay, and reinforced by its blood cause, the Arab, from imported Stamboul.
"Beautiful Bells, bred to Electioneer, whose dam was her cousin through Neave's Clay, produces Hinda Rose, the first three-year-old to beat 2 :2o, and the first yearling to trot in 2 136^, which fiUy was foUowed by eleven others so bred, among which were St. Bel Chimes, BeU Boy, Palo Alto BeU, Bellflower and BeU Bird, to trot as a yearling in 2 :26i^.
"When, however, the mare was bred away from her intensified Clay-Arab blood
*Concedcd to be the greatest of all of America's trotting horse brood mares.
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to the horse Piedmont because of his record of 2 :i7'4> the product was a failure at trotting speed in the mare Rosemont (foal of 18831 ; but Rosemont, bred back to the blood of her dam, in the dam of Electioneer, at once shows and proves that blood will tell when records fail, as the product, Mont Rose, equals and even beats a trifle her sister in blood, Hinda Rose.
"The phenomenal three-year-old filly 'Fantasy,' record of 2:08^4, is interbred to Arab blood through Clay; her sire being interbred to Neave's Clay, through Clay Pilot and Harry Clay and her dam, also of Clay blood.
From " Rider and Driver," February 25, 1893, article by Mr. Randolph Huntington :
"Through Henry Clay (The Americo-Arab) we had the Cassius M. Clay family, the Patchen family and the Clay Pilot family, all in the male line. In the female line descending from Henry Clay, we have the Wilkes family, a union of which blood with the Clay Pilot family gave us the famous Corbitt and Salisbury trotters and pacers in California
"On the Pilot side (also Americo-Arab bred) we have the Pilot family from which came Maud S., Jay-Eye-See, Nancy Hanks and Miss Russell, with old Waterwitch, the Nutwood family, also Dictator Prominence."
When Count Orloff Began Breeding the Russian National Horse, the Orloff.
The Orloff breed of coach and trotting horses derived their name from their founder, Count Alexis Orloff, who lived when Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia. He began in the year 1777 when he bought in the south of Greece an Arabian stallion, Smetanka, for 6,000 roubles (assignates), which is equal to 1,714 pounds sterling.
Thoroughbred Arabian of the Saclavi class of the Koelani breed, Smetanka was a fine animal and strongly built. He was two archives two and one-half vershoks high (fifteen hands or one meter 5240 . He was used one season only at the stud and died in 1778, leaving only four colts and one filly. Smetanka had two ribs more than ordinary horses, as can be seen by his skeleton, which is still kept in the Orloff museum. The four colts and one filly secured by Smet- anka were from Anglo-Arab mares; the grey stalHon Polkan out of a big, strong Isabel Danish mare. Polkan was next crossed with a big, strong Dutch mare (Harttraber), the result of which was the celebrated Barss, who combined the blood, muscle, power of endurance and temper of Smetanka, the size of the Danish mare, and the shoulder action of the Dutch mare.
Barss is considered the all-important factor in the creation of the great Russian Orloffs (trotters and coach horses). He was foaled in 1784 and died in 1808. Barss left eleven stallions, four of which left no progeny. Count Or- loff did not begin inbreeding for some time ; he continued pouring in fresh blood, always through Anglo-Arab mares, thus producing the celebrated trotters Do- broi, Lubesnoi and Lebed. Inbreeding began with the produce of these last horses, but later on he introduced more Anglo-Arab blood through the dams;
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The Americo=Arab >\are
COLETTE
Sire Islam, by Linden Tree.
Dam Lena Stevens.
Color dark chestnut. Height ij hands. Dam of Arabian Kshot. The property of Hartmaii Stock Farm.
Colette is, we believe, the only living daughter of the game horse Islam. She has proven to be one of the most valuable brood mares we have ever owned, and has fetv, if any, equals as a road marc. The property of Hartma)i Stock Farm.
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he never introduced fresh blood through the sires — this was a golden rule with this noted and skilled breeder.
Count Orloff never sold a stallion during his life. In 1845 the Imperial Government bought his stud from Countess A. A. Orloff, daughter of its founder, consisting of twenty-one stallions and one hundred and ninety-four brood mares of the Orloff trotter breed and nine staHions and one hundred and twelve brood mares of the Orloff coach breed. During the Paris International Exposition the stallion Bedouin, a direct descendant of Barss, trotted three kilometers in four minutes and forty-five seconds, and the last kilometer in one minute twenty-nine seconds, which is equal to one minute and thirty-two seconds per verst (3,500 feet), while the celebrated American Arabian bred trotting mare Flora Temple never did a verst under one minute and thirty-six seconds, thus proving Bedouin a faster trotter than Flora Temple by four seconds. Bedouin was a very fine horse, with a most reliable disposition, plenty of substance and excellent con- formation.
When the Russian government purchased the Orloff plant of Russo-Arab horses they also secured his books, precepts, etc., and made it a rule to reinforce the Orloff horse breeds with fresh infusions of pure Arabian blood at frequent intervals and eventually established a preserve or stud of pure Arabian horses which is maintained with strict vigilance to the present day.
I consider the creation of the Orloff trotters of Russia as nothing short of great, and I doubt if there was ever a trotting race of horses in the world that was their superior, blood, speed and endurance considered.
The learned and well-known Kentucky gentleman and capable thoroughbred horse breeder, A. Keene Richards, of Georgetown, Ky., repeatedly referred to in this book, after the most extensive and intelligent research and inquiry as to blood causes and influence for greatness in the road, coach, runner and saddle horse, became thoroughly convinced that all greatness and potency came from the Arabian. He accordingly made two different importations of Arabian horses from the desert of Arabia.
About the time he was nicely on the way to success with his importations of stallions and mares, the Civil War came with all of its necessary horrors. Mr. Richards' noble horse breeding work was lost, as was much of the splendid Clays and Messenger and Clay combinations, along with the Bashaws, Andrew Jack- sons, Morgans, Golddusts and countless other lines and strains of the Arabian and Barb bred horses which were at that time to be found on every hand. For history shows that America possessed at that time trotting bred horses which could not have been equaled on the face of the earth in point of blood and indi- viduality as well as general utility and coach qualities, the equal of which we have never since possessed.
After the devastating effects of the war our various strains and breeds were found to be scarce and scattered, if not totally lost. What remained has since emerged into the present trotting strains along with much cold blood.
A. Keene Richards' labors were in a great measure lost, except such of the
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scattered fragments and some few specimens which remained that were half in blood of Mr. Richards' Arabians, which are, in a great degree, responsible for the present excellent race of saddle horses to be found in Kentucky, as shown by the Denmark saddle horse stud books. The tail carriage, reliable dispositions, good necks and general excellence, as well as their power to transmit a fixed type, can be traced to no other source. If we were to ask some of the Kentuckians how they produced their saddle horse they would most likely tell us it was their grass, air and water, and then refer us to some tradition concerning their unequaled horse breeding skill and give us about the same stunts in horse breeding philos- ophy that the English are accustomed to indulge in relative to their skill and their environments in the production of their thoroughbred, rather than the more sound and rational cause — the Arabian and Barb blood influence as the only possible cause for their greatness. If such thoeries were reliable, either England or Ken- tucky would be just as well off with an ordinary cart horse with which to create a blood horse.
"We may with advantage at times forget what we know."
After A. Keene Richards' most careful review of the blood cause and effects that produced the various fixed breeds of Europe, and after finding that all of England's greatest achievements in horse breeding were traceable to the Arabian and the Barbs, he remarked in his catalogue, published in 1857:
"With these facts before me, I determined to import the best Arabs that could be found in the East and cross them with our best mares. I made myself acquaint- ed with the modern importations by going to England, France and Spain, and exam- ining the best Arabs belonging to these governments, visiting Morocco, and going through the interior of Algeria. I went to Tunis, thence to Egypt, and from Egypt through Arabian Petra and the desert east of Damascus as far as Palmyra. During this tour I selected Mokhladi, Massoud and a grey mare, the first mentioned bred by the Tarabine tribe in Arabia Petra, and the two latter by the Anayza tribe.
"They arrived safely, and I immediately made arrangements to select some of our best mares to breed to them. The result was quite equal to my expectations, and I commenced preparing to make another trip to the East, determined to spare no trouble or expense in procuring the best blood, as well as the finest formed horses, in the desert.
"For two weeks I made this subject my study, consulting the best authors as to where the purest blood was to be found, and comparing their views with my own experiences. I found that most authors who have written on the subject differ ma- terially as to facts; and that those who have seen the Arab on his native soil know more about the idle legends of the country than about the fine points of a horse.
"Layard surely has claims to be the best authority among English writers. Although prejudiced in favor of the English horse, he says: *I doubt whether any Arab of the best blood has ever been brought to England. The difficulty of obtain- ing them is so great, that they are scarcely ever seen beyond the limits of the desert.' After two years spent in close investigation as to the best means of obtaining the purest blood of the desert, I matured my plans and started again for the East, accom- panied by Mr. E. Troys, the artist, my cousin M. H. Keene, and a Syrian who had been with me since my first journey to the East. This man knew more about the horses of the desert than any one I had met in the East. Soon after our arrival in Syria he died very suddenly, and Mr. Keene had to commence the study of the Arabic
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language, as we could find no one to trust in interpreting, to carry out our plans among the Bedouins. He was in Damascus seven months, studying the language and informing himself as to the best way of getting to that tribe of Bedouins in Arabia which had the type of horse we were seeking.
"The first horse selected was a stallion from Beni-Zahr. This was a horse of superior form and blood, purchased from one of the Sheikhs of the tribe. Determined to have the best, this horse was afterwards exchanged for the bay horse 'Sacklowie' by giving considerable boot. This l-jst -mportation consisted of the bay 'Sack- lowie,' a chestnut 'Faysal,' supposed to be the best young horse in the Anayza tribe, a grey colt two years old, a mare and two dromedaries.
"In making both of these importations I determined not to offer the services of any of the stallions to the public until they had shown some evidence of their merits. The colts of two of them having borne off the prizes last fall, over the best thoroughbred stock in Kentucky, I was induced by some friends not to wait longer, but to give the breeders in Kentucky an opportunity to try the cross with some of our fine mares."
Mr. Richards further remarks :
•'That the English horse of the present day is inferior to what he was in the days of Eclipse, no one will doubt who examines the performances of that day. The present race of horses are fleet, and many can carry their weights, but how few remain on the turf; and one hard race of four miles would injure the best horse in England.
"Some English writers contend that a degeneracy is taking place, and that the best Arab blood must be resorted to. In crossing the Arabs upon our stock, we must not expect the first cross to equal such pedigrees as 'Lexington' and 'Bonnie Lassie,' but this cross will not deteriorate, and fine bone with vigorous constitution, free from hereditary defects, will be the result. I have confidence in the result as to the improvement of our fine stock for the turf, for harness and saddle."
Mr. Richards further remarks :
"Some of the Arabs in this country have not failed to produce racers, as trot- ters. The grandsire of Pacolet, on the dam's side, was the Lindsay Arabian. The granddam of Sidi Hamet, the sire of Bethune, was an Arab mare, got by an Arabian horse sent to President Jefferson, and out of the Arab mare that came with him. Rhoderic Dhu, a good race horse up to four miles, was out of a Bagdad mare, and many others could be cited. In the fall of 1854, on the Lexington course, Mr. Clay's Raffle, by Yorkshire, grandam by Kochlani, one of the Rhind Arabians, forced Ellen Swigert to the stand in i :46 and i :47/l2-
"Recent investigations show that the renowned Flora Temple goes back with a few crosses to the Arab; while in Pennsylvania we have that superb race of trot- ters, the Bashaws, descended from an imported Arabian or Barb of that name m- troduced in 1826.
"The Bagdad stock were in great demand in Tennessee at one time, on account of their legs standing the hard pikes better than any other stock. Massoud, Mokh- ladi and Sacklowie are remarkable in this particular, as their legs did not swell any during their long sea voyages, on different vessels in America. Massoud goes all the fashionable saddle gaits, and Mokhladi has fine action for a trotter The Bed- ouins do not train their horses to three gaits, but some of them are easily broken to pace or rack. The trot of the Arab is so easy and springy that no one who mounts him would care for him to go any other gait. Can this be said of our crack thor- oughbreds? Peytons, or one of the long-striding sons of Melbourne, would be about as pleasant over a rough road as a dromedary or a Brahmin bull. The early English and American horses were far superior under the saddle to the present style of slash- ing-goers'."
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Mr, Richards' further comments in another part of the catalogue are as follows :
"Layard relates the following of an Arab horse he saw in Mesopotamia, which fully illustrates how the Bedouins know the speed and bottom of their horses, and how a horse possessed of these valuable qualities becomes known to those who wish to breed their high blooded mares to a sire worthy of them: 'In the throng we met Sohiman, the elder brother of Suttum. He was riding on a bay horse whose fame had spread far and wide amongst the tribes, and whose exploits were a constant theme of praise and wonder with the Shammar. He was of the race Obeyan Sherakh — a breed now almost extinct, and perhaps more highly prized than any other of the desert. He had established his fame when but two years old. Fehran, with the principal warriors of the Korusseh, had crossed the Euphrates to plunder the Anayza; they were met by a superior force and were completely defeated. The best mares of the tribe fell into the hands of the enemy, and the bay colt alone, although followed by the fleetest horses of the Anayza, distanced his pursuers. Such noble qualities, united with the purest blood, render him worthy to be looked upon as the public property of the Shammar, and no sum of money would induce his owner to part with him. With a celebrated horse belonging to the Hamoud, a branch of the same tribe, he was set apart to propagate the race of the first horses in Mesopotamia. In size he was small, but large in bone and of excellent proportions. On all sides I heard extraordinary instances of his powers of endurance and speed.' "
The venerable Emir-Abd-El-Kader informs us in his remarks in General Dauma's book, "The Horse of the Sahara," that he had seen
"Among the Anazeh tribes (Arabs), extending from Bagdad to the confines of Syria, Arabian horses so absolutely priceless that it was impossible to buy them, or at least to pay in one cash payment for them. These horses were usually dis- posed of to great personages or wealthy merchants, who paid a fabulous price for them in thirty to fifty bills falling due at intervals of twelve months; or else they bound themselves to pay an annual sum forever to the vender and his descendants. "
The eminent Charles DuHays, of the great French Percheron horse fame, founder of the government stud and editor of the Stud Books, author of "The Dictionary of the Pure Race," "Trotters," "The Book of the Races," "The Mer- lerault," "The Horse Breeder's Guide," "The Percheron Horse," etc., as well as the veteran historian and eminent authority on all matters pertaining to the breeding of fine horses, and formerly master of the horse affairs of Louis Napoleon, states :
"There is ample evidence that from time to time Arab blood has been infused into the Percheron breed. It is a well known and positive fact that previous to 1789 M. Marquis de Mallart, friend of the Prince of Lambese, Master of the House in France, obtained Arab horses to serve on his estate at Coesme, near Belleme, and that his grandson, another Marquis de Mallart, obtained in 1818 and the following year from the Marquis of Bonneval, Director of the National studs at Le Pin, the Arab stallions Gallipoli and Godolphin to stand and serve on that same estate of Coesme."
In Mr. Walters' translation of Mr. DuHays' book, "The Percheron Horse," we note that Mr. DuHays comments on the world-famous Percheron sire, Jean- Le-BIanc, as follows:
"Although heavy, powerful, and indeed a shaft-horse, his gait and indescribable
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Published by permission of Mr. R. Huntington.
The renowned and undefeated Arabian
KISMET
Pure Arabian. Maneghi=Hadruji Strain (desert bred).
Sire of Nimr and grandsire of Clay Kismet and Kha- led. Height 15 hands. Color red chestnut.
Imported to America by Mr. Randolph Huntington November 10, iSgi.
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something pervading his whole body, recalled so thoroughly the idea of the Oriental family that one was disposed to take him for an enlarged Arabian.
"This fact often related to us excited our curiosity. We did not rest until, pressing inquiry upon inquiry, one after another, we ascertained that this family had been crossed with a stallion from the Pin stables standing at the Chateau of Coesmes, near Bellevue. And what was this stallion? The Arabian 'Gallipoli.' "
The great DuHays further advises his countrymen :
"If it be necessary to give more style to the action, and more richness to the blood, ask these qualities of the Arab, which has the privilege of imparting style and tone, while preserving weight, hardihood, vigor and docility. The Arabian is kind, intelligent, reliable, laborious and easily kept."
Consanguinity, Commonly Called Inbreeding.
I believe the natural laws controUing this phase of animal breeding are less understood than any other one feature that enters into the creation and regen- eration of animal life.
We are accustomed to seeing instances of degeneracy on account of con- sanguinity in the human race in America, and the conclusion, without further thought, is that inbreeding is forever prohibited by nature in all of her mammal kingdom.
But on further reflection we are compelled to remember that the great Ana- 2eh tribes of Bedouins of the Arabian Desert have remained pure in one blood for ages. According to their own traditions and history they are the same in blood today as their progenitor Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. These very exclusive people maintain their own blood purity with the same care and precision with which they breed their horses, and certainly there is no question about them being an intensely inbred race, in fact the purest of all of the human races. There is no sign of degeneracy among them in the physical sense, and they are pronounced by those in position to know as the most highly moral race of people, in many respects, in the world.
The Japanese race is pure in blood or nearly so, as is the case with the Chi- nese race. The aboriginal race of humans found in Peru by cruel Spanish ex- plorers (invaders) were a thoroughbred people which were, according to history, matchless in physical as well as of good mental development and they were in- tensely inbred, but suffered very rapid physical, mental and moral degeneracy under Spanish rule, and the blood mixing that followed in the so-called civilizing of that people. For want of space my remarks cannot amount to more than hints along this line.
There is another daily illustration here in America of the evils that follow violent mongrelization rather than inbreeding (I refer to the negro). Statistics show that the *part-bred negro does not possess the physical vigor and health that is possessed by the pure blood negro who was not produced as the result of a violent out-cross. In the lower mammal kingdom we have every evidence of the benefit of inbreeding or consanguinity in all instances where the blood is pure.
*Whit€ and negro race mixtures in blood.
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We also learn that out-crossing or mongrelization that is produced by the union of two different pure bred races is productive of deterioration, if not degeneracy, and even annihilation of the species, in the first two or three generations especially. For example, the result of a cross between a lion aijd tiger is inferior to a purely bred one of either race. Such unions never occur in their wild or natural state, but can be accomplished in captivity when both were whelped in captivity. Such matings are contrary to Nature's laws and customs.
I wonder who could establish the blood relationship that exists between the English sparrows that are in America at present as the result of the few that were brought over in a bird cage by a very benevolent gentleman a few years ago. Do they lack in physical vigor? Who could estimate the relationship of our various Ohio quail, one to another? Who knows how many ages the larks of the meadow have bred in and in? A union between a lark and a quail in their wild state would be as impossible as a union between a lion and a tiger in their wild or natural state.
Nature breeds her wild animals in and in, and maintains balance, harmony, uniformity, vigor and beauty to a degree of perfection that is such as to ever excite the envy of man.
Consanguinity seems permissible in both high and low states of the mammal kingdom where the blood is pure and it is certainly forbidden in mixed or mongrel breeding.
The degree of development of the nervous system seems a necessary con- sideration as to how far it can be carried on in domestic animal life. The canine race has the largest brain and nerve development of all of the lower domestic mammal life — hence inbreeding must be carried on with the dog with full observ- ances of natural laws which govern such procedure. I consider the horse as being by far the most interesting of ail of the lower mammal life from a breeder's standpoint, especially so if maintained along classified lines, that is, in one or kindred bloods.
The horse will improve and respond in quality more rapidly than the dog when closely inbred. The horse will stand more inbreeding than the dog, partly owing to his proportionately less brain and nerve development, to his total size, physical strength and duration of life, I believe.
Wherever the blood is nearly pure, inbreeding in the lower mammal king- dom has never failed to refine, purify and establish type and quality, as well as to stimulate the power of transmission or self-reproduction.
Nature's wild animals are all produced by consanguinity. They are all like the Arabian horse, untainted thoroughbreds. My space is limited, hence I must stop, but wish to advise the reader who desires to become familiar with the benefits derived from inbreeding to compare the heart and arteries of the little quail with those of a big mongrel chicken, and the heart and bone of an Arabian horse with that of another horse, etc. There is bountiful evidence and illustration to be found on every hand for those who will but observe.
"To him who in the love of nature holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language."
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We are informed by Mr. Ridpath that the horse was introduced into Egypt in the epoch following 1591 B. C. Certainly the splendor of the dawn of even that early civilization and science did not mark the first appearance of the horse as a servant to man, for Mr. Ridpath also tells us that
"The horse was in use in Mesopotamia for the saddle, but not for draught, long before his introduction into Egypt. Judging from the *sculptures, as well as from the existing breeds of the country, the Assyrian animal is, for speed, symmetry and power, fully the equal of the modern Arabian.
"From time immemorial the chief wealth of the native tribes of southern Assyria has consisted in horses. Anciently, as well as today, travelers, princes and kings gratified their pride and ambition by purchasing, albeit at fabulous figures, the fleet and beautiful steeds of the Mesopotamian and Arabian waste. The Assyrian horses are less in stature than the heavier breeds of the West, but of exquisite sym- metry of form and grace of movement."
Mr. Ridpath neglected to state that the larger blood horse of the West — Europe, the United States, etc. — were simply mongrel offshoots of those beau- tiful, enduring Arabians of Mesopotamia. The Shammar tribes of the Semitic Bedouins have occupied the Mesopotamian districts since early in the seventeenth century when they were led from Nejd to Mesopotamia by Paris. While they are a large and important horse breeding tribe they do not begin to rank with the rich and royal tribes of the great Anazeh who roam over and control the great pasturages and own the wells west of the Euphrates River and south v/ellunto Nejd of southern Arabia, for the Anazeh tribes have ever been considered as a Mecca for the very best of the Arabian horse, a distinction which those great tribes still enjoy beyond the point of competition. They are the truest and most conservative horse breeders on the face of the earth, who maintain this high standard with ease by a religious adhesion to the never-failing natural law of breeding only with absolute purity of blood, and in this manner the Biblical statement of "like produces like" has ever been realized by them.
The Christians' horses have ever been regarded with contempt as cold- blooded mongrels, not only by the Arabians of the Arabian Desert, but also by the Berbers of the Sahara Desert.
By the strict horse breeding methods of the tribes of these two great barren and sun-scorched desolations they have maintained absolute independence in horse blood. They are and have ever been dependent upon the scant providence of a desert existence, and hence their imperative need of not only horses, but the most pure and enduring kind, for long distances at terrific pace is so often their only earthly salvation in an eternal battle against man, beast, drought, the elements, and the oppression of despotic rulers. The close afiEiliation of the Arabian and Berber tribes with the sternest forms and conditions of Nature has worked two beneficial results for civilization. First, that these nomadic tribes have in their close touch with Nature and existence, where only natural law is supreme, preserved by breeding as only nature breeds, two great races of horses
*Sculptures show horses hitched to chariots which were in appearance Arabians pure and simple, though four thousand years ago.
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in primitive purity, that the less natural breeders and blood spendthrifts, from lands of plenty and civilization, might frequently return to the fountain blood as they have done for ages, and procure the never-failing rejuvenating powers of the Arabian horse of the Arabian Desert and the Barb horse of the Sahara Desert.
Secondly, the very purity and excellence of these two great primitive races of horses have been such as to insure their own as well as their masters' preser- vation through thousands of years of constant battle against spear, sword and the tireless burning rays of a tropical desert sun, all of which proved of less danger and detriment to these blooded steeds than the bigotry and changeable breeders of civilization.
The very seclusion of the nomads in their desolate desert homes, coupled with the fact that they never deviate from Nature's teachings of once pure always pure, and to never trust the future fate of a breed to the uncertainty of cross- breeding or mongrelization, has thus perpetuated or preserved their match- less horse, the Arab. Nature breeds her beautiful zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, leopards, and her exquisite gazelle, in the same blood today as she did five thou- sand years ago.
There is no visible cause for me to believe that the Anazeh Bedouin Arabian horses are different in blood today than they were seven thousand years ago. Neither do I believe that there was ever one atom of out-cross or fresh or foreign blood entered his veins in his natural existence. Modest truth is often enslaved, suffering persecution and opposition, while the prentetious falsehood is eman- cipated through lack of knowledge. "Nothing is more terrible than ignorance with spurs on."
The only pure and undefiled blood of the equine race— the Arabian — is a striking example of this kind.
Though he is the progenitor of all blood horses of the world, still we can learn of traditions or theories hatched through idle dreams of English writers, grooms, etc., to the effect that the English blood horse was a mysterious gift to England, or that he amounted to an inheritance from whence they do not state, but would have one beHeve he was hatched from an egg of their breeding skill, or that he was a divine inheritance.
The great English thoroughbred is a descendant of the Arabian and Barb along with cold blood in the beginning. No man honest and well-posted dares say the English thoroughbred has not been truly great, far greater and of much more consequence in the past than he can possibly be in the future. That he has lost the power to transmit a plastic blood is as certain as it is that he can be improved by new Arabian blood infusions.
The English become offensive when they dare to forget that it was the Arab and Barb that gave them their ruaaer. In doing so they remind us of what was written at Stratford-on-Avon :
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A grey Arabian horse and desert scene, frontispiece in the hook,
^^Newmarket and Arabia," from a ivood etching by the
author of that book, Major I\. D. Upton.
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"But 'tis a common proof that Lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; But, when he once attains the upmost round. He then unto the ladder turns his back Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend."
We know the Arabian is pure in one blood as we know the English thorough- bred is not. We also know the Arabian blood is as pliable or plastic today as it was five hundred years ago, and we also know that the EngUsh thoroughbred is not as pliable or plastic as he was one hundred years ago, to say nothing of other qualities he has lost in a degenerating tendency, which proves the value of a pure and unmolested blood through consanguinity.
The Arabian horse proves his purity in many ways, and in no particular is his excellence and good breeding more evident than in his courage and perfection of disposition which the runner has lost, and courage is ever an unmistakable mark of purity in blood.
Nature breeds only thoroughbreds in her infinite precision. Her animals are pure in the beginning and pure in the end.
The stripes of the zebra have not changed in number, shape or position since man first beheld him.
Through consanguinity nature maintains vigor, uniformity, beauty and per- fection forever.
Man would bastard and lose it all by out-crossing, mongrelization. "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
I do not fear we shall lose the blood purity of the Arabians as long as they are not entirely controlled by civilization ; for the desert horse breeding King Bedouin is no more apt to reverse his ancient and reliable traditional precepts in horse breeding than the poetic song of the nightingale, the prima donna of the magnolia, is to be lost by an out-cross with the cat-bird, or the gorgeous colora- tions of the oriole is to be besmirched and his dwelling debased by a cross with the swallow, to substitute the desolate nursery of the chimney for his ancient celestial cradle of the elm, where for a thousand years his infant angels have rocked o'er a crystal brook and lulled into tranquil slumbers by the rythmic chords of Nature's melodious harps, a natural and untainted thoroughbred.
<^
Secretary and Manager of trie Harlman Stock Farm Horse Breeding and Importing Department.
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Nazli's Produce in America
for Mr. Huntington
NAARAH, foaled April i8, i8g^. Chestnut mare by Anizeh. NAAMAN, foaled April 5, i8g6. Chestnut stallion by Anizeh. NAZLINA, foaled April ij, i8gj. Chestnut mare by Anizeh. NADAB, foaled April 16, i8g8. Chestnut stallion by Anizeh. NAZLITA, foaled April 20, i8gg. Chestnut mare by Khaled. NAZLET, foaled June 10, igoo. CltestniU mare by Khaled. NEJDRAN, foaled May 16, igoi. ChcstmU stallion by Anizeh. NAHOR, foaled March sg, igoj. Chestmit stallion by Anizeh. ■ — , foaled May 7, igo4. Chesiniit mare by Anizeh.
NAZLI PRODUCED IN ENGLAND
Nazli foaled Nitnr, June 20, i8gi ; chestnut stallion by the renoTvned Kis- met, which stallion was imported with his dam, Nazli, by Air. Hunt- ington.
Naomi's Produce in America
for Mr. Huntington
ANIZEH, foaled May 10, i8go. Chestnut stallion by Leopard. RUTH CLA Y, foaled April 21, i8gi. Grey mare by Y. J. Shepard. BO.AZ CLA Y, foaled April 4, i8g2. Bay stallion by Y. J. Shepard. NEJD, foaled May 21, iSg^. Chestnut stallion by Anizeh. KHALED, foaled May 24, 18 g^. Chestmit stallion by Nimr. NAOMI II, foaled May 24, 18 g6. Chestnut mare by Nimr. NARKEESA, foaled May 21, i8gj. Chestnut mare by Anizeh. NARESSA, foaled May 7, i8g8. Chestnut mare by Anizeh.
The most itnportant of Naomi's produce while in England was NAZLI, chestnut mare by Alaidan.
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