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PURE

SADDLE-HOUSES,

HOW TO BREED THEM IN AUSTRALIA.

TOGETHER WITH A CONSIDERATION OF THE HISTORY
AXD MERITS OF THE

ENGLISH, ARAB, ANDALUSIAN, & AUSTRALIAN
BREEDS OF HORSES.

EDWARD M. CURE.

MELBOURNE :

WILSON & MACKINNON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,

COLLINS STREET EAST.

1863.

TO MY OLD FEIEND,

MYLES GERALD KEON,

FORMERLY OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LE(4I0N IN ALGf:RI.

NOW CHIEF SECRETARY OF BERMUDAS,

THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED

WITH MANY FEELINGS OF AFFECTION, BY

THE AUTHOR.

Digitized by the Internet Arciiive

in 2009 with funding from

Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries

http://www.archive.org/details/puresaddlehorses01curr

PRE FAC E.

In offering this work to the public, none
can feel better than the Author the neces-
sity for asking some indulgence for entering
on a theme which has already been treated
of by so many. This becomes, apparently
at leasts the more needed by one to whom
the subject is not professional, who has
never backed, entered, or ridden a racer on
the turf, and who yet ventures to differ in
opinion with many received authorities on
the subject of the horse in general, and to
call in question doings and customs which
have been considered beyond the reach of
contradiction. But whilst differing radically
from several able authors who have, with
what has been considered excellent oppor-

VI PREFACE.

tunities, written on this subject, I should
be sorry to be thought to have under-
valued their efforts or capabilities. So far,
indeed, from doubting these, I cannot but
wonder that they have done so much,
hedged in by local prejudices and with an
experience drawn from so very limited a
field for observation as Great Britain ;
whose great error appears to have been their
idea that whilst treating of the artificial
and arbitrary specialties of Leicestershire
and Epsom, they were retailing a cosmo-
politan wisdom and dealing with the neces-
sities of the Horse and the horseman of the
world at large.

In considering this point, it has struck
me as not unlikely that the undeniable su-
periority of the English horse on the turf,
and the fame of the English hunter, placed
side by side with the very degraded saddle-
horse of the rest of Europe, has led to the
dictatorial tone of Englishmen and English
writers on this subject, and has encouraged
them to claim a superiority for their saddle-
horses over many others, which I have no

PREFACE. Vll

hesitation in saying exists only in their im-
aginations, and would never stand the test
of a trial.

But it is not merely the English estimate
of the English horse that I complain of in
connection with their treatises on the sub-
ject of the horse. Hitherto it appears there
has been a great lack of knowledge shown
by our ^vriters of the horses of other coun-
tries. None of our authorities, indeed,
appear to have troubled themselves with
seeking for much information on a subject
on which, notwithstanding, they write dog-
matically enough. A few anecdotes or
descriptions, drawn from books of travel,
followed by some hajDhazard desultory re-
marks, seems ^ fully to have exhausted in
their minds all that is either useful or
exjDected from them on the subject. Besides
this, the testimony of travellers so quoted
is never accepted farther than where it is
found conveniently to dovetail into the pre-
conceived ideas or prejudices of the writer.
Any accounts of vigor, endurance, stoutness,
or abstemiousness which the English author

Vlll PREFACE.

knows is not to be found in the English horse,
he, unexamined, quietly puts aside as unworthy
of belief, facetiously remarking on the well-
known accuracy of travellers' tales, or the
want of mile-stones in the desert. Nor is
this little charlatanry very imprudent with
readers but little disposed to set up rivals
for their equine favorites. A little cold
water on the subject of foreign horses has
indeed gone a long way, and if to the Arab
horse some ^^ faint praise" has been meted
out, it has only been out of consideration
for the family honor as the progenitor of
the famous thoroughbred.

But if the summing up of the untravelled
English judge and the verdict of the unen-
quiring jury have always be^n in favor of
the native and adverse to the foreigner, the
case as yet may almost be said to have
gone by default, for as yet the cause of the
Eastern horse, which, as far as is consistent
with truth, I mean to plead, has been but
very feebly urged by such of our authors
at least as treat professedly of the subject.

It is not, however, these apparently trifling

PREFACE. IX

misrepresentations, nor the false deductions
which are based upon them, but the ruinous
prejudices which we have gradually accepted,
that has induced me to take up my pen
with the hope of being useful to my fellow-
colonists.

It cannot but be allowed by the most
enthusiastic believer in the virtues of the
English horse, that however well qualified
such wi'iters as Youatt and Stonehenge may
have been to treat of that animal, that they
have advanced but very slender claims to
entitle them to be held as authorities on
any foreign horses, excepting as regards the
latter author those of North America. A
Frenchman, however good a judge he might
be of horseflesh, who had seen a few packs
of hounds throw ofl", or witnessed the Derby
run, would not probably be deemed neces-
sarily a very high authority by gentlemen
of the turf; few of them, probably, would
be much inclined to back his favorite for
the Derby, though he might be considered
quite im jock, and shake his head very know-
ingly, and write a sporting article or two on

X PREFACE.

his return to his ^^ native Tours." If the
Frenchman's fitness for the post of a sport-
ing oracle would be more than doubtful, is
it not, may I ask, on the very same prin-
ciple and with just that sort of information
at best, that Youatt and Stonehenge have
undertaken to treat of, compare, and judge
the horses of the world. Many years of
practical experience, joined to a natural apt-
ness for the subject, alone fit perhaps one
person out of every thousand who attempts
the subject, to be held as a judge of these
matters in his own country ; but the shal-
lowest smattering of anecdotical reading
concerning foreign horses, quite unsupported
by personal experience, seems to be all that
is requisite to mature a knowledge and per-
fect appreciation of the desj)ised ^^ outsider."
A traveller, who would be looked on as a
fool at Ascot if he should back his own
judgment in the betting ring, is referred to
as a gi^eat authority on the Turkish horse,
because he has j^ast a fortnight at Constan-
tinople or Bayakdere, and hazarded some
remarks on an animal, which possibly no

PREFACE. XI

previous training had fitted him to esti-
mate.

Of saddle horses in general, their merits,
and the limits of their powers, I feel no
hesitation in saying, that the English horse-
man, of only English experience, knows
but little, and is a much less competent
judge than the Australian bushman Nor
is it singular that it should be so : for he
wants opportunity, he is never in a position
to arrive at a full knowledge of the animal.
The English gentleman, if ever he requires
a roadster, buys one under the advice of a
vet or experienced groom, or perhaps com
missions some one, in whose judgment he
believes, to buy for him. If a colt, the breaker
breaks him and trains him ; the groom feeds
and looks after him ; the farrier shoes
him ; and the veterinary surgeon prescribes
for him when he ails. In the bush, on the
contrary, we breed, and occasionally break,
feed, shoe, and physic our own horses, and
are daily brought into much more intimate
and responsible relations (if I may use the
term) with the animal than are any of the

XU PREFACE.

several persons who busy themselves with
him in England. The groom, the farrier,
the jockey, &c., in England, are probably
unsurpassed, each in his line, but there is
no class in that country who shine, except
in this limited way. And then, what
Englishman in England needs a saddle-
horse ? How many are there in England
who ride, even once in their lives, what
may be called a journey ? We notice in this
country that the amount of work which a
newly-arrived emigrant, who has been used
to horses, and an experienced bushman will
extract from similar horses is very different :
A^ery few days' work serves to pump out the
horse under the guidance of the former,
whilst the latter will leave him behind, and
continue on for weeks after, if necessary.
Did any one ever see a new chum starting
on his first journey who did not think his
knowledge of horses quite a perfection in
its way, and who did not come to grief with
his quadruped somehow before the week
was out ?

The journey-horse, indeed, seems never

PREFACE. XIU

to have been much used in England. No
doubt, as we learn, our ancestors were ac-
customed, on rare occasions, to ride their
horses (having first made their wills) 100 or
150 miles from home and back again, at the
rate of 20 or 30 miles a day. These, at
best but short trips, were, however, of too
infrequent occurrence to produce a ripe
knowledge on the subject.

In offering the reader my ideas, I have
been careful to confine my descriptions to
some of those breeds of horses which are
particularly worth an inquiry, and of which
I have had generally some personal ex-
perience in their own country. Where such
has not been the case, I have brought for-
ward the opinions of authors who were
themselves eye witnesses, and probably
competent to form a correct estimate of the
animal they describe : for I admire the pre-
caution of the author of ''Les Natchez,"
when he says, ^'J'ai ete voir les sites que
je voulois peindre.''

With regard to the possession of such
experience as might be supposed to give

xiv PREFACE.

the author some fitness to treat of the sub-
ject which he has undertaken, it may be
allowable to state, tljat, a native of the
colonies, circumstances have led me during
twenty years to pass more time in the
saddle than falls to the lot of most men :
that the journeys I have made on single
horses, extending from 100 to 1,000 miles
each, are innumerable — and that I have lived
amongst people of similar occupations, and
have had the benefit of their experience.
To this I have added some 23ersonal expe-
rience of the horses of England, Ireland,
France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland,
Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Greece, Egyj^t, the
Ionian Islands, the CajDe de Yerd Islands,
Brazil, and New Zealand, as well as those
ot Tasmania and Australia. Besides the
varieties of treatment and j^erformance which
these opportunities have placed before my
eyes, I have witnessed the performance and
sufferings of the horse under almost every
phase of labour, accident, and hardship, with
the exception of the battle-field. With the
object I have had in view in writing these

PREFACE. XV

pages, viz., to point out the necessity for
the production of a breed of pure saddle-
horses in this country, as well as the means
to that end, my treatise has naturally
divided itself into three parts. In the first,
I have endeavoured to place before my
readers an unbiassed account of the Eng-
lish, Arabian, Andalusian, and Australian
horses, together with a consideration of
some of our best writers on the horse. In
the second part, it has been my object to
place, in a logical point of view, the true
results of those axioms which have been
received on all hands. And in the third
part, I have endeavoured to point out
how these axioms can be applied correctly
and usefully to the circumstances of our
country.

Since engaging myself with this subject,
and consulting various works upon it, it
has not failed to surprise me that I have
found the customs and maxims of the East
much more in accordance with the results
of my own experience than those of the
English, which have constantly led me to

XVI PREFACE.

back my assertions by :^hose of Eastern
authorities. Had racers, instead of saddle-
horses, been my theme, it would of course
have been otherwise.

In directing the attention of my reader
to Stonehange, my subject has led me to
those portions of his work which I think are its
weak points. His forte is the Kacer, which
animal, as is evident, notwithstanding his
assertion to the contrary, is never absent
from his view while writing, and that not
as a means, hut as the great end of horse-
hreeding. In both of these points I have
quite disagreed with him. His Tenth
Chapter is no doubt the pearl of his work,
which, though the first of its class, is still
in great measure a rechaiiffe.

Les Chevaux du Sahara, by General
Daumas, is another work which I have con-
sidered at some length. It is more new,
suggestive, and sound, as concerns the
saddle-horse, than any I have met with in our
own language, and as such, I recommend its
perusal to my Australian reader.

I am afraid lest the latter half of my

PREFACE. XVll

book be considered egotistical by my readers.
The perpetual recurrence of '^ I believe/' ^^ I
have no doubt/' &c,, were^ however, almost
unavoidable expressions, when the opinions
advanced were merely personal, and had no
claim to be put forth as accepted facts.
These, however, with my many other short-
comings, I must leave to the mercy of the
reader.

Though what I have written is, I believe,
correct (and is certainly the result of convic-
tion), I am far from expecting that such
will generally be acknowledged, or that it
will be followed by any perceptible results.
Some day, possibly, there will be a change
wrought in what is now so imperfect. In
the meantime, the ball has been set rolling
by Lord Kedesdale in England, the author
has had the honour of giving it a j)ush in
Australia, and passing it on : it may get
larger as it rolls — perhaps it may one day
become an avalanche, and overwhelming our
present rotten system, make room for the
adoption of something more useful in its
stead.

xviii PREFACE.

Let me here in conclusion give my thanks
to those gentlemen who, by their subscrip-
tions, have shared with me the expense of
this publication.

Melboukne, 1863.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface ..-v

PART I.

Introduction 3

Youatt 8

Stonehenge, and the Saddle-horses of England - - - 10

Cavalry Horses 54

The Arab Horse, and the Horses of the Sahara - - - 71

The Arab Horse in India, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia - 100

The Andalusian Horse - -.131

The Australian Saddle-horse 141

PART II.

On Blood 199

Selection of Sires 214

On Climate 219

Food 231

Recapitulation 239

PART III.

Saddle-horse Breeding in Australia - 245

On Racing 266

On Riding Long Distances - - 289

PAR T I

Tu es mon ami ; je te donnerais mes enfants: mais fais attention
que mon cheval c'est mon cou ; si tu viens a me le ruiner, qui
sauvera n^es chameaux et ma famille au jour du danger.

Lies Chevaux du Sahara,

INTRODUCTION.

You do yet taste

Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let j'ou

Believe things certain.

The Tempest.

Let us begin with the consideration of the English
horse. The saddle-horses of England enjoy a great
European fame. I will not ask whether they deserve
their renown, but whether the perfection of which
the saddle-horse is capable, has generally been
realized in England? The question will, perhaps,
raise the smile which comes of confidence and self-
satisfaction with my English readers. I trust before
we part to shake this confidence.

The following pages treat of saddle-horses, by
which are meant roadsters and cavalry chargers ; and
also of saddle-horse breeding in Australia. As my
convictions have forced me to disagree in important

4 INTRODUCTION.

matters with received authorities on the first part of
this subject, I shall endeavour to put the reader into
a position to judg^e for himself of the correctness of
my views, by placing before him some of the prin-
cipal facts and observations which have led to, or
rather confirmed, in my mind the conclusions which
I shall advance. To this end, as something more
than mere assertion (too much in vogue on this
subject) is desirable and necessary, it will not be
out of place to bring forward a succinct account of
the condition, capabilities, and breeding of the Eng-
lish, Arab, and Andalusian horses, they being those
which are held amongst a few others to have reached
the highest state of perfection, before entering on
the consideration of those of our own new country.
From this examination it may be also possible, as a
result, to fix with some degree of accuracy what the
capabilities of a good saddle horse should really be,
and to determine, by making past experience the
basis of future efforts, what may be attempted by
the horse-breeder, and on what principles, with
legitimate hopes of success. For it is my belief that
on an examination sufficiently careful and extensive,
certain tendencies and results of a very important
nature may be detected, and which hitherto may
practically be said to have escaped observation, from
which I cherish the hope that many time-honored
prejudices may be exploded, and something more

INTRODUCTION. 5

real, correct, and useful be substituted in their stead,
and a solid foundation be thus laid for improvement.
In support of such belief the production of facts
will be doubly necessary, for it seems, indeed, hard
to believe that anything new to an Englishman, or
worth hearing, can be said of an animal that has
been so carefully cultivated and described time out
of mind. For in England and amongst Englishmen,
a passing notice of the national favourite has not
been thought beneath the dignity of either the his-
torian or the legislator. He is placed before our
eyes, on our coins, in our statuary, and our paintings.
He is sung by our poets and exhibited in our theatres.
For several centuries he has engaged the attention
of devotees in every grade of life, from the throne
downwards. Peers whose names arise as landmarks
in our history, grave statesmen whose lungs one
would think could breathe no other atmosphere than
that of the House of Commons, have not esteemed
it a small honor to be reckoned amongst the breeders
of the best horses in Merrie England. Strains of
celebrated blood have become heir-looms in families,
and like other heir-looms have been accounted part
of the glories of noble houses, until at length the
English thoroughbred is believed by Englishmen to
be the sanspareil of his kind

There are, however, many in England and high au-
thorities on the subject, who unwillingly have begun

6 INTRODUCTION.

to chronicle the decline of the British horse, and
denounce as ruinous the system under which he has
been bred. This fact, which I shall endeavour to
make clear, may justify, and perhaps lend some
interest to inquiries on an animal that counts
amongst us so many enthusiastic admirers.

Of all animals, the horse, without doubt, has
always held the first place in the esteem of man.
In America he did not exist at the period of its
European discovery, and hence we miss his figure in
the ruins of Palenque and Copan, but in all
the other principal records, ruins, and remains of
antiquity, he finds a place. At this day he is
beloved by many in the palace, the cottage, the
wigwam, and the tent. The Bible paints him in
his glory, and he is not forgotten in the Koran. Still,
as ever, he is the great auxiliary of states, both in
peace and war. Can the consideration of him then
in our new country be devoid of profit 1 Wisdom
is not necessarily the dower either of old people or
of old countries. Why then should we not judge
for ourselves on the subject ?

To have a prejudice disturbed, to be asked to re-
consider a matter long set at rest ; above all, to be
asked to admit a whole string of errors, is, no doubt,
a serious afiair. These considerations, however, will
not prevent me from endeavouring to show, that
many of our ideas on horse-breeding are puerile and

INTRODUCTION. 7

incorrect ; that our present system is not the less
wrong because based on errors which time and pre-
cedent have made respectable amongst us, or from
trying to show that from the very nature of things, it
is practicable to breed better saddle-horses on the
Australian continent, than ever were, or can be bred
in the green fields of Old England.

YOUATT.

YOUATT.

He is dead and gone. Samlet.

Though Youattr, as an authority on the horse
may be said to have made his bow to his country-
men and given place to Stonehenge, still, as his is
the work on this subject most commonly found
in the hands of Australians, I have thought it
useful to say a word on his treatise. To Aus-
tralians, inhabiting a continent two-thirds of the
size of Europe, which on the whole bears much
more resemblance to Arabia than to England,
it becomes particularly pertinent to inquire,
how we are likely to be served by Youatt's teaching,
or our English preconceptions, as they affect the
subject of horse-breeding, and to bear in mind, that
were all that Englishman have written about their
own horses correct, that still their knowledge and
experience might require much modification when
applied to our circumstances.

YOUATT. 9

Youatt's treatise on the horse, useful in its day,
though incomplete, has still served as the model
and ground-work of the volume which has taken its
place, and may claim paternity to many of the mis-
statements contained therein. As it may now be
entirely said to have been superseded by Stonehenge,
it will not require further notice at my hands.

B 2

10 STONEHENGE.

STONEHENGE,

SADDLE HORSES OF ENGLAND.

Our present breed of horses is undoubtedly less healthy than
that of our ancestors ; and this tendency to unsoundness is not
marked in any particular department of the animal economy, but
the defect shows itself wherever the strain is the greatest, from the
nature of the work which the animal has to perform,

Stonehenge, p. 144.

The most recent, popular, and best work now
in the hands of Englishmen on the horse is, '' The
Horse in the Stable and the Fields' by Stonehenge,
and this author I have taken as the great authority
on the horse of England, a position which cannot, I
think, be accorded to him in connection with any
other horse, except that of North America. As a
successor to " The Horse" by Youatt, his book is no
doubt a great improvement. It contains more infor-
mation, and takes more distinct a-nd enlarged views,

STONEHENGE. i I

of part of the subject at least, rests on a more
enlarged basis of facts, and analyzes more carefully
received opinions. Some of the old pet errors of
the English horse-loving public are also examined
and clearly exposed, and future difficulties with
present deficiencies in horse-breeding looked in the
face with some fairness. At the same time the
author who takes so large a subject as " The Horse
in the Stable and in the Field,'' by which, as is clear
from the context, the whole genus is meant, should,
I think, have rested his assertions on a wider basis
of information than is possessed by Stonehenge, if
he hoped to treat the subject at all fully or cor-
rectly, and shown feelings more cosmopolitan and
less decidedly English. So desirous, however, is
this writer of showing the universality of his theme,
that besides (as is usual on every subject now-a-days)
giving the biblical history of the animal and draw-
ilig pretty freely on his classic lore, he even is so
good as to furnish us with his sjmonyms in twenty
different languages, which if neither very necessary
to his subject, nor a very Mezzofantian exploit, is a
beginning sufficiently ambitious to warrant the
reader in expecting a great deal more than the
writer either does or can furnish. But as my object
is not to write a critique on Stonehenge, but merely
to direct attention to the substance of some parts of
his work, I will pass on, premising that that part of

12 STONEHENGE.

his book which treats of the veterinary art I have
not read.

The first point with which I was struck on open-
ing Stonehenge's work was the disparity of space
allotted to the several breeds of horses. Thus it
may be remarked that whilst the horses of England
and what concerns them occupies 75 pages, irrespec-
tive of the chapters on Breeding, on the Brood
Mare and her Foal, which refer almost entirely to
England, as well as that on Stable and Stable
Management, which bring the space allotted to the
English horse alone and what concerns him up to
about 180 pages, that the whole of what the author
has to say of the horses of Asia, Africa, and Australia,
is easily compressed into ten pages. Now, if the
object of the writer was to place before his English
reader that which the latter neither knows nor
appreciates, rather than what many are already
very well acquainted with, an arrangement the very
reverse of this would perhaps have been more proper.
To the horses of continental Europe are allotted four
pages, whilst those of the United States of North
America occupy twelve pages, and whilst the steeds
of Circassia, Greece, Sicily, Brazil, China, and other
countries too numerous to name are passed over in
silence, the Brougham, the Gig'ster,the Phaeton horse,
the Park Hack, and the Cob, receive a very full
notice. Instead of all this biblical, classic, and

STONEHENGE. IS

philological lore, would it not have been quite as
well if the author had simply told us that "the
horse probably came out of the Ark in the days of
Noah, but of his subsequent history I know nothing,
until about that period of history when one Oliver
Cromwell, familiarly called Old Noll, sat on the
half-hidden throne of England, from which period
up to date you will find me well informed in all
concerninof one class of Horses, viz., the Race-horse
of England and of North America, on which subject
I am able and willing to give you much information/'
Had he undertaken this task he could have acquitted
himself of it well. In fact, this is what he may be
really said to have done, and no more. The Racer
is his hobby ; to him, as a beau ideal, all others are
compared ; he usurps almost the whole of the
author's attention, and is never absent from his
mind when writing. As an authority touching
racers, or the best strains of their blood in England
and America, on the effects of in-and-in breeding,
on crossing, on the hit, on the analysis of the pedi-
gree of horses, I believe Stonehenge has no equal
in our language, or in any other. These are his
strong points ; on all this he is clear, logical, and
acute, and, except this, I know nothing worthy of
note in his book. On other matters he has the
average amount of information, and no more.

But whilst his information touching the racer is

14 STONEHENGE.

SO minute, great facts, and ones of much wider in-
terest, seem to have escaped his observation ; thus
it is with surprise I find that, in treating of the Ai-ab
and other Eastern horses, he has overlooked the very
important circumstance that there exist in the
world, differing only in various places in the assiduity
with which they are carried out, two distinct sys-
tems of horse breeding and management, we may
call them the Eastern and European methods. That
there exists indeed any system besides that in vogue
in Europe, seems to have escaped the notice of our
author, or at most to have only been received by
him as one of those vague, disjointed, and incomplete
rumours that require amplification and confirmation
before they can be recognized as facts. Thus coast-
ing, as it were, the confines of the subject, he
writes : — " It is said that the Arab horse is only fed
twice a day, but I conclude that this only refers to
his allowance of corn, and that in the intervals he
is allowed to pick up what little dry herbage the

soil affords About ^yq or six pounds of

barley or beans, or a mixture of the two, constitute
the daily allowance of corn, which is the weight of
about half a peck of good oats, and would be con-
sidered poor feed by our Enghsh horses, unless the
proportion of beans is very large." All this, it ap-
pears, is said to be the case, and who says it?
And where does the author learn it, or why does he

STONEHENGE. 1 5

sui'mise that beans form any or the principal portion
of this corn ? And why is not the reader entitled
to a full and distinct understanding on this very
important part of horse management? And why
was not a system so different from om's, and so ex-
tensively practised as that in use amongst the Arabs,
and in the case of so famous a breed, placed clearly
before the reader of the Horse in the Stable and the
Field ? But if the horses of many large countries
are overlooked, the hack and cavalry horses, cer-
tainly the most useful of saddle-horses of England,
likewise receive but scant attention at the hands of
our author ; who, devoting himself, as I have said,
almost entfrely to the racer, awards, however, en
passant, to every variety of English horse a super-
iority, which, except in the case of the thorough-bred,
he does not attempt to substantiate. Let us, how-
ever, turn to some of the views and assertions of
this author. '' Grass," says Stonehenge, page 220,
"is undoubtedly the natural food of the horse,
though in his native plains the same species of
plants are not to be met with as form the green
surface of our own fields. English horses, however,
may now be said to be thoroughly accustomed to our
grasses, which seem to agree with these animals so
well as to be one main cause of their superiority.

" A sound and moderately young animal gets fat
during the summer and autumn months, when turned

16 STONEHENGE.

out on a good upland meadow ; but he is not able
to undergo long-continued exertion, especially at a fast
pace ; partly because the amount of fat accumulated
in his internal organs interferes with his wind, but
chiefly from the fact, that grass does not supply
sufficient muscle-making materials for the wear and
tear of his frame.

" Winter grass, which contains no clover, from
this plant not being of a nature sufficiently hardy
to stand the frost, is so void of nourishment, that
the horse confined to it alone speedily becomes very
poor, and will almost starve if he has not some hay
and corn."

Let us take the above passage as a sample of
Stonehenge's loose way of making asseii^ions, and
point out a few only of the important inaccuracies
and doubtful positions which he here assumes as
facts. " Grass is undoubtedly the natural food of
the horse in his native plains, &c." Now, how does
he learn that the horse is a native of the plain rather
than the hills ? Both from reading and observation
I object to this assertion as incorrect, taking his
present habits, when quite unfettered, as a proof of his
present, and therefore original predilections. At
page 1, indeed, he goes more into particulars, and
assigns the plains of Central Africa as his original
habitat. Without, however, favouring us with the
source of his information, adding, " where curiously

STONEHENGE. 17

enough, he is not now to be found in his wild state."
To this he might have added, where grass is scarce,
the climate the reverse of that of England, and water
not plentiful, therefore, very unlike the country
where he is now said to attain perfection, and where,
consequently, if this is correct, he must have been
first placed in an ill-selected locality. But as I have
just said, where there is no dii^ect proof on the
subject, why should we suppose him to have first
inhabited plain country, where he must of necessity
be inferior, rather than the hills, where alone
experience teaches he ever reaches the full per-
fection of which he is capable ? He continues,
" English horses, however, may now be said to be
thoroughly accustomed to our grasses, which seem to
agree with these animals so well as to be the main
cause of their superiority," and yet in the same
breath he tells us, "that in winter the horse
confined to grass alone speedily becomes very poor,
and will almost starve if he has not some hay and
corn." So that the grass to which the English horse
owes his superiority is of such a sort, that he becomes
too fat and wanting in muscle to work on it in summer
and autumn, and is almost reduced to starvation on
it in winter. Now in other countries, I hope to
show, that on gi^ass alone the horse attains his full
size and strength, enjoys excellent health, and is
much more capable of hard work than the horse of

18 STONEHENGE.

England, (feed him as you like,) whilst entirely
grass-fed. If, then, English grass is insufficient for
the horse, English hay must naturally be so like-
wise ; and so Stonehenge informs us, that " between
a race-horse reared on corn, and another confined to
hay and grass, the difference in value would be a
thousand per cent.;" further, that all horses in
England require it, but that to give it to hacks, &c.,
is impossible on account of the expense, which he
says would never be reimbursed. Practically, then,
he admits, few horses can be brought to perfection
in England, because the grass of that country is
insufficient for the purpose, and the necessary
artificial food too costly. This is, let me remark, a
difficulty in the way of reaching perfection in horse-
breeding, which is not universal, for it must be
admitted that the grass on which the horse is always
well, and on which 'he can work hard at all times, is
more likely fully to develope his powers than the
grass on which he cannot work in summer and
autumn, and on which he nearly starves in
winter.

At page 54 of the same author, we learn that in
England, "gradually a breed of horses has been
established, which has been celebrated through the
world for the last century, for speed, stoutness, and
beauty ; in all which qualities the present stock
exceeds their parents on both sides. Much of this

STONEHENGE. 19

excellence is doubtless due to the climate and soil,
which encourages the growth of those fine gi-asses,
that exactly suit the delicate stomach of this
animal." With reo^ard to the delicate stomach of
the horse, though, no doubt, it has been the fashion
to speak in this manner in England of the whole
genus, where indeed the horse, and especially the
thorough-bred, has a very delicate stomach, yet I
have never been able to discover any symptoms of
delicacy about him in other countries, where his
readiness to feed, his power of abstinence, and the
variety of plants he is in the habit of feeding on, is
quite as great as those of most other herbiverous
animals. And yet, at page 19, he attributes much
of the excellence of the horse of Arabia, to its sandy
soil, light grasses, and dry climate. To me it
appears, that if the cold, moist climate of England,
together with its luxm^iant grasses is a disideratuTYi
for horses, that then the dry atmosphere of Arabia
with its poor grasses and arid sands should be their
hane ; or that grass and climate are circumstances of
little import to them.

But if Stonehenge makes rash assertions as here
in the matter of climate, he generally, sooner or
later, gives you the truth of the matter. So in this
instance, " Shelter from the weather," says he,
" should, however, be afforded to colts of all classes
during the winter season, and, unless they have this

20 STONEHENGE.

they soon grow out of form, however well they may
be fed. A colt neglected in its first winter never
recovers its proper shape, nor does it grow into the
size and strength of body and limbs which naturally
appertain to its breed." Now, I think that a climat6
which is so severe as to requu-e the horses bred in
it to be housed, to prevent them growing out of
form, cannot be said to be particularly adapted to
that animal. Hence, if the English horse is superior
to all others, he can manifestly owe it, neither to
grass without corn, nor climate without shelter.

His speed I have allowed ; as for the claim to
stoutness and beauty we will examine that in a
moment ; in the mean time let me ask in what does
the superiority which we so often hear claimed for
the English horse consist ? It cannot be on the
score of racing — in which he is without a rival —
because the speed of the race-horse serves no useful
purpose of life, is too costly in its attainment, is
debarred to all but boys and dwarfs, and indeed is
a means, not an end. To this we shall see in a
moment that Stonehenge agrees. Is it then on his
appearance or beauty ? but of what use is his
appearance if it only belies his performance ? If
he looks a good horse, and at work is found to be a
bad one ? " The great object," says Stonehenge, " of
encouraging the breed of racehorses is " (not to race)
^'however lost sight of, if suitable crosses for

STONEHENGE. 21

hunting, cavalry, and hack mares, cannot be obtained
from these ranks. In these three kinds, soundness
of feet and legs is all-important, together with a
capacity to bear a continuation of severe work."
Hence we must conclude that a racer is not a hack ;
second, that a racer not fitted to get hunters, hacks,
or chargers, is a failm^e. Then, let me ask, what
breeder of thoroughbreds hopes that his mare will
throw a colt fit to be a sire of saddle-horses ? we all
know he flies at higher game, if not so useful. His
interest is to breed a winner of races ; the sire of
saddle-horses is not his hope, but his misfortune.
The racer pays him better and brings more renown.
And thus in fact we learn from Stonehenge, not that
the object of breeding racers is lost sight of, if these
racers are not fitted to be sires of saddle-horses, but
that " the great object of encouraging the breed of
race-horses is, however, lost sight of, if suitable
crosses for hunting, cavalry, and hack mares cannot
he obtained from their ranks'' Hence the occur-
rence of such stallions is not the rule but an
accident ; so that racing has a happy accident for
its great object. We shall see how rare the acci-
dent is.

Now, if there is one point constantly and
strongly insisted on by Stonehenge, and well known
to every breeder, it is " that like jproduces like, or
the likeness of some ancestor.

22 STONEHENGE.

That the foal is in a great measure indebted to
the sire for his quahties, good and bad, is a truism
found in the mouths of all horse breeders of every
country. Hence the careful selection of sires, for
if such were not the case one sire would do as well
as another, and all breeding be a lottery. It is
further known to all and received by Stonehenge,
that not only are speed, stoutness, soundness, &c.,
and their opposites inherited chiefly ftom the
sire, but that even acquired quahties are in part
inherited from him, which indeed must be apparent
to all who have experience in animals as well as
birds of any description. Then if " like begets like,"
on what principle is the Racer used as the sire of Hun-
ters, Hacks, or Chargers, in which horses quahties
very different from his own are necessary ? In
truth, this is a direct contradiction of the great
principle on which is founded the whole theory of
breeding. Let us go a little into particulars. In
hacks, hunters, and chargers, we are told (and who
can deny it ?) that " soundness of feet and legs are
all important, together with a capacity to bear a
continuation of severe work." In other words these
horses must be sound and stout. To be so, they
must — like begets like, remember — be got by horses
that are sound and stout ; they are, we have
seen, got by the thorough-bred or racer. Well ! is
he sound and stout ? Whatever he is, they must be

STONEHENGE. 23

to a considerable extent, and as sucli you must
receive them, or cast aside the received theory and
substitute another on the subject, different from that
received either in England or anywhere else. You
will remind me of the dam and her mfluence on her
progeny. Admitted. But as the one cause only can
be at work with both parents, it simplifies the inquiry
to consider the sire alone, as his peculiarities, good
or bad, must in a great measure, at least, be trans-
mitted to the foal. Then I repeat, what is true of
the sire must, as a rule, apply to his get. Has then
the racer sound feet and legs ? Is he sound and
stout ? Listen to Stonehenge, speaking of English
horses (page 81). " But how many of the fashion-
able sort," says he, '' will bear constant use on the
road without becoming lame ? and how many sound
horses are there to be met with out of a hundred,
taken from the ranks of any kind tolerably well
bred ? Every horse proprietor will tell you scarcely
five per cent., and some will even go so far as to say
that a sound horse is utterly unknoivn." The same
author (page 80) further says, " One chief difficulty
of the trainer now is to keep his horse sound, and
unfortunately as disease is in most cases hereditary,
and too many unsound stallions are bred from, the
difficulty is yearly on the increase. Without doubt,
roaring is far more common than it used to be, and
the possession of enlarged joints, and back sinews,

24 STONEHENGE.

is the rule instead of the exception. During the
last ten years, the Derby has f^ve times been won
by an unsound animal, which the trainer was almost
immediately afterwards obliged to put out of work,
either from diseased feet or a break-down, and yet
few breeders think of refusing to use such horses as
these."

The following chapter quoted entire fr^om Stone-
henge, page 144, will interest the reader.

'' IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH AND SOUNDNESS IN BOTH
SIRE AND DAM.

" Our present breed of horses is undoubtedly less
healthy than that of our ancestors, and this tendency
to unsoundness is not marked in any particular
department of the animal economy, but the defect
shows itself wherever the strain is the greatest, from
the nature of the work which the animal has to
perform. Thus, the race-horse becomes a roarer, or
his legs and feet give way. The hunter fails chiefly
in his wind or his hocks, because he is not used
much on hard ground, and, therefere, his fore legs
are not severely tried, as in the case of the racer,
who often has to extend himself over a coui'se
rendered almost as hard as a turnpike road by the
heat of a July or August sun. The harness-horse
often becomes a roarer, from the heavy weights

STONEHENGE. 25

tliat he has to draw, especially if his wind-pipe is
impeded by his head being confined by the bearing-
rein. The hack again suffers chiefly in his legs,
from our hard macadamized roads, whilst the cart-
horse becomes unsound in his hocks or his feet, the
former parts being strained by his severe pulls, and
the latter being battered and bruised against the
ground from having to bear the enormous weight of
his carcase. But it is among our well-bred horses
that unsoundness is the most frequent ; and in them,
I believe, it may be traced to the constant breeding
from sires and dams which have been thrown out
of training in consequence of a break down, or
'making a noise/ or from some other form of disease.
It is quite ti-ue that roaring is not necessarily trans-
mitted from father to son, and it Ls also manifest that
there are several causes which produce it, some of
which are purely accidental, and are not likely to
be handed down to the next generation. The same
remarks apply to the eyes, hut in the main it may
be concluded that disease is hereditary, and that a
sound horse is far more likely to get healthy stock
than an unsound one. In the mare, probably, health
is still more essential, but if the breeder regards his
future success, whether he is estabhshing a stud of
race-horses, or of those devoted to any kind of
slower work, he will carefully eschew every kind of
unsoundness, and especially those which are of a

26 STONEHENGE.

constitutional character. If a horse goes bhnd
in an attack of influenza, or if, without any
previous indications of inflammation, he breaks
down from an accidental cause, the defect may be
passed over, perhaps ; but, on the contrary,
when the blindness comes on in the form of ordinary
cataract, or the break-down is only the final giving-
way of a leg which has been long amiss, I should
strongly advise an avoidance of the horse which has
displayed either the one or the other. I believe
that a Government inspection of all horses and
mares used for breeding purposes would be a great
national good, and I look forward to its establish-
ment, at no distant time, as the only probable
means of insuring greater soundness in our breeds
of horses. I would not have the liberty of the
subject interfered with. Let every man breed what
he likes, but I would not let him foist the produce
on the public as sound, when they are almost sure
to go amiss as soon as they are worked. Ships
must now all be registered at Lloyds in the classes
to which they are entitled by their condition ; and
horses, as well as mares, should be registered in the
same way, according to the opinion which the
Government inspector may form as to their health,
and the probability of getting or producing sound
and useful foals. The purchaser would call for tlie
registration mark, when he asked for the pedigi*ee

STONEHENGE. 27

of the horse he was about to buy, and if it was not
a favourable one, he would, of course, be placed
upon his guard. If this plan could be carried out
in practice, as well as it looks on paper, much good
might be done, I am assured ; but we all know that
inspectors are but mortals, and that they are liable
to be biassed in more ways than one ; still, I believe
that the evil is becoming so glaring that something
must soon be done, and I see no other mode so
likely as this to be advantageous to the interests of
the purchaser and user of the horse." What will
an admirer of English horses think of all this ?

In training, the superfluous fat used to be
removed from racers by sweating gallops with
cloths on. For the gallop the Turkish bath has now
been substituted, wdth the object of sparing the
animal's legs. "No wonder, therefore," says
Stonehenge, page 264, ''that trainers eagerly resort
to the use of the bath, as every year their horses seem
to be getting more liable to break down." But this is
not all, nor the worst ; so delicate and frail is the
English high-bred horse, that we find, that not
only is he unable to sustain his sweating gallops
and his races uninjured, as we have seen, but he can
no longer even be trusted loose on his summer
pasture ground. " Not only," says Stonehenge,
page 276, "is his stomach pinched, but his legs and
feet are damaged by being battered on the dry soil.

28 STONEHENGE.

The feet of wild asses, and even native Arab horses,
may be aljle to bear the blows and friction of the
wastes over which they travel, but those of English
horses are undoubtedly not formed of such strong and
tough materials, so that it is utterly unwise to leave
them exposed to the risk." To this evil he again
proposes the interference of Government as a
remedy. " We are sadly in want of soimd, well-
bred stallions for general purposes, and if the
Government of the country does not soon interfere,
and adopt some means of furnishing these islands
with them, we shall be beaten on our own ground,
and shall have to import sound, useful horses from
Belgium, France, Hungary, or Prussia, whichever
country can best afford them."

Whatever then may be the attributes of the
English horse, whose superiority is mainly attri-
butable to the grasses and climates of England,
soundness, or the first requisite, is not one of them.
The other vital necessity in a good saddle-horse is
'■' a caiJcwity to hear a continuation of severe vjork,''
in other words stoutness. Before, as I may say,
taking evidence on this point, I would ask, can an
unsound horse be stout ? Will not a continuance of
liard work be sure to bring a break-down ? It is
true that a horse may be quite deficient in stoutness
and yet sound ; but he cannot, it appears to me, if
all his limbs are necessary to him, and there exists

STONEHEXGK 29

no superfluity in his conformation, he unsound and
yet stout. In the instance before us, we shall see
the cause followed by its effect — the tree loaded
with its fruit. "I wish now," says Stonehenge,
page 81, "to impress upon my readers that while
the race-horse of 1860, is as fast as ever, as stout as
ever, and as s^ood looking as ever, he is made of
more perishable material, in proportion as he comes
to maturity at an earlier period. Any of our modern
two-year-olds would probably give two stone and a
beating to Eclipse at the same age, but if afterwards
they were put to half-bred mares for the purpose of
getting hacks, chargers, and hunters, the stock of
Eclipse and Childers would be much more valuable
than any which we have at present. We sadly
want sound and well-bred stallions, &c." Hence the
thoroughbred in his useful capacity, viz., that of a
sire of saddle-horses has deteriorated. In this pas-
sage the sire of our saddle-horses is said to be as
stout, as fast as ever, and yet more perishable than
of yore. But, is he in fact as stout as ever, or is
this assertion only a little ebullition of the patriotism
or partiality of the writer ? Stonehenge, as iLsual,
supplies his own refutation, for this author is ruled
in his writing by two clashing feelings ; partiality
to the horses of his country would make him hide
their defects, whilst the hope that their exposure
may bring a remedy, induces him to lay them bare.

30 STONEHENGE.

He would tlirow a cloth over the imposthume, and
strike the lancet through the covering. I am less
particular, and seek only the truth. Let us hear
what he says, " In spite, however (page 79), of all
the elaborate calculations which others AS WELL AS
MYSELF have made, I cannot quite divest myself of the
behef that Lord Redesdale is correct in his assump-
tion that the thoroughbred horse of the present day
is, on the average, less stout than he was of yore.
That there are some few which can race and also
stay, I firmly believe, and that many which cannot
race, but can stay, are early drafted into the hunting
stable is also my opinion, but that the mctjm^ity are
deficient in stoutness seems to me a patent fact''

Again, "I am quite of opinion (page 79), that
taking any number of race-horses at random in the
year 1 860, they will not on the avei^ge bear com-
parison, in point of stoutness, with a similar number,
either of the year 1800 or of the year 1760." I
could adduce much more from this author to the
same effect, but the above fully marks his belief, and
so answers every purpose, for it leaves no escape
from the conclusion, that the climate, gTass,
system of breeding in England, or some union of
these causes, have produced an imperfect and daily
deteriorating horse, unless the reader leans to the
opinion that a delicate and unsound animal is pre-
ferable to a healthy and sound one. Let the reader

STONEHENGK 31

quietly re-consider the various extracts which I have
made from Stonehenge, and he will, I feel convinced,
if he accepts that author as an authority, see the
fairness and truth of my deductions and conclusion.
Many travellers who have had opportunities of
seeing the horses of other countries take an exactly
similar view of the subject. One or two instances of
this, as Captain Nolan and Captain Shakspeare, are
adduced in the sequel, whereas I have never met
with an author, ivho, throiving aside mere assertion,
undertakes to shoio hy comparison with other horses
that the saddle-horse of England is good or stout,
and I believe that there is no instance on record in
which it is attempted to be shown by a credible
eye-witness that a body (for I have nothing to do
with rare exceptions or picked specimens) of English
horses have earned for themselves the title of stout
saddle-horses. On the contrary, whatever evidence
I have met with on the subject has been all the other
way ; so that if the great principle of horse-breeding
that ''like begets like " is admitted, and the evidence I
have brought forward proves that the racer who is
the su^e of the English saddle-horse is neither
sound nor stout, then it must follow that the
English saddle-horse is unsound and soft. And, if
so, in what consists his superior it i/, of which it is
the fashion to talk so much ? There is one circum-
stance which I think alone causes this to be doubted

§2 STONEHENGE.

by many Englishmen, that they have never been in a
position to compare their own with other horses,
and that they do not know what a really good
horse can do or suffer ; but are like persons who
have lived in an hospital till groans seem music,
and jalaps and squills tlie proper drinks of healthy
men.

But, besides, when actually at work we find
the saddle-horse of Great Britain displays in various
ways the frailty and debility of his constitution.
Thus Stonehenge, for instance, when speaking of
the small stomach of the horse, page 235, says : —
" From the first of these causes the horse must never
be allowed to fast for any long period if it can possi-
bly be avoided, it being found fi^om experience, that
at the end of four hours his stomach is empty, and
the whole frame becomes exhausted, while the appe-
tite is frequently so impau-ed, if he is kept fasting
for a longer period, that when food is presented to
him it will not be taken." This ma}^ be true in
England — ^no doubt it is true there, more especially
of the racer, the true pole to which the thoughts and
remarks of tlie author constantly turn, and in favour
of which all other horses are constantly forgotten,
but if it be meant to apply to the horse universally,
then the Arab horse must be considered to pass his
whole existence in a very exhausted state, for he
never breaks his fast but twice in the 24 hours, and

STONEHENGE. 33

even then in a manner which an Englishman would
consider but sparing, as the whole operation does
not occupy him two hours daily. " II est rare qu'
on donne a mwiger le matin,'' says Abd-el-Kader,
" le cheval marche avec la nourriture de la veille, et
non avec celle du jour.'' The same may be said of
the Eastern horse in general.

Neither does this precautionary injunction enter
much into the calculations of Australians, as we ride
our grass-fed horses thirty miles a day for twenty
successive days without any difficulty or any such
precaution.

We have seen, from Stonehenge, that the
great object sought in the cultivation of the pure
thoroughbred horse of England, when not lost sight
of, is to produce a horse eminent for all those quali-
ties which are desiderated in a saddle-horse, and
which it is expected he will transmit to his offspring ;
but the first anomaly that strikes me in all this is
that the saddle-horse himself has no pedigree ; his es-
cutcheon is always crossed with the bar sinister. To
me it appears unreasonable that if pedigree is all im-
portant in the sire of the saddle-horse, and that
" like begets like," that it should be neglected in the
beast actually to be ridden. Seeing, however, that
the thoroughbred is unequalled in speed for a short
race, carrying a feather, and is the sire of the cavalry
horse, hack, and hunter of England, and that he
C 2

34 STONEHENGE.

seems destined to the same end in France, Germany,
Russia, and America, it becomes interesting and im-
portant to breeders to scrutinize his pedigree, and
to ascertain by what means he has attained that
unrivalled speed which he undoubtedly possesses.
In matters of fact on this head no one equals our old
friend Stonehenge, but as he is not always quite
straight forward, let us, as usual, cross-question him
a little. He says, page 82 : — '' In the first place
purity of blood must be considered as a sine qua non,
for without it a horse cannot be thoroughbred, and
therefore we have only to ascertain the exact mean-
ing of the term 'blood.' It is not to be supposed
that there is any real difference between the blood
of the thorough-bred horse and that of the half-bred
animal, no one could discriminate between the two
by any known means ; the term blood is here
synonymous with breed, and by purity of blood is
meant purity in the breeding of the individual under
consideration ; that is to say, that the horse is en-
tirely bred from one source, is pure from any mixture
with any other, and may be a pure Suffolk Punch,
or a pure Clydesdale, or a pure thorough-bred horse ?
{and luhy not a pure saddle-horse f) But all these
terms are comparative, since there is no such animal
as a perfectly pure-bred horse of any breed, whether
cart-horse, hack, or race-horse ; all have been pro-
duced from an admixture with other kinds, and

STONEHENGE. 35

though now (liow in the matter of the saddle-horse
I should like to know?) kept as pure as possible,
yet they were originally compounded from varying
elements ; and thus the race-horse of 1700 was ob-
tained from a mixture of Turks, Arabs, and Barbs.
Even the best and purest thoroughbreds are STAINED
(remark the word for it is of consequence) with some
slight cross with the old English or Spanish horse,
as I have shown at page 54 ; and, therefore, it is
only by comparison that the word pure is applicable
to them or any others. But since the thoroughbred
horse, as he is called, has long been bred for the
race course, and selections have been made with that
vievj alone, it is reasonable to suppose that this
breed is the best for that purpose, and that a stain
of any other is a deviation from the clearest stream
into one muddy, and therefore impure ; the conse-
quence is, that the animal bred from the impure
source fails in some of the essential characteristics of
the pure breed, and is so far useless for this parti-
cular object. Now, in practice, this is found to be
tlie case, for in every instance it has resulted, that
the horse bred with the slightest deviation from the
sources indicated by the stud book, is unable to
compete in lasting power with those which are
entirely of pure blood. Hence it is established as a
rule, that for racing purposes every horse must be a
thoroughbred, that is, as I have already explained,

36 STONEHENGE.

descended from a sire and dam whose names are
met with in the stud book." On the same subject
we read, page 71, "To define the thoroughbred horse
of the nineteenth century is easy enough, because it
is only necessary to adduce the law that he must
appear in the stud book. Without this testamentary
evidence no other will be received, nor even theoreti-
cally can any other be adduced. By some it is sup-
posed that he is a horse descended from sires and
dams of Eastern blood, that is, either Turks, Barbs,
or Arabs ; but this has long been known to be a
fallacy, for we find numerous gaps in almost all the
old pedigrees, which there is every reason to believe
ought to be occupied with the names of native or
Spanish mares." A few lines lower down, page 71,
he adds : — *' An Eastern horse is at once admitted
(into the stud book) as being supposed to be of pure
blood, and there is no difficulty in his case, &e."
Now with these definitions and remarks I have
several faults to find. The definitions of " blood,"
and of the thoroughbred, do not to my mind dis-
tinctly or even correctly dispose of the question.
For example, let us place side by side the two fol-
lowing passages : — " To define the thoroughbred
horse of the nineteenth century " page 71, "is easy
enough, because it is only necessary to adduce the
law that he must appear in the stud book. Without
this testamentary (documentary f) e\ddence no other

STONEHENGE. S7

will be received, nor even theoretically can any other
be adduced." Now this is monstrous ! If a half-
bred were entered in the stud book, would the entry
purify his blood ? Would West Australian be less a
thoroughbred, if his name had not been entered ?
The stud book is no doubt convenient. Entry in the
stud book may constitute the only evidence which
will be received of any horse being thoroughbred
but certainly it is no definition of what that animal
is. It is the difference between a fact and the proof
of such fact. Besides it is only in the next page
that the author says : — " There is no doubt that when
half-bred races were in fashion, numerous exchano^es
of foals took place, by which the thorough-breds
were made to appear as half-bred, and vice versa.'*
Even as a record, then, the stud book is not immacu-
late, but still less can it be considered any definition
of the thoroughbred, or any perfect record, when we
read in the same page an Eastern horse is at once
admitted as being supposed to be of pure blood.
The public have agreed to receive the stud book as
a definite authority on the matter and no more. But
after all this want of correctness may practically be of
small consequence. Not so what follows, viz. : — '' By
some it has been supposed that he (the thoroughbred)
is a horse descended from sires and dams of Eastern
blood, that is either Turks, Barbs, or Arabs, hut this
has Jong been known to he a fallacy, for we find

38 STONEHENGE.

numerous gaps in all the old pedigrees, which there
is every reason to believe ought to be occupied with
the names of native or Spanish mares." Now on the
point concerning which the author has just emphati-
cally told us that none but "testamentary evidence"
will be received, how are we to be expected to receive
an assertion so loosely made as this ? What proof
does the author give us that there is a fallacy in
attributing an unmixed Eastern descent to the thor-
oughbred ? It is at best but putting one supposition
against another. Besides, does a breakdown in a
pedigree necessarily lead to the inference that the
gap should be filled up with the name of a native or
a Spanish mare ? Is it even probable that it should
be filled up with the name of a native mare ? And
of what blood would be the Spanish mare ? Could
it be Eastern ? These points I shall examine in a
moment, though I should have preferred " testamen-
tary evidence " to any other from Stonehenge — the
" pound of flesh " from Antonio ! But not only was
a gap to be filled up, but it was filled by what
" made the charm firm and good," according to our
author, who adds, page 56, " Indeed, I believe that
the use of the Spanish, mixed, 2?erhaps, with the
native English blood in the mare, was the real cause
of the success which attended the cross with the
Barb ; the mare being of greater size and stride
than the horse, and giving those qualities to the

STONEHENGE. 89

produce, while the horse brought out the original
strain of Eastern blood, which possessed the wind
and endurance so peculiar to it." So that the size
and stride are said to be the English contribution to
the racer, whilst wind and endurance are his heritage
from the East. In this, however, and several other
passages, Stonehenge evidently wishes to rebut the
idea of the thoroughbred horse being wholly of
Eastern blood ; and further than this, he would leave
the impression that it was by engrafting the Arab
blood oh the English stock that has made the jper-
fection of that horse. Though he says, as I have
shown a few pages back, that " even the best and
puj-est of our thoroughbreds are stained with some
slight cross of the old English or Spanish horse."
Here is a jumble 1 What are we to believe ? First,
purity of blood is held up for oin* admiration, then a
stain is said to improve a character ! Of this junc-
tion of old English blood, however, he advances no
proof. Indeed, when this special pleading is laid
aside, and he is off his guard, he teUs us, point blank,
of the thoroughbred, page 155, "Being a native of
a warm and dry climate, he requires to be protected
from the weather, &c." I presume England is neither
a warm nor very dry climate. The simple truth is,
that certain pedigrees are incomplete ; of what blood
were the unrecorded animals remains a matter for
conjecture. It has commonly been held to be

40 STONEHENGE.

Eastern, Stonelienge wishes to liave it thought Eng-
lish. Now all the blood that is recorded in the stud
book is Eastern, all the known roots of that breed
are Eastern, and as we know that Eastern blood
had constantly been imported into England, and its
value, though fluctuating, appreciated there from
the days of the Norman conquest to the date when
the English pedigrees commence, is it not extremely
probable that the unknown blood was, in a great
measure at least, Eastern also ? And if the racer of
this day is more fleet and larger than his desert an-
cestor, can it be attributed to nothing more reason-
able or likely than an admixture of blood which has
always been slow ? I thought Stonelienge had told
us, page 82, that "purity of blood must be considered
as the sine qua non, for without it a horse cannot
be considered thoroughbred ?" But here he would
make his imiproved horse a mongrel — improved, be
it remarked, by, and not in spite of, his cross. But,
worse than this, to admit that inferior blood can
improve what is superior, overthrows the whole
system he has so emphatically laid down ; which
leaves us only two alternatives — either that the
thoroughbred is not superior to the Eastern horse,
or that, if he is, the superiority cannot be in
consequence of an amalgamation with base blood,
but in spite of such amalgamation, and attributable
to some other cause. Now, a superiority in speed is

STONEHENGE. 41

very easy accounted for, in conformity and not in
contradiction to a well-known law, and one on which
Stonehenge himself insists, without the necessity of
having recourse to base blood, viz. : by a constant,
and for that purpose judicious selection for sires, of
those horses which have proved themselves eminent
in this point. The English having done this, selected
sires for speed alone for 150 years, and the Arabs,
not ha\"ing pursued this plan, requiring speed of
quite a different sort, and united with qualities not
sought on the turf, it is but a natural result, as any
one conversant with animals will allow, that the one
should have become more speedy than the other.

Nor is his increase in size more difficult to
account for than his speed, without any recourse in
theory to base blood. If it had come fi'om a cross
with a mare larger than the Arab, it would have
been immediate, and probably the first cross larger
than any other, as I have personally witnessed in
breeding horses, sheep, and cattle. But this was not
the case ; the increase has been gradual and pro-
gressive, as we learn from Stonehenge himself, who
says (page 72), " Out of 130 winners in the middle
of the last century, only 18 were fifteen hands
and upwards, whereas, now, a winner below that
height is a very great rarity indeed, even among
the mares. The increase of size is, no doubt, mainhj
due to the influence of the Godolphin Barb, who was

42 STONEHENGE.

himself larger than most of the Eastern sires, and
got stock of a still greater height. His son
Babraham was fifteen hands high, then considered
an extraordinary development ; of the eighteen
winners mentioned above as being fifteen hands and
upwards, eleven were by the Godolphin Barb or his
son."

Thus as Babraham was not of English blood, he
upsets completely his previous assertion concerning
English blood, the increased size being attributable,
not to English mares, but to the Godolphin Barb in
the first instance, and having been very gradual, as
he asserted, and as is well known. Still further causes
and no doubt the principal ones are, the increased
quantity of food which he has been allowed since
his importation to England, and also from the effects
of a climate "^nhiCi gives to stature and hulk what it
takes from solidity of muscle and density of hone.
For as Captain Shakspeare tells us, in his description
of the Arab horse, as compared with that of England,
" The bone looks small, but then it is very dense \
the hollow which contains the marrow being very
small and the material solid, more like ivory than
bone, heavy and close gi-ained." He also speaks of
the muscles feeling firmer to the hand. I feel no
doubt, indeed, that it would be found on experiment
that the Arab is of greater specific gravity than the
thoroudibred. But, after all, is the thoroughbred an

STONEHENGE. 43

Eastern or a cock-tail ? Let us hear Stonehenge once
more. " My own belief,'' says he, page 55, " is, that
the race-horse of that (Eclipse) day was imported
from Spain, and bred from a cross of the Andalusian
mare with the Barb introduced by the Moors."
Here, too, we have no mention of English blood.
Since those days no other blood than Eastern, has
knowingly at least, been added to the stud book, but
with Eastern blood it has been so deluged, that any
baser alloy did it ever exist, must long since have
been drowned, which will not be difficult to credit,
when it is shown by Stonehenge that the offspring
of a common mare, may, in twenty years, be so far
reclaimed as to leave only one sixty-foui*th of the
original alloy of the dam. Thus we trace the most
esteemed English horses practically to Eastern blood
alone, and it becomes neither unimportant nor
without interest to examine how these foreign
progenitors of our racers were themselves bred, a
subject oil which our author is silent. The fii-st
question naturally asked is, are the Barbs, Turks ^
and Ai^abs, of which England has imported so many,
one race, or are they so many distinct races ? Allow
me on this subject to offer the ideas of General
Daumas, from " Les Chevaux du Desert" " If we
might be permitted to offer our personal opinion,
(which he very rarely does,) we should say, that
there is a disposition to draw too marked a line

44 STONEHENGE.

between the Arab and the Barb horse. A more
comprehensive name, that of the Eastern horse,
should, it appears to us, be given to them both ; for
they are of one great family of common origin,
modifying and displacing each other under the
influences of various climatCvS, which after all are not
very different.

" Strengiih, activity, vigour in conformation and in
action, is the dower of the horse the moment you
meet him on this side of the Euphrates, and on the
other side of the Mediterranean and the Caucasus,
where he j-emains on the soil of Islamism ; there he is
always muscular, abstemious, and invincible to priva-
tion and fatigue, living betwixt heaven and the sands.
Call him if you choose, Numidian, Barb, Syrian, Arab,
Persian, or Nedjd, it is of little moment, all these are
but Christian names (prenonis), if I may be allowed
the expression, his family name is the horse of the
East. The other family, this side of the Mediter-
ranean, is the European breed."

It is natural, in fact, that as the necessities of the
riders of these various horses are very much the
same, and the circumstance of climate and mode of
treatment very similar, that there should exist a
great family resemblance amongst their horses.
And such is found to be the case, so that the remarks
made on one variety, will, to a great extent apply to
all The Arabs, indeed, have no stud book, though

STONEHENGE. 45

records of very ancient date of some of the most
esteemed families of their horses are well known to
exist, but amongst a people so much wrapped up in
their horses as they are, it is easy to conceive that
their descent will be well known. Abd-el-Kader, in
his celebrated letter to General Daumas, says, page
407, " You ask me if the Arabs of the Sahara have
registers wherewith to establish the filiation of
their horses." " Know then that the people of the
Algerian Sahara do not trouble themselves with
registers anymore than do those of the Tell.
Notoriety is enough for them, as the genealogy of
their pure horses is as well known to everybody as
is their own." But, after all, amongst a poor people
necessity is the great source of their customs ; and so
we find it with the Arabs. " The nature of the
Sahara horses," says the Emir Abd-el-Kader, " is a
consequence of the lives of their masters ; scarcity of
food obliges the Saharians to accustom their horses
to hunger, and to thirst from lack of water, which
is often not found nearer than one or two days'
journey from their encampment. Their speed and
endurance of fatigue, arises from the numberless
quarrels of these Arabs, from their incessant war
excursions, and their love of hunting the fleetest
animals, the ostrich, the gazelle, and the wild ass,
which some of them will continue for a whole year
uninteiTuptedly." When, from any circumstanre, as

46 STONEHENGE.

the capture of a horse in battle or otherwise, doubts
arise as to the purity of a horse's blood, they are
decided by trial as well as by his appearance. On
which subject the Emir says, " Where there is no
pubHc notoriety on the subject, it is by a proof of
speed joined with hottor)i that the Arabs judge of
their horses, and of the nobility and the purity of
their blood, but their figures also reveal their
qualities." What is the amount of speed and
bottom required from horses of pure blood will
appear in subsequent chapters, and will, I have no
doubt, be deemed satisfactory and to spare to the
most fastidious. I indeed believe myself, without
wishing to question the undoubted utility of a stud
book, that performance, if not an irrefragable proof
of purity of blood, is its best witness, and the only
guarantee that whilst pure it is not degenerate.
That under-bred horses would often be able to
compete with thoroughbreds is not likely, for as
Stonehenge notices, page 82, "in every instance
it has resulted that the horse bred with the
slightest deviation from the sources indicated
by the stud book is unable to compete in last-
ing powers with those which are entirely of pure
blood."

Our thoroughbreds, then, are descended from the
Eastern horse, which was bred by equestrian nations,
yni\\ infinite care and judgment, on the strictly

STONEHENGE. 47

applied principle " that like begets like, or the
likeness of somne ancestor."

I have thought it right at this place to say this
much about the Arab horse, and have only to add,
that whether a first-class Eastern horse or mare has
ever been brought to England is a matter of much
doubt : so that it appears that the thoroughbred is
descended from Eastern horses of what class or
quality is unknown.

In quoting the opinion of the Emir Abd-el-Kader,
not only on the Barb but also on the saddle-horse
in general, I have accepted him as the very highest
authority on that animal. Whether we look at his
admitted judgment or skill on the subject, which is
notorious and proverbial amongst Eastern nations
and well known in France, or reflect on the great
struggle he carried on for years through the agency
of his horses, as well as the soundness of the prin-
ciples which he has given us on the subject, we are
bound, I think, to accept him as an authority
second to no man. This much it has seemed to me
necessary to say at present of the Arab horse, as
connected with the English thoroughbred, and
through him with the English and Australian
saddle-horse. With regard to Stonehenge, it will not
be needful to press further the consideration of his
work. His enthusiastic admiration of the thorouo-h-

o

bred leads him into inconsistencies. He upholds

48 STONEHENGE.

him as the first of horses, and yet allows it to leak
out that he is delicate, unsound, and useless. To his
agency as a sire (added to "grass so admirably fitted
to the delicate stomach of this animal " that it ren-
ders him too fat in summer and autumn and too
poor to work the rest of the year, joined to a climate so
excellently suited to him as to require to be hourly
guarded against) he attributes that fine breed of
horses, which he himself considers to have been lonar
deteriorating, and which he in fact shows us will in
the future require government support, with the
help of sires from France, Belgium, Prussia, and
Hungary, to preserve from even a fuller decrepitude.
But even this partiality and folly might have been
passed over, and must be esteemed but a venial
offence compared to his great and radical contradic-
tion^— that of first singing the praises of pure blood
in horses of mery description, and yet holding up as
the acm^ of possible perfection as a saddle-horse the
bastard offspring of the thoroughbred.

In two words, I can only estimate this author as
an able exponent of an utterly untenable system.

In oflfering my concluding opinions and remarks
on the saddle-horse of England, I will do so first
absolutely and then as compared with the Eastern
horse.

It mil then be understood that he is absolutely a
cross-bred animal, save in a few exceptional cases,

STONEHENGE. 49

where a " stieket " racer is drafted into the hunting
stable, and hence, if there is any meaning in the
words pure blood, and the stress laid on them by all
writers, he is necessarily and inevitably inferior ;
inferior, ifto none other that exists, as his friends would
have us beheve, at least to the possible of perfection
He is got by the thoroughbred out of any mare, and
is only accidentally a saddle-horse, for as far as his
blood is concerned, he might have been hack,
hunter, or charger, gigster, park-horse, or coacher ;
or have filled one of the other fifty refuges, which are
open to his reception. It is a fact which will
perhaps, some day, be acknowledged that whatever
good is in him he owes to his Eastern blood, and, in
spite of the climate in tvhich he is reared, and in
spite of the system under which he is bred, which
is quite as much that like begets unlike, as that
like begets like. Unfortunately for the country, a
few exceptional horses, which seem to have preserved
some of the stoutness of their desert ancestors, exist
and can be picked out to perform a feat, and under
the cloak of this exceptional solvency, is hid the
all but universal bankruptcy of the race. If England
ever wishes to test the real condition of her horses,
let her cease to be satisfied with the performance of
rare exceptions, and turn out a cavalry regiment or
two, and as a trial assign them a task which any
saddle-horse should readily perform ; say, weight

50 STONEHENGE.

the horses ^vith fourteen stone, march them daily
50 miles for a week, tying them up one night out of
the seven without food or water. Give them a
day's rest, then a field-day closed by a retreat of 70
miles. Those that go through the ordeal unscathed
may be looked on as having gone through tlie trial
of average horses ; and those that do not as useless.
The horse of England is tall of stature, and has a
grace and beauty captivating to the eye of many,
lout which cannot deceive those who have much
general experience of horses, and indeed becomes
distasteful to them. They are soft and soft-looking.
Take, as an instance, the horse which forms the
frontispiece to Stonehenge, of whom he says, page 98,
" He is thoroughbred, and in my belief can carry
twelve stone against anything in this country. . .
The likeness is most faithful, &c. Indeed, if we
could obtain plenty of such horses, there would be
nothing further to desire ; but he is an exception
and can only be considered as the standard or type
to be aimed at in breeding the hunter to carry
twelve stone or fourteen stone." How long, let me
ask, would a horse of his appearance last in war ?
How would he stand the bivouac ? How would he
stand the wear and tear of light cavalry practice
before an enemy where forage might be scarce or
bad ? How would he suit a bushman ? How would
cold, 01' thirst, or hunger agree with this type of a

STONEHENGE. 51

hmiter ? A thousand times rather give me the little
Arab, at page 19, than this thoroughbred, whose
appearance gives every indication of softness per-
sonified from head to hoof

As compared with the Eastern horse that of
England is costly in his food, a great eater and yet
delicate in his appetite, a consumer of hay-stacks,
and emptier of corn-bins ; he is soft and washy ;
deteriorating on the turf, on the road a failure, — a
national folly. How often have I heard Englishmen
on dismounting from a ride in other countries ex-
claim " Well, how that fiery little devil carried me
to-day I how he pulled and came in as fresh as paint !
Why a horse of liis stamp in England would have
been jaded at the pace we went in twenty miles ;
only fancy fom'teen stone on thirteen hands ! and
such roads ; never made a false step, and a bolt in
him to the finish. I suppose they're used to it ; and
then the food they get is nothing ; and he'll be on
his hind legs when I go to mount him in the
morning."

That the Eastern horse in England is still an
exotic, a hot-house plant, and has become degenerate
and not acclimatized, he owes in a great measure to
the Turf As a rule in England the higher the
breeding the more useless the animal ; amongst the
Eastern the purer the blood, the more capable the
horse.

52 STONEHENGE.

If the English horse promises little to the eye
used to Arab horses, his performance is infinitely
less. The Eastern horse has been transplanted to
many soils ; on English ground alone as a saddle-
horse is he quite a failure.

The personal opinion of the writer of these pages
may bring but little conviction to the reader ; but
the fact that (as far as I have been able to ascertain)
there is no writer who, knowing personally the
Eastern horses, and comparing them with those of
England, does not give to the former a decided pre-
ference, for the fundamental qualities required in
the saddle-horse, viz. : soundness, stoutness, vigor
and endurance of hardships of all and every sort, is
a circumstance which cannot be overlooked.

So much for the thoroughbred and saddle-horse of
England, as gathered from personal observation and
from the pages of Stonehenge and other English
writers.

To amuse ourselves here in competing with the
English Turf, is it not worse than useless? The
Australian wants a good, sound, pleasant, fleet, hard-
working, abstemious, hardy, and handsome saddle-
horse. Has the English system through the agency
of English races led to any such result either at
home or abroad ? I answer confidently on the
authority of every author I have been able to meet,
that for the last hundred years the saddle-horse of

STONEHENGE. o3

England has shown a manifest, steady and progres-
sive decline in all useful qualities. But if it is a
most mistaken measure on the part of Australians, and
contrary to the first principle we accept as our rule
in breeding, to persist in breeding our saddle horses
from the unfit, unsound, and delicate thoroughbred
of England, this is not unfortunately our greatest
error on the subject, which undoubtedly lies in the
cultivation and acclimatization amongst us of the
root and origin of this decadence, the adoption not
of races, but of such races as have mainly wrought
this damage at home, are perpetuating it here, and
are practically a barrier to all amelioration.

54? CAVALRY HORSES.

CAVALRY HOESES.

CAPTAIN NOLAN ON " CAVALRY AND ITS
TACTICS."

"Our Cavalry horses are feeble ; they measure high, but they do
so from length of limb, which is weakness not power."— JToZaw.

From what has been submitted to the notice of
the reader in the preceding chapter, I trust that his
faith in the advisability of breeding saddle-horses
from English racing sires will be somewhat shaken.
But if such breeding is an error, it is not without
many kindred ones. In fact a sort of fatahty seems
to have attended the management of horses by
Englishmen and Europeans generally.

In the last 70 years we have done wondei*s for
some at least of our other domestic animals. The
produce of our sheep for instance, both in meat and
wool, has been much increased in quality and
bettered in description, and so in other things. We
have gone on perfecting old sciences and creating

CAVALRY HORSES. 00

new ones ; thinking, weighing, and reasoning, we
have gone on road making, steaming, manufactur-
ing ; disseminating our people and language on all
sides ; we have bettered and multiplied our material
products ; all that requires peace and security to gi'ow
has flourished. And so again in the art of destruction ;
our armies and volunteers have so increased in
numbers and efficiency that it might almost be said,
that the labor saved by steam to the hands of man,
has been concentrated on the means of defence or
aggression ; but whilst our navy .and artillery have
armed themselves with a deeper thunder and a more
deadly bolt, whilst our infantry has become infinitely
more efficient than it once was, it would be difficult
to show that our cavalry and then- horses have not
absolutely retrograded in every useful qualification.
To make, however, the magnitude of our systematic
mismanagement of saddle-horses, more unmistakably
evident, I must bring forward further evidence on
the subject and expose abuses and follies of another
class. In the management and breeding of the
thoroughbred horse in England, when his real pur-
pose is considered, viz., no improvement in, or
keeping up of the quality of the saddle-horses of
that country, which does not for a moment enter
into the purely commercial, and in no wise patriotic
calculations of the breeder, but the production of an
animal that shall stand a chance to fill his ovTiers

56 CAVALRY HORSES.

pockets by success on the race course, there is un-
deniably displayed an immense amount of experience
and sound knowledge of the real means to attain the
result sought. This I have never denied ; what I
have endeavoured to point out, is the extravagant
folly of a system which assigns to these racers the
office of sires for saddle-horses, in the face of every
experience and of every rule the result of experience
on this subject. I must now, however, go a step
further, and show my reader that when the absolute
necessity for proficiency in his undertaking, that is
the TYhoney test, which is forced upon the racing man
is removed, the skill which distinguishes him in his
particular branch of horse management at all events,
disappears likewise, and ignorance and folly usurp
the places of knowledge and common sense. A re-
markable exemplification of the truth of what I
advance was fomid in the doings of George IV ; no-
body ever denied (for there is no denying racing
results which are expressed but by two words, on
which indeed the fate of too many depends — success
or failure) his perfect capability for directing the
management of his racers and racing stud, any more
than his contemptible failm'e when he turned his
royal attention to the management of cavalry.

Of no class of horses have we the same oppor-
tunity for forming a correct estimate as in that of
the cavalry. Here we have many horses, treated on

CAVALRY HORSES. 57

certain well authenticated principles, arriving at
well known results. In turning to accounts of
cavalry, one would expect to find, that howevei'
much the breeding of horses may have failed, that the
management of such as have been selected for army
purposes would have approached to something like
perfection. Where the gi^eat national interests and
honor of a people has so often fallen and will again
in all probability fall to the lot of a few squadrons of
cavalry to decide ; where crowns, kingdoms,
and colonies, where the fate of those who sit at the
fire-side has been so often delegated to the arbitra-
ment of the sabre ; where so many intellects and for
so long a time have been concentrated, we may sup-
pose on that very important subject, the horse-
soldier and his horse, it will be difficult to believe
that anything but a judicious treatment, almost the
perfection of horse management, has not long since
become traditional in the service. With so much
skilled labour at command, with the experience of
ages to guide it, and the paramont importance of the
subject itself intimately connected with the very
being of a nation, here if anywhere we must expect

to meet the results of a full and enlio^htened ex-
es

perience. As the remarks of a civilian on cavalry
horses and their management might be looked down
on as wanting the seal of professional knowledge to
give them value, I will retire from the scene and

58 CAVALRY HORSES.

allow the soldiers to speak for themselves. General
F. de Brack, in his preface to his work on Light
Cavalry, says, " War, said General Lassalle to me one
day, is to the soldier who has not previously quitted
his garrison, what the world is to the young man,
who is leaving the forms of his school, it is the
application of the theory T

How does the British soldier and his horse stand
this test ? Lord Wellington, in his despatch 8th
November 1810, says " Neither the Dragoons nor
their horses are capable of performing much service,
in the first year after their arrival, and many horses
are lost, being unaccustomed to the food of the Pen-
insula and from want of experience in the mode of
taking care of them" So the theory fails in prac-
tice ! and a new experience is needed. In "Cavalry,
its History and Tactics, by Captain L. E. Nolan, 15th
Hussars," we get a pretty clear insight both into the
doings of our cavalry authorities as well as into the
worth of our cavalry horses. In introducing this
work to such of my readers as have not read it, it
may be well to premise, that Captain Nolan had
served in the Hungarian Cavalry, and was well
acquainted with that arm in France, Austria, Russia,
England, and India ; was an enthusiast in his pro-
fession, by the members of which his book was well
received. " The most hopeless condition to which
an arm or science," says Nolan, ''or an art can

CALVARY HORSES. 59

attain is that where its professors sit down with
perfect self-satisfaction, under the conviction that it
has reached perfection and is susceptible of no further
improvement." A very proper and pertinent remark
from an author who is just going to demonstrate,
that the whole state of the arm of which he treats
is rotten, root, stem, and branch I Speaking, for
instance, of the Indian troops who did such good
service, when fighting in their own fashion with
their feet in short stirrups, and sharp blades in their
hands, he says : " There is scarcely a more pitiable
spectacle in the world than a native trooper mounted
on an English saddle, tightened by his dress to the
stiffiiess of a mummy, half suffocated with a leather
collar, and a regulation sword in his hand, which
must always be blunted by the steel scabbard in
which it is encased."

I could multiply such instances and reflections,
but will pass on to what chiefly concerns us, the
horse. Lieutenant General Sir Chaiies Napier, as
quoted by Nolan, says, "The hardships of war are by
our dressers of cavalry thought too little for the
animal's (the horse's) strength ; they add a bag with
the Frenchified name of valise, containing an
epitome of a Jew's old clothes shop. Notably so if
the regiment be hussars, a name given to Hungarian
light horsemen, remarkable for activity, and carrying
no other baggage than a small axe and a tea kettle

60 CAVALRY HORSES.

to every dozen men. Our hussars' old clothes bag
contains jackets, breeches of all dimensions, drawers,
snuff-boxes, stockings, pink boots, yellow boots, eau-
de-cologne, Avindsor soap, brandy, satin waist-coats,
cigars, kid gloves, tooth-brushes, hair-brushes, danc-
ing spurs ; and thus, a light cavalry horse carries
twenty-one stone. Hussars our men are not ; a real
hussar, including his twelfth part of a kettle, does
not weigh twelve stone before he begins plunder-
ino^."

'' Without a system," says Nolan, " and a good
system, it is impossible to make good troopers ; at
present we have none."

Many follies and mishaps, and amusing ones,
might be transcribed from the pages of Captain Nolan,
accounts of men armed with swords which will not
cut, saddles on which it is impossible to sit, placed
on the loins instead of the back, and girthed round
the belly instead of the brisket, might be brought
forward. All these, and a hundred other such ab-
surdities, which are not accidental but parts of a
system instilled into our soldier, and which send him
to battle rather a victim than a combatant, might be
adduced as proof of the empiricism to which the
horse and all concerning him has been consigned.
This, however, is apart from my subject, and I will
at once hasten to place before my reader the results
of Captain Nolan's experience of the stoutness and

CALVARV HORSES. 61

soundness of the English horse. The chapter is
transcribed complete.

" Before I left India, some very interesting trials
were made at Madras, by order of the Commander-
in-chief, General Sir George Berkeley, the object of
which was to test the capabilities of the troop horses,
as well as the relative merits of entire horses and
geldings for the purposes of war.

" Three trials were made. The first with two
regiments of Native Regular Cavalry, one of stal-
lions, one of geldings. The next with two troops' of
Horse Artillery. The third, and last, with two
hundred English Dragoons (loth Hussars), one hun-
dred riding stallions, and one hundred mounted on
geldings.

" This squadron marched upwards of eight hundred
miles, namely from Bangalore to Hyderabad, where
they remained a short time to take part in the field
days, pageants, &c. They then returned to Banga-
lore, four hundred miles, by forced marches ; only
one rest-day was allowed thein, and the last six
marches in were made at the rate of thirty miles a
day. They brought in but one led horse ; stallions
and geldings did their work equally well, and were
in equally good condition on their leturn. The
question was, however, decided in favour of the
latter, because they had been cut without reference
to age, and only six months before the trial took

62 CAVALRY HORSES,

place. The English cavalry in India is well mounted.
On an emergency, any one of these Indian regiments
would gallop iifty miles in a pursuit, leave few horses
behind, and suffer but little from the effects of such
exertion. The horses on which they are mounted
are small but powerful. The Arab, the Persian, the
Turcoman, the horses from the banks of the Araxes,
are all unrivalled as war-horses. I have seen a
Persian horse, fourteen hands three inches, carrying
a man of our regiment of gigantic proportions, and
weighing in marching order twenty-two and a half
stone ; I have seen this horse on the march above
alluded to, of eight hundred miles, carrying this
enormous weight with ease, and keeping his condi-
tion well. At the crossing of the Kistna, a broad,
rapid, and dangerous river, the owner of this horse
(Private Heme, of C troop,) refused to lead the
animal into the ferry-boat to cross, but, saying, ' An
hussar and his horse should never part company,'
he took to the water in complete marching order,
and the galbnt little horse nobly stemmed the
tide, and landed his rider safely on the opposite
bank,

" An officer in India made a bet that he would
himself ride his charger (an Arab little more than
fourteen hands high) four hundred measured miles
in ^YQ consecutive days, and he won the match ;
the horse performed his task with ease, and did not

CAVALRY HORSES, 63

even throw out a wind-gall. The owner, an officer
of the Madras Artillery, died shortly aftei^vards.

" General Daumas relates that the horses of the
Sahara will travel, during five or six days, from
seventy-five to ninety miles a day, and that in
twenty-four hours they will go over from one hun-
dred and fifty to one hundred and eighty miles, and
this over a .stony desert. Diseases of the feet and
broken wind are almost unknowai amongst them.

" What would become of an English cavalry regi-
ment if suddenly required to make a few forced
marches, or to keep up a pursuit for a few hundred
miles ! Their want of power to carry the weight,
and want of breeding, makes them tire after trotting
a few miles on the line of march.

" Our cavalry horses are feeble ; they measure high,
but they do so from length of limb, which is weak-
ness, not power.

The blood they require is not that of our weedy
race-horse (an animal more akin to the greyhound,
and bred for speed alone), but it is the blood of
THE Arab and Persian, to give them that compact
form and wiry limb, in which they are wanting.

" The fine Irish troop horses, formerly so sought
for, are not now to be procured in the market. In-
stead of the long, low, deep-chested, short-backed,
strong-loined horse of former days, you find nothing
now but long-legged, straight-shouldered animals,

64 CAVALRY HORSES.

prone to disease from the time they are foaled, and
whose legs grease after a commion field day. These
animals form the staple of our remount horses.

" Decked out in showy trappings, their riders
decorated with feathers and plumes, they look well
to the superficial observer ; hut the English cavalry
are not what they should he. If brought fresh into
the field of battle, the speed of the horses, and the
pluck of the men, would doubtless achieve great
things for the moment ; hut they could not endui^e,
they could not follovj up, they could not come
agoAn.

" All other reforms in our cavalry will be useless,
unless this important point be looked to. It is
building a house on the sand to organize cavalry
without good horses. Government alone could work
the necessary reform by importing stallions and
mares of Eastern hlood, for the purpose of breed-
ing troop horses and chargers for the cavalry of
England.

" It is said that a Government stud is opposed to
the principle of competition. What competition can
there be amongst breeders for the price of a troop
horse, when by breeding cart horses they obtain £40
for them when two years old ? How could they
possibly afford to rear animals with the necessary
qualifications for a cavalry horse of the first class ?
To breed such horses a cross must firet be obtained

CAVALRY HORSES. 65

with our race-horses. This would entail a large
outlay of capital, and when the good troop horse was
produced, the breeder could not obtain his price for
him.

" The rules of our turf encourage speed only, and
that for short distances. Horses wre bred to meet
these reqwirertients^ and from these weeds djO our
horses of the present day inherit their long legs,
straight shoulders, weak constitutions, and want of
all those qualities for which the English horse of
former days was so justly renowned.

"I had heard of fine horses in Russia, but I compla-
cently said to myself, ' Whatever they are they
cannot be as good as the English.' However, I went
to Russia — and seeing is believing. Their horse-
artillery and cavalry are far better mounted than
ours, and their horses are immeasurably superior in
those qualities which constitute the true war-horse,
namely : — courage, constitutional vigour, strength
of limb, and great power of endurance under fatigue
and privation.

" The excellent example set by Sir George Berkeley,
in India, might be followed up at home with great
advantage to the service ; the capabilities of our
cavalry horses of the present day should be severely
tested, and the saddles should be tried, and experi-
ments made to ascertain how sore backs may be
avoided."

66 CAVALRY HORSES.

And yet how are we to reconcile this with the
folloAving assertion in an earlier part of his work,
where he wiites : — " I have heard it said that Eng-
lish horses are not adapted, like the Arab and other
horses of Eastern breed, to skirmishing, to pulling
up from speed, and turning quickly. The better the
horse the more adapted to all feats of agility and
strength. No horse can compare with the English,
no horse is more easily broken into anything and
everything, and there is no quality in which the
English horse does not excel, no performance in which
he cannot beat all competition."

This I at least put down as a rhodomontade which
he has not failed to correct in his more serious mood
when the subject came formally before him, and on
several occasions. Nothing can be stronger or more
contradictory than the conclusion of the former
passage from Nolan. Here we have his estimate of the
thoroughbred, of the English saddle-horse, and of the
Arab. Stonehenge, too, invokes Government aid, and
asks for sound and stout sires for the turf; Nolan calls
for Eastern sires for the cavalry horses of England, and
yet neither of them appear to me to have arrived at
the pith of the subject, or to have seen the yet very
obvious fact, that if " Hke begets like," that if the
foal follows the sire, it is monstrous to expect
good saddle-horses from racing sires, be those sires
good or bad of their sort, and, of course, still less

CAVALRY HORSES. 67

when we know how weedy, deHcate, and unsound
they really are.

For the amusement of the reader, I will add a few
more particulars of cavalry and its management,
from the same writer.

For example, he says, " When I was in India an
engagement between a party of the Nizan's irregular
horse, and a numerous body of insurgents took
place, in which the horsemen, though far inferior
in numbers, defeated the Rohillas with great
slaughter.

"My attention was drawn particularly to the fight
by the doctor's repoi^ of the killed and wounded,
most of whom had suffered by the sword, and in
the column of remarks such entries as the following
were numerous, *Arm cut off frorfi the shoulder,'
' Head severed,' ' Both hands cut off (apparently at
one blow) above the wrist, in holding up the arms
to protect the head,' ' Leg cut off above the
knee,' &c., &c.

" I was astonished. Were these men giants to
lop off limbs thus wholesale ? or was this result to
be attributed (as I was told) to the sharp edge of
the native blade, and the peculiar way of drawing
it ? I became anxious to .see these horsemen of the
Nizam, to examine their wonderful blades, and learn
the knack of lopping off men's limbs. Opportunity
soon offered, for the Commander-in-chief went to

68 CAVALRY HORSES.

Hyderabad on a tour of inspection, on which I
accompanied him. After passing the Kistna River,
a squadron of these very horsemen joined the camp
as part of the escort. And now fancy my astonish-
ment ! The sword-blades they had were chiefly old
dragoon blades cast from our service. The men had
mounted them after their own fashion. The hilt
and handle, both of metal, small in the grip, rather
flat, not round like ours where the edge seldom falls
true ; they all had an edge like a razor from heel to
point, were worn in wooden scabbards, a short
sinsfle slino^ held them to the waist-belt, from which
a strap passed through the hilt to a button in front,
to keep the sword steady and prevent it flying out
of the scabbard."

Again, says the same writer, " At , on the

continent, Z Z shewed us the royal stables, and the
horses broken in at the riding school. One of them
had no shoes on ; we asked the reason. Answer,
' He never works out of the riding school.' Question,
' How old is he ? ' A, ' Fourteen years old.' Q,, * Is
he quite perfect in the riding-school work?' A,
' Not quite, but very good at it.'

" We were shewn a ' Springer.' A groom led in a
horse with his tail tied on one side (I presume to
give a better opening for the whip of the riding
master), a cavesson on, and a young man in jack boots
riding him, his legs drawn down and unnaturally

CAVALRY HORSES. 69

far back, a cutting whip held upright in one hand,
and the reins divided in both hands. The horse
was placed against the side wall, the groom in front
with the cavesson line held up to prevent the horse
springing forward. The animal was evidently un-
easy and looked back. No wonder ! for presently
the riding-master stepped up behind, and crack !
crack ! went the whip into the ' springer's ' unpro-
tected hind-quarters. He sprang in the air and
back to his place, for he could not get forward.
This was not enough. It appears that the perfec-
tion of this performance consists in getting the horse
to kick out behind at the moment he is off the
ground with all fours ; and what between the groom
pulling the iron band against the horse's nose with
all his might, and the riding-master giving him the
whip with a practised hand, he succeeded in getting
the capriole required, sending the man in boots on
to the horse's neck, at the same time. The riding
master, pleased at the success of his experiment,
turned to us to explain how difficult it was to get a
horse to do it. I asked how long the horse had
been at it. ' Oh,' said he, ' he has been a springer
for several years. In fact, he was a lucky beast and
had got his promotion early in life.' "

With these extracts from Nolan I will leave the
leader to form his own idea about the management
of cavalry horses, &c., by Europeans, and yet, as tlie

70 CAVALRY HOUSES.

same author remarks, " It doubtless requires great
liberality and freedom from prejudice and precon-
ceived opinion to admit that a system, on which the
talent and experience of practical men has been ex-
hausted for ages can be a bad one." May not these
words be applied to many things in connection with
our horses.

THE ARAB HORSE. 71

THE AEAB HOESE,

AND

THE HORSES OF THE SAHARA.

BY GENERAL E. DAUMAS.

" Rien n'est loin pour les chevaux." — Froverhe Arabe.

Having placed before the reader what appears
useful for my purpose concerning the horses and
horse-management of the English, I will now hasten
to contrast him with a race of horses which, from
many ages back, have been bred for the purpose of
the saddle alone. A race of 'pure saddle-horses, in
the real sense of the word. The progenitor of all the
best saddle-horses which exist in the world — the
Arab.

Amongst the various works treating of horses with
which I have met, I know of none so likely to
interest, amuse, and give information to the general
reader as General Daumas's book, published about 10
years ago, entitled, " Les Chevaux du Sahara et les

72 THE ARAB HORSE.

Moeurs du Desert" In recommending it to the
Melbourne reader — for a handsome edition of it
presented by His Majesty the Emperor of the French
is in the Public Library — I must warn him not to
look for a repetition of many of our old English
wonders, rules, or prejudices. Its faults and its
merits are its own ! It is fruit from a tree which
does not grow in our gardens ! To an Englishman
interested in the horse, it is just such a treat as
we might expect a German or Frenchman would
experience in falling in with one of Nimrod's works
for the first time. On what the author sees and
hears, however, he makes but few remarks, and
theorizes still less, remarking, " Je ne viens nulle-
ment dire, ceci est bon, ceci est mauvais ; je dis tout
simplement, bon ou mauvais, void ce que font les
Arabes"

Besides a collection of facts, which by the generality
of Australians will be found new, and the full record
of a system in every way different from that of
Europe, the author has succeeded, with the help of
Abd-el-Kader, who largely contributed to his
work, in throwing around the realities of his subject
that garb of poetry and imagination with which the
son of the desert loves to clothe even the sober
realities of his every day life.

From the pages of Daumas I will now proceed to
make translations of a few of such passages as

THE ARAB HORSE. 73

appear likely to suggest matters for reflection, on the
subject of which I write : —

*' Horses," says Abd-el-Kacler, ''though all of one
family, are of two sorts ; the first is the Arab race,
the other of the race of Beradin."

"■ A good horse," says Daumas, "■ ought to do 25 to
80 leagues (75 to 90 miles) five or six days con-
secutively ; after two days of rest and good feed, he
can begin the same work again. Journeys, however,
in the desert are not always so long ; but on the other
hand it is common to see horses do 50 or 60 leagues
(150 to 180 miles) in the twenty-four hours.

" On the subject of long distances traversed by
desert horses, facts are quoted which would appear
fabulous, were not the performers of them still
alive, as well as witnesses who can confirm the truth
of their statements. Here is one from a thousand,
which was related to me by a man of the tribe of
Arbaa. I will let him speak for himself :

*' ' I had come to the Tell, with my father and
tribe, to purchase grain. It was under Aly Pacha.
The Arbaa had had terrible quarrels with the Turks,
and as it had become their interest, for the moment,
to obtain by a show of complete submission, forget-
fulness of the past, it was agreed amongst them, to
gain over the immediate friends of the Pacha by
money bribes, and to send to the Pacha himself, not
as was their custom, a horse of medium qualities.

74 THE ARAB HORSE.

but a steed of the first distinction. It was a mis-
fortune, but it was God's will, and there was nothing
for it but resignation. The choice fell on a mare of
the colour of the grey-stones of the river, well known
in all the Sahara. She belonged to my father who was
warned to hold himself in readiness to start the next
day and to take her to Algiers.

" * After the evening prayer, my father who had
taken care to let fall no remarks on the matter, came
to me and said, ' Ben Zyan, can I depend on thee
to-day ? wilt thou leave thy father in a dilemma ? or
wilt thou make his face blush ? '

'"In me, sir,' I repUed, ' there is only your will ;
speak, and if your orders are not obeyed by me, it
will only be because I have been overtaken by death.'

'' ' Listen, then,' said my father, * these children of
sin, to settle their differences, wish me to take my
mare to the sultan ; thou knowest my grey mare, she
who has always brought happiness to my tent, my
cliildren, and my camels ; my grey mare, born the
same day as thy youngest brother ; speak, wilt thou
allow them to defile my wliite beard with shame ?
The joy and happiness of my family are in thy
hands ; Mordjana (the name of the mare) has eaten
barley (equivalent to being in high condition) ; if
thou art my son, sup, take thy arms, and then at
nightfall fly into the desert with the jewel that we
all love.

THE ARAB HORSE. 75

" * Without saying one word, I kissed the hand of
my father ; I took the evening meal, and left
Berouaguia happy in being able to prove my filial
love, and laughing beforehand at the disappointment
awaiting our Cheiks on awaking. I kept on for a
long time, fearing that I was followed ; Mordjana in
the meantime pulling, and I trying to calm rather
than to excite her.

*' * Towards two o'clock at night I began to get
sleepy, and pulling up alighted, and taking the reins
rolled them round my wrist. Placing my firelock
under my head, I lay down softly enough on one of
those dwarf palm-trees so well known in our country.
In an hour I awoke. Mordjana had eaten all the
leaves of the dwarf palm-tree. We started. Day-
light broke on us at Souagui ; my mare had sweated
and dried three times and began to take the spur.
She drank at Sidi-bou-Zid in Ouad Ettouyl (Ettouyl
Creek), and that evening I prayed the evening
prayer at Legrouat, having given her a handful of
straw to make her wait patiently the enormous
nosebag of barley which she was to get.'

" These are not," said Si-ben-Zyan to me, " the
journeys of your horses, for the horses of you
Christians go from Algiers to Blidah, thirteen
leagues ! — as far as frorn my nose to my ear ! —
all the while thinking you are doing a long day's
journey."

76 THE ARAB HORSE.

" This man," continues Daumas, "had done eiglity
leagues in twenty -four hours, his mare had eaten
nothing but the leaves of the dwarf palm-tree on
^^hich he slept, she only drank once when half-way,
and he swore to me by the head of the prophet that
he could have gone and slept the next day at Gar-
daya (46 leagues further), if his life had been of
danger. Si-ben-Zyan belongs to a family of
Marabouts of the Oulad-Salahh, a branch of the tribe
of Arbaa. He often comes to Algiers, will relate this
adventure to any one who wishes to hear it, and will
if necessary substantiate what he advances by
credible witnesses.

" Another Arab of the name of Mohamed-ben-
Mokhtar had come after the harvest to purchase
grain at Tell ; his tents were already erected on the
Segrouan, and he was busy with his commerce Tvdth
the Arabs of Tell, when the Bey Mezrag fell suddenly
upon him at the head of a numerous body of cavalry,
to punish one of those imaginary crimes, which the
Turks so well know how to invent as a pretext for
their rapacity. The attack had been made without
any warning, and the foray was complete, the
troopers of Makhzen giving themselves up to all the
atrocities usual on such occasions.

" While this was going on, Mohamed-ben-Mokhtar
hurriedly mounts his dark bay mare, a magnificent
beast, known and en\^ed by all the inhabitants of

THE ARAB HORSE. 77

the Sahara, and impressed with the dangers of the
occasion, he decides at once on sacrificing his whole
fortune to the safety of his three children ; one of
them, four yeai^s old, he places on the pummel before
him ; another of six years of age behind him holding
on by his belt, and the third he was about to deposit
in the hood of his burnous, when he was prevented by
his wife, who exclaimed, * No, no, I will not give it
to thee I They dare not kill an infant at the breast !
Fly ! I will keep it myself God will protect us.'
Mohamed-ben-Mokhtar then springs forward, dis-
charges his gun and dashes from out the melee. Hard
pressed he pushes on all day and the night following,
and arrives the next evening at Laghrouat, where he
is safe,

" A short time after his escape, he heard that his
wife and child had been saved by some friends he
had in TeU.

" Mohamed-ben-Mokhtar and his wife are still
alive, and the two cliildren whom he saved are
known amongst the best horsemen of the tribe.

" What scene can be imagined more worthy of the
painter's brush, than this of a family saved by a
horse, from amongst pillage and bloodshed.

" And why should I seek to produce proofs of
these facts ? All the old officers of the division of
Oran can relate how, in 1837, a general, attaching
much importance to the obtaining of news from

78 THE ARAB HORSE.

Tlemcen, gave his own horse to an Arab to go in
search of it. At four in the morning this man left
Chateau Neuf, returning the next day at the same
hour, having in the intermin done 70 (seventy)
leagues, through a country very much more rugged
than the desert,"

So much for the distances which can be done by
the horses of the Sahara ! And it should be borne
in mind that these two instances selected from
amongst a few of the like sort, in the first of which
the horse accomplishes 80 leagues in twenty-four
hours, and in the second does not much short of the
same distance in thirty-six houi's, having a man and
two children on his back, are not related to
us as the mere uncertain reports which might
have been palmed oif on a passing traveller.
It must be remembered that Daumas, himself
an old resident in the country, writes in the presence
of thousands of French officers, who passed many
years in Algeria, were often outmanoeuvred and
foiled in pursuit of men mounted on these very
horses, and who had many excellent opportunities
forced upon them of forming a correct estimate both
of the capabilities and of the correctness of their
historian.

But my reader must not imagine that "Xes Chevaux
du Desert," is by any means a collection of anecdotes
of this nature, they being, in fact, a material of

THE ARAB HORSE. 79

which he has been very sparing, not indulging himself
perhaps with half a dozen in the whole of his vol-
ume. Indeed, most readers, especially his own
countrymen, would have relished a few more. But
if he is sparing of prodigies, he is not so of customs
and manners, of sayings and proverbs, of breeding
the horse, feeding, physicking, breaking, shoeing,
training, or bringing him up, &;c. ; on these, on the
precepts of the Koran which apply to him, and
many other points, his information is full, allowing
nothing to escape liim, except, perhaps, in the mat-
ter of the price at which he may be bought, of
which he says not a word. In fact, with this excep-
tion, so thoroughly has he done his work, that but
few new crumbs remain to be picked up by any one
who would come after him. Besides this, he wrote
under circumstances more fortunate than are ever
likely to fall to the chance of another, for as he
completed each chapter of his book, he submitted it
to the judgment of Abd-el-Kader, then a prisoner in
France. A remarkable position ! not unhke one
sitting with Pompey in the vessel that bears him to
Egypt, listening to him speak of Mithridates and
Pharsaha, before writing the fall of the commonwealth.
A subject for the poet or the painter ! Only fancy
the great, the unfortunate emir ; the scimitar-sur-
rounded prince of the desert ; the man of his day
for a commentator ' who, I may say, receiving into

80 THE ARAB HORSE.

his hand a discussion, adorns it, etches it into pic-
tures, throws on it the shadow of the burnous,
strews flowers upon the page, and returns authenti-
cated into the hand that gave him the dry truth, a
poem rich with the imagery, the feel, the odour of
his Eastern fancy — in matter a truth, in manner an
ode ! As I read the page I feel again in the East ;
the tent, the sand, the date-tree on the horizon, the
Arab maiden coming from the well, the camel, the
horse, the Slougui are again before my eyes, the
odour of the chibouque is in my nostril, the musical
gutteral of the Bedouin is again in my ear.

Then to what man of his time or of any other
was the horse so much a stern reality as to Abd-el-
Kader ? For eighteen years he contended with the
armies of France, backed by her immense resources.
And what had he to oppose to this power ? He was
a living commentary on those words of the first
Napoleon, " legs win more battles than arms." His
goums bestrode horses whose locomotive powers,
whilst defying pursuit, long annulled even calculations
founded on the then supposed powers of the animal —
to contend with whom, generals had to be educated
anew, troops which might be called a new organiza-
tion had to be set on foot to encircle this will-o'-the-
wisp, enthral this ubiquitous foe, who so long
opposed an army which has no superior, by the
transcendent qualities of his horses alone. Well can

THE ARAB HORSE. 81

we reali2;e, as we read, his patriotic eulogium oi
the desert ; his soldierly complaints of fortune, his
manly regrets !

In this retouching of the subject by Abd-el-Kader,
there is, however, nothing of the style of the com-
mentator, far less of the reviewer ; each tells the
same tale after his owii manner. The neat, concise,
methodical, unadorned narrative of the son of France ;
followed by the brilliant, enthusiastic, richly imaged
poem of the desert chief, redolent of the ardent
fancies of the dwellers of the tent.

But if I cannot hope to give my readers any
but a very general idea of a work whose beauty,
like that of a statue, must be sought rather in its
homogenous entirety than when broken in each
disconnected limb, yet I shall, perhaps, be able to
add from it to the foregoing some facts which bear
upon my subject ; facts which have brought irre-
sistibly to my mind the conviction that horses, bred,
reared, and treated on a system very different to
that in vogue in England and in Australia, do still,
in spite of all our prejudices, eclipse and surpass our
own in every imaginable good quality except the one
(if indeed it can be esteemed as a good quality) of
speed for short distances alone. To put his assertion
successfully to the test, would, if I am correct, re-
quire no careful culling of select specimens, but
might with perfect safety be entrusted to any body
E 2

82 THE ARAB HORSE.

of Sahara horses that might be found collected
together for hunters or war-horses. I should like to
see a thousand of the stoutest horses that could be
produced in England, with fourteen stone on their
backs, matched against a like number of Sahara
horses, carrying a like weight, not for a day's gallop
only, but for a month's march. I should like them
to meet a little heat or cold, hunger or thirst, or all
of them, on the road. I expect at the end of a
month there would be a large hiatus between the
two bodies, and that the result would go far to dis-
enchant some of us Englishmen of our partiality for
our very indifferent nags.

Amongst the circumstances in which the Barb is
placed, no practice is begot more foreign to our ideas
than that of his feeding. Barley alone, and that in
very small quantities, is his most esteemed and often
his only food. Touching this grain the Arabs of the
Sahara have a host of sayings and legends. " He
has eaten barley," is equivalent to "he is in training."
" If we had not seen the mare give birth to the
horse, we should have said he was born of barley."
On a friend wishing to feed the horse of the Prophet,
he is said to have exclaimed, " You wish then to
have all my recompenses, for the angel Gabriel has
told me that every grain of barley given by me to
my horse will be counted as a good work for me."
In the spring his food often consists of the milk

THE ARAB HORSE. 83

of the sheep or camel, both of which are highly es-
teemed for this purpose. Dates, also, in various
shapes, are often given to him ; hay and grass are
but Uttle used, but chiehh, alfa, and one or two other
plants that grow in the desert, are in high repute.
Except a few mouthfuls in the morning, the Barb
may be said to eat only once a day ; sundown is
about the hour he receives his 10 or 12 handfuls ot
barley. " The feed of the morning is found on the
road," says the Arabs, " that of the evening on the
croup of the horse." Water is given twice a day ;
in the morning it is limited to half a bucketful, and
in the evening, about two hours before he gets his
barley, he is allowed to drink his fill. But even this
measure is at times still further curtailed, in order
to give him the habit of abstemiousness, and enable
him to bear thirst when necessary. For this pur-
pose he is made to endure, yearly, two fasts during
the height of summer, each of 40 days, during which
period he is only watered once every second day.
What would our consumers of haystacks, and
emptiers of cisterns, with the thermometer at 120°
in the shade, think of this ?

Green-stuff is said by the Arabs to enlarge the
stomach and fatten, and hence avoided, as the Arab
of the Sahara likes his steed to be attenuated, and
drawn up like a greyhound. They say, " The
greatest enemies of the horse are rest and fat."

84} THE ARAB HORSE.

" On seeing," says Daumas, " two horses, one of
the Tell and the other from the desert, a person who
has not made himself well master of the facts of the
case, would certainly prefer the former, looking so
handsome, well-furnished, shining, and fat ; whilst,
misguided individual, he would despise and calumni-
ate the second for those very qualities in which
consist all his worth ; for Ms fine, hard, and dry legs,
his drawn-up stomach, and his bare ribs ; and yet
this desert horse who has had but little barley,
knows not green-stuff or straw, whose feed has been
chiehh, bouse, and seuliane, whose drink has been
milk, and has from his youth run the chase and the
raid, has the swiftness of the gazelle and the patience
of the dog, and by his side the horse of the Tell is
but an ox."

Of breeding, Daumas and the Emir say much.
The Saharians hold the sire to be of much greater
consequence than the dam, which latter in theory,
perhaps, though not in practice, they undervalue.
In the choice of a sire they are most particular, going
any distance to obtain one, and allowing 2 or 3 years
to pass rather than accept one that is not approved
of Not more than six or eight mares are allowed
to a horse in one season ; his services are gi^atuitous,
one who should take money for them, say they,
'' would be called marchand d'aTnour du clievaU
Neither is the mare kept constantly breeding, as such

THE ARAB HORSE. 85

a course is said to weaken the offspring. Good and
bad qualities of every sort, injuries from work,
unsoundness, &c., are said to re-appear in the
offspring, hence a sire of repute always excels in
such qualities as are sought in the desert.

The '' breaking " of the Arabs, though gentle, is
prolonged and severe, as they exact more acquire-
ments from their horses than we do from ours. It
begins very young — at 80 months old. " Mount
him," say they, ''between two and three years of
age, and ride him gently ; tie him up from three to
four, and feed him well ; then remount him, and if
he does not suit — sell him." He is said usually to
live five and twenty years, and with respect to tlie
period of his utility, the proverb is : —

Seven years for my brother,
Seven years for my self, and
Seven years for m.y enemy.

Whatever may be the result of such early breaking,
there is no doubt but that it finds great favour \vith
the Arabs. Besides common testimony, and that of
Abd-el-Kader on the subject, Daumas brings forward
that of the Kalif of Mekjana, chief of one of the most
illustrious families of Algeria, who says : " Durino-
my long career, I have seen reared by my tribe,
friends, and servants, more than 2,000 colts, and I
affirm that all those whose breaking wa*s not begun

86 THE ARAB HOUSE.

early, and on the principles contained herein, have
always turned out intractable, disagreeable, and
useless for war. I further affirm that when I have
made long and rapid marches at the head of 1,200 or
1,500 horsemen, that the horses without fat, thin
even, but early used to fatigue, have always stuck to
my standard, whilst those which were fat, but had
not been broken whilst young, were always left
behind.

"My conviction on this head is the result of such
full experience, that, when being lately at Cairo, and
requiring to purchase some horses, I refused without
pity all such as were offered to me that had not been

early broken.

" ' How has thy horse been brought up ? ' was
always my first question.

" ' Sir^ replied an inhabitant of a town, ' this
horse has always been reared like one of my own
children ; well fed, well looked after, and not
overworked, for I did not mount him till he was
four off See how fat he is, and how clean his
legs ! '

" ' Very w^ell, my friend, keep him ; he is thy
pride, and that of thy family ; it would be a shame
to my grey hairs to deprive thee of him.'

" ' And thou,' said I, turning to one whom I knew,
so dark and sunburnt was he, to be a child of the
desert, ' how has thy horse been reared ? '

I

THE ARAB HORSE. 87

" ' Sir,' said he, ' early I accustomed liis back to
the saddle and his mouth to the bit ; with him I
have often fallen on my foe who dwelt far, very far
off ; many are the days he has passed without water,
and nights without food ; his ribs in truth are bare,
but if you are waylaid on the road he will not leave
you in trouble. This I swear by the day of
judgement, when God will be Cadi, and his angels
witnesses.'

" ' Picket the grey before my tent,' I would say
to my servants, ' and satisfy this man.' "

Daumas gives us also a pretty full account of the
turf meetings in the desert, on which gambling and
betting are forbidden, the horses only running for
honor and the stakes. Forty days is the period used
for training and reducing the horse, after he has
been first allowed to fatten gi-adually on barley. The
.prophet, who appears to have regulated all the affairs
of his people, has also fixed the limits of their races.
To cock- tails he allots a course of one mile, and to
pure horses seven miles ; he does not appear to have
made any provision for a Jockey Club, (indeed how
could it exist Vvithout betting ?) or, probably all
this would have been altered long since ; the
distances, no doubt, being curtailed very much, and
the horses not ridden as they now are by men, but
to lighten their loads, by monkeys.

Colour in horses is regarded in a much more

88 THE ARAB HORSE.

serious manner by the Arabs than it is by us, and
according to my experience, with good cause. All
light and ill-defined colours are despised as soft,
whatever the build of the animal may be. Very
dark chesnut is thought to be the colour usually
borne by fast horses, and together with dark bay
and black, is most esteemed for speed, courage, and
bottom. Grey, which is supposed by us to be the
Arab color, is esteemed handsome, but not thought
to denote good stuff ; '' in the sun," say they, '' he
melts like butter, and in the rain like salt," which I
think is quite true. The dun and roan are also
held to be very inferior, and of the piebald, they
say, " avoid him like the plague ; he is brother to
the cow."

On the subject of the " evil eye," and the forty
signs of good and bad augury, the general gives us
ample imformation. The latter superstition has, at
least, one happy result, which is, that horses of rare
excellence may sometimes be bought cheap, as I can
bear testimony, whose only fault is one of those
unpopular marks, which would prevent any Arab of
distinction from riding him, as he is esteemed
unlucky, and sure to bring his rider to grief, sooner
or later.

The great test of perfect formation in a horse and
that his proportions are as they should be, is his
being able to drink from the level of the ground

THE ARAB HORSE. 39

without bending either of his knees, keeping his
legs firm beneath him. The mountain horse is pre-
ferred to that of the plain, and the horse bred on
swampy ground is thought only fit for the pack-
saddle, '' prefere le cheval de montagne an cheval de
Ijlaiiie, et celui-ci an cheval de marais, qui n'esf
hon qiia 'porter le hat''

Daumas in his book bears testimony to the rare
qualities of the Sahara horses, and thus speaks of
them in his Avant Propos to the Fourth Edition.
" In the Crimea, where we had four magnificent
regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique mounted on the
Barb horse, he was well tried, and if, as the song
says, he could ' endure hunger and thirst,' he can
also, which has been strongly denied, endure exile
and the rigours of a cold and wet climate." Again,
comparing them with the horses of France, he says,
''The European horse has disappeared from our
army in Africa, of which he could bear neither the
impetuous charges nor the incessant marches. He
has been replaced by the horse of the country. The
first care of an oflicer coming from France is to farnish
himself with horses bred in the country. He takes
good care not to venture into the desert, still less
into the mountains, with such horses as would be
very much esteemed at Chantilly, on the Champ-de-
Mars, or at Sartory." (Where, in fact, English
liorses are most admired and much ridden.)

90 THE ARAB HORSE.

Having thus touched concisely on what is principally-
interesting, and what bears on my subject in '' Les
Ghevaux du Desert" I will leave my reader to form
his own conclusions as to the value of the work, and
the soundness of the principles and practices ad-
vanced in it, only adding that so highly do the Arabs
esteem their own horses, that the admixture of any
foreign blood is accounted a degradation, and that,
when the Emir was in power, the sale of a horse by
an Arab to a Christian was punished with death.

Since then, however, he appears to have somewhat
relented in this particular, as it is not long since he
presented to his majesty. Napoleon III., three cele-
brated horses, carefully chosen from amongst
thousands, and which were accompanied by a letter
thus translated : —

" Ever since my residence was fixed at Damascus
I have never ceased to look out for stallions for the
emperor's stud, which, in point of purity of blood
and those other quahties which my experience and
special knowledge enable me to judge of, should
come up to the standard of my ideas. Whenever I
heard of a stallion among the tribes bounded by
Egypt, Irak, and Hedjex, I never failed to make the
most particular inquiries about him. I was long,
however, before finding any horse combining that
purity of blood and perfection of form and qualities
which I had set my mind upon. I went myself

THE ARAB HORSE. 91

among tlie Arab tribes of Nedj and Mesopotamia, at
the time when they were in the neighbourhood of
Damascus, but could not meet with what I wanted.
At length, however, I have found a dark bay stallion
with black mane and tail, rising seven years old,
such as is not to be matched in all the tribes of the
desert. His reputation is so great that the Bedouin
Arabs would take twenty days' journey, and more,
to take a mare to him. I have besides selected a
three-year-old colt, who, for beauty and noble race,
is unequalled. The Arabs can trace his family for
fifty generations, pure from any crossing. Desiring
to present these horses to his majesty, I beg your
excellency to send the necessaiy orders to the French
consul at Beyrout to have them embarked with the
grooms in charge of them, in order that they may
be taken to his imperial majesty. Salutation on
the part of your devoted Abd-el-Kader, son of
Mahhy-Eddin. Abd-el-Kader."

The following description of these horses I have
cut out of the Melbourne Argus : —

" Abd-el-Kader's Present to the Emperor of

THE French.

" The following letter appears in the Field : — -

" Sir,- — A charming drive through the Bois de

Boulogne takes one to the Port St. James, outside

which is the new Imperial stud establishment, to

92 THE ARAB HORSE.

which the public are 9.dmitted from one to five
o'clock daily, without cards. The visitor will see
there the Flying Dutchman, Fitz-Gladiator, and
other horses of less notoriety, as also the three
Arabian horses that were given by Abd-el-Kader to
the Emperor.

"Those Arabians, as you may suppose, are the
attraction of the day ; and no wonder that they
should be so, when we learn, from the extracts which
have been published of the ex-Emir's letter, all the
time and trouble it has cost him to select those three
high-bred horses. To get possession of one of them
(Emir) he spent four years in the desert amongst
the tribes ; and when we consider the value those
people set upon their best horses, and examine this
horse attentively, we become impressed with the
notion that he must have cost a fabulous price —
perhaps his weight in crowns ; or, if paid for in
lands, they might represent a territory as large as a
kingdom ; but, whatever the price, the gift is worthy
of Abd-el-Kader, and the thanks of the Emperor.
I do not suppose the equal of this horse, as a high-
caste Arabian, has been brought to this country or
England from the desert in our day. How his
stock may turn out, time alone will tell ; but I shall
be very much disappointed if he does not materially
improve the breed of horses in this country, if he
only gets good mares. In a paragraph, as translated

THE -ARAB HORSE. 93

to me, of the ex-Emir's letter, he speaks in the lan-
guage of the desert ; it is so remarkable that I give
it to you word for word. He says, ' Good horses
are like friends ; a man meets with only a few in his
lifetime. As one man is worth a thousand other
men, so one horse is worth a thousand others ; and
a thousand bad horses are not worth a single good
one.' This horse Emir, they say, proved himself a
good one at all distances. He is of the Kohel-Obaian
race, was bred in Trac ; his pedigree is known to be
of the best and purest blood for twenty generations.
He is eight years old, colour 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 shoul-
der. He stands fourteen hands 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 those
points showing much quaUty. 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 short to be speedy, and sinks a little too
much upon his fetlocks, but we cannot have perfec-

94 THE ARAB HORSE.

tion ; his action is more elastic than might be ex-
pected from a horse of his build and strength. He
is as gentle as a sheep without being dull ; he looks
like what we would call a craving but very aristo-
cratic animal.

" Ismael is ^ve years old, a very dark brown, two
hind fetlocks white, stands fourteen hands one inch
high ; has a fair shaped head, forelegs rather light,
feet good and wide, quarters long, back level, loins
free, shoulders plain and somewhat thick, mane and
tail heavy and coarse. Taking him altogether, he is
a loose, lengthy-looking horse, but not showing much
quality.

"Moor is four years old, chesnut, two fetlocks
(near side) white, stands fourteen hands high ; he
will grow another inch. His head and neck are
stiffly set on ; his shoulders, legs, and feet are good,
so are his back and ribs. His hocks are also good,
but he sinks too much upon his fetlocks. His action
is gay and free ; he is a wiry-looking colt. Abd-el-
Kader informs us that there is no horse in the desert
whose blood is purer than that of the Moor, and no
pedigree better known for fifty generations. His
condition is very low, he appears to have suffered
much more than his companions upon the passage.
He is much cut up, but when he recovers and is a
year older, I make no doubt he will have many
admirers.

THE ARAB HORSE. 95

" All the horses are very gentle ; no biting or
kicking out when they are handled by the grooms
or visitors, which is too often the case with such
horses under our management. Why it should be
so I am at a loss to conjecture ; could it be that we
bully them with our voice and action ! I observe
the French grooms are always teaching their horses
some simple equestrian tricks ; this leads to a bit of
sugar or a carrot as a reward.

*' Paris, June 10. " Farmer."

But the part of'Les Chevaux du Desert" which is
most easily separated from the rest, as well as that
which will perhaps be most interesting to the reader,
is the Emir's celebrated letter to General Daumas,
which, with its introduction, I have translated as
follows : —

" Having known the Emir Ald-el-Kader whilst I
was French Consul at Mascara, from the year 1837
to 1839, and having again met him at Toulon, when
sent there on service, at the period of his arrival in
France, I have been able, in my numberless inter-
views with him, to appreciate his profound know-
ledge of everything relating to the equine history
and science of his country. This has led me without
hesitation to ask his opinion on matters which,
though purely scientific, embrace nevertheless, fea-
tures of very great interest, not only to the future

96 THE ARAB HORSE.

of oiu' Algerine colony, but to the very capital of
France as well.

" Annexed is the letter which I received in reply
from him, dated 8th November, 1851, (23rd of
Moharnem, first month of 1268.)

*' ' Glory be to the one only God — His reign
is alone eternal.

" ' Greetings to him who equals in good qualities
any man of his day, who seeks but good, whose heart
is pure, and who keeps his word, to the wise intelli-
gent and illustrious General Daumas, from his friend
Sid-el- Hadj Abd-el-Kader, son of Mahhi Eddin.

** ' Below are my answers to your questions.

'' ' 1st You ask me how many days the Arab
horse can travel without rest or becoming too much
jaded ?

" ' Know then that a perfectly sound horse, having
as much barley as he needs, will do all that his rider
may require of him. The Arab saying on this sub-
ject is —

Allef ou Annef,
Donne de Vorge et abuse. — Daumas.

" ' Fill him with barley and ride him as you like.
But without what may be termed abusing your
horse you may ride him 16 parasangn daily (60
miles). This is the distance from Mascara to

THE ARAB HORSE. 97

Koudiat Aghelizan on the Mina river, and has
been measured in draa (cubits). A horse doing
this distance every day, and having as much barley
as he requires, can keep on at this task without
being overworked, for three or even four months
without resting a single day.

'' ' 2nd. You ask me luhat distance can a horse
travel in a single day ?

"'This I cannot tell you precisely, but the distance
should be about 50 parasangs (187 miles), as from
Tlemen to Mascara. But the horse that has per-
formed this journey should be spared the day
following, on w^ich he would be able to perform a
much shorter distance. The generality of our
horses used to go from Oran to Mascara, and would
have been able to repeat the performance two or
three days following. We once started from Sa'ida
at 8 o'clock to fall upon the tribe of Arbaa which
was encamped at Aain Toukria (in the country of
the Oulad Aiad near Taza) and we reached it at
daylight. You know the country and the distance
we should have to perform.

" ' Srd. You ask me for instances of abstemious-
ness in the Arab horse and for proofs of his poiver
of enduring hunger and thirst.

"'Know then that when we were encamped at the
mouth of the Melouia, we made hostile excursions
into the Djebel Amour by way of the Sahara, push-

98 THE ARAB HORSE.

ing our horses on the day of the attack for five or
six hours without drawing bridle, accomplishing our
inroad, going and returning in 20 or at most 25
days. During this period our horses had no barley
but such as they could carry with their riders, say about
eight ordinary feeds ; neither had they straw, but only
alfa and chiehh joined to a little grass in spring.
Nevertheless on our return to our people we were
caracolling our horses on the very day of our arrival,
and even performing festive caprioles with a certain
number from amongst them. Many, however, which
could not have gone through this latter exercise
were yet fit for active service. i

" ' Our horses could remain one or two days with-
out drinking, once even passing three days Avithout
obtaining water. But the horses of the Sahara do
still more than this. They remain three months
without tasting barley. They never taste straw
except when we come to the Tell to buy grain, and
in general eat nothing but alfa and chiehh, or some-
times quetof ; chiehh is preferable to alfa, and
quetof to chiehh. The Arabs say —

A If a fits for the march,

Chiehh for the fight,

And quetof is better than barley.

" ' Some seasons when the tribes have not been
received into the Tell, a whole year passes without

THE ARAB HORSE. 99

the horses of the Sahara tasting one grain of barley.
On such occasions dates are sometimes given the
horses. This food fattens them and enables them
both to fight and to march.

" ' Mh. You ask r}ie hoiv it is that though the
French only break in their horses as four-year-
olds, the Arabs ride theirs whilst very young.

" ' Know then that the Arabs say, that the horse,
like man only learns easily whilst young ; their
proverb on this head is —

The lessons of childhood are graven on stone ;
the lessons of maturity disapioear like
birds' nests.

And again —

The young branch can easily be straightened ;
the thick limb can never be made straight.

" ' In his first year the Arabs teach the horse to
lead with the reseitm, which is a sort of cavesson. At
that age they call him djeda and begin to tie him
up and bridle him. When he comes to be teni, that
is, when he enters his second year, they ride him a
mile, then two, then aparasang, and when he is 18
months old they no longer fear to tire him.

" * When he becomes rebda telata, that is, when he
enters his third year, they tie him up, refrain from
f2

100 THE ARAB HORSE,

riding him, cover him up with a good cloth (cljelale),
and fatten him. Of this practice they say —

In his first year (djeda) tie him up so that no
accident befall him. In his second year
(teni) ride him till his hack bend. In his
third year (rebda telata) again tie hirti
up, then if he jails to please you, sell
him.

" 'If a horse is not ridden until his third year, it is
certain he will be good for nothing, unless it be to
gallop, for this is not to be taught, it is the original
faculty, on which subject the Arabs say —

El djouad idjri be adselouh.

The djouad gallops in accordance with his blood.
(The horse of noble blood gallops without teaching.)

" ' oth. You ask why our mares are more costly
than our stallions, if it be true, as lue affirm, that
the foal inherits more of the qualities of the sire
than of the dam ?

" ' The reason is this, he who buys a mare hopes,
whilst he rides her, to have many foals from her ;
whilst he who purchases a stallion can only ride
him ; for the Arabs make no charge for the use
of their sires, but lend them free of cost for stud
purposes.

"'Qth. You ask me if the Arabs of the Sahara keep

THE ARAB HORSE. 101

regular registers as guarantees of the pedigrees of
their horses,

'' 'Know then that the people of the Sahara take no
heed of such registers any more than do those of the
Tell. Notoriety is a sufficient guarantee for them.
The pedigrees of their pure horses is as well known
to them as is their own. I have heard, it is true,
that some families have written genealogies, but I
cannot point them out. Such books, however, are
in use in the East, as I mention in the little treatise
which I am about to dedicate to you.

" ' 7th. You ask ivhich of the Algerian tribes are
the most celebrated for their noble horses.

" ' Know then that the best horses of the Sahara
are, without exception, those of the Hamyane. They
have none but good horses, as they keep none for
draft or packing, using them only for expeditions
and the battle-field. It is these horses that best
support hunger, thirst, and fatigue. After the
horses of the Hamyane come next in quality those
of the Harar, of the Arbaa and the Oulad Nayl.

'' ' In the Tell the horees most distinguished for
noble blood, height and beauty, are those of the people
of Chelif, principally those of Oulad-Sidi-Ben-Ab-
dallah (sidi-el-Aaribi), near the Mina, as well as those
of the Oulad-Sidi-Hassan, a branch of the tribe of
Oulad-Sidi-Dahhou, who dwell in the mountains of
Mascara. The fastest on the race-course, and of

102 THE ARAB HORSE.

beautiful figure, are those of the tribe of
Flitas, the Oulad Cherhif and the Oulad Lekrend.
Those which travel best on rocky ground without
shoes are the horses of the Assassena, in Yabroukia.
To Moulaye-Ismail, the celebrated Sultan of Morocco,
is attributed this saying —

May my horse have been fed in Mdz,
And watered in the Bidz.

The Maz is a country belonging to the Assassena,
and the Biaz is a brook, which under the name of
Foult inins their territory.

" ' The horses of the Oulad-Kaled also are re-
nowned for these same qualities. Sidi-Ahmed-Ben-
oussel has said on the subject of this tribe —

Long tresses and long djelals shall he found
with you even to the day of resurrection.

Thus passing a eulogium on their women and
their horses.

" ' StL You tell me that the horses of Algeria are
said not to he Arah hut Barh horses.

" ' This is an opinion that recoils on its authors.
The Barbary tribes are of Arabic origin. A cele-
brated author has said —

The Barhs inhabit the Mogheh ; they are all
soils of Kais-ben-Ghelan. We are assured

THE ARAB HORSE. 103

that they co^ne of the two great tribes of the
Hemearites; the Seiuikdja and the Kettama
came into the coivntry at the epoch of the
invasion of Ifrikech the Malek,

'' ' After these two opinions there is no gainsaying
that the Barbs are Arabs. The historians, besides,
give the genealogy of the Barbary tribes, and trace
their descent from the Senahdja and Kettama tribes.
The advent of these tribes was anterior to Islamism.
Since the Mussulman invasion, the number of Arabs
who have emigrated to the Mogheb is incalculable.
When the Obeidin (the Fatimites) were masters of
Egypt, immense tribes went on to Africa, amongst
others the Reahh. They spread themselves from
Kaironan to Morocco. From these tribes are de-
scended in Algeria, the Douaouda, the Aiad, the
Maded, the Oulad-Madi, the Oulad-Ihaonb-Zerara,
the Djendel, the Attof, the Hamis, the Braze, the
Sbeha, the Fleta, the Medjahar, the Mehal, the
Beni-Amer, the Hamian, and many others. There
can be no doubt but that the Arab horse was dis-
seminated with the Arabs themselves. In the time
of Ifrikech-ben-Kaif, the Ai-ab empire was all power-
ful ; it extended on the west to the furthest outside
limits of the Mogheb, as in the days of Chamar the
Hemiarite, it reached as far as China, as Ben-
Kouteiba relates in his book called El Marif

104^ THE ARAB HORSE.

" ' It is true, however, that if all the horses of Al-
geria are of the Arab breed, that many, from being
used for draft, harness, the pack-saddle, to drag bur-
dens, and other such work, and from the mares having
been put to the ass, none of which things were for-
merly done amongst the Arabs, that they have fallen
from their pristine nobility. On this subject, it is
said, that it is enough for a horse to walk even on
ploughed ground to lose some of his worth. On
this subject the following story is traditional : —

*' ^ A man was riding a horse of noble breed. He
met his enemy mounted as well on a noble steed.
One of them pursued the other, and the pursuer was
distanced by the pursued. Hopeless of overtaking
him, he shouted out at the top of his voice,

/ ask thee, in the name of God, has thy horse

ever been in the 'plough t
He has ploughed for four days.
A II right ! Mine has never ploughed. By the

head of the Prophet I am sure to overtake

thee.

The chase continued. Towards sundown the fugi-
tive began to lose ground, and his pursuer to over-
take him, and at last closed with him whom he had
despaired of catching.

'' ' My Father, God have mercy on him, luas accus-
tomed to say there has been no blessing on our

THE ARAB HORSE. 105

country since we have packed and harnessed our
horses. Bid not God create the horse to ride, the
ox to plough, and the camel to carry the pack ?
There is no gain in swerving from the paths of
God!

'"9th. You ask me what are our precepts touching
th^ feeding and keeping of our horses in condition.

" ' Know then that owners of horses begin with
giving their horses at first but little barley, increas-
ing the feed gradually, then diminishing it again
until the horse leaves a little of it uneaten. He is
then restricted to this quantity.

'' ' The best time to feed is the evening. Except
when travelling, it is useless to feed in the morning.
It is a saying on this subject —

The barley of the morning is found in the dung,
The barley of the evening re-appears in the croup.

" ' The best way to feed with barley is when the
horse is saddled and girthed, as it is best to give
him water with his bridle on.

'' ' On this subject we say —

Water with the bridle,
Barley with the saddle.

'' ' The Arabs place great store on a small-feeding
horse, provided he be not weakened by it. He is,
they say, a priceless treasure.
F 2

106 THE ARAB HORSE.

" ' Water in the morning makes a horse lose flesh,

" ' Water in the evening fattens,

" ' Water at mid-day preserves condition.

" ' During the great heats, which last 40 days, the
Arabs only water their horses once eveiy two days.
They say that this custom produces the best results.
In summer, autumn, and winter, they give an aim-
ful of straw to their horses ; but their chief article
of food, as well as that which they prefer to every-
thing else, is barley.

" ' The Arabs on this subject say —

If tve had not seen that horses siwing from
horses, we should have said, it is barley that begets
them.

" ' They say,

Find a large horse and buy him, barley ivill
make him go.

" * They say.

Of forbidden meats choose the lightest

That is, choose a light horse ; horseflesh being a
forbidden food to the Moslems.
" ' They say.

One becomes not a horseman till after many
falls.

'' ' They say,

The pure horse has no vice.

THE ARAB HORSE. 107

*' ' They say,

The horse in readiness is the honor of his
master.

" ' They say,

Horses are birds without wings.
"'They say,

Nothing is far for the horse.
" ' They say,

He vjho overlooks the beauty of the horse for that
of women will never prosper.

'' ' They say,
Horses know their riders.

"'The holy Ben-el- Abbis, may he find iavour with
God, has said also,

Save your horses and have a care of them,

Spare not your attentions,

On them depend honor and beauty.

Were horses abandoned by men,

I would take them into my family,

And share with them the bread of my children.

My luives clothe them vjith their veils,

And cover themselves vjith their djelales.

108 THE ARAB HORSE.

Every day I lead them

To the field of adventure.

Borne forward in their ini'petuoxis course,

I do battle with the most valiant.

" 'I have completed my letter, which our brother
and companion, the friend of all, the Commandant
Sid-bou-Senna, will cause to be put into your hand.
Greeting.'

" This letter was written by the hand of Abd-el-
Kader, the original is still in my possession, &c." —
Daumas.

THE ARAB HORSE. 109

THE AEAB HOESE

IN INDIA, SYRIA, MESOPOTAMIA, AND PERSIA.

" Veritable buveur d'air
II noircit le coeur de nos eniiemis"—Daumas.

It is probable that the reader will turn but a deaf
ear both to Abd-el-Kader and Daumas' estimate of the
Arab horse. For this reason I hasten to place before
him the views of some English writers, who have had
good oppoiH^unities of becoming acquainted with
and testing his qualities in foreign lands ; and let
me remark I have met with no rebutting evidence
to the facts and opinions which are advanced by
these writers. All Englishmen who have really
tried the Arab at work, seem to come to one con-
clusion— that he has no equal. Let us begin with
the Arab horse in India.

Of the Arab in India I know but little per-
sonally, never having been in that country. I

110 THE ARAB HORSE.

have seen about twenty Indian Arabs in Australia,
which were said to be, and as they were brought
here as sires would probably be favourable specimens
of their class. These few specimens had all a
decided family resemblance, and appeared to me
weedy when compared with the Arab of Syria.
Their descendants here have not added to their fame
in Austraha. From these censures I must except
" Satellite," whom I never saw, but whose stock,
twenty-five years ago, were in high repute in New
South Wales. Descriptions, however, of the Indian
Arab, by writers who knew him well, are numerous,
and his characteristics well determined. None that I
have met with are di^awn so graphically, and by
such a master hand, as that which is to be found in
the supplementary chapter to the " Wild Sports of
India," by Captain Shakespeare, which is headed —
'* On the different breeds of horses in India."

" In the first place," says Captain Shakespeare,
" the Arab horse is the very best horse under saddle,
for all general purposes, that can be had in India.
If anything besides general opinion is required to
corroborate this, it is found in the fact, that in the
market the Arab horse invariably commands the
highest price, whether he is bought for a racer, a
charger, a hunter, or a hack. He is the soundest
horse, the most enduring, the most beautiful to the
eye, the most docile, and the most courageous, and

THE ARAB HORSE. Ill

he is more easily broken in than any other. . . .
. . . Bombay and Bangalore are the chief marts
for the Arab horse, and in the stables at the former
place, from November to February, you may see as
many as a 1,000 fresh horses for sale. Out of these,
50 perhaps are high caste horses, either Nedjd —
which is the pure Ai^ab : rarely standing above four-
teen, and more commonly only fourteen hands, or
under — or the Aneezah Arab ; the highest form of
which is bred by a tribe of Aneezahs that inhabit
the Desert, some two marches from Bagdad. . . .
. . . It is worthy of notice, that with reference
to carrying weight, the Arab horse runs in exact
contrast to the thorough-bred English, tvhose best

blood is derived from him In India,

the low Arab horse cannot compete with the taller
horse at heavy weights, either on a race-course or
across country : thus we have many races weight for
inches. To look at these low sturdy built horses,
you would think that they could gallop under any

weight, but the trial will undeceive you

On the whole the chesnut and dark chesnut are the
most courageous. The dark coloured are also not
fiery, and they are also more generally weight
carriers. There are more gi*ey Arab racers than of
any other colour."

The following picture of the Arab horse is so
interesting, and drawn with so masterly a hand, that

112 THE ARAB HORSE.

I insert it without excuse, though not bearing
directly on the subject : —

" The points of the high caste Arab, as compared
with the English thoroughbred, are as follows : The
head is more beautifully formed, and more intelli-
gent ; the forehead broader ; the muzzle finer ; the
eye more prominent, more sleepy looking in repose,
more brilliant when the animal is excited. The ear
is more beautifully pricked, and of exquisite shape
and sensitiveness. On the back of the trained
hunter the rider scarcely requires to keep his eye on
anything but the ears of his horse, which gives
indications of everything which his ever- watchful
eye catches sight of The nostril is not always so
open in a state of rest, and indeed looks often thick
and closed ; but in excitement, or when the lungs
are in full play from the animal being at speed, it
expands greatly, and the membrane shows scarlet, as
if on fire. The game-cock throttle — that exquisite
formation of the throat and jaws of the blood-horse —
is not so commonly seen in the Arab as in the
thoroughbred English race-horse ; nor is the head
quite so lean. The jaws, for the size of the head, are
perhaps more apart, giving more room for the
expansion of the wind-pipe ; the point where the
head is put on to the neck is quite as delicate as the
English horse : this junction has much more to do
with the mouth of the horse than 'most people are

THE ARAB HORSE. 113

aware of, and on it depends the pleasure or other-
wise of the rider.

'' The bones, from the eye down towards the
lower part of the head, should not be too concave,
or of a deer's form : for this in the Arab, as in the
English horse, denotes a violent temper, though it
is veiy beautiful to look at. Proceeding to the
neck, we notice that the Arab stallion has rarely the
crest that the English stallion has. He has a strong,
light muscular neck : a little short perhaps compared
to the other, and thick. In pure breeds, the neck
runs into the shoulder very gradually ; and generally,
if the horse has a pretty good crest, comes down
rather perpendicularly into the shoulder ; but often,
if the horse is ahttle ewe-necked, which is not uncom-
mon mth the Arab, it runs too straight and low
down into the shoulders. The Arab horse, however,
rarely carries his head, when he is being ridden, so
high in proportion as the English. He is not so
well topped, which I attribute to the different way
he is reared, and to his not being broken in regularly,
like the English horse, before he is put to work.
His shoulders are not so flat and thin, and he is
thicker through in these parts generally, for his size,
than the English thoroughbred horse. His girth
does not show so deep, that is, he does not look
so deep over the heart ; but between the knees and
behind the saddle, where the English horse very

114 THE ARAB HORSE.

often falls off, the Arab is barrel-ribbed, and this
gives his wonderful endurance, and his great con-
stitutional points. This also prevents him getting
knocked up in severe training, or under short
allowance of food, and in long marches.

'' His chest is quite broad enough and deep
enough for either strength or bottom. The scapular
or shoulder blade, is both in length and backward
inclination, compared to the humerus or upper bone
of the arm, quite as fine in the high-caste Arab as
in the English horse, while both bones are generally
better furnished with muscles, better developed and
feel firmer to the hand. But some of the very
fastest Arabs have their forelegs very much under
them : so much so, indeed, that no judge would buy
an English horse so made ; yet, whether it be that
this form admits of the joints between these bones
becoming more open when the horse extends him-
self, or whatever be the cause, it is a fact that blood
horses thus made, are almost always fast horses.
The upper part of their shoulder blade seems to run
back under the front part of the saddle, when they
are going their best.

" This formation is most common in the lower-
sized Arab, and apparently makes up for his defi-
ciency in height : the very finest Arabs have this
peculiarity of form. They are rather apt to become
chafed at the elbow-points by the girths, and almost

THE ARAB HORSE. 115

require to have saddles made for them. The elbow-
point, that essential bone, which, for the sake of
leverage, should be prominent, is free in the Arab,
and generally plays clear of the body. The fore-
arm is strong and muscular, and is pretty long ; the
laiee square, mth a good speedy cut for the size of
the animal, equal to the English horse ; while below
the knee, the Arab shines very conspicuously : having
a degree of power there, both in suspensor
ligaments, and flexor tendons, far superior in pro-
portion to his size to the English horse. These are
distinct and away from the shank bone ; they give
a very deep leg, and act mechanically to great
advantage.

*' The bone looks small, but then it is very dense :
the hollow which contains the marrow being very
small, and the material solid, more like ivory than
bone, heavy and close-grained. The flexor tendons
are nearly as large and thick as the cannon bone.
The pasterns and their joints are quite in keeping
with the bones above them, and are not so lonec,
straight, and weak, as those of the English horse.
The feet are generally in the same proportion ; but
the Arabs themselves appear to be very careless in
their treatment of them. The body or centre-piece of
the Arab horse has rarely too great length. This is a
very uncommon fault in the pure breed ; and there is
no breed of horses that are more even in this respect

116 THE ARAB HORSE.

than the Arab. Behind this, we come to a great
peculiarity in the breed— his croup : I might say,
an Arab horse is known by it : he is so much more
beautifully made in his quarters, and in the way his
tail is put in, than most other breeds. His loins
are good : he is well coupled — his quarters are
powerful, and his tail carried high : and this even
in castes that have little more than a high bred
stallion to recommend them. The straight-dropped
hind leg is always a recommendation, and almost all
racing Arabs liave it ; and this, when extended,
brings the hind foot under the stirrup, and the pro-
pellers being of this shape, give a vast stride,
without fear of over-reach. The thighs and hocks
are good ; the latter very rarely know either kind
of spavin or curbs. The joints and processes are
preeminently well-adapted for the attachment of the
muscles, while the flexor tendons of the hind les^
generally correspond with those of the fore. The
hocks are not much let down, nor the hind leg so
greyhound-like as in the thoroughbred English horse.
In stride, too, he is somewhat different, inasmuch as
it is a rounder way of going, and is not so extended
or so near the ground, but is more like a bound.
However, there are exceptions, and I have bred
pure Arabs whose stride, for their size, was very
extended, and quite like that of English race
horses."-

THE ARAB HORSE. 117

In reading this, Captain Shakespeare's admirable
description of the Arab horse, I cannot help noticing
a sort of Avorkmanlike handling of the subject, which
is nowhere to be found in the pages of Daumas, for
instance, or in any other of the writings of the —
as I must call them — unequestrian nations. In fact,
this sort of knowledge, and this style, seem only to
be found amono-st Enoiish, at home and abroad, and
would, I am quite sure, be Greek to the generality
of foreigners.

In speaking of several of the best breeds of India,
the author ascribes their superiority to strains of
Arab blood, notwithstanding which the Arab appears
to be under a cloud in that country. " With the
tide," says Captain Shakespeare, "now turned
against Arabs for stallions, at the Cape and in
India, I will, nevertheless, prophesy that at no very
distant date he will again come into favour."

My purpose in making the above extracts is to
present my readers with a view of the Arab in a
country where he is to be found working side by
side with various other imported horses, and this in
a chapter advocating the propriety of breeding
cavalry horses in India. Here the writer prefers
him to all other horses, and says, that of horses not
bred in the country, the Arab and the gulf horse
can alone support the climate and work in the sun
of India. In his category the Australian horse is

118 THE ARAB HORSE.

particularly mentioned. As a carriage horse and
racer lie is said to shine, but in no other way. He
is held to be exceedingly vicious.

Having said so much of them, there still remains
a point to be considered before passing on, and a
question to be asked. Are these Arabs of India
real Arabs, or is it only an inferior cock-tail Arab
that is so immeasurably the first horse in India ?
There can be no doubt, I believe, on that head ; he
is not the real Simon Pure. High caste Nedjd horses
could be purchased before the mutiny, says Captain
Shakespeare, for £70, and now they range as high as
£200. About 50 of them, he says, come yearly to
Bombay. If a horse could be brought from Nedjd
and sold at Bombay for £70, what could he be
bought for where he was bred ? The price and
the abundance of the article both point it out as
spurious. Though it is no secret that the Indian
Arab is a second class article, I am still glad to
bring forward some authorities on the subject ; and
let the reader recollect that a great many of the
Nedjd horses, which though small are of high caste,
are sold in Syria. Colonel Churchill, in his Mount
Lebanon, says, speaking of Daher, who was shot at
Sidon, " The greatest expense he incurred was in
blood mares, for some of which he paid nearly £800."
Wellsten, in his travels in Oman, says that the
Jmaum of Muskat has stallions worth from 1,500 to

THE ARAB HORSE. 119

2,000 dollars, or £400. Layard, in his " Ruins of
Nineveh and Babylon," comes right to the point.
He says : —

*' The Indian market is chiefly supplied by the
Montefik tribes inhabiting the banks of the lower
Euphrates ; but the purity of their stock has been
neglected, in consequence of the great demand, and
a Montefik horse is not valued by a true Bedouin.
Horse dealers, generally of the mixed Arab tribe of
Agayl, pay periodical visits to the Shammar and
Aneyza, to purchase colts for exportation to India.
They buy horses of high caste, which frequently sell
for large sums at Bombay. The dealers pay in the
desert from £30 to £150 for colts of two, three, and
four years. The Agayles attach less importance to
blood than the Bedouins, and provided the horse has
points that suit the Indian market, they rarely ask
his pedigree. The Arabs, hence, believe that the
Europeans know nothing of blood, which, with them,
is the first consideration. The horses thus purchased
are sent to Bombay by native vessels at a very con-
siderable risk, whole cargoes being lost or thrown

overboard during storms ever year The

Arab horse is more remarkable for its exquisite
symmetry and beautiful proportions, united with
wonderful powers of endurance, than for exti-aordi-
nary speed, / doubt whether any Arab of the best
blood has been ever brought to England. The diffi-

120 THE ARAB HORSE.

culty of obtaining them is so great that they are
scarcely ever seen beyond the liviits of the desert. .
. . . Their average height is from 14 to 14|,
rarely reaching 15 hands. I have only seen one

mare that exceeded it It is only the

mare of the wealthy Bedonin that gets a regailar
feed of about twelve handfuls of barley, or of rice
in the husk, once in the twenty-four hours. . . .
The Shammar Bedouins give their horses, particu-
larly when young, large quantities of camel's milk.
I have heard of mares eating raw flesh, and dates
are frequently mixed with their food by the tribes
near the mouth of the Euphrates."

The reader will observe that the lirst few lines of
this extract concerning the sort of horses sent to
India involves a contradiction. This I notice fre-
quently ! The meaning of the author, however, on
the whole, is clear enough, which is, in two words,
that the Indian Arabs are not of good pedigree, that
a first class Arab has probably never reached even
England, and is rarely seen beyond the limits of the
desert.

Ten years ago, I met El Signor Angelo, an emissary
of the French Government, who had come to Syria
to purchase stallions for the Emperor. We parted
at Beirout. I heard afterwards that he had succeeded
in procuring ten pure stallions for the Emperor, for
which he paid £1,000 per head. And after all were

THE ARAB HORSE. 121

they first-class horses ? Those who best know the
Bedouins say that they never have sold a first-class
horse to any unbeliever. On the subject of the
difficulty of obtaining first-class Arabs, I will make
one more extract, from the many testimonies I have
met on the subject. It is from a " Pilgiimage to El
Medinah and Meccah," by R. F. Burton, in 1856,
who says, " Abbas, the late Pacha (of Egypt), did his
best to buy first-rate Arab stallions ; on one occasion
he sent a mission to El Medinah for the sole purpose
of fetching a rare work on farriery. Yet it is
doubtful whether he ever had a first-rate Nedji.
A Bedouin, sent to Cairo by one of the chiefs of
Nedjd, being shewn by the viceroy's orders over the
stables, on being asked his opinion of the blood,
replied, greatly to the great man's disgust, that they
did not contain a single thoroughbred (Arab). He
adds an apology on the part of his laird, for the
animals he had brought from Arabia, saying, that
neither Sultan nor Shaykh could procure colts of
the best strain.

" For none of these horses would the staunch
admirer of the long-legged monster called in England
a thoroughbred give £20. They are mere rats, short
and stunted, ragged and fleshless, with rough coats
and slouching walk. But the experienced glance notes
at once the snake-like head, ears like reeds, wide
and projecting nostrils, large eyes, fiery and soft

G

122 THE ARAB HORSE.

alternately, broad brow, deep base of the skull, wide
chest, crooked tail, limbs padded with muscle, long
elastic pasterns ; and the animal put out to speed
soon displays the wonderful force of blood. In fact,
when buying Arabs there are only three things to
be considered — ^blood, blood, and again blood . . .
It is said that the Zu Mahommed and the Zu Husayn,
sub-families of the Beni Yam, a large tribe living
around and north of Sanaa, in Yemen, have a fine
large breed] called El Jauf, and the clan El Aulaki
rear animals celebrated for swiftness and endurance.
The other races are stunted, and the Arabs declare
that the air of Yemen causes a degeneracy in the
first generation. The Bedouins, on the contrary,
uphold their superiority, and talk with the greatest
contempt of the African horse.

" In India we now depend for Arab blood on the
Persian Gulf, and the consequences of monopoly
display themselves in an increased price for inferior
animals. Our studs are generally believed to be
sinks of rupees. The Governments now object, it is
said, to rearing, at a great cost, animals distinguished
by nothing but ferocity."

When it is borne in mind that aU the best breeds
of horses, not only of the East, but of the world, all
trace their best virtues to Arab descent ; and when
I recollect the many persons weU able to estimate
their qualities who have pronounced in their favour,

THE ARAB HORSE. 123

it seems unnecessary, and that there is but little
occasion for my adding my humble testimony to
that of so many. And yet as a Bedouin would not
give a piastre for the opinion of any one, concerning
a horse, who was not a Bedouin, so an Australian
may not be displeased to hear the opinion of an
Australian, and to this end only I will say my say.
About ten years ago, I had many opportunities of
seeing Arab horses in Syria, Turkey, the Holy Land,
and Egypt, and before I saw them I had already had
some experience of the horses of England, France, and
Spain, besides those of Australia and Tasmania, in
none of which countries I had resided less than
a year. I had also seen those of Greece, Italy,
Flanders, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, and other
places too numerous to mention, so that I may be
said to have approached the examination of the
Arab after having seen most of the best breeds in
existence. Since then I have had an opportunity of
again reviewing them, and if necessary of revising
my first impression. In all these countries I have
ridden more or less, and had originally in Tasmania
and Australia been so unceasingly in the saddle, that
it is not to be wondered at that I acquired a habit
of glancing my eye over every horse that came in
my way, and involuntarily daguerreotyping his figure
upon my memory. Neither is it surprising that as
I went along I made myself acquainted with any

124! THE ARAB HORSE.

little peculiarities in their treatment, as well as an
estimate of their capabilities. At the same time, as this
was but the same species ofhabit which all have more
or less in connection with any pursuit that may in-
terest them, I made no notes of my observations, as
at that time I had not the remotest idea that I
should ever write on the subject, or turn the know-
ledge thus picked up to any practical purpose.

Of Arab horses, though I have seen many belong-
ing to Pashas and royal personages, to rich men and
to wandering Bedouins, I am not sure that I have
ever seen one of the most esteemed castes. But, if
not, I have seen many that had been purchased at
respectable prices, seen many of them at work, and
ridden a few of them. A gardener soon forms an
opinion of a spade, and a woodcutter of an axe, and
so one who has lived in the saddle soon makes up
his mind about horses. Mine, at all events, was not
long in being satisfied. Instead of seeing anything
to object to in the Arab as a saddle-horse — ^his size
excepted — all that I did see, and all that I was
enabled to glean concerning him in his native land,
only led me the more decidedly to endorse the
opinions of those numberless very competent judges
who had gone before me. I never met a man who
had tried him and did not like him. I found him
in speed inferior to the horse of England, but in
tractability, constitution, durability, soundness, ab-

THE ARAB HORSE. 125

stemiousness, temper, courage, and instinct, eclipsing
and surpassing all other horses that it has been my
chance to meet with. In that quality so pleasant to
the horseman, sagacity, I think he has no equal.
Even half-breeds sprung from him are remarkable in
this point. When in Syria, I bought a little horse
which was no beauty, but had evidently got a good
deal of Arab blood in him. He stood 14.2, and was
six years off. I had him about three months, and rode
him, perhaps, a thousand miles. He was never fed
more than twice a day under any circumstances. At
sunrise his breakfast, which consisted of two double-
handfuls of barley, was given to him in his nosebag.
This took him, as I often noticed, about twenty min-
utes to eat. Two hours after this he was allowed
about four quarts of water. Three hours before sun-
down he was taken to water and allowed to drink
his fill. Two hours later, ten double-handfuls of
barley, sometimes mixed with three or four handfuls
of chaff, were given to him. Such were the habits
in which he had been brought up, and such tlie
amount of food which proved in every way sufficient
for him even when at work. Once on my journey,
at Tyre, I took it into my head to alter all this, and
after a long day to give him, when I pulled up, as
much water as he chose to drink, followed by his
barley, without allowing any interval to elapse. The
result^ as might be expected, was, that next day he

126 THE AKAB HORSE.

was unwell. However, a day's fast, and a return to
his old regimen, set all right again. On this he
looked as round as if he had eaten as much as our
Australian horses are accustomed to do. For 20
days I rode him 30 miles a day. He had fifteen
stone on his back — the country was mountainous
and rocky, but he never made a false step, and I
think he improved in condition. I never remember
to have found him weary.

His intelligence was quite beyond any single
instance I have ever witnessed in an Australian
horse. To say that he recognised his master as one
man does another, would hardly be doing justice to
his sagacity : he rather seemed to recognise me as
the detective does his man. If, as was sometimes the
case, he was in a stable with a hundred others, where
many persons would be constantly passing to and
fro at all hours, he seemed to be constantly on the
watch for me. My voice, of course, he knew at
once. The sound of my footsteps seemed as familiar
to his ear as was my appearance to his eye. He
would greet me with his voice when I was several
hundred yards from my tent.

I might adduce a thousand instances of instinct,
such as one would rather look for in a dog than a
horse — but as this is apart from my subject, I will
spare the reader my reminiscences.

It has commonly been supposed of late years that

THE ARAB HORSE. 127

the difficulty of acquiring first-class Arab horses and
mares has been exaggerated, and, notwithstanding
the authorities I have adduced on that head, I feel
that there may be a lurking incredulousness, which
perhaps actual contact with the Bedouin can alone
dispel. But, besides his fondness for his mare, his
customs, religion, and self-interest are all against the
sale of liis best horse. To ask a Bedouin, who has
not volunteered to sell, to part with his horse, is no
less an insult than it would be to ask an English
nobleman, under the same circumstances, to put a
price on the haUs of his ancestors. " It is a great
offence," says Daumas, " to say to an Arab, * Will
you seU your horse ? ' before he has himself made
known his desire to sell : ' I am thought to be in
great misery,' says he, " when you dare to make me
such a proposal.' " But a still greater difficulty in
the way is, that to no one is a good horse so neces-
sary as to the Bedouin. " L'Arahe," says Daumas,
" Tie pent mener que la vie d deux, son cheval et
lui." Layard puts this in a clear light, where he
says : " To understand how a man, who has perhaps
not even bread to feed himself and his children, can
withstand the temptation of such large sums, it
must be remembered that, besides the affection pro-
verbially felt by the Bedouin for his mare, which
might perhaps be not proof against such a test, he is
entirely dependant on her for his happiness, his glory.

128 THE ARAB HORSK

and, indeed, his very existence. An Arab, possess-
ing a horse unrivalled in speed and endurance,
and it would only be for such that prices like those
I have mentioned would be offered, is entirely his
own master, and can defy the world : once on its
back, no one can catch him. He may rob, plunder,
fight, and go to and fro as he hsts. He believes in
the word of his Prophet : " That noble and fierce
horses are true riches." Without his mare, money
would be of no value to him : it would either be-
come the prey of some one more powerful and better
mounted than himself, would be spent in festivities,

or be distributed amongst his kinsman •

No one has a heartier hatred of restraint than the
true Bedouin : give him the desert, his mare, and
his spear, and he will not envy the wealth and
power of the greatest of the earth. He plunders
and robs for the mere pleasure and excitement
which danger and glory afford.*'

Such is the Arab horse, and such are the ways of
his master. I do not know where you will have to
go to find such another ! Such he is now, and if we
may trust the accounts of old travellers, such he has
long been. In the "Voyages de Monsieur Le
Chevalier Chardin, en Perse, 1709," we have a
description of him, which singularly tallies with
that of General Daumas : " J'ai dit," says he,
speaking of the Persian horses, " qu' ils sont les

THE ARAB HORSE. 129

plus beaux de V Orient ; metis pour cela Us ne sont
pas les meilleurs, ni les plus reclierchez. Ceux
d' Arable les passent et sont fort estimez en Perse a
cause de leur legerte, car ils sont, quant a la forme,
semblables a de vrayes Rosses par leur taille seche
etdecharnee."

But though mentioned last, not the least item of
the glory of the Arab still remains to be spoken :
the renown of his descendants in foreign lands !
Where is there a horse excelling those around him
who does not trace his virtues to some strain of
Eastern blood ? To him England owes all her
equine glory ; to him are indebted for their best
blood — North America and Australia, France, Spain,
Italy, Russia, Circassia, and India.

Such is the Arab horse, who, as Youatt says
of the Barb, " Presents the true combination of speed
and bottom ; " and whilst we remember that he
wants but two inches in height to be the perfection
of horseflesh (which want, I firmly believe, more
plentiful food would radically supply in three gene-
rations), let us not forget his renown as a sire,
his sure-footedness, docility, beauty, speed, abste-
miousness, stoutness, and courage — where shall we
find his peer ? All honour to the little horse !

Who will contradict me when I assert, that no
breed of saddle-horses has shone, which has not
possessed some strain of Arab blood ? Who will
g2

130 THE ARAB HORSE.

show me that I am incorrect, when I say, that the
virtues of European breeds are in exact relation to
their affinity to the Arab ?

Who that has known the Arab has not preferred
him to all other horses ?

THE ANDALUSIAN HOKSE. 13]

THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

" Yo no quiero criados que tengan un aspecto tan
virtuoso, porque estoy escarmentado de ellos."

an Bias.

Andalusia was long celebrated throughout Europe
for its excellent breed of horses. From that king-
dom the Spanish knight and soldier got his charger,
and the Hidalgo his jennet. After a considerable
but gradual falling off in the quality, and deteriora-
tion in the figure of these horses, the studs whence
they were drawn were seized for cavalry remounts,
and entirely broken up by Soult and other French
marshals in the great Peninsular war.

The best blood of the Andalusian horse was that
of the Barb, imported by the Moors, and from it our
thoroughbreds are partly descended. Some vessels
also of the celebrated Armada, with Barb horses
on board, were shipwrecked on the coast of Scot-
land and the Scottish Isles, whence sprung the

132 THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

Galloway, and several other breeds of cobs and
ponies, which long showed traces of their Eastern
blood, and were justly celebrated for speed, bottom,
and beauty.

Of the Spanish horse, but little is said, either
by Youatt or Stonehenge. The latter author
attributes great courage to him, which he is said to
evince at the Bull fight, meeting his horned
antagonist without flinching. Flinch, indeed, the
poor living skeleton who is condemned to the
Corrida does not : whether this be from courage, or
that he feels his life to be too miserable to be worth
the preserving, I know not ; but at all events his
off eye is always bandaged, so that he cannot see his
antagonist, who is always received on that side,
which may in part account for his valour. From
two to ten of these miserable scarecrows, according
to the state of the funds available for the purpose,
are served out to each bull, and are slaughtered
by him in the most cold-blooded, unresisting man-
ner, and fonns, in fact, the disgusting part of the
exhibition.

No one catches the eye sooner, or looks more
gay, showy, or attractive, on his horse, tlian the
young caballero of Andalusia. In all the great inland
cities of that province, you still see him take his
daily ride in his national costume ; he still reins
back his steed with his long Eastern curb ; el imso

THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE. 133

is still liis chosen gait. The swarthy complexion of
the rider, the stately tread of his horse, his Moorish
saddle and shovel-stirrups ; the gorgeous shawl that
falls across his knees, the many coloured housings,
and horse-tail tied up with ribands, irresistibly
recall to memory, as he passes dowTi the narrow,
cartless streets of Calle Francos or el Zacatin, the
days of his Moorish predecessors : the stormy days,
when Bobadil el Chico sallied out of the gate of
Elvira to avenge the fall of Alhama, at the head of
all the chosen chivalry of Granada, mounted on their
celebrated bay mares.

" Por esa puerta de Granada
Sale muy gran Cabalgada
Cuanto del hidalgo moro,
Cuanto dela gegua baya."

With his love of display, something too of the
Mahometan love for his horse has been bequeathed
to his conqueror, whom some one has termed " an
Arab in a house," and, as in the desert he shares the
tent of the Arab, so in Andalusia he is lodged in the
house of his master. The houses of Andalusia are
usually quadrangular buildings, with no back yard
of any sort, and with but one entrance, which is
through a large iron or bronze gate, fronting the
street, in the centre of the fa9ade, and at the en-
trance of the spacious hall, on each side of which is
a sort of anteroom, where the horses are stabled :

134 THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

hence the stranger is surprised when he sees,
for the first time, the saddle-horse, not led out of a
stable, hut out of the front door of some palatial
edifice. A few steps onwards takes you into the
Patio or court, which is the centre of the house, and
forms the summer sitting-room. The external edges
of the Patio are overhung to about the depth of ten
feet all round, by the projecting balconies of the first
story, and the rest of it is shaded in summer from
the sun by a rich awning. It is a very pleasant
place in the hot weather ! A sparkling fountain in
its centre — another legacy from the Moors — drops
with silvery sound into a marble font, cooling and
bedewing the air, and the tesselated floor, on which
stand here and there statues, and orange-trees,
flowers, and green shrubs, growing in pots. Under
cover of the overhanging balconies are paintings,
tables, piano, and guitars ; books, and work-boxes,
rich carpets, and sofas, on which, as you walk by,
you may see seated the dark-eyed ladies of the
house, under the same roof, and but a few yards
from the family steed, whose neigh is often heard to
answer the voice of his master. The bath is close
at hand ; and many a gay lamp lights the scene at

night.

" Sostenian los ricos arquitraves
De sus claros moris-cos corrideres
Columnas ligerisiraas. Sus naves,
Adornaban arabigas labores,

THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE. 135

Sutiles ciial la pluma de las aves
Tan brillantes como ella en sus colores ;
Fnitales desde el huerto a las ventanas
Alargando limones y manzanas.

" Sus patios, que en albercas espaciosas
Reciben unas aguas cristalinas
Al cuerpo gratas y al beber sabrosas
Pilas eran de bano alabastrinas
Sembrado el borde de arrayan y rosas,
Donde las bellas moras granadinas
El seco ardor de la mitad del ano
Ahuyentaban di si con fresco bano."

Ill bringing before my readers the horse of Anda-
lusia, I have a very special purpose. It is not, as
may be imagined, to point out any paii^icularly good
qualities that he may possess — and he is not without
several, for in good specimens he is still healthy,
vigorous, and a weight carrier, abstemious, and but
little subject to disease, and, in fact, still before
many of the other horses of Europe — nor in any way
to hold him up to admiration. It is rather to specu-
late on his decline and debasement, and how it came
about ; how he is now so altered from what he was
when the last King of Granada led back his Moors
to Africa. When I first landed in Spain I was
surprised to see so little of the Arab figure about
the horses ridden by the gentry, and to find that
any of it that still existed was to be met amongst
those but little esteemed, and put to the meanest

136 THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

drudgery. In talking with Spaniards on the sub-
ject, I soon discovered that their taste in horseflesh
was quite at variance with an Englishman's or an
Australian's ideas on that subject ; and that the
form and action of the thoroughbred, whose speed
they made no difficulty in allowing, were both
equally disliked in Spain. I had at first some
difficulty in believing that the opinions which I
heard expressed could be those of connoisseurs.
That such was the case, however, I soon had an
undeniable opportunity of learning. This happened
on the occasion of a great show of saddle-horse siresj
at Seville, which took place in the Corrida cle Toros.
Curiosity led me that way, and being in the boxes
I had a good opportunity of seeing the horses as they
were led round the circus. Being in company with
a gentleman who knew one of the judges, who stood
in the arena, I got introduced to him, and through
his kindness was allowed to descend and inspect
the horses with the judges. Here I heard all their
points discussed, and heard our old adage that " like
begets like," which Cervantes expresses, " cada cosa
engendra su semejamte" pretty freely made use of,
and saw the prize awarded. The whole affair
amused me a good deal, and I recollect the discus-
sions on the subject well, though I made no memor-
anda of the matter, as I had not at that time, nor
till long after, the remotest idea of ever writing a

THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE. 137

line about the Andalusian or any other horse. Here
I found the great contrariety of their opinions and
those of Englishmen ; that what we prize they often
dislike, what is valued by us is often held cheap by
them. Thus, to our light and somewhat lengthy
neck, they prefer one short, high-crested, and thick ;
a lean, fleshless head, and an open, intelligent eye,
are not in the category of their beauties. We esteem
a light, firm, and active walk, they the paso. The
shape of bone, whether flat or round, cleanness of
sinew, and proper formation of joints, are little
thought of They are much less observant of points
than we are, being rather inclined to restrict their
criticism to the carriage, action, and tout ensemble
of the appearance of the animal ; not deducing from
experience, that certain make and forms are excel-
lent for certain purposes, but as embodying their idea
of a sort of pompous or parade beauty, arbitrarily
agreed upon, and fixed by fashion amongst them,
as being the beau-ideal of perfection. If the horse
is high, say from 15 J to 16 hands, a good colour,
bay being preferred as of old, luxuriant mane and
tail, short back and neck, body rather round than
deep, wide chest, with strong arm and gaskin, good
sound feet, wide hips and muscular coupling, per-
forms the pa^o to their satisfaction, carries heaps of
flesh and a good coat, is quiet, but proud and fiery
in his gait, he quite comes up to their idea of what

138 THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

a horse should be. Something, perhaps, of the figure
that a Suffolk-punch mare might throw to an Arab
sire. His shoulder straight and heavy, his neck
short and thick, his pastern straight, his bone
round, his leg fleshy, and his head coarse, will not
be seriously objected to, or in fact noticed.

He is ridden with a strong heavy curb, which
cannot be denied, his head is held high, and his
chin forced close to the lower part of his neck. Held
in this posture, a long spur applied to his sides,
produces the gait known as el paso, in which the
horse seems to walk with his hind legs, and lift his
fore feet as if at a jog-trot, but very high and with
a very awkward turn of the foot, throwing up the
dust and mud ; but being restrained by the bit, he
plants it quickly and with a blow, but very little in
advance of where he raised it from. This action of
the fore feet is much admired by the initiated.
Here, then, were before me the fact and its explana-
tion. What sort of horse is admired in Andalusia,
and how he has been brought to his present shape
and action from what he once was. The metamor-
phosis presents but small difficulty in the solution.
Once fix on a certain configuration as a beau-ideal,
horses of that figure become saleable ; the breeder
anxiously seeks for sires embodying the desired
characteristics ; stallions of that stamp, rare perhaps
at first, become more plentiful from selection, as the

THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE. 139

offspring of those that exist, and the figure sought
at length becomes general. I am well aware that
there are limits set by nature to this principle, but,
as I am treating the subject practically and not
scientifically, there appears to me no occasion for
entering on the discussion of that point. Neither
must my reader imagine that I mean to state that
the present Andalusian horse has been produced
without any crossing. Crossing with base blood, is,
of coui^se, the high road to deterioration, and has,
no doubt, facihtated the change effected here. I
will, however, add, that I have no doubt but that by
a skilfal use and selection of climate, food, and sires,
the little Shetland pony, might, after perhaps a
hundred or two generations, without any cross, be
brought to rival the size of our large brewer's horses,
or that mighty animal be dwarfed down to the
diminutive height of the Shetlander, or to almost
any existing intermediate configui^ation, just as
food, climate, and customs, have given us, in
our own race, the pigmy Astec and the gigantic
Patagonian.

So much for the saddle-horse of Andalusia. The
more humble nag of the caleso, stage coach, &c.,
whilst retaining more of the figure of his Moorish
ancestor, has been reduced by hardships and neglect
to a very contemptible condition. Still, however, I
have noticed that he is more spirited, more abste-

140 THE ANDALUSIAN HORSE.

mious, and more stout, than a horse of equal figure
would be in England, Belgium, or France.

Encouraged by the taste of the English garrison
at Gibraltar, a few somewhat Arab-like looking
horses are bred in that neighbourhood for sale, and
as they have been most brought under the observa-
tion of Englishmen, their figure has often been sup-
posed to be that usual in Spain. Such, however, as
1 have said, is not the case, for the old Arab blood and
figure may be now said to have been perfectly and
systematically debased in that country, and a very
second-rate animal to have occupied his place, offer-
ing another proof, if it were needed, of how com-
pletely a wrong aim in breeding may ruin the best
race of horses.

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 141

THE

AUSTEALIAN SADDLE-HOESE.

" Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the stable."— Gadshill.

. We now come to the horses of our own country.
To Austraha, as to America, the horse was not indi-
genous. He was first imported into New South
Wales from England. Mares were subsequently
brought from the Cape of Good Hope, from Val-
paraiso, and pony mares from Lombock and Timor,
and have now increased to very large numbers.
Thoroughbred su^es have been imported from England
in constant succession, and in considerable numbers,
some few of them being of good quality, the rest
mere weeds, which have only served to deteriorate
our breed. Arab sires, with one exception of low
caste, have also frequently been introduced from
India and the Cape, but not in numbers sufficient to
have had much effect on the breed here. Such as

142' THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

have come have been chiefly Gulf Arabs of the
racing-type ; greys, of little bone and low caste.

In the early days of New South Wales consider-
able care was used in the breeding of saddle-horses ;
sires were selected with some judgment, and fillies
allowed to arrive at a fit age before they were sent
to the horse. It also happened that several of the
stallions of the early days proved themselves to be
much more fitted to be the sires of saddle-horses
than any which have been since imported. This I
have heard remarked by many competent judges,
and have myself witnessed to a certain extent.
Amongst the most fortunate of our early sires were
Whisker, a thoroughbred, and Satellite, an Arab,
in New South Wales ; and Peter Finn, a thorough-
bred, in Tasmania. These horses, compared with
what we have since had, got excellent stock. There
were also one or two good stallions in Sydney still
earlier than those just mentioned, but their names I
am no longer able to recollect, nor do I know that
it is of much importance. The horse has increased
rapidly since his first introduction to Australia, and
is now found in large numbers (in many places
neglected, wild, and unclaimed) in all the settled
districts. Though, as might be expected, in coun-
tries so dissimilar in position, climate, and pasture,
as those now settled in New Holland, some pecu-
liarities in his quahties have begun to manifest

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 143

themselves in relation to these causes, and certain
distinct characteristics to spring up in various
localities, yet on the whole, a great similarity still
exists in all, management everywhere having been
much alike, and on these points I wiU first speak.

On the first importation of horses into New South
Wales, the animal was too valuable to be neglected,
and the demand being limited held out no induce-
ment to owners to sacrifice quality to quantity by
too early breeding. As the animal increased in
numbers, a degree of stoutness and capacity for
work quite unknown in England began to manifest
itself in the colonial-bred horses, and the English
emigrant was surprised to find that the horse he had
bred in the country of his adoption was remarkable
for a vigorous health and freedom from sickness and
disease, and would endure fatigues and perform
journeys on grass-feed alone, which would have over-
taxed the parent stock in England on the best
stable keep. This robust health he still possesses
in a remarkable degree. His stoutness was still
further increased by the importation of thoroughbred
stallions, who, be their pedigree what it might, have
had no equals as foal-getters amongst those since
introduced. The racing and Ai'ab blood of Whisker
and Satellite seemed at their meeting to flow with
fresh vigour in the land of the South. As our
horses increased in number they stiU continued not

144 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

only to uphold, but even to add to their early repu-
tation, thus substantiating their first testimony as
to the fitness of the Australian pasture and climate
for their full development and perfection. The
gentry now, both in town and the bush, rode horses
of rare stamp, whose performance surpassed even
what their figures promised. The Mounted Pohce
and Border Police, heavy men frequently, with
heavy accoutrements, bestrode chargers such as no
horse-regiment m England could or can turn out,
and have been frequently known, as I have been
informed by credible persons, to do their 70 miles for
four or five consecutive days without difficulty. Of
course I mean on grass-feed alone, without hay or
corn. To this day, it may as well be said, after
leaving town and passing through what may be
called the country districts, the horseman enters the
bush, where artificial forage of any sort may be said
to be unknown. Hence, when speaking of riding
in the bush, it must be understood that the horse
gets nothing to eat but what he can pick up, which
is often but a very scanty allowance.

A reputation at last begun to be established by
the horses of New South Wales, or, as it was then
better known as. Botany Bay, and they began to be
exported for the use of the British cavalry in India.
These I have been told by the late Sir George
Arthur, Governor of Madras or Bombay, I forget

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 145

whicli, and other officers, fully kept up in India
the character they had brought with them from
Australia, both on the road and on the turf ; and
being weight-carriers, large and well-bred, bringing
to mind the chargers of the old country, were pre-
ferred to all others at that time in India for that
purpose. But these days of early glory were not
destined to be of long continuance. Colonization
began to progress, and the town or farm -reared Eng-
lishman began to learn a little bush ci^ft. He had
already burst through the Blue Mountain barrier,
which had so long held him back. The sheej) and
cattle originally imported had increased rapidly,
and fresh pasture had become necessary. The ser-
vices of the horse began now to be more requisite,
and he had fallen into the hands of breeders, who,
however they might excel as horsemen, knew little
of the rules necessary to his production, or the
preservation of his good qualities. As his position
became remote from civilization, the services of
imported, thoroughbred, or picked sires, became
unattainable and expensive, and colts often of the
most indifferent descriptions were substituted in
their stead, and ran loose with the little mobs of
mares and fillies which began to be found about the
homesteads of the settlers ; fillies of from two years
to thirty months old began regularly to rear their
foals, and the- horse stock, as a consequence, rapidly

1-iG THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

to deteriorate. Then fresh settlers and more capital
began to find their way into the colony, and Victoria
(then Port Philip), and Adelaide, new settlements,
offered good investments to the monied, and the ex-
citement of emigTation and adventure to the young
stock-holder. Horses that at this day would not
realize over fifty shillings, were then eagerly caught
up in these new markets at £70, £80, and £100,
and their production as a consequence was at once
pushed to the utmost.

This brings us to the year 1840, when the author
first landed in Melbourne. Horses were then coming
slowly from the Sydney country to Victoria, gener-
ally poor, stunted, miserable wretches, the culls of
that district, whose degeneracy weedy race-horses
had begun, and early breeding and haphazard sires
had completed. But, in those days, from time to
time came into Victoria an occasional veteran Satel-
lite horse, sinewy, of exquisite make, and of great
utility and power ; the remnants of the original
horse, the had-been of other days. The young stock
had become leggy, girthless, boneless abortions, that
had dwarfed down to from fourteen hands to fourteen
hands three inches, whose only value was their
market price, for intrinsically they had none. Even
this value soon disappeared, for before 1843 had
passed away, three of the former £60 horses had
become equivalent m the market of New South

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 147

Wales to tlie price of one saddle. In fact they
became almost valueless.

When this commercial crisis had pased away, and
the wool and tallow brought into the market had
again made the country solvent, stock of all sorts
reaped the benefit of improved management, with
every other interest. The horse amongst the rest.
The hack now rose in value, from a mere song to
about £12. People, however, began to find that
they had got into a bad sort, that the little weeds
now in use were unable to carry them, and the old
settlers and Sydney natives looked back with regret
to the old days when they rode those fast, up-stand-
ing, strong, and fiery horses, far inferior, it is true,
to the Ai'ab, yet whose like were now nowhere to
be obtained. More substance ! big horses ! began
to be the cry. Away with these woolly-legged
wretches ! Let us have the tall bony horse of the
old day ! Breeders prepared to supply the demand.
The weedy, delicate, washy, unsound, imported
thoroughbred began to be put to the heavy cart
mare. The produce of his cross was to be the sire
for the future, and great results were expected.
This sire showed an increase in size, his bone mea-
sured more than did that of his sire, he had some
go, but still he failed to satisfy the public. For
"no breed can be improved," says Captain Shak-
speare, "by -so great a disparity in the sexes ; the

148 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

produce will be entirely misshapen, and their bodies
and limbs out of all proportion." The broken kettle
had been patched with wood and not with iron.
The sire himself proved but a poor saddle-horse, his
get was ill-descended on both sides, and of the
wrong sort. How could it be otherwise ? This
large bastard sire was put to undersized, unroomy,
mares. Sometimes the result was a heavy carcase
and insufficient bone ; at other times a light carcase
and soft unwieldy legs, with narrow chest and short
shoulder, small girth, and delicate constitution.
Each a disappointment, both bad ! What was
termed the substance of the sire, and the speed of the
weedy dam, did not manifest themselves. Fingers
had been fixed on the table, but it would not turn !
Spirits had been called from the " vasty deep," but
they only whistled and looked another way !
Whatever might have been effected, which is not
much, by more gradual crosses, had been entirely
frastrated by the extreme and sudden measures of
the breeder. He had forgotten that if the Austral-
ian is always in a hurry, nature keeps on at her old
established pace ; she improvises nothing ! With her
the superstructure is always in relation to its base ;
perhaps he did not know that the tree centuries old
may be uprooted, cities rise on its ruins and become
magnificent and powerful, and, I had almost said,
decay again, in less time than nature has fixed as

tHE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 149

the possible period in which a debased breed of
horses can be reared to the acme of perfection.
For, whatever is to be real and effectual in
this matter, must be gradual. The oak that is
to endure for ages, must not be forced like the
mushroom !

The cross tarned out a failure, and some breeders
imported, in place of weedy racers, thoroughbreds of
more bone and substance. But where do we notice
the anticipated results? Besides, our horse-stock
had become so numerous, that to provide good sires
in numbers requisite to re-establish our breed was
impossible.

In the meantime, the great English specific for
the improvement and perfection of saddle-horses,
namely, races, haxi not been neglected. The purchase
of thoroughbreds in England for this purpose had
been frequent, and the animals imported of consider-
able pretensions. Jockey clubs in Sydney, Mel-
bourne, and Adelaide, offered prizes for excellence
with no niggard hand ; the betting rings were well
attended, betting brisk, and black legs, &c., I believe
became acclimatized and flourished. Races, too, at
the country towns were frequent and well attended,
and the breeders of thoroughbreds numerous. In
fact, I know no country where racing is, and has
been, carried on so extensively in proportion to its
population as in New South Wales ; none where it

150 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

forms so general a subject of conversation and of
interest. In that district you cannot find a town-
ship where there are but half a dozen huts congre-
gated together that does not boast its annual races ;
hardly a roadside bush-public-house that has not
its rude course. I have seen races run over stony
ground, hilly ground, hard plains rent with wide
fissures, and over country so heavily timbered —
where no better was to be had — that many a new
arrival in the country would have found it un-
pleasantly close to ride to hounds through. The
time of our races has always I beheve been respect-
able, and certainly the speed of our racer has been
acknowledged in India, the only country to which
he has been exported.

If such has been the system of our horse-breeding
for the last forty years, it will now be possible to
say something definite respecting its results. We
have had racers and Arabs of a certain class, and
hunting sires ; we have seen crossing and re-crossing
in every imaginable way ; a thousand breeders have
tried every blood, from that of the diminutive Timor
to the gigantic Clydesdale, in many different pro-
portions. Each favorite nostrum has been fairly
tried, and with what result ? A constant and pro-
gressive degradation of our stock. Has anything
been left untried ? How comes it that whilst breed-
ing a pm^e racer for the course, it has never occurred

TRE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 151

lo US to breed a j9ii7'e saddle-horse for the road or
the bush, as the Saharian or Bedouin does ?

As regards the racer, it may be stated, that his
condition has not undergone any decided change,
either for good or bad, since his introduction here ;
neither has any particular stud or stable been re-
markably in the ascendant. If any race-horse has
attained pre-eminent celebrity in Austraha, it was,
perhaps, old Jorrocks in his day, whose stoutness
and long lasting quahties, and the number of years
over which his winnings extended, joined to a fair
degree of speed, are not unworthy of notice, and I
insert for the benefit of my readers an account of
him from Bell's Life in Bydney.

"Near the sequestered township of Mudgee, in
New South Wales, in the October of '33, Matilda
dropped a bay horse foal to Wliisker, both sire and
dam being then the property of Mr. Henry Baley,
of Baley Park, an influential and highly popular
magistrate of the territory, who, in conjunction with
other members of his family, for a seiies of years
devoted large pecuniary resources, and multiplied
experience, to the improvement of the breed of
colonial horse stock. Their success was happily as
eminent as their endeavours were philanthi^opic,

" The pedigree of this quadrupedal phenomenon,
whose extraordinary racing powers, hke those of
the Eclipse, so long remained in embryo, may thus

152 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

be quoted : — Jorrocks by Whisker^ out of Matilda,
by Steeltrap ; grandam Vesta, by the Arabian Model ;
great grandam Caraboo, by Old Hector; great
great grandam by Rockingham,etc. Whisker (imported
by Mr. Henry Baley) foaled in 1829, was got by
Whisker out of Woodbine, sister to Fortuna by
Comus ; grandam by Patriot ; great grandam by
Phenomenon out of Czarina by Babraham — Blank,
etc. etc.

*' Matilda once occupied a prominent position on
the local turf, and Yesta, bred by the late Nicholas
Baley, Esq., proved herself staunch in a severe race
of two-mile heats, snatching the laurel from the
following high-pressure nags, viz. : — Mr. W. C.
Wentworth's Currency Lad, by Stride ; Sir John
Jamieson's Abdallah, by the Arab of that name ;
Mr. Icely's Alraschid, by ditto ; and Mr. Lawson's
High-flyer, by Old Hector. The mare took the sweep,
after a terrific struggle of four heats.

" Jorrocks is a bright bay, with black points,
stands fourteen hands two inches, shows rather a
short head with a broad forehead, full and beautiful
eye, a somewhat close nostril, handsome racing neck,
slightly swayed, fine oblique shoulder with great
depth, wide powerful chest, good muscular forearm,
rather long knee, short thence to the fetlock, by no
means a long pastern, round handsome barrel, very
deep girth, short back, which dips near the setting

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 153

on of the couples — an extraordinary depth of rib
— very broad across the loins — a tail well set on —
powerful buttocks — strait hocks — round feet, and
remains perfectly free from sparvin, splint, curb, or
corn. His tout ensemble displays the lengthy slop-
ing angular shapes of the English blood-horse, with
much of the wiry elasticity of the desert born.
Honest, courageous, and highly timetable, as he ever
proved, we cannot help regretting that the colony
should have been deprived of his valuable services
for stud purposes ; but so it is, and regTet is use-

" Thus, having as freely as seems necessary
alluded to his pedigree aud appearance, his perform-
ances seem to be the next thing that demand retro-
spection.

" What induced the owner of Jorrocks to keep
him so long out of work does not appear ; but it
is certain that till the close of the year 1836, he
was allowed the parole, undisturbed by the cham-
ion of the snaffle, and unruffled by either the whip
or the currycomb. About this period he was broken
in, and kept upon easy duty till he had well-nigh
completed his fifth summer, when he was sent to a
cattle station on the river Barwan, and in the humble
drudgery of a stock-horse and hack alternately, he
continued for the four following years. During
this pilgTimage, in occasional sallies after the

154 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

bounding denizen of the Australian forest, his
untiring speed became apparent ; for, though never
stabled, rarely groomed, and almost always exposed
to that unenviable concatenation of anti-conditionals,
of which our ever fluctuating seasons are pro-
ductive, to wit absence of pasture and of water,
made more agreeably conducive to health by burn-
ing winds, brobdignag mosquitoes, and bush fires,
though not perhaps absolutely suffering from this
quintette of grievances, the gallant son of Whisker,
with twelve stone on his back, could frequently
turn a flyer.

" Thus encouraged to the belief that the horse
knew how to put his ' best foot foremost,' Mr.
Charles Baley entered him in a sweepstakes of
twenty-five sovereigns each, h ft, which he carried
away from four less fleet competitors. The race
came off on Coola Plains ; but no notice has been
taken of the event by persons who have hitherto endea-
voured to trace his performances. Stronger proof
of the racing capabilities of the debutant was deem-
ed necessary, and arrangements were accordingly
made for the purpose of testing to a nicety the
extent of his pace. He was placed under surveil-
lance of Old Brown, i\\Qfidus Achates whose graven
image considerably adds to the interest of our
sketch. Brown then had Helena and others in
training at the stables of a gentleman near Windsor,

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 155

SO that abundant opportunities offered for affording
trials either against time or blood. That the result
of these gallops was in accordance with favourable
surmises, may be gathered from the fact of Mr.
Eouse's anxiety to possess the horse — a desire which
he speedily succeeded in accomplishing, as Mr. Baley,
in the commencement of '41, was induced to part
with Jorrocks, taking in exchange for his valuable
gelding eight springing heifers, equivalent to about
the sum of forty pounds sterling. No time was
now lost in preparing the horse for the ensuing
Homebush Meeting, where on the 16th of the
succeeding March, he was brought to the post for
the Ladies' Purse of £50, open to all horses canying
eleven stone — three miles. Chesnut Prince, Slasher,
Creeping Jane, Tom Thumb, and Paddy were oppos-
ed to him — running a good second, he was defeated
by the Chesnut.

" On the 30th of the same month he was found at
Bathurst contending with Kate Nickleby and Elea-
nor for the Town Plate of 100 sovereigns, where,
racing under the mysterious name of Jollop, he met
with a similar physicking. The following day,
however, hailed him the winner of the Town Plate
of £50, though opposed to Theorem and the Nickle-
by mare. Theorem broke down whilst running up
the distance, and Kitty bolted from the start. On
the same day he ran second for the Ladies' Purse,

156 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

which was taken by Skeleton ; Jorrocks being
second in both heats, Lushington, Glaucus, and the
bolting mare being also in the struggle ; Miss Kate
served her Jock as in the preceding race. At
Parramatta on the 27th April he won the Town
Plate of 100 sovereigns, beating Flirt, Prince, Euca-
lyptus, and Stranger. * Jollox will be a trouble-
some nag to beat at long distance in heavy ground ,'
was the astute remark committed to the broad
sheet by the prophetic reporter of the day. Re-
turning to the Hawkesbury, he bore away in triumph
a plate of 100 sovereigns, but defeat was early in
attendance, as at Homebush on the 24th of August
the Australian Stakes were easily taken from him,
Plutus, and Eucalyptus, by Mr. Charles Smith's Bees-
wins:; the Ladies' Purse of £50 on the 26th set
him again a-foot, but Mentor proved more than his
match ; yet the Beaten handicap served somewhat
to console his owner to the disaffection of the
stables of Gohanna, Prince, Plutus, and Planet.
His next appearance was at the Parramatta Spring
Meeting, September 14th, where he achieved a
victory over Plutus, Tory, Planet, and Gohanna, for
the Union Purse of 100 so vs., and satisfactorily
closing his career of '41 by walking over for the
Members' Purse of 50 sovs. on the 14th of the same
month.

" The campaign of '42 opened brilliantly for the

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 157

old horse, at Homebush, for the Metropolitan
Stakes of 75 sovereigns. The Quail, Tranby,
Planet, and the Marquis, had to succumb to him,
and two days after this signal and easy conquest he
also rewarded Mr. Rouse with the Cumberland Cup
of 100 sovereigns value, added to a sweepstakes of
10 sovereigns each. Ten horses had been entered,
but the winner. Eclipse, and Eucalyptus, only came
to the post. This splendid and massive vase was
manufactured in Sydnej" by Messrs. Cohen, of
George-street. Then followed a rapid succession of
good fortune — to wit : The Mudgee Plate of 50
sovereigns, on the 17th May — the Settlers' Purse of
50 sovereigns, on the 20th, taken from Grimaldi,
and the Inkeepers' Purse of 40 sovereigns, on the
same day — the Hawkesbury Turf Club Purse of
100 sovereigns, on the 27tli of July, when he ran a
dead heat with Beeswing for the first heat ; but
eventually took the race with ease. At starting,
lots of money was laid at five to three on Beeswing.
Allowing one day to intervene, he again did the
needful for his lucky proprietor, taking the Rich-
mond Purse of seventy-five sovereigns, with a
sweep of five sovs. added, although an extra 71b.
had been imposed. Beeswing, Quail, Jerry Sneak,
and the Marquis were in the affair, but the fii-st
named broke down in the second heat and was
much injured^, the Marquis also fell lame while

158 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

running a good second to Jorrocks. Early in
August, he was defeated by Sir Charles at Parra-
matta for the Union Purse, and on the 7th, at the
same meeting, the Quail deprived him of the Town
Plate. The severity of his work at Windsor, but a
few days previously, accounts in some measure for
the want of temporary success — ' the old horse had
evidently had much of it lately, and his condition
being decidedly bad,' so wrote the sporting chroni-
cler of the day. He was next entered at the Cham-
pagne Stakes at Homebush, in September, but was
drawn to let Quail walk over. From this period a
considerable spell was allowed him, not having been
called on —

" To gambol o'er the grassy floor "

till the 11th of April, 1843, when he was beaten
by Eucalyptus, for the Members' Purse of 100 sovs.
The Beaten Purse was all that fell to his lot. At
the meeting at Homebush, on the 22nd of May, his
star became once more ascendant. The Metropo-
litan Stakes of 1 00 sovereigns, falling to his stable,
in defiance of the efforts of Sir Charles, Tranby,
Blacklock, and Eucalyptus, and on the day but one
following he took the Cumberland Cup, of 100 sovs.,
from Blacklock and the Quail. At Parramatta, in
the following July, he experienced another reverse,
being beaten by the Marchioness, Harry LoiTequer,

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 159

and CEclipus, for the Union Stakes, but it was
thought by many, that had his jockey, Higgerson,
made play earlier in the race, he would have had a
much better place.

" The Town Plate of 70 so vs., with a sweepstakes
of five sovs. (a single event of three miles seven
hundred and fifty yards, run in 6 min, 58 sec),
July 14, tended to resuscitate his fame, to the dis-
paragement of Lorrequer and Quail. On the 12th of
September the veteran visited his favourite arena at
Homebush, where he triumphed over Lottery,
Marchioness, and Harry Lorrequer for the Cham-
pion Cup, Lottery running second in the three mile
gallop. The Champagne Stakes of this year were
also awarded him. In the November following he
honoured Penrith with his presence, and, after a
dead heat with Sir Charles, took the Town Plate
easily. The Baronet was subsequently more foilu-
nate, and snatched the Publicans' Purse. (Jorrocks
was now running under the o^vnership of Higger-
son.) Thus finished his exploits of the year ; nor
did his name adorn the Calendar till the middle of
April '44^, when at Windsor he was thrashed by
Harry Lorrequer in the Town Plate Race on the
10th, but took the Richmond Purse of sixty sovs.,
on the 11th, Lorrequer and Election also being candi-
dates for the emolument. At Homebush, July
23rd, he ran second to Lottery for the Metropolitan

160 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

Stakes, when the three miles was done in 5 min.
50 sec, JoiTocks losing by half a length ; but on
the 25th the tables were turned, Lotteiy playing
second fiddle to the Old'un for the Cumberland
Stakes of fifty sovereigns. He next was to have
been met with at Berrima, where none dared oppose
him, and the easy task of cantering in solitary
grandeur round the heath secured him the Town
Plate of forty sovereigns. Hence he proceeded to
Goulburn, where his determined antagonist Lottery
was in waiting to draw a prize of £40 — viz. the
Innkeepers' Purse ; heats, two and a half miles.
They next met at Penrith at the close of October,
where Jorrocks again drew blanks. Lottery winning
the Town Plate on one day, and Election beating
him on the next for the Publicans' Purse. The
Beaten Handicap flung a few crumbs into Higger-
son's hat.

*' Under somewhat brighter auspices the season of
'45 opened at Homebush May Meeting, where he
licked Lottery in a three-mile race for the Metro-
politan Stakes of sixty sovereigns ; Lottery went on
the wrong side of a post, supposed to have been so
contrived intentionally. But in return Jorrocks
was beaten by Blue Bonnet for the Bungarrabee
Purse. Heavy sums exchanged hands, the odds
having ranged as high as five to two, and in some
instances three to one, the Old'un against the field.

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 161

In August he was again beaten by the mare at
Maitland, where he appeared as the property of Mr.
James Doyle. The annual account was closed at
this meeting.

" In April, 1846, he took the Hawkesbury Town
Plate of fifty sovs. ; on the day following the Publi-
cans* Purse of twenty-five sovereigns fell to his lot*
At Homebush May Meeting, for the All-aged
Stakes of fifty sovereigns, he distanced the great
southern crack, Petrel, although Munchausen ru-
mours had been circulated as to the wonderful
capabilities of the Port Philip favourite. The
Australian Plate of fifty sovereigns next came to
his owner's share, in defiance of a large field, includ-
ing Lottery, Green Mantle, Tamarind^ Emerald, and
Blue Bonnet. After running second to Emerald for
the Town Plate at Maitland, he surprised the widos by
taking a Purse of sovereigns from the Irishman and
Meteor, and further receiving an accession in the
shape of the Hunter River Stakes. At Five Dock
he walked off" with the Ladies' Purse of forty sovs.
in March, and shut up shop for the season.

'' The March of '47 brought the Bathurst Town
Plate of 50 sovs. and the Publicans' Purse of 30
sovs. April, too, added the Members' Purse of 60
sovs, and the Richmond Purse of 40 sovs., both at
Windsor. In May, the Australian Plate of 60 sovs.,
at Homebush, brought more grist to the mill, and

162 THE AUStEALIAN SADDLE-HORS^.

June yielded fruits of increase — viz., the Paii^amatta
Town Plate of 60 so vs., snatched from Whalebone
and Blue Bonnet ; and on the 2nd of July he won
the Cumberland Turf Purse of 60 so vs. Dull
December had also its attractions, as he was allowed
to walk over for the Ladies' Purse (25) at Peters*
ham, and on the same day he took the Hunters'
Stakes of 20 so vs. In 1848 his prowess was re*
warded with a score at the Drapers' Club ; £50
(Publicans' Purse) at Bathurst, in March ; a like
amount at Windsor (Members' Purse); £50 (Town
Plate) at Parramatta, in April ; and £70 (Austra*
lian Plate) at Homebush, in May. Early in March.
'49, we find him walking off with the Carcoar Town
Plate of £50, and at the close of the same month a
similar amount was awarded him at Bathurst.
Then followed, in April, the Richmond Purse (£50)
and the All-aged Stakes at Homebush ; a sweep of
5 so vs. each, with 50 added in May ; allowing one
day to intervene, he bore off the Australian Plate of
£70, with a sweep of 5 sovs. each, (a dead heat
between the Old'un and the Plover, when the lat-
ter and other horses were drawn, and Jorrocks
walked over for the second heat). The Cum-
berland Turf Meeting next came to the relief, in
the shape of the Parramatta Town Plate (£50),
with a sweep of 5 sovs. In the following month he
walked over for the Wellington Plate (£20), and the

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 163

Ladies' Purse of £20, and closed the year at Mudgee,
on the 15th of August, by carrying off a plate of 30
sovs. ; and thus he closed the year '49.

" 1850 — February 27th, ran second for the Town
Plate of £50 at the Bathurst Meeting, being beaten
by Little John — winning the first heat, running a
dead heat the second, being beaten for the third,
and then drawn.

*' March 15th, at the Carcoar Meet, won the
Publicans' Purse of 30 sovs., beating Little John
and Zingaree.

" April 10th, at the Hawkesbury Turf Club Meet,
won the Members' Pui'se of 50 sovs., ridden by Cutts^
carrying 9st. 31bs., beating Humming Bird and
Pastile.

'' May 29th, at the Homebush Meet, ran second
to Sultan for the All-aged Stakes of £50, beating
Little John and Plover.

"May 31st, same meet, won the Australian Plate
of 60 sovs., with a sweep of 5 sovs. each, beating
Plover, Little John, Lola Montes, and Sultan.

" 27th June, at the Campbelltown Meet, ran
second to Plover for the Campbelltown Plate of 50
sovs., beating Pasha, Sultan, Pastile, Sir Charles,
and Jenny Lind.

"August 6th, at the Singleton Kaces, won the
Patrick's Plains Purse of 40 sovs., beating Sultan,
Death, and Cyrus. ■

164 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

"August 20th, at Maitland Meet, ran second to
the Queen of Hearts for the Maitland Town Plate
of 50 so vs., and on the 22nd, same meet, ran second
to Sultan for the Town Plate, which wound up his
career of 1850.

" 1851 — Feb. 26, at Bathurst Races, ran second
to Little John for the Town Plate.

" Feb. 28, same meet, won the Publicans' Purse
of £40, with a sweep of £3, beating Little John.

" April 25, at Hawkesbury Races, was beaten by
Plover and Muleyson for the Richmond Purse.

" May 28, at Homebush Meeting, for the Australian
Plate ran third, being beaten by Cossack and Muleyson.

" Jorrocks then left the Turf, and after several times
being raffled, became the property of his now owner
Mr. A. Thompson, who once brought him to the
post, on the 7th of Oct., '52, for the Metropolitan
Handicap, at the Drapers' Homebush, when he was
beaten. A most marked manifestation of interest
was displayed as the *' old horse " was led upon the
course, and three deafening cheers made the welkin
ring again as he passed before the stand. Poor old
horse ! the spirit of other days was unextinguished —
is unextinguishable ; but no new trophies may be
gathered for his laureled brow. His fame is
imperishable, and the records of past years will
advance his undisputed claim to the first niche in
the Gallery of Australia's Winning Horses."

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 1G5

But Racers as racers form no part of my subject ;
as to their adaptability to be sires of saddle-horses,
I have already shown it to be against all principle ;
but principle aside we can judge of the fruit
without any discussion about the tree.

Taken as a whole, the saddle-horses of Victoria,
New South Wales, and Queensland, of which I
can speak from personal observation, and to which,
I believe, those of Adelaide offer no exception, are
not difficult to describe. On the whole, they are in
height decidedly below those of England. In their
appearance in the streets of our principal cities,
there is nothing that particularly strikes the English
eye, except it be their unvarying inferiority of
figure and utter want of quality. Year by year
they have been subsiding and settling down to a
dead level, and the bright exceptions which, twenty
years ago, were frequent amongst them have now all
but totally disappeared. This is more strictly the
case in Melbourne than in Sydney. In Melbourne
there may remain a few stylish pairs of carriage
horses, but amongst the scores that are sold by
auction every day in the week, perhaps even one
tolerably good colt could hardly be picked out.
Those waiting private sale are only a degree or two
better, and, if enquiries are made for good-looking,
weU-bred sound hunters, or hacks, up to fourteen
stone, in the places where such used to be met with.

166 THE AUSTRALIA^r SADDLE-HORSE.

the enquirer will at once be told that such horses
are now never to be met with. What is noticeable
in the capitals is but the reflex of the whole colonies,
and in corresponding degrees. Thus the horses of
New South Wales are more presentable than those
of Victoria.

A cessation of this decline, and a gTadual but
permanent rise to excellence, has been foretold,
beheved in, and hoped for by many. Twenty years
ago I used to hear that Cornborough, Patchwork
(who died on landing), and other horses whose
names it is useless to mention, were to regenerate and
bring up our breed to the old mark and higher.
This delusive hope has always found its votaries —
at present they are dreaming of Indian Warrior
and Fisherman. They, it is confidently asserted,
will inaugurate the millennium — and when they have
passed away, and effected no more than their pre-
decessors, fresh phantoms will no doubt replace
those that have fled, and beguile with a hope which
will certainly never be realized. Though, were it
realized, it would still, I maintain, be far less, both in
degree and extent, than what is easily possible
under a proper system of breeding. Passing from
the figure to the qualities of the Australian horse,
it will be found, that in comparison with the Eng-
lish horse, he is ill-broken, his temper cross, and
his paces disagreeable ; that, if compared to the

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 167

horses of the Ai-abs, or those of Southern Italy,
Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, or Egypt, he will be
found to be, besides, sluggish in temper, unsound in
his legs, soft in his hoof, and wanting in stamina.

After all, however, there is one favourable feature
still noticeable amongst our horses, and it is a most
imjDortant one ; it corroborates what we hear of
them in the past, and gives us confidence in the
future. I mean their great capacity for luork, as
compared to their figure. In this they still, and
always will, rank high, for it rests on what is un-
changeable, and beyond our control, as I shaU
endeavour to make clear in the sequel. In this
quality they .surpass many others of even a better
figure than themselves, and I feel no hesitation
in saying, that if an English horse in England,
for instance, of a certain figure and breeding, was
found on trial to perform say thirty miles a
day for a fortnight, with stable feed, as the maxi-
mum of his capabilities, that an Australian horse
of exactly the same figure and breeding, with no
other feed than gi^ass, would ceii^ainly perform forty-
five miles a day for the same period. This superior
stoutness of the Australian horse according to his
figure, as compared with the English horse, is pretty
generally acknowledged by those who have had
experience of the horses of the two countries.
Thus, a hundred miles, on an emergency, are

168 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

frequently being done in Australia, by very misera-
ble looking Rossinantes, in fifteen hours, without
preparation and off grass. Eighty miles two days
consecutively, and seventy miles three or four days
following, are constantly being done in the routine
of business, in like manner. I myself have done
these things and more.

In a journey of 400 miles, which I have several
times had to perform, I have started with two fat
horses unused to work (so far, that though well
seasoned, neither of them had probably been backed
for a month previous), riding one and leading the
other, with a small pack on his back, changing the
saddle occasionally from one to the other. The 400
miles were always accomplished without trouble in
eight days, and after three days' rest, the horses
were quite fit to return at the same speed. My
business, however, usually detained me from a week
to a fortnight in town, when I returned as I came,
always doing the last 50 miles by one o'clock, a.m.,
and turning out my horses somewhat weary, but
with plenty of fat and flesh about them, ready to
repeat the same journey after a week's rest. At
night, they were hobbled out, usually on very
scanty grass, and never tasted artificial feed of any
sort. The object in -taking two horses, which, in
New South Wales, as at the Cape amongst the
Boers, is frequently done, was because such pad-

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 1G9

docks as existed at the stations on the road were
quite destitute of grass, which obliged me to camp
out, and in camping out few horses, when fresh,
will stop alone. Two in company usually stop well,
whereas one, however tired, will often wander ten
or fifteen miles during the night, even in hobbles,
and perhaps not be found for a week. Even when
camped out, the grass for the first 250 miles was
excessively scarce, much more so than is ever known
in Victoria, for instance.

These I give as instances of ordinary work on fair
horses. One of those which I rode was in appear-
ance little better than a cart-horse, the other an old
mare, well bred, but, as it turned out on the last
occasion, four or five months gone with foal. This
mare, Nettle, one of Mr. Wyndham's, of the
M'lntyre's breed, would have done the whole
journey alone at the rate of 70 miles a day,
in her palmy days, I feel no doubt. I rode 13 J
stone on these occasions, and could have done
100 miles the last day in fifteen hours, had 1
desired it.

In overlanding with cattle, it is usual to allow the
men employed to drive the cattle, two horses each.
The work is done at the slowest possible walk, the
merest crawl, but the horse is under saddle at least
12 hours on the stretch, and is ridden and spelled
alternate days. This often lasts for six months

I

170 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

incessantly, and if the feed is good, the horses will
fatten ; if bad, they become very poor.

Twelve yeai-s ago a pack of foxhounds used to be
kept on the Murray, not far from Moama, with which
I occasionally hunted. We all, except the whip, rode
grass horses. The wild dog generally Kved eight or
ten miles before the hounds ran in to him. There
was seldom more than one check, and I never saw
a horse left behind, or appear very much distressed.
What the pace would be I cannot say ; the country
was a dead level, and there were no jumps ; in some
parts the ground being very hard, at others deep
and loose sand ; the scent was often all that could be
desired, and I believe there can be no doubt that
the wild dog is more speedy than the fox. He
makes no turns in his course, if he can avoid it ; but
goes right ahead.

For a couple of seasons, if the reader will pardon
a digression, the author kept eight or ten coarse
greyhounds or kangaroo dogs. Probably none of
them were quite pure, though they were generally
pretty well bred. In point of speed, in a straight-on-
end run of two or three miles, such as the kangaroo
and emu generally give, I do not think they would
have been easily passed by any gTeyhounds. These
dogs, kennelled like foxhounds, soon learned to hunt
in a imck, and by i^ractice, ivith the nose quite as
well as by sight, and were not slow in acquiring that

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 171

quick perception of each others' movements, when
hunting a cold scent, which is so noticeable in the
foxhound. The finer or more greyhound-like the in-
dividual, the more acutely developed, I noticed,
when cultivated, became the sense of smell. Their
noses arrived at a degree of perfection which quite
surprised me, having always understood that the
greyhound is almost devoid of that sense. They
stood about four inches higher than the generality
of English greyhounds, the largest pups having
always been selected from each litter, for several
generations, and their food, which was always meat,
given without stint.

These kangaroo dogs killed 60 wild dogs the last
year I had them, besides many kangaroo and emu.
Their pace on the scent was considerably better than
that of foxhounds, the only difference perceptible in
their mode of hunting, under any circumstances,
being that they were of course silent. I often fol-
lowed them seven miles, in all sorts of weather, hot,
cold, and dry, over thick sheep tracks, as hard as I
could rattle, before sighting the quarry, and some-
times as much as ten miles, blowing my horn from
the start ; my grass horse was never violently dis-
tressed, always less so than the dogs, if the weather
were hot. After killing I took a few minutes' rest,
and sometimes had a second run on my way back.
On reaching home, the saddle and bridle were at

172 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

once removed, and the horse allowed to return to
grass and water. Were greyhounds in England to
hunt by scent as well as sight, they would soon ex-
terminate the hare, for there is no doubt that if the
use of the nose was cultivated in the pure descen-
dants of the finest greyhounds in England for a few
generations, they would rival the foxhound in his
line. Such is found to be the case with the slougui
of the Sahara.

I saw these dogs of mine run the scent of an
emu in blazing hot weather, twenty-four hours
after he had passed over dusty ground, entirely devoid
of grass : when they had become adepts in their
trade, no beast in the bush, with half an hour's
start, either could or did ever escape them. On the
plains, they used to amuse themselves with hunting
quail, which were exceedingly numerous, as I
allowed them to hunt anything but sheep. They
seemed to scent them quite as well as a pointer,
ran their trails, and sometimes caught them in their
mouths as they rose. These kangaroo dogs were not
remarkable, that I am aware of, over others, but
being much hunted, and having much blood, they
became very resolute, and would spare no pains
with a dull scent. They were well known in the
neighbourhood where Echuca now is : mai's revenons
a nos moutons.

Having said this much of the Australian horse

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 173

in general, I must now hasten to direct the attention
of my reader to the distinctive features of our horses^
bred in different localities. As the horse is found
here, inhabiting districts extending through many
degrees of latitude, with much diversity of climate
and pasture, it is natural to suppose that some
results have already arisen from these causes, and
become apparent, and such, in fact, is the case :
thus, horses hred on the sea coast, it is very ivorthy
of remark and important to recollect, perform
less, for their make or figure, than similar
horses hred at a distance from the sea. They
are doubly indifferent where the country so
situated is richly and heavily grassed : they then
become tall, large, and fleshy, but are soft, and can
support neither hunger, thirst, nor long journeys.
In riding them to fox-hounds they require stable
feed, and even then do not always see the finish.
If taken into the interior country, which is infi-
nitely hotter than the sea-coast country, they are
almost incapable of work for two or three years,
when they improve very much, but still remain in
ferior to those bred on the spot. Neither do they
endure cold better than the horses bred in the hot
country. Of these facts I have had plenty of
experience in Victoria, New South Wales, and
Queensland.

Of a distinct class, and a deerree better than these,

174 THE AUSTEALIAN SADDLE-HORSE,

are the horses bred in the mountains, at the heads of
the rivers, and upon or near the dividing range,
as hkewise on the table-land of New England.
These districts are known as " green grassed " or
" sour " countries. Neither sheep nor cattle fatten
well in them : hence they are used as breeding, and
not as fattening countries. The horses bred in such
situations have usually a greater show of muscle
than those bred on the plains. They are sure-
footed from habit, and accustomed to hills, but soft,
great drinkers, and shy of the hot suji. They can-
not perform long journey s^ or support continuous
work, like those of the interior. With these must
be classed those of my native land, Tasmania, as
well as the majority of the New Zealand horses.

The worst horse in Australia is the Queensland
sea-coast horse, and the nearer the tropics, the
damper the locality, the more indifferent he be-
comes.

The best of our horses in proportion to his figure,
the most abstemious, stout, and sound, and the most
neglected in his breeding, drinks of the waters that
flow into Lake Alexandrina : that is, the horses bred
on the rivers Darling, Lachlan, Bogan, Murrum-
bidgee, and other tributaries of the Murray, after
they leave the mountains, and before the Murray
approaches the sea. These things I say from personal
experience, except in the case of the Darling, on

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSR 175

which river I have not been, and which I only
speak of from report. I feel no doubt but that this
will one day be well known, and that the time will
come when the arid plains and burning hill sides of
Central AustraKa, will produce a horse that will be
famous all over the world, and perhaps surpass even
the Arab of the desert. But on this head I shall
touch more frilly in the chapter on Climate.

Without, however, receding long distances from
the coast, there are districts in which admfrable
horses will probably one day be bred. Victoria, for
instance, from its salt^bush plains, lying between
the Campaspe, Murray, and Richardson, will furnish
itself with excellent horses, and New South Wales
from similar country adjoining. From personal
experience of these countries, I have no hesitation
in saying that they are as certain to produce long-
winded, stout, generous horses, whenever proper
means shall be used to that end, as that such a
result is in an equal degree impossible in the coast
districts. Another and a bad characteristic of our
horses is, the frequency of vicious tempers which is
noticeable amongst them. On this subject. Captain
Shakspeare, in his " Wild Sports of India," remarks :
" They (the Cape horses) appear to be severally
good tempered, much more so than the Australian
and New South Wales horses, which used to be
quite unbroken and almost unmanageable when fii'st

176 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HOKSE.

sent over. They have very mtich distinguished
themselves as racers and carriage-horses, but other-
wise I consider them to be the most difficult horses
to break that can be found."

This is no matter of wonder, and proceeds, I am
inclined to think, from improper breaking, which,
continued from year to year, and from generation
to generation, amounts to nothing more than a
cultivation of vice, on just the same principle that
docility or any other quality is found and admitted
to be both susceptible of culture, and transmissible
from parent to offspring. '""For," says Stonehenge,
'' acquired qualities are transmitted, whether they
belong to the sire or dam, and also both bodily and
mental."

This defective breaking in Australia, which ag-
gravates and hardens the natural vice of our horses,
arises in part from the high price of labour, and the
ignorance of many of our breakers : for all who can
ride here consider themselves competent to break,
and do break when opportunity offers. In other
and very frequent cases, especially in the old bush
districts of New South Wales, this faulty breaking
comes from another cause : the pleasure experienced
by the rider in mastering a savage horse in his
angry mood. His object is not to quiet, pacify, and
break his horse, but to make him do his worst, and sit
him. Perhaps there are no people under the sun

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 177

who can sit a vicious horse like the Australian-born
Englishmen of the bush district of New South
Wales. After several generations, climate, food, and
habit have, as usual, left their impress on the figure.
The bush-born natives, as they are called, of New
South Wales, are, as a rule, tall, slight, and neat-
figured, and very rarely become corpulent. Their
arms and legs are wiry, and inclined to be long ;
shoulders and trunk light. They are muscular,
abstemious, and active, and decidedly a sober race.
Few of them use tobacco. They walk well when
practiced, and endure hunger, heat, and thirst better
than the emigrant, who surpasses them in his turn
in toils, where strength is a requisite, and weight
no detriment. They are taciturn, shy, ignorant,
and incurious — undemonstrative, but orderly, hos-
pitable, courageous, cool, and sensible. These men
ride like Centaurs. Ask one of them to ride the
horse that has just thrown you : he examines the
girths, crupper, and bridle. His face shows no
emotion of any sort. If the tackle is right, he lifts
his hat, lets the string fall under his chin as he
replaces it, carelessly gathers up the reins, and
mounts. When once in the saddle he sticks there,
and enjoys the row in his own quiet way, and dis-
mounts as unmoved as he got on, perhaps with
some quiet remarks upon saddles or horses.

It is the custom in Australia, in the bush, to ride
I 2

178 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

vicious horses, as all others, in English saddles, and
with snaffle bridles only. A curb of any sort is
seldom seen amongst the natives. In breaking or
rough-riding, a crupper is always used, as without it
the saddle cannot be made to remain on the back
of the buck-jumping horse. In the case of a low-
withered horse, the saddle is forced on the neck, if
the wither be high, the girths are usually burst if no
crupper be used. Neither is the crupper strap, in all
districts, attached to the crupper-iron or staple,
which, in the event of a severe struggle, is certain to
be pulled out or broken ; but, being passed between
the saddle and saddle-cloth until it obtrudes before
the pummel, it is then passed two or three times
round a stick, about twenty inches long, and as
thick as the wrist, called the " kid," and there
buckled, which kid is strapped to two iron staples,
with which the saddle is provided, behind the pum-
mel. This kid comes across the horseman about six
inches above the knees, and adds very much to the
security of his seat. All those, however, who are
considered good horsemen will stick to the saddle
without this or any other aid, as long as the saddle
sticks to the horse.

One of the results of this excellent horsemanship,
added to the high price of labour, which would make
the English breaking more costly than the colt him-
self, is this, that many encourage their horses to

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 179

buck for the pleasure of sitting them. From
these several causes, the disposition has been
cultivated amonefst them, and has, of course, be-
come constitutional and hereditary. As a proof
that such is the case, if any were needed, it is
noticeable that the buck-jump is the favourite
gambol of the young foal, who goes through the mo-
tion admirably when he is six weeks old, and thus
practises from his infancy that which he exhibits in
such perfection when he comes to be backed. Every
species of vice, except buck-jumping, is quite disre-
garded in the bush, and a horse that does not buck
is consequently considered to be quiet ; kicking,
plunging, rearing, bolting, &c., clearly shoAving that
the horse, though excited, is only playful, or he
would at once have had recourse to bucking — as the
only way any sensible nag could expect to eject his
rider.

It was at one time supposed that the South
American Gaucho, so celebrated for his horsemanship,
would not only be able to sit our horses, but also to
render them quiet, in some wonderful manner, at
the end of a few lessons, and fit for the town
markets. With this object, some years back, a few
picked Gauchos were imported here, but not only
were they unable to break our then well-bred,
vigorous, sixteen-hand horses, as they do those of their
own country, but when our snaffles were put into

ISO THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

their hands, instead of the jaw-breaking curbs which
they had been accustomed to, the falls which they
got were frequent and severe, and after some months
the trial was abandoned as a failure.

It may not be uninteresting to mention, that the
Australian aborigines, when practiced, become excel-
lent horsemen in some respects. Almost any black,
between the age of fifteen and thirty, will, at the
end of a month's practice on a quiet horse, sit any
unbroken colt, and most of them, at the end of
another month's practice with buck-jumpers, will
ride anything that can be produced. Their other
strong point is as scrub-riders, in which, on the
whole, perhaps they are unequalled. The univer-
sality with which they excel, when allowed to try,
is very remarkable. Where they are employed as
stockmen and rough-riders, they pride themselves
very much on their performance. The wonderful
part of the business is how they get on with their
horses. They are quiet, but not familiar — seldom
irritating, and never caressing them. A horse
broken by a blackfellow has always a wretched
mouth, will never lead, and is usually very shy of
objects with which he has not been rendered
familiar. His education is very limited. They all
ride with short stirrups ; rough-riding and scrub-
riding are the only points in which they excel
when mounted. As race-riders, in which, at

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 181

country meetings, they are a good deal employed as
light weights, they are very indifferent. They enjoy
the sport, ride with a loose rein, and are very apt to
make play with the spur from first to finish if
allowed.

Horses broken by them seldom walk well, and
rarely trot at all. They look well on their horse ;
and in the points spoken of, seem all to excel. With
us the reverse is the case — for many white men can
never learn to ride, however much practice they may
have. The fact is their figure and nerve suits the
occupation, but intellect, and above all care, are
wanting.

In all of the Australian colonies there are many pro-
prietors of large " mobs " (I cannot call them studs) of
horses which are allowed to go at large, and are all
but totally neglected. The stallions run loose with
them, as in the wild state : the utmost labor expended
on them is to run them into the stockyard now and
then when some of their number are needed for
work. Of studs (except a few small ones), round
the several capitals, in each of which a score or
two of racing stock are bred, there are not many ;
and several that have been famous have either
been broken up or allowed to deteriorate from
neglect.

The only stud of saddle-horses with which I am
personally acquainted is that of Mr. Wyndham, of

182 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE,

the M'Intyre River, New South Wales, which bears
the reputation of being the second, if not the best in
these colonies. From this stud have come Lunelle
and Laurestina, winners at Homebush, and other
racers of note, which have been, however, as is pro-
per, only accidental in a race of saddle-horses. Their
blood being that of Snake, Scratch, Plover, &c.,
thoroughbred horses of character and power, their
figures as a consequence are good, as times go, with,
however, a short shoulder as a family failing.
Having the legs, pluck, and other requisites of good
saddle-horses, as compared with the Arab horse, in a
moderate degree, they are, however, much wanting in
style. Their heads are somewhat coarse, the eye
often small and pigish. Having some years ago
been the purchaser of a hundred mares from this
stud, most of which, when broken, I sold at Nelson,
New Zealand, I had a fair opportunity of judging
of their merits as saddle-horses. Their legs, as I
have said, compared with other Australian horses,
were good ; they were high-couraged mares, with
pluck to face anything. They leaped readily
and well, were free, pleasant and easy goers, and
looked better when mounted than when loose ; they
were sure-footed and long-winded, excelling in the
canter and galop, ordinary at a walk, and bad trot-
ters. They carried fourteen stone well. Their tem-
pers were all hot, many of them cross, and not a

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 188

few unmitigated buck-jumpers, though considerable
trouble was taken in their breaking. Taking them
altogether they were decidedly, and by far, the best
100 saddle-horses I ever saw together in the colonies.
As regards soundness, they were much above the
average of our horses here, but as regards stoutness,
ill comparison with their figure, I cannot say so
much. Though decidedly very stout horses (much
above what any cavalry regiment in England could
turn out), they were quite as certainly not what
they should have been. This is not difficult to ac-
count for. Very old worn-out sires had been much
used, and mares retained in the stud ten years after
they should have been culled. Besides this, and
worse, they were bred in a cool, timbered, half-sour
granitic country. Horses from such soil and climate
are not the real grit, they never perform what horses
of their figTire are capable of in other climates, I
do not believe that one really first-class horse was
ever the product of a granite soil, or of a cool
climate, or ever will be. Be this as it may, I speak
of the mares as I found them.

In reading the Turf, by Nimrod, I could not be
but struck by the following passage, which at once
brought to my mind one of the same illustrious
family here spoken of, and attending here, almost
singly, to the legitimate end of racing. Should this
meet his eye, I trust he will excuse the liberty I

184 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-ttOItSiS.

have taken with his name, and receive in a friendly
spirit my remarks on his stud.

"But we cannot say this of the noble earls,
amongst whom are some of the best judges of racing
of past or present days. We will begin with the
Earl of Egremont ; and not only by the rule of
seniores priores, but looking on him as one of the
main contributors to the legitimate end of racing —
the improvement of the breed of horses — his lordship
having always paid regard to what is termed stout,
or honest blood. Lord Egremont bred Gohanna, by
Mercury, by Eclipse, and purchased Whalebone from
the Duke of Grafton (the old Prunella sort), whose
stock have been invaluable to the turf, and will
continue to be so for many years to come,
although objections are made to their size —
made amends for, in great measure, by their sym-
metry. His lordship has likewise turned the
amusement — and such has been his main object in
the pursuit of it — to an excellent account, in the
liberal act of affording to his tenantry and neigh-
bours the free benefit of several of his stud-horses.
Among these have been two very fine animals,
Octavius and Wanderer, the latter not inaptly
named, as for many years of his life be was never
known to lie down, but was generally in action
in his box. He was a noble specimen of the
horse, and one of the best bred ones in the world,

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 185

for all the purposes for which horses of speed and
strength are wanted, being by Gohanna, out of a
sister to Cohbri, by Woodpecker, esteemed our
stoutest blood. The earl is likewise the breeder
of honest Chateau Margaux and Camel, ornaments
to the British turf, and sons of good little Whale-
bone. Lord Egremont won the Derby three times
in four years ; twice with sons of Gohanna, sub-
sequently with Lapdog, by Whalebone. He has also
been three times the winner of the Oaks, with
fillies from his own stud. But all this success is
not to be placed to his lordship's own account ;
he received great assistance in all his racing specula-
tions fi'om his late brother, the Honourable Charles
Wyndham, since whose decease the stable has not
been so successful."

In Australia, as in America, we have considerable
herds of wild horses, the offspring of such as have
at various times escaped from stations and remained
for years undiscovered or unyarded. It is, of course,
quite impossible to say to what their numbers
may amount, but it is probable that they do not
fall short of 25,000. In the neighbourhood of
stations where they exist, they have become a
serious evil, frequently enticing away the domesti-
cated horses, which are rarely recovered. As the rule,
wild horses that are captured are found to be small,
light-boned, weedy, and useless, the effects of early

186 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSIl.

breeding and hap-liazard sires. In temper, they
lose some of the active vice of the domesticated
horse, manifesting in its stead a species of dogged
obstinacy and stupidity. In the terrible chase
which precedes their capture, they generally become
heart-broken, whence it frequently happens that a
horse which will gallop fifty miles before he will
allow himself to be yarded, can, when broken, be
neither persuaded nor coerced to carry his rider ^ve
miles, though if again let loose his ability to gallop,
and his determination to be free, will be found to
be undiminished. Resignation, generosity, and emu-
lation, seem frequently quite wanting in them.
They tremble when bridled, and resist and re-
sent all caresses, and every step they take when
mounted appears to be contre-coeur.

In figure they are small, ill-shaped, under-boned,
large-headed. As they are very shy, they seldom ap-
proach a river, except when compelled to do so,
frequenting as long as possible sequestered springs
and waterholes. When these are exhausted in dry
weather, and they are compelled to drink at the
rivers whose banks are inhabited, they usually do
so at night, making their approaches in scrubby and
rugged localities, coming and returning at a trot,
which the least alarm at once converts into a headlong
gallop. So great is their dislike to approach locali-
ties frequented by man, that their visits to the rivers

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 187

are habitually delayed, till their thirst can no longer
be borne. This habit of long abstinence from
water, has given them a tncked-up appearance,
which even when domesticated and allowed to get
fat, they never lose entirely. Amongst many other
places, there are large herds of them on the lower
Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers. In these districts,
on the flat, treeless, horizon-bounded plains, one
would suppose it an easy matter to stockyard them,
but it is not so.

In running them in, many foals and weakly ones
are left behind, knocked up, and it generally hap-
pens, especially in hot weather, tliat of those yarded
several die in a few hours from the effects of the
gaUop.

" Eunning" wild horses, as the process of gallop-
ing them into the stockyards is termed, is both
exciting and dangerous in the extreme, as well
as expensive ; and rarely remunerates the under-
taker, yet, hke other lotteries, some people find a
charm in it. The country which the wild horses
select as their haunt, is always the most broken
in the neighbourhood, if there be a choice ; and
if they should be found in more manageable coun-
try, they make off" at once, on being disturbed, at
headlong speed for their chosen retreat. That those
who pursue them should frequently come to grief, is
not to be wondered at, when the pace at which they

188 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

must go, and the length of time they are often
obliged to keep it up, are considered ; hence acci-'
dents are very common.

The systems followed in running wild horses are
various ; the one adopted depends on the nature of
the country in question. In some situations, two or
more lines of fences, extending perhaps three or four
miles from the stockyard, and termed " guides" are
erected. These lines^ commencing at points two or
three miles apart, gradually converging, meet at the
gate of the yard. The fugitives once between the
guides, pursued closely by the riders, stock-whip in
hand, have no choice but to enter the stockyard,
whence there is no escape when the gate is once
closed.

Where there are no guides, relays of horsemen
are posted here and there in positions where the
herd is expected to pass, ready to take up the chase
with fresh horses. But, under the best arrange-
ments, it not unfrequently happens, that after a hard
gallop, two or three valuable saddle-horses are
broken down, and the whole wild herd effects its
escape.

Losses more serious than this, even, sometimes
occur ; as in the following instance. A person
wivshing to get a lot wild horses, having arranged
with the settler on whose run they were, for the
use of his stockyard, and permission to run them

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 189

(for they are usually claimed by some one, however
illegally, as I believe ownership can in no instance be
established), took his measures as follows. Having
hired half a dozen or more riders, he purchased some
superior saddle-horses, in the proportion of two or
three to each rider ; and besides these a mob of about
60 or 70 half-quiet, cheap, weedy horses, commonly
called craivlers, to be used as a decoy mob. The
country in which he was going to run the wild
horses consisted of flat plains of unlimited extent,
and almost without trees. All being ready, he
started mth his mounted men, driving his crawlers
before him. Having got eight or ten miles from the
stockyard he had left, and near the feeding grounds
of the wild herds, he put his crawlers in charge of
two of his men, who, remaining near them, allowed
them to feed, but kept them from leavhig the spot
selected ; he himself proceeding with the rest of his
party in search of a wild mob. Such he was not
long in finding, and luckily got them headed at
starting in the desired direction. Down they came
racing, and, sighting another mob before them, made
straierht for it, as their custom is. This mob was the
crawlers, and received the strangers without becom-
ing too much excited. The wild horses, finding that
their new comrades did not join in the flight, refused
to fraternise with them, and galloped through tliem
as they were spread out on the plain. Then came

190 THE AUSTKALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

the time for action for the two men left in charge.
They, galloping a-head shouting and cracking their
whips, and whirling their long lashes over their
heads, stopped or " blocked " as it is termed the wild
horses, turning them back on the quiet ones. By
this time had arrived the rest ofthe party, who, circling
their horses round and round the frightened mob, now
neighing, biting, and galloping round amidst clouds
of dust, backing up their comrades, succeeded at
length m steadying and calming the disturbed body.
Finding escape impracticable, their flight blocked in
all directions, and a break impossible, the wild
gradually began to fraternise with the tame horses,
and after much trouble and time had been allowed
for their excitement to subside, the whole body was
put in motion, some horsemen riding a-head to re-
strain the leaders as much as possible. Reeking
with foam, and covered with dust, the stockyard was
fortunately gained, and, the most difficult point,
entered without accident.

On drafting the wild horses from the crawlers, it
was found that sixty had been bagged. These sixty
were kept in the yard two days without food or
water, in order that they might be weakened and
reduced to a more manageable state, for had they
been let out of the yard before they were much
exhausted, they would have been so excited by the
strange things they had seen, that they would have

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 191

broken away, mad with fear, in spite of opposition,
and regained their freedom.

A couple of days' hunger and thirst having
reduced them to reason, they were again joined to the
crawlers, watered, and taken out with them on to
the plains to assist in the capture of a fresh mob in
the manner before described. A fresh lot of about
fifty wild ones was not long in being got, joined to
the mixed lot, steadied without much trouble, they
readily taking up with their former friends in free-
dom ; which was the more easily effected, because
the more numerous the decoy mob, the sooner the
new arrivals lose their impetus, and get separated
and confounded with them.

In the meantime, a large herd of about 150 wild
horses had been seen, and the conductor of the hunt,
too eager for gain, instead of being satisfied with
what he had captured and taking them to the yard
to be subdued by thirst and hunger, as he had done
in the first instance, determined to take this other
lot also with him. Stead3dng his former captives
and leaving what men he could spare in charge of
them, he moved off with the rest of his party, and
was not long in falling in with and heading down
the other 150. Away they came in the direction
of his depot party, each as hard as he could rattle,
in a long string ; the stallions and strong horses lead-
ing; the mares, the old, the lame, and the foals, string-

192 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

ing out, but following the lead at their best pace.
On their approach, those that had only just been
joined to the crawlers, now well in wind, began to
cock their ears, whinny, and become restless. Their
anxiety communicated itself to the lot first captured,
and, as these feelings of alarm are very contagious
amongst gregarious animals, even the wretched
crawlers began to get uneasy. In the mean time,
the tramp of feet grew louder, and the 150 drew
near, racing over the plain, mad with excitement,
their tails streaming in the air and clouds of dust
flying from their hoofs, with a thunder of feet that
might be heard miles off. Such was their impe-
tuosity, that the quiescent body of half, subdued
material was unable to stop them, and the whole
affair became a rout, and every horse there, to the
poorest crawler, joining in the rush was carried
away by the excitement of the moment. Round
went the two lots at meeting, in whirlwinds of dust ;
amidst its mantling clouds, the tossing of manes and
streaming of tails, a thousand incidents flash indis-
tinctly for a moment on the eye of the beholder ; the
tall grey that has run headlong against another in mid
career, rearing high above the rest, for an instant his
full height, tumbles backward with his neck broken ;
the vicious old mare, that hates a throng, with head
bowed to the ground, kicking all that come within
reach ; the foal, overthrown, rollijig amongst the feet

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 193

of the multitude ; the neigh — the savage yell — the
scream of terror — the thunder of hoofs — the rival stal-
lians meeting in the eddy, with outstretched neck,
snake-Kke head, and ears laid back, true to their nature,
springing with fury on each other, to satisfy in a
moment of mortal terror the jealousy and hate which
never brook postponement of battle ; all had been
and disappeared in an instant, for nothing could
restrain them. Bursting from their captors, blind
and deaf to danger, headed by some resolute stallions
refusing to be turned, the whole lot broke from con-
trol and swept over the plains. The yells and can-
non-like reports of the whips of the pursuers only
added fuel to the fire. The whole lot escaped, and
were soon out of sight behind the swells of the
plain, the cloud of dense dust floating in the dry air
marking the direction of their flight, the person at
whose expense the hunt had been got up having to
return home with his party, losing the whole of his
horses except those on which he and his men were
mounted, with the pleasant reflection that the do-
mesticated horse, once free and joined with wild
ones, is not a whit easier to recapture than the
wildest denizen of the plain.

In many parts of the country these large herds of
wild horses have become a serious inconvenience to
the settler, and is one which is always on the in-
crease. As a body they are much inferior in figure,

K

194 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

symmetry, and quality to tlieir domesticated brother,
though a pretty good-looking animal has now and
then been got from amongst them. Their destiny
eventually, when the country becomes fenced in so
that they can be captured wholesale, will no
doubt be the boiling-down establishment and the
tallow-pot. For any other purpose they may be
said to be useless. I believe some have already been
boiled down, but with what results I am not able
to say.

Before closing this chapter, it may not be amiss
to say a few words concerning the export of
horses for cavalry purposes from Australia to India,
during the late mutiny. Whatever prestige our
horses may have heretofore enjoyed in that coun-
try will, it is more than probable, have been
entirely dispelled by this last export. It was a
necessary consequence, and to be expected, from
the degeneracy of our horses, that the late cavalry
remounts should in quality have faUen very far
short of what we once supplied, but there was still
no reason why the dearest and least fitted for the
climate of India should have been selected No
doubt, as compared with cavahy management
generally, it was congruous enough, and so fails to
be a matter of surprise. Sending to Australia for
horses is like sending to Europe. Australia em-
braces many climates, many soils, and horses of

THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE. 195

various qualifications. Many, or I believe all, of
those selected, were from the neighbourhoods of
Sydney or Melbourne. They were horses of less
stamina than are found farther from the coast,
and, from the nature of the chmate where bred
particularly ill-suited to India. It is, frirther, not
unlikely that many of them are notoriously vicious,
and therefore useless for cavalry in action, whatever
they may be on parade. No doubt that a large pro-
portion of them will have been found to be unsound.
In my judgment, it must have been a mistake to
purchase broken horses at aU, excepting such as
might be required for immediate action. Then, in
what sort of vessels were they shipped, and what
was the quality of forage found for them ? I my-
self know an instance, where almost a whole cargo
was lost, from the nature of the fittings, which all
gave way on the first gale of wind, and the bad
quaKty of the hay ; and both of these circumstances
were pointed out to the officer superintending the
shipment before the vessel sailed. These facts were
afterwards proved at Calcutta. Would any private
speculator have been so careless and improvident ?
It would be interesting to know what our horses
cost the Government a-head on landing in India.

If the Indian Government ever again require
Australian horses, and they send an officer into each
of the interior districts, where horses are numerous,

196 THE AUSTRALIAN SADDLE-HORSE.

and stout in constitution, whose business it should
be to inspect at the various stations such horses as
are offered for sale, branding those that suit, and
allowing the owner to ship them to India at his own
risk and cost, payment to be made for them at a
fixed rate on delivery in Calcutta, I feel sure that
better horses would be obtained, and in better con-
dition, at half the cost of the late shipments. For it
it would seem quite clear, that individuals, having
hundreds of horses, cannot drive them to Sydney
and Melbourne for inspection, incurring the risk of
but few or perhaps none being purchased. To drive
200 or 300 horses, say 300 miles, is both troublesome
and expensive ; for an officer to ride that distance to
look at them should be a matter of small moment.
As things were managed, every detail of the trans-
action probably cost the Government twice the sum
that it would have done persons accustomed to busi-
ness and living on the spot. The horses which thus
reached India were neither a fair sample of our
horses, nor of the cost at which we can furnish them
to that countrv.

PART 11.

" Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense
. . . . Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good
sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and
we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from
another."

Emerson.

on BLOOD. 199

ON BLOOD.

" Blood is here synonymous with breed."

Stunehenge.

I shall now proceed, gentle reader, to speak of the
principles of which the foregoing pages are meant to
be the illustration. My reader is perhaps a breeder
of horses : has he ever cast aside received opinions
for the moment and quietly reflected on the subject
for hunself ? Has he ever weighed the fact that the
ra^er is the offspring of a racing sire and a racing
mare ; that no horse bred otherwise is a racer ; that
the racer can be bred in no other way ; and that a
iiorse bred in any other way cannot race ? Does he
know that experience has shown and writers told
us, that departure in practice, however slight, from
this theory has always ended in a marked failure ?
Has my reader noticed that good di^aught-horses
come only of stock long famous in the collar ? Is
he aware that Shetland ponies never come of Clydes-

200 ON BLOOD.

dale mares, and that the thoroughbred mare never
drops a foal that grows to be a brewer's horse ?
Probably such facts may have glanced through his
mind, and he may have noticed in a general way
that each seems to produce after its kind, and as it
were transmit itself to its offspring. It may further
have struck him that this tendency is not an ex-
ception to, but rather a marked propensity and
fundamental law of, nature ; that it is evident in the
human race— is exemplified in every variety of the
animal creation, extending even to the lowest reptile.
That it prevails as well in the vegetable as in
the animal economy of nature, and is so constantly
being exemplified before our eyes, as to lead us to
anticipate it, and calculate on its recurrence as a
certainty. So we have come to reckon on the
growth of oak trees from acorns ; and the sight ot
olive trees springing from apple pips, or any other
such deviation from the worn path of nature, would
certainly fill us with wonder. And not only have
we seen these things, but some of man's actions have
from time immemorial been grounded on what he
has thus learned to expect. Hence he sows that
which he would reap. If he wants wheat he sows
wheat, and not barley, for he believes that wheat
will not grow from barley, nor from any other seed
or mixture of seeds, but from wheat only.

This truth, you will say, is threadbare — too trite

ON BLOOD. 201

for repetition, assuring me that " like begets like " —
that everybody knows ''that what's bred in the
bone will appear in the meat," &c., producing, as it
were, fifty other rings in whose golden circlet is set
this jewel blood. How inexcusable, then, must be
the folly or ignorance of those who ignore this
truth !

We admit, then, that wheat is grown from wheat.
We are aware that the racer springs from the racer,
the pony from the pony, the draught horse from the
draught horse, and that each so bred has long proved
immeasurably the fittest for his task. How then
is it, I must persist in asking, that our saddle-horse
alone is not bred from the saddle-horse ? Why is
our saddle-horse a bastard — systematically cross-
bred, and that the very name of a 2^ure saddle-horse
is unknown, unheard of, and amounts in the very
term to an incongruity in our language ? I should
like to hear this question answered. On what prin-
ciple have we acted ? Is any one bold enough to
say that our action in this matter is referable to any
principle of nature, or receives any support from
practice ; and if so, what principle is it which favors
this mode of action, or where are the results which
justify this departure from principle ? Has natui'e
in this instance departed from her rule, instituted
some exceptional law — some "act to amend an act" —
and refused to allow the saddle-horse, like others, to
K 2

202 ON BLOOD.

bequeath to his progeny his excellencies or his faults ?
Or have we been so ill-advised as to seek, forsooth,
to improve upon nature, limiting and modifying her
enactments? Or is the practice part of the residuum
of kindred errors, which have one by one been pass-
ing away ? Is it not a gross folly and inconsistency
in our system, and can the length of time it has
been tolerated be reasonably held up as an argument
for its continuance ? Would it not be wise and con-
sistent to return to the natural laws on this matter,
and trust to judicious selection and the coupling of
horses themselves excelling in the saddle for a pro-
gressive amelioration and ultimate perfection of this
kind ? Would not this course be more consonant
to sound reason than the one now in vogue, the ex-
pectation of powers and fitness in the offspring which
are non-existent in the parents ?

But are saddle-horses, bred purely from saddle-
horses, really superior to those obtained fi'om a cross
of any description ? Do facts bear out what I ad-
vance ? I'll suppose my reader to say that " they
are not." My question to him will then be — Do
you speak of pure saddle-horses from experience ?
Have you ever tried those so bred — the Arab, the
Barb, or the Persian Horses ? If he says *' Yes,"
which I deem very unlikely, I will beg him to weigh
his single opinion against those of many others.
But if he answers " No," I must then say, If your

ON BLOOD. 203

opinion be worth anything, as it does not rest on
experience, it will probably be based on some evi-
dence, and if so, what is it ? produce it. I can only
receive evidence of one sort, the opinion of competent
judges who have fully tried the two classes of saddle-
horses, the pure saddle-horse and the bastard saddle-
horse at saddle-horse work ; for I can no more re-
ceive racing results as a test of saddle-hoi'se capabi-
lities, than I can estimate the flight of the swallow
by his speed of foot. If I prefer the pure saddle-
horse of the East to the cross-bred of England, I do
so fi'om strong reasons, which I have adduced. First,
as the result of well-known theory on the subject,
then on personal experience and trial, and still more
on the concurrent opinion, as far as I have been
able to learn, of all those, without exception, who
have tried the two sorts. Results, then, most fully
tally with the theory we all admit ; and are against
our practice. Were results other than they are,
what would become of our theory? I have accepted
our theory that " like begets like," and my facts
agree with it. The English saddle-horse, through
the thoroughbred, is in part an Arab. He surpasses
all such as have no Arab blood, and the pure Arab
surpasses him, simply because the whole is gi-eater
than a part.

Whatever, then, the reader may think of breed-
ing saddle-horses from other than the saddle-horse,

204 ON BLOOD.

I cannot say. To my mind it is a folly, and I speak
coolly when I say that I do not beUeve that one
solitary first-class saddle-horse was ever bred in this
way. But, strange to say, though we neglect purity
of blood in at least one of our breeds, its necessity
in all is most distinctly and elaborately laid down
by most of our authorities on the subject. I have
already extracted, at page 34, what Stonehenge
says of blood, to which the reader will perhaps
turn.

By reference to the passage indicated, the reader
will see what Stonehenge says on the subject of
hlood when he addresses himself formally to the
subject. Here, though perhaps not as precisely as
mio'ht be desired, we find laid down for us the
following most important facts.

1st. — That purity of blood, or breed, call it what
you will, is only comparative, and means blood that
comes from one source only.

2nd. — That a horse may be a pure racer, or a pure
draft-horse, or a pure Naraganset, pure in fact of
any class, or as it were for any purpose ; and that
this purity of blood and particular adaptability for
any particular purpose is the result of constant unin-
terrupted selection of sires and dams suited for and
excelling in the performance sought.

3rd. — That this quality of hlood, which is the
result of selection, is of all characteristics in a horse

ON BLOOD. 205

the most indispensable, the sine qua non; which
amounts to the full recognition of the fact, that any-
given qualities can exist in perfection in such indi-
viduals only whose progenitors and ancestors on
both sides have, without exception, been long emi-
nent for such certain qualities.

Now, if such is the case, any horse wanting in
pure blood must be imperfect, he lacks the sine
qua non, and, as a consequence, saddle-horses
bred on the English system of cross-breeding
must be, and are, imperfect. Applying the
principles laid down by Stonehenge, I should
describe thus a pure saddle-horse : A horse may be
said to be practically a pure saddle-horse, when it
can be proved that his ancestors for fifty genera-
tions, or thereabouts, have been selected for indi-
vidual excellence as saddle-horses, and from such
families only as have been known to have excelled
in the same particular. In two words, to produce a
race of pure saddle-horses, breed for fifty generations
with that design, strictly carrying out the principle
that like produces like, or the likeness of some
ancestor. This axiom embraces the whole science
of blood ; it is consonant to reason and experi-
ence, susceptible of proof, and though disregarded
by us in practice, admitted in the abstract, I believe,
on all hands.

Stonehenge, as we have seen, always supports the

206 ON BLOOD.

propriety of rearing cross-bred saddle-horses, though
none other, as that measure is the only rational
excuse for the large sum annually squandered on
his darling the racer, and yet he tells us, '* The
fact really is, as proved by thousands of examples,
that by putting A and B together, the produce is
not necessarily made up of half of each." Again,
" Experience tells us, that it is useless to expect to
develope a new property or quality in the next
generation by putting a female entirely deprived
of it to a male which possesses it even in a
marked degree." To be consistent in the matter,
then, we must give up either our theory or our
practice.

Though these things are clear, it may tend in
practice to divest our minds of the very erroneous
idea, that we can, in matching horses of incongruous
powers and diverse fitnesses, fuse, as it were, and
conglomerate the qualities of both, producing a
useful combination in the offspring, if it be borne
in mind, that frequently neither of the parents
selected possess in reality any of the qualities sought.
Thus, the breeder mates the racer, as recommended
by Nimrod, with the draught mare, and anticipates
from the union a hack possessing in reality the qua-
lities of neither sire nor dam. For we must notice that
the speed of the racer is of quite another sort from
that which is required in a first-class saddle-horse, and

ON BLOOD. 207

that it is a poverty of our language whicli makes
us express the two attributes by the same word.
Speed in the racer is necessarily excessive in amount,
and short-lived in duration ; in the other, it is
moderate in amount, but prolonged and lasting.
Economize the pace of the racer, and you are still
far from enabling him to work with the hack.
The fuel is not saved in the same ratio that the
steam is spared. Speed is cheap with the racer,
endurance dear. So well is this principle understood,
that Stonehenge tells us, that " It has been ascer-
tained by experience that a horse (speaking of the
racer) loses his pace for moderately short distances,
if he is strained to the utmost for three or four
miles."

Then, as regards the strength of the mare ; she is
strong enough to draw a ton and a half for twenty
miles at the rate of two miles an hour, and yet not
strong enough to carry herself along without en-
cumbrance at the very moderate pace of six miles
an hour, for three or four hours, or to gallop a mile
or two, or leap a fence, or to exhibit many other
proofs of strength which are found in the saddle-
horse. Hers is somehow a wi'ong sort of strength
for the saddle.

But in his estimate of blood, I find Stonehenge
wanting in some particulars which are impoitant ;
foi', I think, he should have noticed, that as the

208 ON BLOOD.

health, stamina, and virtue of the horse, are in each
successive individual intimately affected by the
food, climate, and other circumstances in which he
exists, so the horse of one country, pure from long
continued selection, must still be inferior to those of
only equal purity in another country more favoured
in these adjuncts to perfection.

But in nothinsf are cross-bred horses so deficient
as in endurance, in which particular they only
illustrate a very general rule. For, whilst nature
manifestly repudiates in-and-in breeding, she not
less clearly sets her face against crosses. Her price
for crosses is want of stamina. Hence it has been
noticed in human races, as well as amongst animals
of every sort, that half-castes, whilst usually excel-
ling both parents in size, if not of too incongruous
a parentage, are soft and unenduring, and that their
offspring again diminish in size without proportionally
increasing in hardihood. Those who would have the
effects of pure blood without paying its price, loose
the substance whilst grasping the shadow of per-
fection. What they get is cheap and bad. Endur-
ance is pre-eminently the heritage of pure blood.
" I am strongly inclined to believe," says Stonehenge,
page 149, "that it is comparatively of little use to
look about for sires who possess those qualities in
which the dam is deficient." What I have advanced
is so much in accordance, so thoroughly a consequence

ON BLOOD. 209

of the axiom of that acute author, that I can only
attribute his stopping short where he does, failing
to show the futility of crosses, to the influence of
strong prejudices and partiality, of which he has
been unable to divest his mind.

In seeking perfection in saddle-horse breeding,
as in every other undertaking, the end as well as
the means must be kept constantly in view, and in
this instance it would be Well to bear in mind the
amount of perfection which it is possible to attain.
An Australian does not know what a good horse
should be able to perform, an Englishman far less.
We look with distrust on tales of performances of
Arab horses, just as a Bedouin would turn a deaf
ear to our relations of railroad speed. He has never
seen a railroad, the Englishman has never ridden a
pure and good saddle-horse. Each is very ignorant
in his own way. Each believes that nothing can
escape him. Let those who hke the European horse
have their own way. I love the pure saddle-horse
of the Arab. He is not part of a horse — somewhat
of a monstrosity, and somewhat of a weakling — but
a fall horse, a well-balanced, a fit thing ! In him
the perfection of each limb, sinew, or muscle, though
unmatched, still yield in value, as in rarity, to the
symmetry and congruity of the whole structure.
This admirable fusion of each separate part, this unity
of the whole, is not, as it were, eclipsed, over-

210 ON BLOOD.

shadowed, or humbled, by any too salient good
point, neither is it disgTaced, nor disfigured, by any
flaw or meanness in his combination. In him,
each proportionate perfection is hardly equalled by
the one special usurping excellence of any other
breed. Examine him as you please, and where is
he found wanting ? His head — what equals it in
beauty, much less in expression ? What steed has
his development of brain ? Where else so full, so
dark, so lustrous an eye? Wliere such courage,
such intelligence ? His middle piece — where,
together with slanting shoulders, and sufficient
neck, such rounded ribs, such room for heart and
lungs, such a strong, arched croupe ? His chest !
How ample, how nervous ! His legs ! Wliat others
are so powerful, so sound, so lasting ? Where is
the sinew so devoid of flesh and fat, clear from the
shank, so cleanly strung ? Examine the texture of
his bone, close-grained, heavy, with diminished
orifice ; as compared to that of any other horse, it
is like oak beside deal. Descend to his hoof, and
you find it arched and open, tough, elastic, and
sound.

When put to the test, his many virtues more
than realise what his appearance promises. In the
speed of the turf he is not an unworthy antagonist
to the horse whose speciality it is. At long dis-
tances, a day's gallop, facile princeps, none can be

ON BLOOD. 211

found to enter against him. In sure-footedness, the
mountain pony is thrown into the shade beside him
— as the daily drudge he stands alone — ^lie can slave
always — ^his abstemiousness is not surpassed by the
ass. In longevity and duration of service he is classed
with the mule. In docility, in spiiit, in saga-
city, in attachment to his rider, no one pretends
that he has a rival. He is the perfect horse — the
horse of most pure blood : in him there is nothing-
excessive, salient, nor exaggerated : he is a full horse,
in nothing mean or little : in no part wanting, in
nothing exaggerated. Of other horses it is said —
he is hardy, but ugly — fast, bub delicate — strong,
but without wind — a goodthriver, but faint in the sun
— pleasant, but unsound. The Arab horse alone needs
no qualification : he has no bane : there are no
*' buts " in his character. There is nothing about
him which one would enlarge or prune : aU is con-
gruous, sound, well-adapted, fitting, sightly, har-
monious, polished, and beautiful, in his mechanism.
No one feature about him is common or vulgar : he
bears the stamp of nobility, not less in each separate
point than in his whole frame. There is no
coveted quality which cannot be got in perfection
from his blood, by consecutive selections, to
the required end : he is the fountain head of
every saddle-horse good quality. He is a pure
saddle-horse.

212 ON BLOOD.

What blood runs in the veins of yon steeds who
-have just passed the winning post, amidst the
shouts and cheers of the throng? The unmixed
blood of the Arab. Whence comes yon slashing
trotter of fabulous price, that rushes along the hard
road between the shafts, whirling the New-Yorker to
his country seat amongst the hills — where dwelt his
ancestors ? On the rocky hills of Araby. What is
yon docile, easy-paced Naraganset, caressed by fair
hands 1 What is yon steed, that, amongst the snows
of the rocky Caucasus, bears his rider clear from the
Russian sabre? What is he that, on the sultry plains
of India, faces the wild boar and takes off the spear of
honour ? What is the nag which the veteran on
leaving the East bequeaths with a tear to his friend,
as something which cannot be bartered for money,
endeared as he is by a thousand recollections of
pleasure and service — what are they all, but descen-
dants, more or less direct, from the pure-blooded
desert saddle-horse ?

To conclude : a breed of saddle-horses cannot be
released in the attainment of perfection from those
conditions which nature has affixed as its price to the
whole genus. A body of good saddle-horses should
cany their riders some eighty miles on five conse-
cutive days, rest three days, and return at the same
speed. To such excellence, however, there is no
short cut. What we would have, that we must pay

ON BLOOD. 213

for. The price of perfection is puiity. High breeding
and pure blood are the result of selection, and not of
crossing. Perfection cannot be bettered — to purity
an addition is a stain.

I advocate in practice what we all admit as our
principle, that " like begets like, or the likeness of
some ancestors."

214 SELECTION OF SIRES.

SELECTION OF SIRES.

Choisissez I'etalon et choisissez-le encore." — Proverbe Arale,

Whilst purity of blood in sire is a sine qua non, it
is not the only requisite, A horse may be quite pure
and utterly degenerate. Two horses of exactly the
same blood, own brothers, may be as dissimilar as
sires as in performance. Hence the horsebreeder
must be as rigid in his requirement of what
usually is found in a good sire, of personal
health soundness and stoutness, as he is of
pedigree. On this subject their remain a few
facts to be noticed. The reader will remark, that
there are many results in breeding quite beyond the
control of the breeder ; for, though good horses can
come of good blood only, yet it is clear that all so
bred will not necessarily be deserving that character ;
that in fact there will be excellence unaccountably be-
queathed in widely different degrees. So that, though
the sire A gets the colt B out of the mare X, and B
turns out superexcellent, it is not at all certain that

SELECTION OF SIRES. 215

the colt Z from the same sire and dam will possess
the same characteristics in the same degree. Still
less, and this is important to consider, is it at all to
be calculated on, that if even the colts B and Z do
exhibit exactly equal virtues, that therefore each
will in his turn and with equal opportunity be alike
fortunate in bequeathing in full his own good
qualities to his offspring. Thus it has been known,
amongst Race-horses of the highest breeding in that
kind, that some stallions have shone on the Turf
more than in the Stud, and that others have been
more celebrated as the getters of winners than as
themselves horses of great speed.

In the mare the difference, in certain individuals,
between their own performance and that of their
offspring is still more decided and marked. Some
mares, from their excellent qualities as dams, have
thrown winners to any sire. And with reference
to this I may notice that mares which are eminent
in the stud, throw after the sire, whilst such as throw
after themselves, produce stock usually inferior both
to themselves and the sire.

Such being the case, it is necessary that the
breeder should qualify himself, as far as possible, to
discriminate between a good performer and a good
progenitor ; a mare that performs well, and one
fitted to throw good performers. On this head
it is exceedingly difficult to give specific directions,

216 SELECTION OF SIRES.

nor do I find that the subject has been treated of by
any author with whom I am acquainted. With regard
however, both to sires and dams, the first requisites
(after purity of blood) which should be insisted on
are, without doubt, soundness and vigorous health. If
oUch are wanting, it will probably happen that theoff*-
spring will be less able than its progenitors. As regards
the sire, he should bear well-developed those several
points which distinguish him from the gelding and
the mare : whilst the mare should not less distinctly
possess those female shapes and characteristics which
are proper to her sex. A mare whose figure leaves
it for a moment to be doubted whether she be mare
or gelding will usually throw foals inferior to her-
self, she may even be barren ; whilst the sire that
might be mistaken for a gelding will seldom earn
much fame in the stud. In a perfect animal these
distinctions of sex are noticeable throughout his
whole make.

This, however, is one of the minutiae of horse-
breeding, and there remains to be pointed out to
stud-masters matters of greater import.

I am of opinion that one principal cause of the
inferiority of our own and other saddle-horses arises,
irrespectively of their bad pedigree, from the erroneous
system on which their sires are selected, for we
habitually choose rather from the presence of some
special good quality, than as we should from the

SELECTION OF SIRES. 217

absence of faults, and the general harmony and per-
fection of the animal in his whole conformation.
Tlius, we are prone to use a sire if he be eminent in
one good quality, though he be below par in other
respects. We choose one because he can gallop,
another because his point is fencing, or because
he is a good thriver, satisfied with this
partial excellence, and overlooking, for its sake,
the want of soundness, the infirm hoof, the evil
temper, the want of wind, or some other deficiency
which should have damned the animal. One of the
results of this has been that the best of our horses
are deficient in evenness of character, and bear about
them, with some excellent points, others that are
very detrimental, the reverse of that perfection of
the whole frame and finish which I so value in the
Arab, which enables him to do all or anything that
his rider may require of him.

"The Arab horse," says Abd-el-Kader truly, "is the
result of the necessities of his rider ;" on his possess-
ing, in at least a moderate degree, all the great re-
quisites to perfection in a horse, may any day depend
the life of his rider." The exaggerated development
of any one good quality cannot compensate to him
for any flagTant deficiency. For instance, speed, so
transcendent as to enable an animal to overtake all
fugitives, or to bafile all pursuit, would be useless to
the owner if it were accompanied by unsound legs,

L

2J8 SELECTION OF SIRES.

a flat hoof, an over-voracious appetite which the
owner could not fully supply, want of stoutness, non-
endurance of thirst, or any other radical defect ;
because, though speed might be all-important on one
occasion, at the next moment the life of the rider
might equally depend on the soundness, the stout-
ness, or the endurance, or even the temper of his
horse.

Thus, in the selection of sires, I hold it to be
necessary to make sure that there exists no radical
defect in the animal chosen, rather than to look
about for one famous in some points, but gi'ossly
deficient or defective in others.

ON CLIMATE. 219

ON CLIMATE.

" The Arabs declare that the air of Yemen causes a degeneracy
(in horses) in the first generation." — Burton.

" La race chevaline, telle qu'elle existe aujourd'hui en Afrique
ofFre un hereux melange de tons les dons qui sont I'apanage du
cheval dans les pays de vastes espaces et d'ardent solei\."~I>aumas.

I am not aware that any author has treated of the
influence of climate on the horse. A few passing
unconnected remarks, let fall here and there, and
these often of a contradictory nature, are all that I
have met with on the subject ; and yet I have no
hesitation in saying, that there is nothing in the
matter of horse-breeding, with the exception of
' blood,' which so imperatively calls for our atten-
tion.

Stonehenge alludes cursorily to the subject o
climate on two or three occasions. Thus, page 19,
he says : " It is probable that much of the wiryness
of leg and lightness of frame in the Arab is due to the
sandy soil in which the grasses of these oases take root.

220 ON CLIMATE.

Besides this, the dry air may have something to
do with the development of muscle and tendon,"
&;c. : and at page 55, speaking of the English horse,
he says, *' Much of this excellence is due to the
climate and soil of the country, which encourage the
growth of those fine grasses that exactly suit the
dehcate stomach of this animal/' Thus, we must
suppose that the very dissimilar climates of England
and of Arabia are both particularly well suited to
the production of the horse ! In a happier mood,
however, the same author speaking of stables, tells
us, page 187 : " The two most important points to
be regarded in the choice of a situation are, first, the
power of excluding damp ; and secondly, the best
means of keeping up a tolerably even temperature
in summer and winter .... It should not,
however, be forgotten, that the horse is a native of a
dry country, and cannot be kept in health in a damp
situation either in-doors or out. Nothing, except
starvation, tells injuriously so soon upon the horse
as damp ; when exposed to it he loses all life and
spirit, work soon tires him," &c. In this doctrine I
quite agree with Stonehenge ; I believe that nothing
is so injurious to the horse as damp. But England
has a damp climate, and England has not produced
the worst of horses. Are the good qualities of her
horses then attributable to her climate or to other
circumstances ? I have heard it said that the grapes

ON CLIMATE. 221

grown in the green-houses of England are superior
to the best that hang from the vines in the open air
in the natural chmates of the grape. It may be so ;
but would this result, realized by skill, won from
nature as it were at much cost and to a very limited
extent, justify the assertion that England enjoys a
climate particularly adapted to vine-gTOwing ? And
can the annual production of a few horses, of foreign
blood, nursed with great care and at much expense
(even allowing that some of these are unequalled else-
where, which I am far from doing), entitle the climate
of their birth to be considered excellent for the pur-
pose of horse-breeding, when it is found on inquiry
that the whole process of their rearing has been a
constant struggle to nullify the effects of that
climate ? Or must we not rather regai'd them as
green-house plants ; a triumph of art, and not cer-
tianly the result of a favoured climate ?

General Daumas says still less about climate than
Stonehenge. I find, however, in his work the fol-
lowing remarks. He is speaking of transferring the
Earb to France. " The sun of Pompadour and
Limousin is certainly not such as is needed by the
natives of a hot country in the delicate years of their
youth." Again, '' The equine race, such as it is at
present found in Africa, presents a happy combina-
tion of all those gifts which are the heritage of the
horse in countries of vast extent and under a burn-

222 ON CLIMATE.

ing sun. These noble animals will not, however,
come to meet us on the sea-shore ; we must seek
them in the interior and often far back."

" Prefer," says the Arab proverb, "the mountain to
the plain-bred horse, and the latter to the swamp-
bred horse, which is only fit to carry a pack." These
opinions d mon idee are quite correct as far as
they go.

My first experience of the horse was in Tasmania
and Australia ; there, on his back, through many a
ride, in heat and cold, by dayhght and starlight, on
the road and in the bush, broken, half-broken, and
unbroken ; grass-fed and stable-fed, well-bred and
ill-bred — I first made his intimate acquaintance.
Living amongst Englishmen, it is not wonderful
that I should have listened to their encomiums on
the horse of their father-land ; of how tall, how
fleet, how beautiful he was ; and, as a consequence,
become a true believer in the merits of that animal.
Whether I heard or read of him it was as the first
of his kind. The fact appeared as incontestable as
that Rome stands by the Tiber, and, unquestioning,
I believed one as firmly as the other. It was whilst
travelling in Europe and Asia that my orthodoxy
on this point became at first shaken and at last
upset. I was in search of no information concerning
the horse, but in riding or driving through various
countries, I could not, fi-om my former habit of the

ON CLIMATE. 223

saddle, fail to remark, that which so soon attracts
the practised horseman, the qualities of the beast I
rode or drove. It first struck me that there were
certain general characteristics noticeable in certain
neighbourhoods or districts : in some, the horses
were all more or less stout ; in others, the reverse.
In some, their performances were better than their
figures seemed to promise ; in others, less.

In coaching through the swampy country between
Kome and Terracina, looking at the dank ground
and canal-like drains full of foetid water by the
roadside, I interrogated the coachman concerning
the health of the inhabitants of the district : he in-
formed me that the locality was so unhealthy that
neither the men employed there nor the horses on
the road could stand the climate for more than two
or three years. This incident was what first turned
my attention to the effects of climate on the horse.
As I proceeded on my wanderings, I had excellent
opportunities for making observations on the sub-
ject, as weU as an accumulation of instances ah-eady
witnessed to refer to, which at once presented them-
selves to my mind. The results of my observations,
as well as what I have been able to glean from other
travellers on the subject, are as follows : that the
horse, though of a very accommodating constitution,
and of a very wide habitat, like all other animals is
very materially influenced by the climate in which

224 ON CLIMATE.

he exists. That a suitable one is as material to his
perfection as is blood or food. That the horse most
excels, in proportion to his size and figure, in a hot
and dry climate. That he is frequently, but not
necessarily, nor always, diminutive in such climates ;
where alone he reaches the full perfection of which
his nature is capable. That his utility is various
in various localities, and corresponds to the
fitness of the climate in which he lives. That in
the hot and moist climate he sinks to the deepest
debasement. That it is a fact — and one easy of
verification — that every race of horses, without ex-
ception, which has acquired any celebrity in the
saddle, is either bred in a hot and dry climate, or
traces its celebrity to strains of blood originally
derived from such climates. So also the horses of
all countries exhibit in their qualities a marked
relation to the humidity or dryness of the air in
which they have been reared.

Thus it appears, too, in support of what I have ad-
vanced, that you cannot breed as bad a horse, inch for
inch, in the Sahara as on the fenny banks of theHoog-
ley. The dry climate of the Sahara invigorates the
first, the damp climate at the mouth of the Ganges
undermines and impoverishes the constitution of the
other. The first will perform much more than the
Englishman would anticipate from his figure ; the
other, far less. In the one climate he is stout,

ON CLIMATE. 225

abstemious, mettlesome, and hardy, in proportion to
his figure ; in the other, he is peevish, soft, washy,
relaxed, and unenduring, even in spite of a good
figure. In the latter, a good figure is difficult of
attainment ; in the former, a bad figure is the excep-
tion. In the dry climate, he agreeably surprises ; in
the damp, disappoints. In whatever country I have
been, in the old world or in the new, in the
northern or the southern hemisphere, these results
have forced themselves on my observation. Aus-
tralia, as I have before noticed, is an exemplification
of this remark.

The English thoroughbred horse is a tall fine-
looking animal, and unrivalled in speed of his sort.
Whatever excellence he possesses, he owes to his
Eastern blood, to the blood from an arid climate. West
Austrahan was a great horse ; I saw him win the
Derby ; but had he been bred in the desert, he would,
if my theory be correct, have been a faster horse, a
stouter horse, and a more valuable sire. It may be
remarked, that no horse of his size ever came from
the desert. Let us postpone that consideration to
the next chapter. I speak now of the performances
of given figures in various climates, rather than of
their production. The Enghsh-reared horse, that
would carry you up to hounds for forty minutes in
Leicestershire, would have performed the same
service for one hundred and twenty minutes had he
L 2

226 ON CLIMATE.

been bred in Nejyd. The English horse exiled to
India, becomes ailing, enervated, diseased, and use-
less, from the effects of the humid atmosphere.
His importation there has ceased. Taken to Aus-
tralia, he enjoys at once a measure of health, and
becomes robust to a degree to which in England
he was a stranger. He immediately improves in
the dry, and deteriorates in the damp climate.
The Arab taken to India, whilst losing by
the change, outshines, from his great stamina, all
imported horses, and even those native to the
country.

The horse of Australia is another instance of the
correctness of my statement ; it is in the arid inland
districts that he shines, in proportion to his figure.
The difference between two horses equal in
appearance, one of which has been reared on the
coast and the other inland, is both very great and
well known ; and it is in the hot, damp, agnieish
districts on the sea-board of Queensland, where he
has been found most to deteriorate ; and it is far-
ther precisely at the season of the midsummer tro-
pical rains, that his health there is found to be
most feeble and his powers of endurance the
lowest.

Man has been brought to exist in all the climates
of the globe, — in some he retains or reaches the
maximum of his strength; in others he dwindles

ON CLIMATE. 227

and deteriorates. We all know how susceptible he
is to the influences of climate. So powerful, indeed,
is the influence of climate on every living thing, that
its effects can hardly be over-estimated. Examples
of this truth are numerous. The sheep, for instance,
taken from one country, becomes larger or smaller,
— bears more wool or less, which becomes finer or
coarser according: to the nature of the climate to which
he is removed. The dog experiences similar changes.
Vegetables and fruits of every sort are subject to the
same law. If you have a vine in England,
which produces only acrid little berries unfit for food,
you have but to raise a glass-house over it and
create within the climate of Andalusia, and
you will grow a luscious fruit, from which you
may express the juice and manufacture Mansinilla
or Amontillado.

Man himself is notoriously subject to the same
influence. Thus, the Anglo-American, with his
European blood, food, education, and habits, has
already begun to show the tendency to the beardless
chin and hatchet face of his predecessor the Red
Indian. So also families resident a few generations
in the West Indies, have constantly and strikingly
exhibited an approximation to the type of the abo-
riginal of that climate. The case with the horse, if
not identical, is similar.

I have before remarked, that the most abstemious,

228 ON CLIMATE.

vigorous, swift, and enduring horses are found be-
tween the 20th and 40th degrees of north latitude,
or thereabouts ; and from as far back as we can trace
the animal, he seems, as well as now, to have
flourished in the same localities. So when Hannibal
led his Africans into Italy, the horses from " Nume-
dia's burning sands," did not fail to prove their
virtue at Cannse and many another well-fought field.
So formerly, as now, Persia and Asia Minor were
famous for their cavalry horses; and all these are dry
and hot countries.

Now, in hot and humid climates, as in the vicinity
of Rio de Janeiro, for instance, the reverse of all
this is the case. Close on the southern tropic, this
city is situated in a moist, pluvious district, where
the deep verdure of the trees, the superabundant
vegetation, the yellow-fever, the hazy atmosphere,
and the lethargic habit of the inhabitants, alike
bear testimony to the excessive humidity of the
climate. Here we find the horse, as well as the
sheep and the ox, small, ill-conditioned, and infe-
rior. On one occasion I saw three or four cavalry
regiments collected near that city. In the whole
assemblage of horses, I doubt if there was one that
stood over thirteen hands high. In fact, it was the
ludicrous sight of cavalry soldiers mounted on
ponies.

From a long and attentive consideration, as well

ON CLIMATE. 229

as from considerable experience on the subject, I
have come to consider climates suited to the horse in
the following order : —

1st. — Dry and hot.

2nd. — Dry and temperate.

3rd. — Dry and cold.

4th. — Damp and temperate.

5th. — Damp and cold.

6th. — Damp and hot.

It is on these premises that I have formed my high
estimate of the horse-breeding capabilities of inland
and central Australia. The probabilities of sparse
population, pastoral pursuits, and infrequence of
rail-roads in many of our arid central countries,
must also be considered another guarantee for the
future good qualities of our horses.

It is on this estimate of climate that I account
for the softness and delicacy of the English horse.
His future will, I believe (regard had to selection)
be in proportion to the Eastern blood employed
in the stud.

In this country we possess the great elements of
the amelioration of the horse, climate and food that
are admirably suited to his constitution. Starting
with the miserable beasts we now have, I believe
that, in the course of ages, by constant and judi-

230 ON CLIMATE.

cious selection alone, and without the introduction
of pure blood, a breed of saddle-horses of much
virtue and distinction might be created. The use of
pure saddle-horse sires would, of course, much facili-
tate the undertaking, and will, I dare say, some day
be had recourse to.

rooD. 231

FOOD

"Si nous n'avions pas vu que les chevaux proviennent des
chevaux, nous aurions dit : c'est Forge qui les enfante."

Sidi-TIamed-hen- Yonsseuf.

A full supply of good food, is, of course, essential
to the perfection of the horse. This, however, does
not interfere with the cultivation of abstemiousness,
a virtue quite unknown in our stables, where glut-
tony is more prized than sohriete.

If the quantity of food supplied to the horse is
habitually insufficient, or still worse, if the quality
is inferior, much less unwholesome, bad results
quickly become apparent. The consequences,
however, of insufficient food, and of inferior forage,
are very dissimilar. If the quantity of food for
several generations be somewhat insufficient, but of
good quality, the size and stature of the animal
becomes curtailed, whilst liis figure will loose none
of its proportions, and his stamina will coiTespond

232 FOOD.

to his make, and be even increased. If the quality
of the food be very bad, the animal will suffer
proportionately both in size and stamina ; but if
the food, as grass, be merely somewhat too soft, too
sour, or wanting in nutriment, the animal, whilst
losing but little in bulk, will be found to be most
seriously deficient in stamina. Hence, a better
horse is grown on a limited dietary of good food,
than on a full allowance of indifferent forage.
" Between a racehorse reared on corn, and another
confined to hay and grass," says Stonehenge, " the
difference in value would be 1 000 per cent. ; and
in first-class hunters, though not so great as this,
it would be very considerable."

The effects of the quality of food allowed to the
horse will be apparent in his power of exertion, as
compared to his size, figure, and blood, in every
climate, and under all circumstances ; but the
quantities of food necessary to him vary according
to climate. He is most abstemious where he is
most perfect, in a dry and hot climate. He is
most voracious where the climate is damp and
temperate.

No Australian who has travelled far on horseback
can have failed to have noticed that his horse re-
quires, and eats a much greater quantity of gi'ass, in
a timbered, damp, and cold country, than he does
in a hot and dry one, which arises from the increased

FOOD. 233

necessity of food, resulting from the effects of
climate, as well as from the actual inferiority of the
grass found in such climates. Thus, an English
horse will devour twice the weight in rye-grass
and clover that an Australian horse will consume
on the plains of the Campaspe, Loddon, or Lachlan ;
and yet, whilst the first, as shown by Stonehenge,
will barely live, the other will work hard. Climate,
as well as food, it is true, has its influence here.
But in contiguous enclosures, where the climate of
course is one, but, as is frequently the case, the
pastures diflerent, the truth of what I state is very
noticeable. One reason, perhaps, of the superior
quality of grass in hot and dry countries is this :
vegetation takes place rapidly in the short springs
of such climates, bringing the grass and seed quickly
to maturity ; the spring then finishes, as it were,
in a day ; the dry, hot weather arrives, at once
converting the grass, which is at its prime and has
had no time to deteriorate, into fields of sweet-scented
standing hay ; the virtue of which is gradually,
but seldom entirely lost, until the advent of the
autumn rains, which usher in the fresh winter
grasses. I believe firmly, however, that the intense
light of the sun is also favourable to the quality of
vegetation, in a greater degree even than is usually
admitted, and that the nutritive elements, not only
of grass, but of oats, barley, Indian corn, &c., grown

234 FOOD.

in dry climates, are more perfect than are to be found
m the same cereals were such light is absent.

The com preferred by the Arabs to all others is
barley. I have already noticed that twelve double
handsful of this cereal daily is found to be abun-
dant feed for their horses.

I have heard it maintained, in conversation, that
the low stature of the Arab and Barb is attributed
to the dryness of the countries in which they are
found, but there are several facts which clearly mili-
tate against this idea. The Australian horse, from
the driest districts for instance, is only smaller than
that of England, when very good reasons for his
falling off in size can be adduced, independent
of climate. The low stature of Arab and Barb I
attribute chiefly, if not entirely, to the sparing sup-
ply of food on which he is reared ; and to which his
ancestors have been restricted for many generations.
Grass is scarce amongst the wandering Arabs, and
even when such is not the case, the value of the
animal and the fear of the gazzou, or raid, confine
him to the vicinity of the tent, and allow but a
partial use of what does exist. Neither is grain cul-
tivated amongst them, but sparingly received in
barter or exacted as tribute. Hence they are put to
many shifts for horse-feed, using milk, dates, &;c.,
as most accessible in their circumstances. These, it
is true, they now prefer to grass or hay, but perhaps

FOOD. 235

without any solid reason for so doing. Besides this,
well-grown horses are in fact to be met with fre-
quently in the arid climates where forage is more
abundant. I once travelled, for instance, with a
caravan of seventy-two Eastern, not Bedouin, horses
belonging to Abbas Pacha, then Viceroy of Egypt.
They were from the neighbourhood of Damascus,
and each about sixteen hands high. Stonehenge, in
speaking of the Turkish horse, says that he '' seems
merely the Arab developed by higher' food into a
larger size, and more massive proportions. The
horses of Constantinople are often sixteen hands in
height, and with very elegant proportions, and a crup-
per more highly developed than that of the Arab."
This bears out my experience in that city, having
often seen pachas, &c., in the street at a walk,
mounted on magnificent bay horses exceeding even
sixteen hands in height, attended by servants walking
before, beside, and behind them ; one holding by
the cantle of the saddle at each side.

By some, again, it has been supposed that the Arab
horse is a small species of horse ; that his diminu-
tive size, more frequently under than over fourteen
hands, is not the result of the sparing diet to which
for ages he has been subjected, but is a natural cha-
racterestic of a distinct and separate variety. This
position is, I certainly think, not tenable. First, it
would suppose him always to have been of unmixed

236 FOOD.

blood, wMcli no one claims for him ; on which sub-
ject let me refer my reader to Youatt on the Horse.
Then we find the Arab horse himself varjdng in size
in different localities, and always bearing in this
respect an intimate relation to the quality and
measure of his diet. But it is, as I have before
stated, in England that this has been fully set at
rest, where the results of the full and even forcing
diet have gradually but surely become apparent.
"Out of 130 winners," says Stonehenge, ''in the
middle of the last century (since when the thorough-
bred horse may be held as uncrossed) only eighteen
were fifteen hands and upwards ; whereas now, a
winner below that height is a very great rarity in-
deed, even amongst the mares. . , . The
average at present may be fixed at fifteen hands
three inches," &c.

It is, however, very doubtful if nature has not,
except in rare instances, restricted the full powers
of saddle-horses for general purposes to a frame very
much smaller than that to which its oTowth is so
often forced amongst Englishmen. In Australia,
moderately heavy men find themselves better carried
on long journeys by a rather large than a small
horse. Where however, as here, horses are almost all
equally indifferent in blood and figure, the larger one
will be found preferable. But this is no reason why
a very much smaller horse, more carefully bred, should

FOOD. 237

not surpass either. Equally bred, and of equal
figure, the larger will of course always be preferable.
Perfection of figure, however, is more rare in the
large than the medium sized horse. " Buy a large
horse," say the Arabs (who have not what we should
call a large horse), " and barley will make him go."*
In treating of the horse of all countries, as do
Stonehenge and Youatt, but few maxims for horse-
feeding can be adduced as universally applicable.
The subject of food is so mixed up, intimate, and
interlaced with that of the effects of climate, that
the two considerations become at every step merged
and inseparable. As with the human race, in obe-
dience to the laws of animal chemistry, it is known
that a regimen, excellent in some situations and cir-
cumstances, is and must be detrimental, excessive,
or inadequate in others ; as likewise, the grass that
is amply nutricious in one climate is absolutely in-
sufficient in another ; so no specific result, either as
regards health, size, speed, or vigour, is produced,
which is not attributable in strictness, in part at
least, to the joint rather than the separate action of
these causes ; since the very quality of every food,
as well as its adaptability, is one of the primary
consequences of climate.

* " Cherche-le large et achete

L'orge le fera courir."

Ahd-el'Kader .

238 FOOD.

Almost all that we meet with of variety in the
physique of the horse, spread over the face of the
earth, whether it regard size, shape, or quality, has
resulted from the joint and united action of selection
(or its absence), climate, and food.

RECAPITULATION. 239

EECAPITULATION

" Mark me, Jack."— Poms.

From the facts placed before the reader in the
foregoing pages I draw the following conclusions : —

1st. The saddle-horse has occasionally been bred
with considerable success in various climates.

2nd. A fitting cKmate is of the utmost import-
ance to the development of the full powers,
stamina, and utility of the saddle-horse. Certain
valuable characteristics in full perfection in him are
coexistent with certain climates only. The stoutest
saddle-horses of which we have any rehable records,
or traditions, appear heretofore to have existed and
to be still found between the 20th and 40th degi'ees
of latitude North, or thereabouts. Such breeds of
saddle-horses as have been famous outside these
limits have invariably traced their excellencies to
sires from within the said latitudes.

240 RECAPITULATION.

3rd. The mental and physical qualities, both good
and bad, of the horse are susceptible of cultivation,
and transmissible to offspring ; hence the impro-
priety of breeding from unsound or unfit sires,
which is embodied in the axiom, that '' Like begets
like, or the likeness of some ancestor" On fitting
climate, food, and the strict application of this
axiom, must always depend the success of the horse-
breeder.

4th. The Arab or Eastern horse is a saddle-horse,
bred after the above axiom.

5th. The Arab horse is a pure saddle-horse, and
not a racer. His blood is pure, and possesses the
requisites to this title, as laid down by Stonehenge,
page 82, and already quoted.

6th. On the same principle, no horse of any breed
is so pure as the Arab.

7th. The thoroughbred of England is almost en-
tirely of Arab blood. So small has been the foreign
admixture that, practically, his blood may be called
Arab blood. The differences now noticeable be-
tween the thoroughbred and Arab are easily ac-
counted for, and are to be attributed to selection,
climate, and food. Selection, by the choice of mere
fast horses. Climate, by one moist, and encouraging
growth. Food, by being pampered, in place of
being judiciously stinted.

8th. The Arabs have never bred horses for racing

RECAPITULATION. 241

alone. Hence, when the English horse races against
the Arab he puts to the test the only quality in
which he himself excels, and is proclaimed the
victor, and the best horse, leaving untried seve-
ral more necessary excellencies — all those points
which constitute, in fact, a good saddle-horse —
which it is well known he does not possess, but are
all preeminently the characteristics of his anta-
gonist.

9th. Health, vigor of constitution, abstemious-
ness, stoutness, soundness, and longevity, are points
in which the Arab horse is without a rival. '' He
presents," as Youatt says, " the true combination of
speed and bottom."

10th. The saddle-horse of England is bred con-
trary to the theory laid down for breeding by Stone -
henge and other writers, and contrary to that prac-
tice by which alone the best saddle-horses have been
obtained elsewhere.

11th. Englishmen claim for their saddle-horses
the merit of surpassing all others. I can find re-
cords of individual English horses having greatly
distinguished themselves. I can find no instance of
their ever having done so in a body. Where they
have been collected in bodies, as in the cavalry ser-
vice, all testimonies seem to agree, that their capabi-
lities for work are much below those of Eastern
horses. I can meet with no ^^Titer who has had

M

242 RECAPITULATION.

personal experience of each who does not pronounce
in favour of the Eastern.

12th. The management and performances of
Eastern horses are but little known in England, and
seldom believed when recounted : the usual reply of
Englishmen being, " Our horses are the best in
the world ; they cannot do these things : therefore,"
&c., &c.

13th. The sums of money expended on horse-
breeding, and trying to perfect the horse, in England
have been enormous.

14th. The saddle-horse of England is soft, un-
sound, and a failure.

15th. Racing in England, so far from being the
means of improving the saddle-horse, has been his
destruction. This fact is acknowledged and re-
gretted by several English writers, who loudly claim
Government interference on the subject.

16th. The saddle-horse can never be brought to
perfection until he be bred pure, as in the East.

17th. The soundest, stoutest, and purest of horses
is the Arab horse. He is a pure saddle-horse, un-
equalled in his performances, and unrivalled in his
desirability for this purpose. No saddle-horse is
excellent, except through his blood.

PART III.

" Dehors, les etrangers, dehors !
Laissez les fleurs de nos prairies,
Aux abeilles de notre pays.

Dehors, les etrangers, dehors !"

SADDLE-HORSE BEEEDIKG. 2i5

SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING IN
AUSTRALIA.

'• Je veux un cheval docile
Qui aime a manger son mors
Qui soit familier avec les voyages
Qui sache supporter la faim
Et qui fasse dans un jour
La marche de cinq jours."

Le CJiamhi

" Nor is man's influence over many of the animals less marked.
The habits which he imparts to the parents, become nature, in
his behalf, in their offspring." — Testimony of the Rocks.

In the first part of this work I have laid before
inay reader, a collection of facts, which I hope will
be suggestive and useful to the breeder of saddle-
horses ; in the second part, I have made deductions
and laid down certain principles, which appear to me
to be based on those facts, and I will now proceed,
in conclusion, to show how it seems to me that
those principles should be reduced to practice.

Hitherto in Australia, breeders have neither bred
pure nor, as a consequence, good saddle-horses, nor

246 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

brought to market at a remunerative figure such as
they have bred. This failure, as an investment, has
resulted in great measure from the want of manage-
ment which has always attended such speculations.

In all countries there are situations more favorable
than others to the production of the horse. In Vic-
toria, particularly, there are few sites for this pur-
suit which are perfectly unobjectionable, and unite
every requirement, and yet the selection of a fitting
field for this undertaking is quite as important as is
the site of his vineyard to a vine-grower. Both
vines and horses may be produced almost anywhere,
but the quality of the produce will be in both cases
widely different in different spots. New South
Wales offers greater facilities for this undertaking
than Victoria, and nearer the centre of this conti-
nent the requisites will be found both more general
and superior in degree.

Could I have a site and all facilities for saddle-
horse breeding in Australia, just cut out to my
fancy, I would have it in Ihis way : On a flat of
poorish, salty soil, I would grow oaten and barley
hay. This for nine months out of the twelve, should
be the food of the stud. Between the hay-racks,
where the horses were fed and the watering-place, I
would have a mountain, bare, rugged, rocky, and
steep ; over this the horses should travel daily to
water, and back again to their feed. The distance

IN AUSTRALIA. 247

to be accomplished daily would depend in a great
measure on the steepness of the mountain, and be
graduated besides to the various ages of the horses,
ranging, say, between ten miles a day for the four
year old horses, and two miles a day for those under
a year. During the three spring months of the year,
I would indulge the stud with abundance of luxu-
riant grass and salty herbage, water easily accessible,
and almost a complete cessation from toil. The site
of my breeding-ground should be in the most favored
path of the hot wind, and in the most arid district
that could be found.

From the importance of a fitting site for this in-
dustry, united with other causes, it will be found
more easy and profitable to breed good horses in
herds, in chosen spots, than in ones or twos all over
the country. Breeding saddle-horses, on a large
scale has been frequently undertaken in Australia,
and with such unprofitable results as to be at last
considered an all but ruinous undertaking. This,
however, is not surprising, considering the bad
management which has generally been pursued, to '
which cause entirely I attribute both its unsatisfac-
tory results and its unpopularity ; to which must,
indeed, in some degree, be added, the large outlay
first needed, and the necessity of four years passing
over before any retui-n for the outlay can be
realized.

248 SADDLE-HOKSE BREEDING

In Victoria, at this day, really superior colts
weight carriers, handsome, of high-breeding, and
unbroken, would readily bring £15 in the market ;
while such colts, at four years old, and perfectly broken
to saddle and harness, would not be worth less than
£30 a-head. Were the average value struck of such
horses during the past twenty years, I believe it
would show not less than £12 for the colt, and £25
for the broken and made horse. The average value
of five year old fat cattle, of both sexes, is now
about £6 a-head, and it has not certainly exceeded
that figure as an average during the same period,
and yet cattle have been a favorite investment, and
horses almost always a very unremunerative one,
attributable entirely, I believe, to the bad style of
management which I have already described in my
chapter on the Australian horse.

The first point to be considered by the horse-
breeder, who seeks quality as well as quantity, is the
site of his breeding run. Its climate must be his
first care. This should be hot and above all dry,
and remote from the sea-board and the infiuence of
the ocean. A first-rate saddle-horse cannot be bred
in a damp atmosphere, or on a pasture too luxuriant
and fat. Besides this, the ground should be hilly,
and in places steep and rocky, that the muscles of the
animal reared on it may become enduring and well-
developed, his frame nervous and tolerant of labor;

IN AUSTRALIA. 249

that his feet may be arched, hard, and tough, and
the useful habit of picking his steps and minding
where he places his feet early engendered. " Pre-
fere le cheval de montagne au c.ieval de plaine, et
celid-ce au cheval de marais, qui n'est hon qvJa
porter le hat"

Various defects are noticeable from breeding
horses in improper sites. As an instance, the horses
from the soft plains of the Lower Namoi, N.S.W.
have come to have feet of about the size and shape
of a soup-plate. Hence, when hilly and in part
rugged ground is not attainable, a hard soil should
at least be insisted on. Another feature in the
choice of a horse station should also be kept in
view. Though the grasses which grow on flat, rich, or
damp soils, always produce an inferior horse, yet to
be used as a change, and in some cases medicinely,
and as an occasional spur to the condition of the
animal, some portion of such country, where attain-
able, must prove a valuable adjunct to the poorer
country already described ; at the same time, it is
by no means indispensable. It may also be added,
that the more denuded of trees generally, and the
freer the action of the sun, the better will be the
country for this purpose ; a few patches of timber
only being necessary for shade and shelter.

In Victoria, I know of no hilly country which is
sufficiently dry and hot and removed from the in-
m2

250 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

fluence of the sea air, and at the same time of a
saline quality, and producing a hard and tenacious
grass rather inclining to a tusic than a sward, so that
in this colony, for this purpose I esteem most the
sound and hard portions of the plain district lying
between the rivers Campaspe, Murray, and Kichard-
son, and it is on this country that I have always found
the stoutest horses of Victoria in proportion to their
figure, surpassing horses of a better figure bred on
the rich soils of the sea-board.

In this respect New South Wales offers greater
facilities than Victoria, and I know many admira-
ble sites in that colony, but none perhaps superior
to the station known as Uabba on the river Lachlan.
Here you have a dry and scorching climate, hot-
winds fierce and continuous, which leave nothing to
desire ; the steep rocky Uraral Mountains substan-
tially grassed, with an ample supply of hard plains
at their feet. From this country 300 excellent
horses might be turned ofi" annually.

The horse-breeder, having chosen a spot suitable
for his purpose, his first steps should be to fence
securely and subdivide it. Without this nothing
can be successfully undertaken, as the horse roaming
at large becomes wild ; resignation, that quality so
prized by Abd-el-Kader, and so necessary in itself,
becomes entirely a stranger to his composition ; the
foal and yearling get galloped to death to keep

IN AUSTRALIA. 251

up with the herd, and frequent manipulation of the
young stock becomes impossible. Accidents are also
proportionably more frequent amongst large than
small bodies of horses, for which reason I think not
more than lifty should be kept in one paddock.

In the selection of brood-mares, where all are so
indifferent as in Australia, there is unfortunately
but small room for a choice. Were there a choice,
I should say select to breed from just what you
would select to ride. Let them, however, be as
stout, sound, active, good-tempered, and pleasant as
can be obtained. Of colour be particular : forswear
roans, sorrells, duns, and pie-balds. Light-coloured
horses of every hue, whether bays, chesnuts,
browns, or greys, are soft and inferior. The Arabs,
with reason, esteem deep colours only : if it be a
bay, let it be blood-red, golden, or a brown bay ; if
a chesnut, let it be of the darkest shade, which
looks like black in the distance, and is perhaps the
best of all colours, denoting the best constitution, and
as being more commonly allied with speed, temper,
and endurance. Size as well as colour is a matter
in which the Australian breeder will have no diffi-
culty in suiting himself; therefore let him start with
large mares, where action and soundness are united ;
with it one difficulty will be removed from the
path of the regenerator, and tend to expedite results;
which, choose what you like in this country, can

252 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

only be gradual, and must be achieved principally
through the sire.

The mares having been obtained, fit sires are still
to be purchased, which, though difficult to be had,
are still attainable. The requisites in the sire are,
that he should be sound, a good saddle-horse, and
pure of his sort — a pure saddle-horse, in the sense I
have already explained. He must, in two words,
fully to meet these requirements, be an Arab horse
of high caste.

The mare should not be put to the horse earlier
than three years off, and first foals are, I think, sel-
dom equal to those that come after. As the pro-
ceeds of the first cross, which would be half-bred
Arabs, became numerous enough to keep up the
breeding stud to the requisite strength, the original
mares would, of course, be all disposed of; and, if
two sires were obtained, the get of the sire A be put
to the sire B, and vice versa. When the three-
quarter-bred mares came to require the horse, fresh
sires would of course become necessary, and the first
ones would have to be disposed of

When three crosses had been effected, I should re-
commend that the mares selected yearly for the stud
should not be chosen with reference to pedigree
alone, as heretofore, but with due reference to per-
fection of figure, size, temper, colour, and perform-
ance ; giving, however, a preference to the strain of

IN AUSTRALIA. 253

any stallion whose get exhibited superior excellence
in quality as distinguished from appearance. Were
this system pursued for twenty generations, on a
sufficiently extensive scale, it is probable that the
importation of Eastern horses might with advantage
be relinquished, and the gradual perfection of the
breed, thus far established, be for the future en-
trusted to selection alone.

Let me point out to the reader, that in the system
which I am advocating, there is no talk of crossing,
no heavy sires to give size, nor racers to engraft
speed on theii' offspring. For speed I depend on the
Eastern sire, who has all the speed that is compati-
ble with the admixture of more useful qualities
which can be found in horses of their size. Larger
horses of the same breed would, undoubtedly, be
faster and more powerful. A breed with such cha-
racteristics may be created, but does not yet exist.
My aim is to create this superiority of size, but
not by crossing, and at the sacrifice of quality.
This must be the work of time, and a full supply of
food. The Arab horse, transplanted here or else-
vjhere, vjill just arrive at that stature and hulk
which the food and climate is calculated to raise
him to, and sustain hivi at. The abundant food of
Australia should quickly foster a larger horse than
the meagi^e diet of the Arabs can produce. So that
I am for the pure Arab blood, which would, when

254 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

bred here for a few generations on liberal but not
forcing diet, reach the size which nature has affixed
as the limit of the perfect saddle-horse in our coun-
try, which I am inclined to believe, would, as a rule,
be found to be about fifteen hands two inches.

Having got thus far, the next subject which I
have to impress on the breeder is, the necessity of
careful culling and selection. It has always appeared
to me, that the breeder of animals, of whatever sort
they may be, should distinctly understand and fix in
his mind the end which he purposes to attain, and
strive for this end with unvarying purpose. He must
be seduced by no sort of excellence foreign to his pro-
per object. Were I breeding saddle-horses, I would
reject from my stud a mare unfit to produce saddle-
horses, though she should prove unrivalled on the
turf, as certainly as if she were the merest weed.
There can, I believe, be no good stud, where a
fixed object is not kept in view, and culling most
jealously and unhesitatingly exercised with strict
reference to such object.

But besides the rearing of horses of good blood
on good food, on a proper soil, and in a suitable
climate, there is another requisite to perfection
which demands attention ; a requisite which has
heretofore been quite overlooked by Englishmen
and Australians, I mean abstemiousness. Abste-
miousness is not habitual starvation, nor does it

IN AUSTRALIA. 255

mean a constant insufficiency of food. The Arab
horses, it is true, are abstemious in the widest sense
of the word, for they can suffer long from hunger
and thirst without injury, and live habitually on an ex-
ceedingly small daily allowance of food and water. The
perpetual necessities of their lives have rendered this
double endurance constitutional and easy ; hardihood
has followed the frequent but temporary abstinence,
but diminished size has been the penalty of constant
deprivation of adequate nutrition. Australia is a
richer country than those of the wandering Arabs.
Australians are heavier than Bedouins, or Moors ;
we are idcher also, and can furnish more forage,
and so rear larger horses. But this is no reason
why our horses should not be taught to endure a hot
sun, scarcity of water, and an empty stomach.
Privation, when not excessive, may, to a certain
extent, be made familiar both to man and beast, not
only without diminisliing the stature, but with the
best results. A horse to be excellent and stout,
must work and suffer. He cannot be habitually
pampered, and yet enduring " Les plus grands en^
nertiis du chevalj' says Abd-e]-Kader, '' sont le
repos et la graisse" Neither must the practice of
sohriete begin late in life, for says the Emir —

Les legons de Venfance se gravent sur lapierre
Les legons de Vage rmiT disparaissent comme les
nids des viseaux.

256 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

A judicious measure of abstinence, both from food
and drink, will be found materially to invigorate the
system without diminishing the size. The Arabs
are not called on specially to teach their horses to
hunger with patience, for their whole life is necessa-
rily one of short allowance. In the matter of teach-
ing them to bear thirst, however, it is different.
'' Amongst the desert tribes," says Daumas, "begin-
ning from the month of August, they only allow
their horses to drink once every other day for forty
days. The same practice is pursued during the last
twenty days of December and the first twenty
days of January." To such as breed saddle-
horses for use rather than appearance, I would recom-
mend a similar course. Besides the hardening of
the constitution, which is certainly a consequence of
a moderate abstinence, another scarcely less import-
ant result follows such habitual privations ; I mean
resignation, a matter little spoken of amongst us,
but in high esteem with the Easterns. A total
absence of this quality is, however, very remark-
able in its effects ; a striking instance of which will
be found in the fact already mentioned, that the
wild horse, which, when broken in, will, if loosed,
gallop fifty miles in attempting to regain his freedom,
will frequently refase to carry his rider five miles.
It seems, indeed, as if he were unable to work ; his
muscular strength, overpowered and prostrated by

IN AUSTRALIA. 257

the irritation and despondency he experiences in
captivity. This tendency, in a modified form, is
well known to the Easterns, on which subject I have
already quoted Sid Hamed-ben-Mohamed-el-Mok-
rani, and proverbial sayings on this head are
numerous in the desert.

A horse that has not occasionally thksted from his
youth, is of little use in many parts of Australia.
Nothing, I am persuaded, is more useful than an
early but moderately conducted initiation into those
hardships, which, to be easily borne, should early
become habitual. Let not the breeder fear,
then, to keep his horses athirst in the blazing sun ;
let his lessons be gradual and progressive ; let him
early know hunger, and how to bear it. But whilst
his trials are frequent and severe, beware that they
be not excessive. Of tliis his growth and condition
must be the indices. Wlien you have tried him with
sufiering, regale him with plenty ; let him feast as
well as fast, — keep up his spirits and his condition.
So he will become enfeoffed of resignation, endur-
ance, and vigour ; and a hundred times more patient,
capable, and robust, than if he were reared in the
enervating lap of luxury and abundance.

It would be impossible for me here to point out
the degrees of abstinence which should be proper to
all circumstances. The nature of the locality, the
descent, the previous habits of the animal in ques-

258 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

tion, and a hundred other circumstances, would have
to be considered ; and, even knowing these, trial and
experiment could alone definitively settle the matter.
As a general rule, it may be said, perhaps, that the
loss of condition consequent on suffering which is
quickly recovered has not been excessive. But, if
after his abstinence the horse remains low, and is
some days before he even begins to make up his lost
flesh and spirits, if his food is ill-digested and his
coat loses its gloss, he may then be pronounced to
have suffered too much.

Though, however, the saddle-horse should be both
well-bred and judiciously fed and brought up, there
will still remain to the Australian breeder a difficulty,
which, if not overcome, must be fatal to his success.
This difficulty is his breakmg and preparation for
market. Labour is so high in Australia, especially
that of the horse-breaker, and our horses so intract-
able, that no breeder has heretofore attempted to
prepare, say, eighty or a hundred colts annually
for the market. But even such preparation of the
colt, that is, the mere breaking, would but partially
set the matter right. In Australia, to make a horse,
that is to educate him, is, when his education can-
not be perfected in the course and process of useful
work, more expensive than his breeding, — the
skilled labour is dearer than the raw material. The
result of these circumstances has heretofore been.

IN AUSTKALIA. 259

that the breaker has usually reaped much of the
profit whieh should have fallen to the breeder ; for
the raw four-year-old of good size, figure, and breed-
ing, which is worth, say £15 in the market, will
certainly bring £85 when he has been made perfectly
tractible and handy. The profit to the breaker will,
of course, be the difference between, these two sums,
less the price of the labour in breaking and the for-
age furnished in the interval. Besides producing a
good horse, then, he must be brought to market
well and inexpensively broken, or the speculation
cannot be a success. Heretofore, as I have already
pointed out, it has been little better than a failure
from this cause. Now for this evil, there is, I feel
persuaded, a very efficient remedy, — indeed, a spe-
cific— I mean, a skilful application of Rarey's prin-
ciples. Without attempting to embrace every part
of this subject, it will, perhaps,* be useful to point
out the mamier of the application of this system
which I advocate.

As early as possible after a foal is dropped, and as
frequently as is convenient, and before Rare3rfying
him, I should recommend that the foal be caught

o

For this purpose lead the mare into an inclosure, and
whilst the foal is sucking, put a strap round his
neck. Let liim make two or three bounds away from
his mother, and then stop him. If he is under a
fortnight old, in twenty minutes he will allow him-

260 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

self to be handled as much as you choose, and will
resent nothing as long as he is not hurt. Rub him
all over, wrap a cloth round him, ring a bell beside
him, &c. ; repeat this every day for a week, and
you will find that the lesson will never be forgotten.
At six weeks old, catch, halter, and Rarefy him.
Wlien he is exhausted and falls, fasten him securely,
then wave cloths or blankets of various colors about,
behind, and over him, striking him gently with
them until he has ceased to fear them. Stand with
your legs astride of him, cracking your stock-whip
over his head (taking care that it does not hurt
him), until he is used to it, which will not occupy
five minutes ; discharge your revolver, lightly loaded,
from the same position, letting him see the flash
and smell the smoke, taking care that you do not
approach the pistol so close to the ears as to injure
that organ. Wheif he has been put down three or
four times, unbind him, rub him well all over, standing
alternately on each side. You may then lead him,
your assistant following with a whip, and making
him keep up. I need not say be most sparing in
its use, and after half an hour spent in this exer-
cise, tie him up securely out of sight of his dam.
Let him see that you are not holding him, return-
ing to him, from time to time, to rub him and speak
to him. When he has been tied up half an hour,
lead him back to his dam, and let him go. Con-

IN AUSTRALIA. 261

tinue this practice daily, until the foal will lie down
when you touch his leg, which should be on the
third or fourth day. Put him subsequently through
this exercise once in every month, till he is a year
old.

At twelve months old, having strapped up his leg,
put bells round his neck, wave blankets, fire a re-
volver beside him, &c. ; put on a saddle, and let
him hop about a moment with it ; put on a crup-
per somewhat tight, and girth him tight ; when he
has ceased to resist these liberties, which will be in
10 or 15 minutes, put a child on his back, the lighter
the better. Any black child who is small enough
will do, they are to be preferred to white children
as Kghter and more precocious ; danger there should
be none. When he has sat on the animal a few
minutes, rubbed, patted him, &c., assist him to mount
and dismount several times oft. each side. This
being done, and the child seated, loose the tied-up
leg, lead the colt with a short rein, and tie him up
at the accustomed spot. Continue this treatment
for a week without intermission. This week con-
cluded, let the yearling at large, repeatihg the same
performance once in every month, till two years or
thirty months old.

At from two years to thirty months old, mouth
the young horse, mount a Hght weight on him, and
ride him two hours a day for a fortnight at a walking

262 SADDLE-HORSE BREEDING

pace, and he should then be, not of course a made
horse, but quite broken in, needing only a little
practice as a three year old to perfect his education.
The treatment which I here recommend I tried
to a certain extent just after the publication of
E,arey's book, operating on two or three foals, and
the like number of yearlings and two year olds. Every
one in the bush was then talking of Rarey, and I,
like others, felt anxious to try the working of his
theory, which I applied to all the unbroken stock I
could lay hands on, and with the best success. One
would have thought that the moment the foals were
let loose in the bush, where they were but seldom
seen, that when next brought to the stockyard,
which might not be for from fifteen to thirty days, that
they would have forgotten their former lesson. Such,
however, was not the case, for with no further
second handling they became daily more familiar,
as their instinct strengthened ; as if the results of
their schooling had begun only, after it was passed,
to dawn upon them. Except catching them now
and then, I took no further trouble with them, than
to Rareyfy them, perhaps, three times in their first
month, until they became two years off. They were
then mouthed, ridden for a fortnight, and turned
out. They made no resistance to the breaking
whatever, and however fat or flash they might after-
wards be, were remarkably quiet to ride, none of

IN AUSTRALIA. 2G3

them ever trying to get rid of their riders, or showing
vice of any description. One of them, which I still
have, though he had never been worked, stood the
stockwhip without flinching the first time I tried
him, though fat and in high spirits at the time,
neither did the rifle fired from his back a few days
afterwards, cause him the least uneasiness. In fact,
I never saw horses more effectually or so easily
broken.

If these results, of which I feel no doubt, can be
obtained, it appears that a great deal more may be
effected by the breeder than has heretofore been
found practicable. For if the treatment of which I
made use, produced such remarkable results, that
which I have just recommended should have a more
decided effect. The conclusion to which I have
come, and which I wish to lay before my reader, is,
that one man would be able to prepare 100 horses
for sale in five years, taking charge of, and beginning
to Karej^fy them when foals, and carrying out some
such plan as I have described. But let us limit him
to 70 instead of 100 horses, and put his wages and
keep at £70 a year. This should enable the breeder
to dispose of his 100 horses, perfectly broken and
made, as three, four, and five year olds, the expense on
each horse for so breaking him being just £5. Were
they truly well-bred, handsome horses, the lowest
price at which I can estimate here is £30 a head ;

264j saddle-horse breeding

in India, I believe, they would be worth a £100 a
head ; the lowest of which figures would handsomely
remunerate the breeder. The employment of black
boys in some districts, would, of course, still further
reduce this figure, as they are excellent horsemen,
and require no wages.

Besides the facilities for taming and quieting the
horse, which result from the application of Rarey's
system, another very important advantage may be
derived from it. I allude to the habit of lying down.
On this point the Arabs are much more particular
than we are. " Faites peu de cas," says Daumas,
" d'u7i cheval qui ne se eouche poinV On a pretty
close observation of the habits of the horse when in
the East, I came to attribute a gi'eat part of his
endurance, as well as the extraordinary soundness
of his legs and feet, to his great habit of lying down.
Spending but a very small portion of his time in
eating, he is constantly lying down on the sand
where he is picketed. Some few Australian horses
which I have had were remarkable in this way,
and possessed capabilities for work above others of
similar fio'ure, which I could attribute to no other
cause. Some horses, too, have a vicious disinclina-
tion to lay down. I have known one that used to
fall down in his stable whilst asleep, too or three
times a week.

Stonehenge, I notice, has a great dislike both to

IN AUSTRALIA. 265

Rarey and his system. He hardly allows that it was
new to the public, grumbles because a racing mare
on which he operated never ran well after, and still
worse than this, that the Yankee adventurer drew
£25,000 from the pockets of the British public.
Whether these are sufficient reasons for damning the
system, I leave my reader to determine ; but as that
writer recommends the practice to cavalry men, I
jDresume his objections are limited to the racer.

It must be acknowledged that Rareyfying has not
taken root in Australia, simply because it has been
ill applied, and too much was expected from it.
With confirmed buck-jumpers it is perfectly useless,
as far as a cure is sought ; but with any colts its
action is, I believe, imfailing and irresistible. Prac-
tically, however, the small outlay at which it enables
the breeder co oring his horse to market fully broken,
is its gi-eat advantage to the Australian. It also
favours early breaking, without which there can be
no perfection. " Get exercice" says Daumas, of
early work, " convient d tous deux ; V enfant se fait
cavalier, le poulain sliahitue a porter un poids qui
est en rapport avec sa force, il apprend d marcher
d ne ^e§rayer de rien,et c'est ainsi, disent les Arahes,
que nous parvenons d n'avoir jamais de chevaux
retifs^ Putting striplings on young colts properly
prepared for the saddle, teaches the youth to ride, and
does away with the evil of having fractious horses.

266 ON RACING.

ON RACING.

Les chevaux sont des oiseaux qui n'ont
pas d'ailes."

Of whatever the breeder of pure saddle-horses
may effect by attention to blood, climate, food,
selection, and a choice of site for his stud, racing
is the only practical competitive test. To come to
this conclusion requires but little consideration, and
I will not dwell on the point. It is not less a fact,
that distinct and decided characteristics, the result
of rewarded performances, or prizes for excellence
in any way, will soon arise and stamp themselves
on the horse subjected to their influence. In breed-
ing horses, as in most other matters, profit is the
great motive power. Thoroughbred horses are bred
for what ? As the actual beau-ideal of the species ?
As the most useful, or the soundest, or stoutest of
horses ? As valuable to the community, or advan-
tageous to any but their owners ? Not by any

ON RACING. 267

means. The gentlemen of the Turf are not suspected
of any such views. They breed their horses to race
and win. It is natural to suppose they would do so.
It would be folly to expect otherwise. The qualities
sought by breeders have reference to this point
wholly and solely. Describe the races which will be
in vogue here for a hundred years, and I will foretel
you the sort of horses which will result from them.
Saddle-horses, and the institution of races, are vitally
connected.

It is not my intention to enter upon a discussion
of English racing, a matter already fully treated of
by many abler pens than mine. It is, in fact, a
subject of which I claim no special knowledge.
Had I been professionlly (if I may use the word)
addicted to that sport, or even a too ardent amateur
of the Turf, I should, no doubt, have become more or
less imbued with those one-sided opinions on the
subject, w^hich I have noticed in its votaries, and as
a particeps crirainis but an unfair judge of its
results. But, whilst I have seen a good deal of
Australian racing, as well as something of the prin-
cipal English and Irish meetings, I have stiD. always
remained a mere outsider and a non-betting spectator,
just looking on quietly, seeing what was to be seen,
hearing what was to be heard, and endeavouring to
estimate this horse-trial at what it was worth.
Having thus watched the results of racing on a very

268 ON RACIXG.

fair field for observation, and read in the pages of
Stonehenge, Nimrod, and many others, — ^all at heart
special pleaders for the Turf, — their deliberate records
of its history and results, or, in other words, its
failure as a means of producing good saddle-horses,
I cannot but acknowledge that I have been gi-adually
losing all interest in this pastime. Indeed, the mere
fact of having come to consider our races as of no
more real import to saddle-horse breeding than are
billiards or bull-baiting, has necessarily deprived it
of all serious interest to a non-racing spectator.

I have no intention of re-producing in this chapter
the facts connected with this subject, which I have
already laid before my reader in treating of the
Enoiish horse. If I have not there adduced facts
and testimonies strong enough to convince him of
the errors of our system, or of the unsoundness,
want of stoutness, the general frailty, and progressive
decadence both of our racers and saddle-horses
resultinof from it, I am afraid that I must consider
his prepossessions as impregnable, and that nothing
which can be added will bring conviction to him.
And yet on what score the evidence adduced can be
rejected, by any one open to conviction, I am at a
loss to understand.

On the one hand, we have the testimony of many
adequate and credible witnesses, as Abd-el-Kader,
Paumas, Nolan, Shakespeare, and Layard, and a

ON EACING. 269

host of travellers between whom the idea of collusion
is impossible, to prove in the Eastern saddle-horse a
degree of stoutness, soundness, abstemiousness, vigour,
health and durability, which are quite unequalled
in England. Abundant instances of the existence
of such qualities are recorded by them, some of
wliich I have laid before my reader. On
the other hand, the boldest stopping short at asser-
tion, no instances of perfect or good saddle-horses
existing in England, but as a rare exception, are, as
far as I know, attempted to bo brought forward by
any one ; but on the contrary, whilst the (in this
respect) ill-informed horse-breeder behoves that he
is producing an animal of unmatched excellence, the
really instructed apologist for the English horse is
forced reluctantly to admit the inferiority, the daily
increasing inferiority, of the saddle-horse of Great
Britain.

Whilst ascribing this decadence, as all who admit
it do in great part, to the pernicious tendency of our
race-course, there ai-e, it must be borne in mind, a
large number of individuals who would di'ead and
struggle against any departure from the present
system, however injurious it may be to the public.
To some, a change would result in pecuniary loss or
ruin. Many who might be convinced, would, never-
theless, dislike to acknowledge that their cherished
bubble had burst ; that they must breed new horses,

270 ON RACING.

consign the old exploded racing calendar to the
flames, and unlearn at leisure their now discarded
science. These persons would be well backed up by
many to whom new ideas are a hard crop, and their
culture a bitter drudgery.

There may be reasons why, not being particularly
interested in this subject I might have kept my
convictions to myself ; and I should have done so,
had I thought any time would be more fit than
the present for improvement. For as yet, in a new
land, the many tangled interests, which make abuse
too often sacred in older communities, have not yet
grown up amoQgst us. We are as yet in the position
most favorable to change, when there is a prospect
of amelioration. No doubt the day will come, in due
time, when Victoria will produce a fair crop of
genuine Victorian-bred absurdities on its own
account. In the meantime, why forestal the har-
vest? Why import foreign absurdities at ruinous
prices ? Why support this monstrous and palpable
folly ? Let us not deck with our wreaths the
columns of a mouldering temple, or help to prop
up a tottering inconsistency. Let us cast aside
this antique rubbish — look the matter straight in
the face, and call common sense to our councils.

Before proposing a new system of racing, with the
definite object of producing a breed of horses pure
for the saddle, in the same sense as the racer is pure

ON EACING. 271

for the turf, let me beg of the reader to recoUect the
full effects of the one which has worked so much
mischief Not only has it rendered our racers, as
Stonehenge and others acknowledge, quite unfit to
be, as they were intended to be, the sires of our
saddle-horses ; not only have they themselves be-
come delicate and incapable of work, but they are
absolutely yearly becoming less fit even for the
sport for which they are in fact designed. To such
an extent has speed been cultivated, so entirely and
systematically has every other quality been sacrificed
to it, that afc last the animal, whilst retaining his
speed, has become incapable of bearing iminjured
the shocks of his own gallop, even when without a
rider : the wheels of the machine have become so
crazy that its locomotion has become absolutely
dangerous to itself Hence it is not surprising that,
to reach the ghttering prizes held out to speed, every
ingenuity has been set agoing to spare the feeble
failing legs, and train the racer with the minimum
of work. To assist this purpose, the Turkish bath
has been, as we have seen, brought in, to reduce
the fat and purge the humours which have heretofore
been worked ofi" by sweating gallops, which the racer
can now no longer support.

This infirmity of the racing machine, has not,
however, escaped the observation of sporting men
in England, and the subject has been brought before

272 ON RACING.

the House of Commons. As we have seen, both
Stonehenge and Nolan have proposed a government
interference, and other remedies for the evil, though,
in my opinion, but inefficient ones. In fine, a
remedy is rarely sought in such matters, until long
after an evil has been discovered ; and it may be said
that, whilst the racer of England is as fast for a
short distance as ever he was, he has notoriously
deteriorated in stoutness, soundness, and all other
useful qualities, and has quite failed as regards the
object for which he was originally cultivated.

In proj^osing a new system of racing to the con-
sideration of my feUow-countrymen in Australia,
the object I have in view is the creation of a pure
and perfect saddle-horse. If we are ever to do this,
we must, as far as we can, so regulate the practices
of our Turf as to make our races a test of such
qualities as are indispensable in the sort of animal
we require. There are, it is true, some very essential
points in a good hack, which, practically, can hardly
be tested on a race-course ; but a great point would
be gained, if we could institute races which should
fully test and render compulsory on the Turf, the
principal characteristics of a good hack, which are,
soundness, stoutness, endurance, vigorous health,
ability to carry weight, and finally, speed after con-
siderable fatigue has been supported. Such speed
as is witnessed at a race, is, perhaps, never required

ON EACING. 273

iij a hack : the race which I shall propose, will be
seen rather to be a test of what remiains in the horse,
after his work, than mere fleetness of foot. As
matters at present stand, if the two horses A and
B start to run a mile and a distance, A will win
because he is the faster horse of the two, 7iot
absolutely, but under the purely adventitious con-
ditions of the race. Then A, having won his Derby,
becomes the horse of his year. To his owner, at
least, he brings renown and fortune ; to himself
may succeed, and often does, a ruined frame and a
breakdown. And yet his name is entered in the
lists of fame ; though ruined for the Turf, he retires
with honor to the Stud, there to propagate his
decrepitude, and entail his inutility. Whilst his
antagonist B, damned for losing by a length, perhaps
vigorous, sound, unscathed by the ordeal through
which he has past, eminent in every useful quahfi-
cation, is heard no more of If, in a trial of soundness
and stoutness, A and B were found equal, the
superior speed for the mile and a distance, would,
in itself (and as a test of remaining power), be a
valuable quality superadded, and deservedly carry-
ing off the victory.

Soundness and stoutness are the first necessities,

and then speed : in the union and pre-eminence of

these qualities lies the perfection of the saddle-horse.

To cultivate such an animal here, the assistance of

N 2

274 ON RACING.

Government would be essential. The advisability
and propriety of such, assistance I will consider
presently. In the mean time, these are the measures
which I propose for the perfection of the saddle-
horse, in connection with the Turf : —

1st. That for fifteen years our Government should
assume the control of our races.

2nd. That our races, as at present conducted, be
discountenanced as much as possible by our Govern-
ment.

8rd. That races, as hereinafter described, be insti-
tuted by the Government, courses allotted, and
fitting prizes provided for excelling in them.

4th. That, with a view to establishing a breed of
pure saddle-horses, a Stud-book be opened, under
the direction of the Government, in which shall be
inscribed the names of all horses and mares pro-
nounced quahfied to be entered in such Stud-book, as
well as all such mares and horses as shall be bred
pure from this source ; or, in other words, whose
sires and dams shall have been received into the
Stud-book.

5th. That for fifteen years the race-courses be
open to all stallions and mares.

6th. That for fifteen years any horse or mare that
can comply with the necessary conditions may be
inscribed in the Stud-book.

7th. That after the lapse of these fifteen years, no horse

ON RACING. 275

or mare be allowed to be entered for any race, .unless
the name of sncli horse or mare be found in the
Stud-book, except such horse be an imported Arab.

8th. That no stallion, mare, or gelding, shall be
competent to be entered for any race until after
having gone through the trial which I have deno-
minated Work, which shall consist in the perform-
ance of certain distances for six consecutive days,
terminating on the day of the race itself; coupled
with other conditions which will be found in the
table annexed.

9th. That no horse or mare shall be entered in
the Stud-book — excepting such as claim such entry
by descent — unless he or she shall have accom-
plished the requisite trial on the course, at least
twice in three years.

10th. That any horse being distanced in any race,
or becoming unsound whilst at the Work or in the
Race, be thenceforth disquahfied from racing, and
consequently for the Stud-book.

11th. That the first horse that passes the winning
post shaU be the winner of the race, only if he be
found to be sound after it. That no stakes shall be
awarded after a race, until a reasonable number of
days shall have elapsed, in order that any unsound-
ness may be detected. That the stakes shall be
won by the first sound horse that passes the winning
post.

276 ON RACING.

12th. That horses, mares, and geldings shall race
separately, and only with those of the same age
and sex.

13th. That the Work shall be performed in this
way, viz. : that an appointed official shall start at
the hour determined on, to ride round the course
where the work shall be performed, at a pace as
nearly as possible such as is determined on for the
occasion, and is indicated in the annexed table.
That this official shall be followed at a convenient
distance, say of 100 or 200 yards, by a second
official, and that all horses entered for the race shall
perform the distances allotted to them as work
between these two officials, under pain of exclusion
from the race ensuing.

14th. That whilst doing the said work, five minutes
to breathe be allowed at the end of each hour.

loth. That no gelding be admitted to run unless
he be descended from a sire and dam already in-
scribed in the Stud-book.

16th. That the stakes be allotted to be run for in
the ratio of forty to stallions, twenty to mares, and
ten to geldings.

17th, That any horse or mare winning as a five,
six, and seven year old consecutively, be entitled on
the last occasion to double stakes, and be incapaci-
tated from again running.

18th. That the weisjhts named in the table below

ON RACING.

277

be those put upon stallions, and a slight reduction
be made in this particular in favour of mares.

19th. That all mares be disqualified from running
after seven years old.

20th. That between the work and the race, on the
day of the race, half an hour be allowed to intervene.

Table showing amount of Work previous to Races ;
ALSO, Length of Races, Weights to be Carried

THOUGHOUT BOTH WoRK AND RaCES, AND RaTIO

OF Stakes to be run for.

Age

OP

Horses.

Weights

TO BE

Carried.

Each
Day's
Work.

Rate of

Work

per Hour

Length

OF

Races.

Ratio

OF

Stakes.

Years.
4

Stone.
9

Miles.
20

Miles.
6

Miles.
2

50

5

10.71b.

30

7

H

300

6

12

40

7

3

700

I

13
13.71b.

50
50

8
9

3

H

1,000
400

9

U

50

9

4

400

From the above, which does not purport to em-
brace the minutiae of the subject, the reader will be
able to understand the system of races which I
advocate, and which, I believe, would cultivate and
test most of the great essential qualities which are
required in the saddle-horse. In such races, I
believe^ none but horses fit for the saddle would

278 ON EACING.

excel ; and that, after some experience on the sub-
ject, the weights and distances, if not found the
most advisable, might be so re-adjusted as to
cultivate and eventually ensure a horse uniting
speed, endurance, and soundness, in the most useful
and perfect combination. To bring into use a
system such as the one which I am advocating, the
interference of the Government would, as I have
said, be requisite, and with this subject are connected
several considerations, of which the most prominent
are the following, viz. : —

Are our horses likely to be extensively ameliorated
without any interference on the part of Government ?
Is the improvement of our horses a subject of suffi-
cient importance to warrant the interference of our
Government? Is the temporary interference in
horse-breeding a matter of such a nature as a Govern-
ment can judiciously take in hand to a certain
extent ? To these questions I will reply as briefly
as I am able.

1st. Are our horses likely to be extensively
ameliorated without any interference on the part
of Government ? In answer to this question let
me ask another. Why should we expect ameliora-
tion from a system which has* been tried extensively
in England, here, and elsewhere, and always proved
a failure ? Or, is there anything to justify us in
the expectation that a change to a new and better

ON EACING. 279

system will gradually come about unaided by
Government ? Let us again judge and be guided
by the past. In England, a change in the regula-
tions of the Turf, with a view to the improvement
of the horse, has often been sought, and always
been overruled. Those most immediately and inti-
mately alive to such change being, of coiu'se, those
who would suffer from its effects ; for the seekers
of future and public advantages are but few, and
weakly moved ; expectants of immediate and per-
sonal loss, numerous and energetic. We shall never
see our racecourse radically improved by our racing
men ! Interest and prejudice bind them to things
as they are. They have invested in that system.
Their merchandize is of value, only whilst it lasts.
It is their security.

2nd. Is the improvement of our horses a subject
of sufficient importance to warrant the interference
of Government ?

Though I ask the question, I can hardly think it
requires an answer. Is any wide-spread industry
or interest beneath the consideration of a govern-
ment, when such interference can be made benefi-
cial ? Say, looking to the future, that in a hundred
years there will be a million of saddle-horses sta-
bled and at work in New Holland — and, that half the
number might do the work as well or better, is not
the probability of such a result worthy of the con-

280 ON RACING.

sideration of our Government of to-day ? Is not an
Indian, an American, and a French, aye, and an Eng-
lish market for our stallions worth looking after 1
Is not a horse power, and what else do we seek in
all ages but power ? Is not a good article prefer-
able to a bad one ? When industry has evidently
and permanently gone astray, shaU not Government
take it by the hand and lead it back to profitable
paths ? It is one of the very duties of a govern-
ment— such acts are not forgotten : as many French-
men know that Napoleon was, I may say, the
creator of beet-root sugar in France, as that he
triumphed at Wagram or Eckmuhl. It is as
important, and fit a care for a state, that the acreage,
capital, and labour devoted to the cultivation of the
saddle-horse be advantageously used, as that any
other industry equally extensive should be on a
proper footing.

8rd. Is the temporary interference in horse-
breeding a matter of such a nature as a Govern-
ment can judiciously take in hand t

First of all, it may be remarked, that horse-breed-
ing has at various times been largely interfered
with, and with most excellent results, by the
governments of England, France, Kussia, Germany,
and Persia, and in as marked a manner as that
which I recommend. The present Emperor of the
French, who is understood to be personally

ON RACING. 281

thoroughly conversant with the subject, has in
France done more for the horse than any man of
our times. In several countries, governments have
had to choose between importing and breeding their
cavalry horses : fully showing that commerce and
the spirit of gain do not always contrive to supply
a market, or out-weigh prejudices. Further than
this, the interference of the Government in England
is even now, and long has been, looked forward to
for assistance by many supporters of the Turf, and
others interested in the horse : hence, the idea of a
government interference is no novelty at least.
We legislate for the sheep, the duck, the snipe, and
is the horse of less consequence ? Who can tell the
amount of money that France has spent abroad in
the last fifty years on this item alone, which the
Government should have enticed and coerced its
citizens to admit into their own pockets ? From
this very cause Germany has more than once em-
bargoed the export of horses, of which she was
being drained to mount French troopers. It is, I
believe, not too much to assert, that no European
people have heretofore bred even moderately good
horses, where that industry has not met with the
surveillance of their governments. On this subject,
says Stonehenge, "I believe that a government
inspection of all horses and mares used for breeding
purposes would be a great national good, and I look

282 ON RACING.

forward to its establishment, at no distant time, as
the only probable means of insuring greater sound-
ness in our breeds of horses. I would not have the
liberty of the subject interfered with : let every
man breed what he likes ; but I would not let him
foist the produce on the country as sound, when
they are almost sure to go amiss as soon as they are
worked."

Though Stonehenge thus advocates the interfer-
ence of Government, he does so in a manner falling
short of that which I have proposed. He would
modify, renovate, and patch up a bad and moribund
system ; I would eradicate it without mercy, and
substitute one founded on experience and common
sense. He would lay inferior horses under a dis-
ability ; I would, besides this, absolutely and directly
encourage the breeder of good horses* by handsome
rewards for success, and rob the breeders of grey-
hounds (for they are not worthy to be called horses)
both of their prestige and profits. I would evoke a
new and national spirit on the subject, and direct to
useful ends the aims of our horse breeders. I would
cede to the Englishman the honor of saying, " I have
a horse that with a feather on his back is unequalled
for a mile. He can, when he does not break down,
do his mile in 2 minutes 20 seconds, or 1 minute 20
seconds (if you Hke)." I would enable the Aus-
tralian to reply, " I ride 14 stone, and never require

ON RACING. 283

to do a mile in 2 minutes 20 seconds, still less in
1 minute 20 seconds. My horse can carry me 170
miles in one day, or 100 miles four days consecutively.
He lasts 20 years, is never lame, and can live well
where yours would die of hunger. Wlien I want a
useless toy, I will buy your thoroughbred ; when
you require a pure saddle-horse, you will know
where to seek him."

And here it may be asked ; can any great, general
reasons be advanced why saddle-horses should not be
bred amongst us in perfection without some authori-
tive supervision ? My reply is, that such reasons
do exist and very strong ones ; first, the thing to be
appreciated must be known. Then again, by crossing
the pure saddle-horse a gi-eat increase in size may be
effected without much real damage to quality be-
coming appartnt to the eye of the ordinary pur-
chaser. To a pre verted taste, the cross-bred may
even be preferred in the matter of beauty. For
this increase of height and quasi beauty the breeder
realizes an advanced price, which quite satisfies him
as to the advisability of the cross. Now in truth
this increase of size, which is paid for by his buyer,
is obtained simply by the addition of elements un-
fitted and damaging to the animal he purchases.
The more his size is increased, the greater the ad-
dition of incongruous elements, of elements inter-
fering with, damaging, unsuited to the purpose for

284? ON RACIXG.

which he is supposed to be bred. It is the gold
nugget alloyed with baser metal. Like the cofFee-
measure heaped up with chicory — he is £L deception
— -a hoax — an adulteration — and sufferable only to
preverted tastes.

There is one other assistance which the Govern-
ment might be asked to lend to the undertaking, I
mean the purchase of half a dozen high caste Arab
sires. It is true they would not, theoretically, be in-
dispensable to the undertaking, though they would
certainly wonderfully hasten and facilitate it. But
the attainment of such horses would be beyond the
means of private persons, for money alone will not
purchase first-class Arabs of high caste. The at-
tainment of one such horse would be an affair of
some difficulty, and the purchaser should unite
something of the character of an ambassador to that
of a merchant. In order to provide prizes for the
races, in any of our colonies where such a system
as this should be carried out, as well as to defray
the cost of the small staff necessary to manage the
affairs of the Turf, I think a tax on all horses in the
district would be a very proper measure. It would
press lightly on the public, and tend highly to their
advantage. It would help to put a stop to the
excessive production of horses, which, at the price
of £2 and £4 per head, now crowd our market, and
uselessly consume our pastures ; of horses which are

ON RACING. 285

useless to the state, and yet stand in the way of the
breeder of better animals. Still further, and in
addition to the registration proposed by Stonehenge,
to stop this eAdl, I would advocate a yearly tax,
say of £50 a head, on all stallions over one year
old, excepting the pure saddle-horse sires. The
proceeds of such taxes, properly appKed, would, I
think, soon lead to a marked improvement in the
quality of our horses.

In the foregoing proposal to institute races of a
more useful tendency than those now in vogue, it
must not be supposed that I have attempted to do
more than suggest such general measures as appear
calculated to ensure the result which I have in \dew.
They will, I dare say, meet with the same encour-
agement from racing men that Torrens's Act did
from the lawyers. If they are honored with any
notice, a hundred objections may be raised to the
proposed innovation. Some will attack the letter,
and avoid a discussion of the principle. Some will
condemn without considering my proposal. By
some I shall be told that no horses legs can stand
the trial to which I would submit them. '^ Fifty
miles a day," I think I hear some one say, " for a
week, carrying 13 stone, winding up with a 8 J miles
gallop ! It would break down any horse." I know
as well as I can be told, that this sort of trial will
not suit the legs of one English thoroughbred out of

286 ON RACING.

five hundred. I know this, as well as I know the
folly of cultivating such horses. I also know that
there are breeds of horses which can do all I propose
with ease, and more, and that if the public encourage
such here, we shall gradually succeed in replacing
the wretched animal we now have to ride with real
horses.

Neither is a long race, and one which tries the
endurance of the horse much more severely than the
one which I advocate, without example, as the follow-
ing passage from Youatt, when speaking of the Persian
horse, will prove : '' My curiosity," says the author
from whom he quotes, " was fully on the spur to see
the racers, which I could not doubt must have been
chosen from the best in the nation, to exhibit the
perfection of its breed before the sovereign. The
rival horses were divided into three sets, in order
to lengthen the amusement. They had been in
training several weeks, going over the ground very
often in that time ; and when I did see them, I
found so much pains had been taken to sweat and
reduce their weight, that their bones were nearly
cutting the skin. The distance marked for the race
was a stretch of four-and-twenty miles ; and that
his majesty might not have to wait when he
reached the field, the horses had set forward long
before, by three divisions, from the starting point
(a short interval of time passing between each set).

ox RACING. 287

SO that they might begin to come in a few moments
after the kino^ had taken his seat. The different
divisions arrived in regular order at the goal, but
all so fatio[ued an.l exhausted, that their former
boasted fleetness hardly exceeded a moderate canter
when they passed before the royal eyes." These
races were e\T.dently not an idle sport merely, but a
test of the powers of the horses. The King of
Persia hrecl all the horses in his kingdoini, and
this was the means he took to test the speed, sound-
ness, and endurance of the sires he used.

In concluding this chapter I must beg of my
reader to judge it has a whole, and of the prin-
ciples which it embodies rather than piecemeal :
as such only I offer it to his criticism. Let the
reader bear in mind, before he quarrels with my
weiohts and distances, that the more exactino^ we
are of perfection, the greater will be our success ;
and that when a trial of utility, as on our course at
present, has been reduced to say six or eight stone
for one and a half miles, a great and evident preju-
dice has to be combated. For myself, I seek for no
shadows : I advocate a legislative interference on
the subject, and such races as shall be the test of
good saddle-horses, and encouragement to the
breeders of them : such races as none but a good
saddle-horse can shine in : such races as would
eventually raise our saddle-horses to the maxim of

288 ON RACING.

perfection. I seek for the discouragement and ruin
of the present race-course : that costly and useless
folly, which has, as a means of producing first-class
saddle-horses, — regard had to the money lavished
upon it, — proved a complete failure wherever it
has been tried, whether in England or Australia.
Let it be admitted, if you please, that, as in England,
better horses are thus bred than in France or Ger-
many, or elsewhere, where little Eastern blood has
been used, or trouble or expense incurred in the
matter : let this be admitted, for it does not debar
the conclusion that a smaller outlay, coupled with
judicious management, would have effected infinitely
more satisfactory results.

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES. 289

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

*' As it has fallen to my lot. from long practice, to have become
experienced in horsemanship, so do I wish to point out to my
younger friends, how I think they can use their horses most
properly." — Xe^wphon.

On the subject of how horses should be ridden
and treated on long journeys, there exists amongst
people a considerable variety of opinion. I have
more than once heard this matter discussed by bush-
men, townsfolk, and cavalry men.

The two points on which persons differ are, as to
the proper divisions of long distances into days'
journeys, and secondly, the pace or speed at which
it is most advantageous to the horse — or most
economical of his strength — that he should be ridden.
In neither Youatt nor Stonehenge do I find any
notice of either of these points. Captain Nolan in
his chapter " The March," has the following obser-
vations : "In the campaigns of the last great war in

290 ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

Europe, it was no uncommon occuiTence to see
cavalry arrive on the field quite crippled, having
lost half their numbers before a shot had been fired,
the remaining horses being in such wretched condi-
tion as to be totally unfit for active service. . . .
The pace " (on the march) " should be a "slow trot,
about six or seven miles an hour, the men rising
in their stirrups, and walking the horses up and
down hill. The horses get in earlier to their food,
they are groomed and better looked after, and have
more time to refresh.

" If you walk all the way, the horses are kept
saddled many hours more than is necessary, the men^
get tired, sit unsteady in their saddles, and the
horses get sore backs.

" The crawling kmd of march really fatigues men
and horses much more than a march at a smart
trot. Let any man ride a journey of twelve or
fifteen miles at a walk, without ever breaking into
a trot or canter, and tell us when he dismounts how
he feels. The horse is always distressed by being
too long under the saddle, even though he stands
stock still all the while."

Now in all this, as far as the horse is concerned,
except the last assertion, I quite differ with Captain
Nolan, and feel no hesitation in saying that he has
had but little practical experience on the subject,
or, at all events, has profited very little by such as

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES. 291

he may have had. As far as the horseman is con-
cerned, it is, no doubt, less tiresome to canter fifteen
miles, than to ride them at a walking pace. At the
same time, it is quite common in this country to ride
at a walk for twelve hours a day, for ten, and even
twenty, consecutive days, without the horseman feel-
ing at all distressed. I have often done so for a month
together, and after a few days became quite inured
to the pace, and looked for nothing else. But after
all, on a long joui-ney, it is the horse that must be
chiefly considered ; for then the well-being of the
quadruped becomes the first interest of his rider.
Now Nolan would have his cavahy horses, weighted
with twenty stone, trot to save their strength and con-
dition, and lest di^agoons, who had ridden 15 miles
at a walk, should be too much exhausted to clean
and feed them ! If such is the case, these di-agoons
must be very washy dogs ! How would this system
answer with the. infantry soldier, with or without
his 60 pounds weight of ammunition, accoutrements,
fcc, about him ? Would it suit him to run a few
miles, that liis march might be sooner over, his load
more speedily removed from his back, and his food
at once placed before him ? Would running econ-
omize his strength ? Would it not suit him better
to rest a while when halfway, and so recruit himself a
little ? Does any living thing hasten to avoid fatigue ?
The Arabs are accustomed to long journeys, and

292 ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

say of the European style of riding them, as we are
told by Daumas, " You Christians trot your horses.
So do we, now and then, when not at work, to keep
our horses in wind. In time of war, we only use
the walk. If we are not in a hurry, a walk is fast
enough. It is the lasting gallop. If we are in
danger, then the gallop saves our heads."

Experience has taught me the truth of our old
adage, '' It is the pace that kiUs." The principle is
a general one, and the engineer knows that the
steamer or locomotive whose pace is to be doubled,
must be supplied with a great deal more than a
double allowance of fuel. That the wear and tear
of the machine will be much more than doubled.
Speed is dear, and those who would have it must
pay its cost. What you exact of your horse in speed,
must be paid in duration and condition. Thus a
horse can walk sixty miles, but he cannot trot or
canter that distance. ^

On a long journey, progress quietly ; never re-
main two hours on the saddle without dismounting
for a few moments to ease your horse's back and
legs : you will find it, beyond comparison^ easier
to save condition than to replace it

Of all paces, that at which the horse can accom-
plish the greater distance, that at which he works
with the least cost of toil and condition, is un-
doubtedly the very ungainly and disagreeable one of

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES. 293

the jog-trot, which generally covers five miles
wdthin the hour. This is well known in the Sahara.
It combines the advantages of being tolerably
speedy, soon bringing the work to a conclusion, with
a pace, easy to the animal. Whether it would suit
horses carrpng twenty stone I cannot say.

Two miles at a trot are as exhaustive as three at
a walk. Walking out, at the top of the animal's
speed, is scarcely less fatiguing than a gentle trot.
To man or beast it is more tiring to walk really hard
than to jog easily ; hence runners on foot adopt the
latter pace : hence, the horse pushed at a walk, tries
to spare himself by breaking into a jog, and when
getting weary, he must either jog or relax his walk ;
the horse pressed at a trot is difficult to restrain
from consulting his ease in a canter. To ride at the
top of any pace is uneconomical of strength.

In this matter of pace, it is usually found that
those who cannot by any possibility know anything
on the subject, are the most opinionated, and pro-
vided with the wisest maxims : it is so easy to
theorize on such matters, when the ignorance of the
theorist is perfect ! No one need plume himself on
his knowledge on this head, because he can ride a
fat horse 300 or 400 miles, at the rate of thirty
miles a day ; but double the whole distance without
increasing the length of the day's journey, and
those not accustomed to such thmgs, left to their

294 ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

own guidance, invariably shut up their horses long
before the finish. For a short journey you may ride
your horse as you please. The proper and the im-
proper system prove themselves on a long journey.

The English, as a people, know little of riding-
horses long distances. Until they became a great
commercial people, their roads were all but imprac-
ticable, and the necessity for much change of place
trifling and exceptional. Since the great extension
of English commerce, the hack has become too slow
to keep pace with the requirements of the man of
business, and the coach first and the iron-horse
since have completely supplanted him : hence their
books make no mention of this subject.

We now come to the consideration of the stages
into which a long journey can be most properly
divided, and I will here call the attention of the
reader to one of the anomalies of the horse : it
consists in the dissimilarity of his performance and
capabilities from those of man and other animals :
thus, the horse favourably ridden will, for a day,
leave far behind the best pedestrian. An average
colonial horse will carry his rider 100 miles in
twelve or fourteen hours — a right good man will
have enough to do with fifty miles during the same
period ; and yet, whilst the pedestrian would have
little difliculty in doing the half of this distance
say twenty-five miles, daily, for many consecutive

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES. 295

days, the same horse would certainly last but a very
short time at fifty miles a day, or the half of his
maximum. This remark applies more to the half-
bred saddle-horse than to the Arab, or the hack of
the basest description. The latter may work quietly
for a few days, but he cannot perform a long day's
work — it kills him ; the former, the Arab, is more
akin to man in the nature of his powers — he can
make a long stretch for one day, and work hard
every day. This is to be accounted for in two
ways : he is pure for the saddle — his formation,
instincts, and powers are especially calculated and
cultivated for that purpose. Besides this, he has
great resignation : work neither irritates nor excites
him : it agrees with his nature — he is adapted to
the saddle. His day's work over, his frugal supper
is soon eaten — no long hours of gormandizing detain
him from rest ; — he is soon extended on the sand,
and asleep, whence he rises in the morning fit for
fresh toil. The Arabs, Daumas tells us, say, "Faites
peu de cas d'un cheval qui ne se couche point"
Our horses are much wanting in this respect.

I will now ask my reader how he would appor-
tion his daily distances, if he had to direct the
march of a body of cavalry, which had to perform
1,500 miles in 100 days. The task should not be
a very trying one, and is yet capable of being
managed in this point alone with widely diflferent

298

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

results. Tlie way in which such things are usually
managed is to divide equally the 105 miles, which
would be the weekly proportion of the task, between
the six first days in the week, and rest on the
Sunday ; and this constant harassing, for it could
not be called work, would leave the majority of the
horses quite unfit for active service at its termina-
tion : for the saddle-horse disimproves when unac-
customed to his water, forage, and place of rest,
often refusing to lie down : for to lie down is his
greatest mark of confidence. It would, in fact, be
a most unfit way of performing the journey. I
should lay the work out something in this way,
presuming accommodation, forage, &c., to be equal
everywhere : —

day's

MILES

TOTAL

day's

WOKK.

PER DAI

.

MILES.

BEST.

4

at

20

=

80

1 1

4

15

=

60

2

2

2o

=

50

1

2

30

:r=

60

2

day's

day's

5
4

30
30

-

150
120

4

7

17

MILES.

^ 520

WORK.

21

rest.
17

21

520

6

))

30

180

3 ^

5

))

30

=

150

0

2

jj

10

20

7
10

■ 350

13

10

13

350

_. J

-""■

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

297

day's miles

TOTAL

DAYS

WORK. PER DAY.

MILES.

REST.

4 at 30 =

120

2

4 „ 30 =

120

3

4 „ 30 =

120

7

12

360

12

DAY S DAYS
MILES. WORK. REST,

360 12 12

4
4
2

10

30
30
15

120

120

30

270

270 10

1500 56 44

Horses thus travelled would never have been
worked more than five consecutive days, on an ave-
rage much less — would have been gradually accus-
tomed to their work — would have had many rests,
and three of a week each. They would have become
inured to carrying their riders thirty miles four days
consecutively, and should end their march in good
condition — fit to commence a campaign.

I have concluded, gentle reader, my self-imposed
task. Let me finish with the hope that what I have
offered to your consideration, as it is certainly the
result of conviction, may meet with impartial con-
sideration, awaken some interest on this subject
amongst us Austrahans, and lead to some beneficial
results. It is of little consequence that what I have
proposed is new if it be reasonable, advantageous,
and practicable. What if it be against the practices

298 ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES.

of England ? It accords with usages still more
ancient and general. But that aside : old countries
are not necessarily dowered with a perfection of
knowledge. Many new things, and simple and use-
ful, have come to us from the barbarous and the
uncivilized. From young America we lately learned
important facts connected with the very animal I
now writ of Rarey, fresh from his studies in the
backwoods, electrified the horsey and horse-learned
men of Europe with the new practical thing he had
to teach. Though an ilhterate man and guiltless of
Leicestershire and Epsom lore, he had weighed and
appreciated the horse for himself His conclusion
was beside old experience and opinion ; but he de-
monstrated that it was correct, and made easy what
had seemed impossible. For partial amelioration
and progressive bettering of an industry or pro-
fession, look to its followers. Legatees of know-
ledge, they would again bequeath, improved perhaps,
but still their own inheritance. Their minds, con-
servative in this, stop with additions, corrections,
and prunings, and run ever in the worn groove. Radi-
cal improvement — the new — more often comes from
the amateur unprofessional observer, who has little
prejudice, knowledge enough, and an unfettered
judgment.

Be this as it may, of one thing my reader may be
certain, that my views and opinions, correct or other-

ON RIDING LONG DISTANCES. 299

wise, have been nursed in no holiday-school ; neither
are they a rechauffe of the monldy dogmas of turf or
stable. They are, indeed, the results of much
sweat and long journeys, weary miles, painful roads,
and worn-out spurs : intimacy with many who have
lived in the saddle : — and experience of the horses
of many countries.

If it seems that I have spoken too warmly or too
confidently on my subject, differing with so many,
I can only plead in excuse, together with my little
practice with the pen, the conviction that I am right,
the wish to persuade, and the hope of being useful.

FINIS.

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