xt7rxw47qj24 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7rxw47qj24/data/mets.xml Speed, John Gilmer, 1853-1909. 1905  books b92-129-29191558 English McClure, Phillips & Co., : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horses. Horse in America  : a practical treatise on the various types common in the United States, with something of their history and varying characteristics / by John Gilmer Speed. text Horse in America  : a practical treatise on the various types common in the United States, with something of their history and varying characteristics / by John Gilmer Speed. 1905 2002 true xt7rxw47qj24 section xt7rxw47qj24 







THE HORSE IN AMERICA

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The



Horse



           IN AMERICA
       A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE
VARIOUS TYPES COMMON IN THE UNITED STATES,
   WITH SOMETHING OF THEIR HISTORY AND
         VARYING CHARACTERISTICS

                  BY
          JOHN GILMER SPEED



      Illustrated

      NEW YORK
McCLURE, PHILLIPS  CO.
      MCMV

 





































    Copvyright, 1905, by
McCLURE, PHILLIPS  CO.
  Published. October, 1905

 






             THIS BOOK
 THE AUTHOR DEDICATES TO HIS FRIEND
 COLONEL CLARENCE R. EDWARDS, U. S. A.
WHOSE INHERITED LOVE FOR HORSES HAS
   BEEN CULTIVATED BY STUDY AND
     STRENGTHENED BY PRACTICE

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                 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .                   . .    . ..                  -xii
CHAPTER                                      PAGE
   I Prehistoric and Early Horses.. . . . .    3
   II Arab and Barb Horses . . . . . . . . 14
 III The Thoroughbred in America . . . . . 38
 IV The Morgan Horse   . . . . . . . . . 75
 V Messenger and the Eaily Trotters  . . . . 100
 VI Rysdyk's Hambletonian and the Standard
       Bred Trotters ....      . .         . 115
VII The Clay and Clay-Arabian . . . . . . 136
VIII The Denmark, or Kentucky Saddle-Horse  . 148
IX The Government as a Breeder  . . . . . 167
  X Foreign Horses of Various Kinds .  . . . . 178
  XI The Breeding of Mules . . . . . . . . 187
XII How to Buy a Horse . . . . . . .       . 210
XIII The Stable and its Management    . . . . 220
XIV Riding and Driving  . . . . . . . . . 234
XV Training vs. Breaking. . . . . . . . . 262
XVI Conformation and Action  . . . . . . . 2972



INDEX



.I... 9279

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ILLUSTRATIONS



Flora Temple  ....    .  . .  . .   . Frontispiece
                                            FACING
                                            PAGE
Nimr (Arab) ....      . .......         .  .  14
Naomi and Foal Arab. . . . . . . . . . . 30
Lexington (Thoroughbred)...   . . .  . . .    42
Ten Broeck (Thoroughbred). . . . . . . . . 50
Longfellow (Thoroughbred).     .......      . 66
Domino (Thoroughbred) . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Justin Morgan Type  . . . . . . . . . 76
Duke of Albany (Morgan) . . . . . . . . . 84
Jubilee de Jarnette (Morgan).. . . . . . . 94
Ethan Allen and Running Mate vs. Dexter . . . . 98
Rysdyk's Hambletonian . . . . . . . . . . 116
Lou Dillon (Standard-Bred Trotter) . . . . . . 132
Clay-Kismet (Clay-Arabian).. . . . . . . . 136
Nimrod (Clay-Arabian) ..   .....     . .    . 146
A Group of Denmark Mares   . . . . . . . . 150
Montgomery Chief, Jr. (Inbred Denmark) . . . . 158
Highland Eagle (Inbred Denmark) . . . . . . 166

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INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION



THERE have been so many books written about
horses that in offering a new one I feel that an ex-
planation, if not an apology, is due. And I am
embarrassed as to how to frame the explanation
without seeming to reflect on the books previous-
ly given to the public. Nothing could be further
from my desire. Most of these previous books
have been devoted to special kinds or types of
horses without any effort to cover a very broad
field. Some others have been frankly partizan with
the avowed purpose of proving that this type or
that was the only one that was worth serious con-
sideration. All these are interesting, but valuable
chiefly to the careful student bent on going into
the subject of horse breeding and horse training
in all of its branches. To do this an ordinary reader
would have to study half a hundred books with
                      iii

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



the danger of becoming confused in the multi-
plicity of theories and conflicting statements and
with the final result of knowing as little in the end
as in the beginning. In this modest little volume I
have endeavored briefly to show how the horses in
America have been developed and have come to be
what they are to-day. If I have succeeded even
partly in my purpose I will have my ample re-
ward; if I fail, my book will end on a few dusty
library shelves along with hundreds of others on
kindred subjects.
  There is a peculiar characteristic of most writ-
ers on the horse. Let a man be ever so fair in his
ordinary business and social life, he is apt, when
he becomes interested in horses, to throw away
his judicial attitude and change into an advocate
who sees only one side. When his interest in that
one side carries him to the length of writing, the
tendency is to be so partizan that he is even dis-
courteous to others who do not agree with him.
This queer disposition to wrangle and dispute is
due, no doubt, to the fact that horse breeding is
not yet by any means an exact science, and the
data, guiding even those who exercise the greatest



IV

 




INTRODUCTION



care and intelligence, is not trustworthy. We do
not know with certainty how any of the great
types has been produced, for the beginnings of all
of them are covered up by fictions, based on tra-
ditions not recorded, but handed down from gen-
eration to generation, or on fictions that have
been manufactured with ingenious mendacity.
All this is a pity, but there is no help for it now.
What we can do is to tell what is true, show what
has been demonstrated by known achievements
arid go on working in the material that we have at
hand, so that we may assist in increasing the great
property value that this country has in its horses.
  That property value is immense. In the begin-
ning of 1905, the Agricultural Department esti-
mated that the (taxable) value of the horses in the
United States was 1,200,310,020, and of mules
251,840,378, or a total of 1,452,150,398. This
is only about eight per cent less than the aggre-
gate value of the cows, beef cattle, sheep and
hogs in the whole country. Merely, therefore,
from an economic standpoint this question of
preserving and increasing the value of horses is
one of prime importance. At this particular time



V

 




Vi         THE HORSE IN AMERICA
it is a question not only of increasing, but even of
preserving, this value, for new agencies are com-
ing into competition with horses for many pur-
poses and are being substituted for horses in
many others. The automobiles and the electric
tramways are not merely passing fads. They
have come to stay until substituted by something
else which has not yet swum into our ken. The
common horses will soon be obsolete except on
our farms, and even on the farms they ought to be
given up, for, notwithstanding all the great
breeding establishments in the various states, by
far the greater number of the horses are bred on
the farms at present. That should always be the
case; but it may not be so when the time comes
that is rapidly approaching and a common horse
will have next to no value at all. Farmers more
than others need to realize that only such horses
should be bred that will have a value for other
than strictly farm work, for a farmer should be
able to sell his surplus stock with a fair profit. If
farmers have not the foresight to anticipate the
inevitable, then they will have to accept the loss
that will surely ensue.

 




INTRODUCTION



  Every breeder whether farmer, amateur or
professional, should breed to a type. Any other
method is merely a haphazard waste of time and
money. When I say breed to a type, I mean always
a reproducing type. There are several such in this
country, a few of which belong to us, though most
of them are of foreign origin. The Thoroughbred
is English, the Percheron is French, the Hackney
is English, the Orlof is Russian, the Clydes-
dale is English, the Morgan is American,
the Denmark is American, the Clay-Arabian is
American, and the standard bred trotter a
kind of " go-as-you-please " mongrel; nevertheless
he is considered by many the noblest achieve-
ment of intelligent American horse breeding.
When any one goes in for horse breeding on
either a small or a large scale, whether with one
mare or with one hundred mares, he should, in
selecting mates, always strive for a definite type
in the foal. If intelligence and correct informa-
tion be guided by experience the results are apt to
be pleasantly satisfactory.
  The first cardinal principle of horse breeding
was formulated in England a century and a half



Vii

 




Viii      THE HORSE IN AMERICA
ago in the expression: "Like begets like." This
rule has been followed in the creation and main-
tenance of all the great horse types in the civil-
ized world, and singularly enough all of them,
both great and small in size, have descended
from Arab and Barb stock. This concise rule of
breeding, " Like begets like," has been misunder-
stood by some who did not take a sufficiently
comprehensive view of it. This likeness does not
refer merely to one thing; not to blood alone, nor
to conformation, nor to performance; but to
blood and to conformation and performance, but
most of all to blood. Where blood lines, as to like-
ness, are disregarded, and conformation and per-
formance are alone considered, the result is sure
to be a lot of mongrels, some of them, it is true, of
most surpassing excellence, but as a general
thing, quite incapable of reproducing themselves
with any reasonable certainty.
  The great danger always in breeding horses
and other domestic animals with the idea of im-
proving a type or a family, is that mongrels may
be produced. A mongrel is an animal that results
from the union of dissimilar and heterogeneous

 




               INTRODUCTION                iX
blood. An improved and established reproducing
type has hitherto been, and probably always will
be, the result of the mingling of similar and ho-
mogeneous blood, crossed and recrossed until
the similar becomes consanguineous. The Arab
and Barb, I have said, are the foundation in
blood of all the great types from the Percheron to
the Thoroughbred. To be sure, other and dissim-
ilar blood was used in the beginning of the mak-
ing of all the types, but there was such crossing
and recrossing, such grading up by a selection of
mates, that the blood became similar, and the
rule: " Like begets like," being constantly follow-
ed a type becomes established.
  When a type has been established and is of un-
questioned value to the world, it should be pre-
served most carefully. The French, the Russians,
the Germans and the Austrians do this by means
of Governmental breeding farms. The English
accomplish the same result by reason of the cus-
tom of primogeniture and entailed estates. Con-
tinuity in breeding is essential to its complete suc-
cess. In this country when a breeder dies, his col-
lection of horses is usually dispersed by sale to

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



settle his estate. Considering our lack of Govern-
mental assistance we have done amazingly well
to become the greatest horse-producing country
in the world. Our greatness, however, is mainly
due to the vastness of our area, the fertility of our
soil and consequent cheapness of pasturage, and
to the high average intelligence of the American
people. We have not exercised the scientific intel-
ligence in breeding that some European people
have done. So as breeders we have not a great
deal to be proud of. We have done better as to
quantity than quality. But we can do better, and
I am sure that we will, for the time is hard upon
us when the four-year-old horse that is not worth
300 in the market will not be worth his keep.
  There is, however, an important public aspect
to this question of improving and maintaining the
breed of horses. Without good horses for cavalry
the efficiency of an army is very much crippled.
When our Civil War broke out horse-back riding
in the North had as an exercise for pleasure been
generally given up, and nine-tenths of the men
who went into the service on the Union side could
not ride. On the other hand, at least seven-tenths



X

 





of those who went into the Confederate army
could ride. Moreover, the North had a scant sup-
ply of horses fit for cavalry, while in many States
of the South such animals were abundant. Here
we had on one side the material for a quickly-
made cavalry, and on the other side practically
no material either in horses or men for such a
branch of the army. Critics of the war attribute
the early successes of the South to the superior-
ity of the cavalry. The Northern side was obliged
to wait for nearly two years before that arm of
the service was equal to that of the South. Thus,
this distressful war was probably continued for
more than a year longer than it would have been
had the two sides in the beginning been equally
supplied with riders and riding horses. And in
the Japanese-Russian War, now in progress, the
Japanese are hampered dreadfully by their lack
of cavalry. They have beaten the Russians time
and again only to let the Russians get away be-
cause of the Japanese inability, from lack of
horses and horsemen, to cut off the line of re-
treat. It is a most distressingly expensive thing to
be without horses in time of war; unless proper



xi



INTRODUCTION

 




Xii       THE HORSE IN AMERICA
horses are abundant in time of peace, and the
people who own them use them under the saddle,
when war comes there is a scarcity of men who
know how to ride. Good material for cavalry in
horses and men is an excellent national invest-
ment.
  In addition to my chapters on the breeding of
various types I have added several others on the
keeping, handling and using of horses so that if
an owner have only this one book, he may be able
to have at least a little useful information of many
sorts and kinds.

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA

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CHAPTER ONE



      PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES
THE paleontologists tell us that the rocks abound
with fossils which show that Equidae were numer-
ous all over America in the Eocene period. These
were the ancestors of the horse that was first do-
mesticated, and though there were millions of
them on the Continent of North America in the
period mentioned there were no horses here at all
when Columbus made his great discovery, and the
first explorers came to find out what this new In-
dia was like. The remains of the prehistoric
horse, when first found, baffled the naturalists,
and he was called by Richard Owen Hyracothe-
rium or Hyrax-like-Beast. The first fossils dis-
covered showed that the horse was millions and
millions of years ago under twenty-four inches in
stature, with a spreading foot and five toes. In his
development from this beginning the horse fur-
                      s

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



nishes one of the most interesting examples of
evolution. When he had five toes he lived in low-
lying, marshy land and the toes were needed so
that he could get about. He had a short neck and
short jaws, as longer were not needed to enable
him to feed on the easily reached herbage. As the
earth became harder, the waters receding, his
neck and jaws lengthened, as it was necessary for
him to reach further to crop the less luxuriant and
shorter grasses. He lost, also one toe after another
so that he might travel faster and so escape his
enemies. These toes, of course, did not disappear
all at once, but grew shorter, until they hung
above the ground. The " splint bones " on a
horse's legs are the remains of two of these once
indispensable toes, while the hoof is the nail of the
last remaining toe.
  As the neck of the horse grew longer and two
toes had been dropped, the legs lengthened and
by the time he became what the scientists call a
"Neohipparion" he was about three feet high,
and his skeleton bore a very striking resemblance
to that of the horse of to-day. The teeth also
changed with the rest of the animal. In the earli-



4

 




      PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES        5
est specimens discovered the teeth were short
crowned and covered with low, rounded knobs,
similar to the teeth of other omnivorous animals,
such as monkeys and hogs, and were quite differ-
ent from the grinders of the modern animal.
When the marshy lands of the too-well watered
earth had changed into grassy plains the teeth of
the horse also changed from short crowned to
long crowned, so that they could clip the shorter
and dryer grasses and grind them up by thorough
mastication into the nutritious food required for
the animal's well being.
  Indeed, the whole history of the evolution of
the horse by natural selection is a complete illus-
tration of adaptation to environment. Even to-
day in the Falkland Islands, where the whole sur-
face is soft, mossy bogland, the horses' feet grow
to over twelve inches in length, and curl up so
that frequently they can hardly walk upon them.
Where we use horses on hard, artificial roads it is
necessary to have this toe-nail or hoof pared, and
protected by shoes.
  Where the horse was first domesticated is a
matter of dispute upon which historians are not

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



at all agreed. Some say it was in Egypt, some se-
lect Armenia, and some content themselves with
the general statement that horses were indige-
nous in Western and Central Asia. It would be
interesting to go into this discussion were it not
that it would delay us too long from the subject in
hand. At first they were used only in war and for
sport, the camel being used for journeys and
transportation, and the ox for agriculture. In-
deed, I fancy the horse was never used to the
plough until in the tenth century in Europe. The
sculptures of ancient Greece and contemporane-
ous civilizations give us the best idea obtainable
of what manner of animal the horse was in
the periods when those sculptures were made.
Mr. Edward L. Anderson, one of the most
careful students of the horse and his history,
says: "Whether Western Asia is or is not the
home of the horse, he was doubtless domesti-
cated there in very early times, and it was
from Syria that the Egyptians received their
horses through their Bedouin conquerors.
The horses of the Babylonians probably came
from Persia, and the original source of all



6

 




      PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES       7
these may have been Central Asia, from which
last-named region the animal also passed into
Europe, if the horse were not indigenous to some
of the countries in which history finds it. We
learn that Sargon I. (3800 B.C.) rode in his char-
iot more than two thousand years before there is
an exhibition of the horse in the Egyptian sculp-
tures or proof of its existence in Syria, and his
kingdom of Akkad bordered upon Persia, giving
a strong presumption that the desert horse came
from the last-named region through Babylonian
hands. It seems after an examination of the rep-
resentations on the monuments, that the Eastern
horse has changed but little during thousands of
years. Taking a copy of one of the sculptures of
the palace of Ashur-bani-pal, supposed to have
been executed about the middle of the seventh
century before our era, and assuming that the
bareheaded men were 5 feet 8 inches in height, I
found that the horses would stand about 14  
hands - very near the normal size of the desert
horse of our day. The horses of ancient Greece
must have been starvelings from some Northern
clime, for the animals on the Parthenon frieze

 




8         THE HORSE IN AMERICA
are but a trifle over 12 hands in height, and are
the prototypes of the Norwegian Fiord pony - a
fixed type of a very valuable small horse."
  The British horse is as old as history. He was
short in stature and heavy of build. New blood
was infused by both the Romans and the Nor-
mans, and when larger horses were needed to
carry heavily-armored knights, Flemish horses
were introduced both for use and breeding, so
that by the time the Oriental blood was intro-
duced they had in England many pretty large
horses, resembling somewhat the Cleveland Bay
of the present time, though not so tall by three or
four inches, and not so well finished. The horses
that were first brought to America by the English
were such as I have suggested. But the first
horses brought hither were not English, but
Spanish, and these were undoubtedly of Oriental
blood as were the horses generally in Spain after
the Moslem occupation. But when the Spanish
first came there were no horses, as has been said
before, in either North or South America. Colum-
bus in his second voyage brought horses with him
to Santo Domingo. But Cortez, when he landed

 




      PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES       9
in 1519 in what is now Mexico, was the first to
bring horses to the mainland. They were the
wonder of the Indians who believed that they
were fabulous creatures from the sun. The wild
horses of Mexico and Peru were no doubt de-
scended from the escaped war horses of the Span-
ish soldiers slain in battle. These escaped horses
reproduced rapidly, and the plains became popu-
lous with them. So, also, with the horses aban-
doned by De Soto, who returned from his Missis-
sippi expedition in boats leaving his horses be-
hind. Professor Osborn of the American Museum
of Natural History, has recently been conducting
explorations in Mexico, studying the wild horses
there, and his conclusions are proof of the accur-
acy of the surmises which have been made by the
historians of the early Spanish adventurers.
  Flanders horses were brought to New York in
1625 and English horses to Massachusetts in
1629. Previous to these importations, however,
English horses had been landed in Virginia, and
in 1647 the first French horses reached Canada,
being landed at the still very quaint village of Ta-
dousac. Indeed, during all the colonial times

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



there were many inmportations as well as much
breeding, for on horseback was the only way a
journey could be taken, except by foot or in a
canoe. They needed good serviceable horses, and
they obtained them both by importation and
breeding. I suspect that the general run of horses
in the Colonial era in New England and along
the Atlantic seaboard was very similar to the
horse that is now to be found in the province of
Quebec, Canada. Every one who has visited this
province knows that these habitant horses are
very serviceable and handy, besides being quite
fast enough for a country where the roads have
not been made first class. Harnessed to a calash,
an ancient, two-wheeled, French carriage, they
take great journeys with much satisfaction to
their drivers and small discomfort to themselves.
Then the Colonists had the Narragansett pacer, a
horse highly esteemed not only for speed but for
the amble which made his slow gait most excel-
lent for long journeys. When Silas Deane was the
colleague of Benjamin Franklin at the French
Court during the Revolutionary War, he pro-
posed getting over from Rhode Island one of



10

 




      PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES       11
these pacers as a present for the queen. Indeed,
there are those who maintain stoutly that the vir-
tues of the American trotter as well as the Amer-
ican saddle-horse came from these pacers. That
may be the case so far as the trotters are con-
cerned, for of the horses bred to trot fast, as we
shall presently see, more are pacers than trotters.
As a matter of fact, however, Barbs are apt to
pace, and these Narragansetts may have had
such an origin. In the blood of all our horse types
there is some proportion of Barb blood, and we
find pacers among all except Thoroughbreds. I
am sure I never saw a Thoroughbred that paced,
or heard of one.
  The history of the American horses with
which we are concerned to-day may be said to
have begun after the War of the Revolution. But
the basic stock upon which the blood of the post-
revolutionary importations was grafted was most
important and also interesting. It was gathered
from every country having colonies in North
America and blended after its arrival. The Span-
ish and French blood was strongly Oriental and
mixed kindly with that from Holland and Eng-

 




12       THE HORSE IN AMERICA
land. At any rate, when Messenger came in 1788
and Diomed in 1799 there was good material in
the way of horse-flesh ready and waiting to be
improved.


 




CHAPTER TWO



          ARAB AND BARB HORSES
THE Arab horse from Nejd and the Berber horse
from Barbary are the most interesting and most
important specimens of the equine race. This has
been the case as far back as the history of the
horse runs and tradition makes it to have been so
for a much longer period. And, moreover, these
horses in the perpetuation of established Euro-
pean and American types are as important to-
day as ever. From this Nejdee Arabian and Ber-
ber of Barbary have sprung by a mingling of
these ancient bloods with other strains, all of the
reproducing horse types of signal value in the
civilized world, including the Percheron of
France, the Orlof of Russia, the charger of Aus-
tria, the Thoroughbred of England, the Morgan
of Vermont, Mr. Huntington's rare but interest-
ing Clay-Arabians of New York and the Den-
                     13

 




14        THE HORSE IN AMERICA
marks of Kentucky. The same is the case with
other types or semi-types, but I only particularize
these because the mere mention of them shows to
what uses this singularly prepotent blood can be
put when the two extremes of equine types, and
those between the extremes as well, appear to
owe their reproducing quality to the blood of
these handsome little animals that have been
bred, preserved and, so far as possible, monopo-
lized by the nomadic tribes of Barbary and of
Nejd. Nejd comprises the nine provinces of Cen-
tral Arabia, while the Berbers wander all through
the Barbary states which consist of Morocco, Al-
geria, Tunis, and Tripoli, but keep as remote as
possible from what European influence that ex-
ists in that section of the world.
  To most horsemen in America the name of
Arab is anathema. They will have none of him.
So far as their light goes they are quite right in
their prejudice. But prejudice in this instance, as
in most others, is the result of ignorance. And I
trust in the light of what I shall say about the
Nejdee Arabian, the Berbers of Barbary and the
influence of this blood on the equine stock of the


 






























r_






C


=a
C  

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          ARAB AND BARB HORSES            15
world, I may say this without any offense. If I
give the offense then I preface it with the apology
that I mean none. The truth is that seven out of
ten of the Arabian horses taken into Europe or
brought to America have been inferior specimens
and not of the correct breed; twenty per cent at
least have been mongrels and impostures, while
of the remaining ten per cent not more than one
per cent have been correct in their breeding, con-
formation and capacity to do what was expected
of them.
  Some men reading the history of this type and
that have persuaded themselves that a few Arabs
selected personally in Arabia would enable them
to beat their competitors as breeders and even to
win against horses that traced back one hundred
or two hundred years ago to Arab and Barb an-
cestors. Such folly always resulted in costly disap-
pointment. This folly and consequent disap-
pointment will become manifest as my narrative
proceeds. But before going any further I do not
wish any of my readers to harbor the notion that
I think an Arab would stand any chance on an
ordinary race-course to outrun an English Thor-

 




THE HORSE IN AMERICA



oughbred, or to out-trot in harness or under sad-
dle an Orlof or an American. I maintain no such
absurdity. But I do maintain that all these types,
so that they may preserve their reproductive ca-
pacities, must get from time to time fresh infu-
sions of this blood. That is why the purely bred
Arabian - and the Nejdee is the purest of all -
is as valuable to-day as when the Godolphin
Barb and the Darley Arabian began the regener-
ation of the English horse into that wonderful
Thoroughbred, which is one of England's proud-
est achievements and most constant sources of
wealth.
  Historical records dating back to the fifth cen-
tury show that the best quality and the greatest
number of Arabian horses were to be found in
Nejd. They are also to be found there to-day,
and the number has not, so far as the records
speak, increased. They have never been numer-
ous, as it has never been the policy of the chiefs to
breed for numbers, but for quality. It is not true,
however, that a lack of forage was the restraining
cause of this comparative scarcity of horses in the
very section where they have been kept in their



16

 




          ARAB AND BARB HORSES             17
greatest perfection. As a matter of fact, the pass
ture land of Arabia is singularly good. The very
desert, during the greater part of the year, supplies
sufficient browse for camels; while the pasture
grass for horses, kine, and above all for sheep on
the upper hill slopes, and especiallyinN ejd, is first-
rate. To be sure there are occasional droughts,
but few grazing countries in the world are free
from them. No, the scarcity in horses is not due
to a lack of food, but to two other reasons entirely
satisfactory to the chiefs of Nejd. Horses there
are not a common possession and used by all. On
the contrary, their ownership is a mark of dis-
tinction and an indication of wealth, as they are
never used except for war and the chase and rac-
ing, the camel carrying the burdens and doing the
heavy work of the caravans. The second reason
for the scarcity is that Nejdee horses are very
rarely sold to be taken out of the province. This
is not the result of sentiment, but one purely of
protection and the desire to preserve a monopoly
in a race that is easily the very purest in the
world.
  The traditions as to the origin of the Arabian

 




18        THE HORSE IN AMERICA
horse are numerous. Some hold that they are in-
digenous. If this were supported, then the tradi-
tions would lose interest. But the traditions are
interesting and in general effect were thus ex-
pressed by the Emir Abd-El-Kader in 1854, in a
letter addressed to General Daumas, a division
commander who served long in Arabia and who
was later a senator of France. He said that God
created the horse before man, and then this do-
mestic animal was handed down: " 1st. From
Adam to Ishmael; 2d, from Ishmael to Solomon;
3d, from Solomon to Mohammed; 4th, from Mo-
hammed to our own times." This tradition, it
must be said, is very general and comprehensive
in its scope, but to the Arabs it has a significant
meaning, as they claim that Ishmael, the bastard
son of Abraham, was not only one of themselves
but their founder, for is it not written in the Bible
that when Hagar, the concubine of Abraham,
fled into the wilderness, an angel appeared to her
and said:
  " I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be
numbered for multitude. Behold, thou art with child, and
shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Ishmael; and he

 




          ARAB AND BARB HORSES             19
will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and
every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the
presence of all his brethren."
  Indeed, this son of Abraham was the very per-
sonification of the Arabian people throughout
their whole history, and he needed horses as the
Arabian people have needed them ever since to
assist in the forays and expeditions which give to
life its spice and its prize. Then again, there is a
tradition that Nejd got its horses from Solomon;
another that they came from Yemen. This seems
to me the same tradition, for Yemen's ancient
name was Sheba; and what more natural than for
Solomon to have rewarded with gifts of horses the
Queen of Sheba's people for giving him one of his
most satisfactory wives. Then there is a story that
has been builded up in our own days by a man
who was a Methodist minister befor