Arab Horses

1900

So much has been written about the respect of an Arab for his horse that it is natural to think of the Arab steed as peculiarly delicate and sensitive to adverse influences. This is not the case. The wants of an Arab horse are few, and he will maintain his health and spirits under conditions which other horses could never endure.

Indeed, not only can he put up with hardships at a pinch, but he actually deteriorates if too carefully tended. This has been proved again and again by purchasers who have refused to believe the usual three feeds of grain a day to be too much, or the morning hour of walking exercise too little.

The fact is that an Arab is naturally so high-spirited, and so difficult to tire, that even a single feed of corn is excessive unless he is being subjected to exceptionally hard work. He will answer every requirement as a hunter, if his food is restricted to hay, or even to grass. In the summer he thrives best when he has the run of a paddock, and can regulate his own food and exercise.

These remarks apply to the ordinary Arab horse in every-day life. What a picked animal can do when put upon his mettle is almost beyond belief. An officer recently returned from the Sudan says that after a ride of eight hundred miles his horse showed no signs of overwork, although he had cast all his shoes before a quarter of the journey was accomplished. Many of the camels had died on the way, and others had suffered severely, but the Arab horse was unhurt.

It was an Arab that, at Firozpur, carried one hundred and forty-six pounds and won a ten-mile race in twenty-five minutes, a feat of endurance rarely, if ever, equalled. — Youth's Companion.