THE ARAB HORSE, THE THOROUGHBRED
AND THE TURF

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE

SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bart.
Cloth gilt, pp. 270, and 9 plates. 7S. 6d. net

HON. SIR JAMES PENN BOUCAUT, K.C.M.G.,

FORMERLY SENIOR P�ISINE JDDGE OF THE SUPR�ME CODRT OF

SODTH A�STRALIA, AND THREE TIMES PRIME

MINISTER OF THAT STATE

WITH A FOREWORD BY THE
RT. HON. SIR GEORGE H. REID, G.C.M.G.,

HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR A�STRALIA

LONDON
ARTHUR F. BIRD

22 BEDFORD STREET. STRAND

No one has done more�in Australia, at any rate�to
substantiate the claims of the Arab horse than the veteran
statesman of South Australia, Sir James Boucaut, both
by his writings and through the establishment of the
Quambi stud, which he maintained for many years at
Mount Barker Springs in South Australia. His former
book on the subject, published in 1905, attracted wide-
spread attention in Great Britain, America, and the
Commonwealth, and his opinions were, I believe, endorsed
by a very large majority of experts. From those who
resented any reflection upon their theories or methods
some criticism was to be expected. With that the present
volume effectually deals.

That the selection of the so-called " thoroughbred "
purely for speed has been detrimental to horseflesh in
general admits of no doubt. Lack of stamina is the
common defect. If the thoroughbred were intended
solely for racing, this might be of little consequence, but
surely the legitimate function of the thoroughbred is to
serve as the stock for improving general utility horses.
As Sir Walt er Gilbey has observed, " two-year-old races,
short distances and light-weights, leave all the best
qualities of horseflesh untaxed. They do more : they
tend to develop delicacy of constitution." Many who
breed horses for the Turf do not even pretend to aim at
effecting the improvement of horses apart from racing

purposes. Isolated owners have broader views, and a few
follow the admirable example of breeding in various classes
for all-round excellence set by His Majesty the King.
The vast majority, however, of breeders have no such
idea ; too many of them regard the horse as an instrument
of racing, and perhaps of gambling, pure and simple. To
such persons the Turf is merely the green cloth on a larger
scale. Eliminate betting and the racecourse would, I
fear, have a desperate struggle for existence. But of
this being done there is not the least likelihood. The
community, therefore, owes a deep debt of gratitude to
men with the knowledge and experience of Sir James
Boucaut, when they point out the attendant evils, and
indicate, as forcibly as he does, the steps required to bring
about a better state of things.

In its military bearings the need for reform is of supr�me
importance. The continued shortage in the supply of
suitable army remounts is a grave danger, and it cannot
be removed without the adoption of some definite policy
of reform. Horses of varying characteristics are needed,
and they cannot be obtained by haphazard breeding.
The chief deficiency appears to exist in what may be
termed " intermediate horses "�that is, in the cross be-
tween a sound thoroughbred and a carefully selected
mare of heavier stamp. By careful selection and breed-
ing we have been able to produce many varieties of cattle
and sheep true to type, and it should be possible to do the
same with horses. The experiments now being conducted
in the application of the Mendelian principles to horse-
breeding may solve the problem. I do not think it is at
all safe to ignore the example of foreign countries. The
Arab stallions at the national studs in France, Austria,
Hungary, Italy, Russia, and Turkey have proved of
incalculable benefit.

To the Australian continent the Arab is particularly

adapted. On the great plains of the remote interior the
distances to be traversed are enormous, and can only be
covered by animals capable of travelling at a fair pace all
day and for days together upon scanty rations. In a
unique degree the Arab possesses these qualifications.
lts powers of endurance, docility, and hardiness are
proverbial. I think abundant evidence of this will be
found in this book. No allusion, however, is made, I
think, to the famous match in Egypt, in 1864, between
an Arab horse and an English mare. The race was one
of eighty-four miles from Suez to Cairo. The Arab, which
was of the Anazeh breed, completed the journey in less
than eight hours, whereas the mare collapsed at the
sixtieth mile.

It is a pleasure to write these few lines in support of
Sir James Boucaut's contentions, whose force is obvious
to a reader who is not an expert. My sole desire is to
recommend to notice a matter which I regard as of the
deepest interest, not only to the Mother Country, but
also to Australia and to the Empire at large. I cannot
refrain from expressing my admiration of the spirit dis-
played by my old friend, who, after a strenuous and
brilliant career in the arena of politics foliowed by
twenty-seven years as a Judge of the Supr�me Court,
brings his first-class fighting qualities to bear on a matter
of serious moment to our national and Imperial welfare.

Many will agree with the author in his belief that the
best mode of improving our horses would be " the infusion
of a large amount of pure and fresh Arab blood of the
desert breed."

I must crave the indulgence of the public for a considerable
lack of finish in this volume, probably some repetition,
and possibly some mistakes in dates and in the spelling
of names. These errors, however, are not in themselves
serious, and do not affect the general accuracy of the book.
My excuse is that I had to choose between publishing the
manuscript as it is and abandoning it altogether. At the
age of eighty, and subject to repeated attacks of illness,
I am quite unable to undertake the task of careful revision
which I had intended. The work of verifying and com-
paring references is beyond my strength. I have decided,
therefore, to publish the book at once, since I am anxious
that the admirers of that grand creature, the Arab, should
be in possession of further information to weigh against
" the enemy." At the same time, I wish my farming
friends in the country to have full opportunity of learn-
ing what may be useful to them, but is not at present
sufficiently brought to their notice. Information even
badly arranged is better than no information.

I should add that the facts mentioned are for the most
part entirely new, and not a mere repetition of my former
book. I desire to express my grateful thanks to the High
Commissioner for Australia, Sir George Reia, for writing
a foreword to this little volume, and to Sir John Cockburn
and Mr. J. C. Medd for kind assistance in seeing it through

JAMES PENN BOUCAUT.
November, 19II.

CHAPTER PAOS

I. INTRODUCTION - - - - X

II. SOME TESTIMONY TO THE ARAB's EXCELLENCE - 5

III. A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER

IV. DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD - - -22
V. THE ARAB A LOW HORSE - - - - 29

VI. UNIFORM EXCELLENCE OF ARABS GATHERED FROM

VARIOUS AUTHORS - - - "44

VII. EXCELLENCE OF THE ARAB, G\THERED CHIEFLY FROM

VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES - "77

VIII. ARAB HORSES AS PRESENTS - - - "9*

IX. ARAB HORSES IN ENGLAND IN EARLY TIMES - 97

X. MR. WILFRID BLUNT AND PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY - IOO

XI. HORSES IN ANCIENT ARABIA - I08

XII. AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF SOME EASTERN HISTORY - 120

XIII. A WORD OR TWO CONCERNING REVERSION - - I28

XIV. THE THOROUGHBRED ----- 134
XV. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM THE " TIMES " - I42

XVI. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM THE " AUSTRAL-

ASIAN " - - - - - - I72

XVII. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM NEWSPAPERS

GENERALLY - - - - - igl

XVHI. DETERIORATION ACCORDING TO SUNDRY BOOKS AND

MAGAZINES ..... _Igy

XIX. HORSE-RACING ..... 204

XX. CONCLUSION ------ 218

Several books dealing more or less with the Arab horse
have appeared in recent years, and since the publication
of my book in 1905, Professor Ridgeway has compiled
a most learned work on the " Origin and Influence of the
Thoroughbred Horse." There are also " The Horses of
the British Empire," edited by Sir Humphrey de Trafford,
and " Eclipse and O'Kelly," by Theodore Andrea Cook,
which also bear considerably on the subject.

But these are all written from a different standpoint
from that from which I write ; all, with the exception of
Professor Ridgeway's work, are too expensive for most
farmers to purchase, and, further, they are somewhat
unwieldy. I write with the desire to show my farming
friends that the Arab is the best general utility horse in
the world,�the glory of horsedom,�and for the infor-
mation of many farming friends who have been taught
to prefer a big, leggy half-bred to a pure-bred little Arab,
I may say, the opinions which I expressed in my former
book have been greatly strengthened by reading, experi-
ence and inquiry. My profession has taught me to be
sceptical, and one of its axioms is never to take anything
for granted ; but I acknowledge to being overwhelmed
with astonishment at the wonderful history of the Arab
horse, and at the consensus of opinion for over five

thousand years�I believe, nearer ten�that he is not
only unexcelled, but that he has not been ever equalled,
or even approached, in the world's history.

The works which I have mentioned above, although
they do not ignore the Arab horse�indeed, they of ten
greatly praise him,�make him quite a secondary object.
One or two of these writers seem to have imbibed some-
thing of the spirit of the late William Day, the great
trainer, who said that, for the practical purpose of
bettering the thoroughbred, the Arab was as dead as the
Dodo. Of course he was wrong, although he only re-
ferred to bettering the thoroughbred for modern racing
purposes, which is a belief naturally adopted by most
racing men who are content with what they are told by
trainers and jockeys who, as a rule, estimate a horse
by his speed, and think no more of a pure-blood Arab
than they do of the sorriest weed�indeed, for the matter
of that, they would think more of a goat if they could
win more money with it. The Arab, they say, is dead,
so far as bettering the thoroughbred is concerned, not
because the latter is incapable of improvement, but be-
cause the breeders will not use him for that purpose, as
it would require two or three descents to make the Arab
blood sufnciently teil to make his speed equal to that of
the thoroughbred over five or six furlongs. The majority
of racing-men aim at getting sprinters at two years old
or so. There is little chance, therefore, of their using
the Arab which has not been bred for sprinting, and is of
slower growth, although there are instances of recent
Arab crosses being successful on the racecourse.

I contend that the Arab horse is the best in the world
for all purposes for which he is fitted, or for which the
thoroughbred is fitted, except sprinting. I maintain
that the thoroughbred horse, take him in the aggregate,
is by comparison an ill-bred creature, practically useless

for all other purposes than sprinting, save when, as in one
case out of a hundred, you get an Ormonde or a Per-
simmon, and neither of these or their stock are perfect,
nor can any of them always be relied on. This is because
the thoroughbred is, in truth, a mongrel, and you can
never rely on a mongrel to breed true. I further contend
that it is impossible for any indifferent man to read what
I have collected and here set forth about the thorough-
bred without seeing that as a breed he is unreliable, and
that, unless the present style of breeding be altered, he
will become at his very best useless except for gambling,
as many undoubted authorities whom I cite are found
emphatically to declare. I rely on the weight of the
authorities whom I quote�many of them of the highest
class�and I make no claim to personal knowledge of
racing. I submit many of our leading writers approach
the subject with by f ar too much prejudice and too little
genuine inquiry to do the Arab justice. I have been
astonished at the ignorance shown by men who ought
to know better. One gentleman, for instance, in a letter
to a great daily Australian paper to correct my book,
stated that an Arab could not be safely ridden in hilly
country because for thousands of years he had been used
only to travel in a smooth, soft, sandy desert ! which is
a grotesque misstatement. Yet many are of this opinion.
Arab horses regularly travel amongst hills, rocks and
precipices where no English rider would venture to ride
a thoroughbred, for one could never depend on his
evenness of temper. In many parts of Arabia and on its
borders there are most dangerous hills and precipices,
and the descripti'ons of them by many travellers will be
found herein. Since the above letter, I came across a
book on Armenia, by the Hon. Robert Curzon, which
tells us that on a road, just wide enough for one horse,
passing through streams, over rocks, mountains and

precipices, where you would imagine that a goat could
hardly travel, and where you wonder how in the world
you ever got to the place you are standing on, the sure-
footedness of the horses was marvellous. He saw a horse
at a particularly dangerous spot rest on his haunches and
put forward one foot to feel if it were safe. Another road
he describes as like walking on the rounds of a ladder.

One especially wise man of the East wrote to a news-
paper in New South Wales protesting against my book,
because his conscience would not let him remain silent
when he saw that I was advising low horses for the army !
I rather admire that gentleman's conscience, but it must
be a sad trouble to him sometimes. He said it was
" dreadful " to think of our brave soldiers going into
action on low horses. Some people get funny ideas into
their heads. Nearly every soldier of mark in the empire
denounccs high horses as being totally unfit for cam-
paigning, as this book will show.

SOME TESTIMONY TO THE ARAb's EXCELLENCE

I wrote my former book because I had formed the
opinion that undue praise was being accorded to the
thoroughbred at the expense of the Arab horse, although
the former has greatly deteriorated, and +hat the
great excellence of the Ara!.» was practically ignored�
facts which, being an Englishman, were burnt into me,
so to speak, by the Transvaal War, the iron whereof
entered into my soul, and I desired again to call the
attention of all those who wanted general utility horses
in Australia to the Arab.

That my book was not calculated to do any harm may
be gathered from the fact that Sir Walter Gilbey wrote
me a preface, for which I record my very grateful thanks,
and that it was calculated to do some good is clear from
the review of the Times, which I set forth here as an
appendix, separate and apart from the general mass of
newspaper reviews and criticisms which I shall cite later
on. I was more gratified by that review in the Times
than by any other laudatory remarks (although they
were many), for the Times is admittedly the greatest
newspaper in the world. It is invariably careful, de-
sirous of being as far as possible accurate, and its policy
is always to be judicial, fair and level-headed, while the

ablest and the best-informed writers are proud to write
for it.
Thus, then, says the Times, September 22, 1905 :�

" Sir James Boucaut, an expert and an enthusiast, has
written a most instructive volume on ' The Arab ' (Gay
and Bird), and in almost all he says we can heartily agree,
except in his confidence that the Arab is the horse of the
future. We wish it may be so, but, so far as the British
Isles are concerned, we fear the future is in the far dis-
tance. So much he indirectly admits himself, in dwelling
on the magnitudes of the evils he would fain remedy,
and the dry-rot which has been steadily diffusing itself
through English and Australian stables. Sir James,
who, like Mr. Scawen Blunt in Egypt and Sussex, has
amused himself by breeding Arabs in Southern Australia,
is not the first by many who has preached deterioration
in our thoroughbred or prescribed reverting to Arab
blood as a remedy. No one has studied the subject more
deeply or spoken more emphatically than Sir Walter
Gilbey, who contributes the preface and endorses the
contents of Sir James's book. As for the deterioration
at home, it has been practically admitted by the most
capable authorities, and we have had painful experience
of it in the increasing difnculty of mounting our cavalry ;
but we were not aware that Australia had been following
suit, though we might have surmised as much, for the
best Australian stock has been bred from imported
mares and sires. But Sir James Boucaut mentions a
startling f act. Forty years ago or less, next to the pure
Arab, the Waler was the favourite mount for pigsticking.
Now we are told that the Waler is condemned in the pig-
sticking clubs as washy, weedy and worthless. If there
is little doubt as to the decline of the thoroughbred, there
is less as to the cause. The racing market is infinitely
the most remunerative, and there the imperative demand
is for length, legs and precocious pace. The demand is
for the multiplication of the money-making type of breed,
and that is why we misdoubt the approximate advent of
the Arab. The Arab is low as lasting, his quality is

TESTIMONY TO THE ARAB'S EXCELLENCE 7

endurance rather than pace; and, ever since Charles II.
patronized Newmarket and racing, we have been grading
up our thoroughbreds. Nor would the pure Arab be a
profitable stock-getter for horses meant for the hunting-
field or the park. Fourteen or fifteen hands is hardly the
stamp of horse to ��y the wide pastures of the Midlands.
Nevertheless, we thoroughly agree with Sir James in
everything he says in praise of his favourites. For spirit,
endurance, intelligence, docility, and the capacity for
severe and prolonged work on scanty commons, they are
unsurpassed, and, as to that, from an almost unexampled
range of reading he calls up a cloud of unimpeachable
witnesses.

" If we again took to importing Arab blood, we should
only beimitating the good sense of our ancestors. We all
know that the Byerly Turk and Darley and Godolphin
Arabians were the progenitors of our most famous racers ;
but few are aware that King John of ambiguous memory
conferred an inestimable boon on his country as a generous
importer of Eastern sires, and that the importation he
encouraged went steadily on till the trade was paralyzed
by the Wars of the Roses. With regard to the all-
important question of mounting our cavalry, there is one
episode to which Sir James reverts repeatedly as a
crucial example of the superexcellence of the Arab. He
quotes from Mr. Stevens' ' With Kitchener to Khar-
toum.' Stevens tells us how our heavy Dragoons who,
with their innumerable encumbrances, rode from 18 to
20 stone, had left their chargers in Cairo, as unsuited to
the country and unequal to the weight. On the advance
to Omdurman they were mounted on little Syrian ponies
�part Arab�which did the work gamely without giving
in. We might add some evidence of our own as to the
virtues of the ubiquitous Arab strain. We know some-
thing of the little horses of the Pyrenees and of the ponies
of the Ardennes. Both trac� their descent through Spain
to Africa and Arabia. The ponies of the Ardennes are
well cared for; the horses of the Pyrenees are stabled on
furze and often half-famished. Yet it is well-nigh im-

possible in the longest and hardest day to get to the
bottom of either, and, however jaded the little beast
may seem, the fire flashes up on the slightest excite-
ment."

Such a notice would give any author satisfaction, and
it deserves the careful attention of all who seek to know
the truth.

A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER

Of course, my book was attacked by some of the sporting
newspapers, although most of those which I saw were
fair, and some, indeed, were much more commendatory
than I had expected. I cannot trouble my readers with
comments on the criticisms, but one sapient " sport " in
Australia particularly amused me, and compels me to call
attention to the speciality of my book, which is its
reference to practical authorities and innumerable expert
and experienced men. The " sport " referred to wrote
that my book was not much good, because it was entirely
built of statements made by other persons. I wonder
what the gentleman could have expected, or what he
would desire ? I could not give what history has affirmed
about the Arab horse without quoting the statements of
other people, nor could anyone else. I was not at the
Battle of Damascus, when the Arabs destroyed the Roman
power in Asia Minor, and every rider of a pure Arab horse
was awarded doubl� spoil; nor was I with Napoleon
Buonaparte in Syria or Egypt, when he stated that the
Mamelukes on their Syrian Arabs were better mounted
than the French cavalry, although the Syrian Arabs are
not of pure blood ; nor was I recently with Abdur Rah-
°ian, Ameer of Afghanistan, when, on " his little Arab,"

he rode his escort to an absolute standstill, his men and
their horses being alike unable to keep on their feet or
to rise. " My own little Arab," says he, " alone remained
standing."

Most people have to rely entirely on the statements of
others for particulars of this nature, and, so far as I can
judge, the statements made by others form the best part
of the book, and are presented to my readers as being so,
for I never made any claim to originality.

The account given of some particular and notable
incident by a traveller who was not thinking of an Arab
horse, or, indeed, of any horse at all, and who was not
writing a book about horses, but whose attention was
unexpectedly drawn to some great excellence of the Arab
beyond that of horses in general, is of more than ordinary
value, because it is spontaneously forced upon the writer,
as it were, and is genuine. An incident thus casually
mentioned is much more reliable than the praises of his
" most excellent beast " by a horse-dealer anxious to sell
his broken-down thoroughbred, or by a breeder with
a fad.

For this reason, I set forth the opinions given me by
various purchasers of my pure-blood Arab stallions
between 1898 and 1908, most of them volunteered, and
sent to me without being asked for. Men who are
anxious to sell a horse naturally " crack him up," and
one cannot always be quite certain that they do not
exaggerate. Probably some do; but men who have
bought a horse and then speak well of him, and are
anxious to keep him, and become desirous of getting
another similar one, are to be relied upon. Their interest
in negotiating another purchase would be not to pass
encomiums upon their earlier purchase, but rather to
depreciate it, so as to get the new horse for less money.
Their good opinions are therefore the more reliable.

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK n

Most of the purchasers of my pure-blood stallions are
large breeders of horses in what is termed " The Bush,"
occupying many scores of square miles in the interior
of Australia�men who are not so severely bitten with
the racing mania as to be so jealous of the Arab as so
many others seem to be.

Thus do these purchasers report:�

S. P. Mackay, Esq., of Brunswick, Melville Park, N.W.
Australia, who purchased two�Saladin and Jedaan�in
1898 :�

" They are sleek as hounds; never had a toothful
except the natural herbage. I hear great accounts of
Saladin's stock. Jedaan has grown a fine animal; his
stock are very promising and handsome as paint, and I
ara sorry I have not more of them."

This gentleman writes again, August 22, 1902 :�

" I hear great accounts of Saladin's stock. Jedaan is
here under my eye, and is everything I could wish ; his
stock are good and showy as well. . . . I am sure his
stock will come out on top. I never made a purchase
that has given me more satisfaction."

And again, September 15, 1903, Mr. Mackay writes :�

" Jedaan is very much to the f ore at present this winter.
I have broken in five only of his progeny to the buggy�
four-year-olds�: two of them af ter driving them only four
weeks I sold for �50. The others I am constantly driving,
and they do their work splendidly, notwithstanding that
most of the Bush roads are only sand. They are abso-
lutely stanch, and have no vice; they carry themselves
so well that it pays to put nice harness on them."

And being in Adelaide on March 22, 1905, Mr. Mackay
called on the breeder to say how much pleased he was
with the young stock; they were admired by every-
one.

Mr. Mackay casually met Mr. Whitham, Inspector of

Education, about February 27, 1907, at Aldgate, and told
him that some of Rafyk's stock had turned out splendidly ;
that last season he had sold a young pair to the agent of a
steam-shearing company to travel to a distant station
shed, and they accomplished the journey of 500 miles
in eight days, and showed no signs of being run down.
He also said that his stallion Sheddon had taken first
prize at the last Royal Agricultural Show at Perth.

F. S. Thompson, Esq., Warrawagine, Condon, N.W.
Australia, who purchased Kazim :�

" Kazim continues to give us satisfaction; as quiet as
ever, and absolutely no vice. His young stock are doing
well, and are satisfactory, those out of thoroughbred
mares being especially good."

E. P. Quinn, Esq., of Tarella, Wilcannia, New South
Wales, who purchased Assad :�

" Assad is growing into a fine horse, a nice shape, with
really good legs, and bone like steel. His temper is all
that could be desired. A more docile animal was never
foaled, and yet he is full of fire and spirit."

Mr. Quinn has since purchased Adban. A friend
casually heard in Melbourne that the manager of Salisbury
Downs had ridden Assad throughout the drought, fre-
quently getting over fifty and sixty miles in a day, and
of ten at the end of a long journey he got very little f eed,
but next morning would start away quite fresh, and that
he was positive he could not have done the work with the
ordinary station-bred horse.

In subsequently inquiring what others were for sale,
Mr. Quinn wrote, January 1, 1904 :�

" I am very pleased with the few Assads that I have ;
they are nearly three years old now, and are all that could
be desired ; they are handsome and very sturdy. Assad
has stamped his stock very much after himself. Adban's
stock are faultless as foals. I have nineteen head of as
handsome foals by him as I would ever wish to see."

He has since bought a third youngster.

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 13

On March 11, 1904, he says :�

" I have all Assad's foals broken in ; they are all good
hacks, very free and game, standing about 15 hands high.
Adban's stock are beautiful, no doubt, and admired by
everyone ; all fair size, very handsome and sturdy, good
tempered as yearlings."

And on July 26, 1904, he writes :�

" Adban's stock are beauties, are handsome and good
sorts. ... I believe in the Arab blood for station horses,
and think it is only a matter of a few years, and anyone,
seeing the way they answe'r, will be sure and go in for
them."

And on December 1, 1905, he writes :�

" I must continue to praise Adban, as no doubt he got
very good stock. They are horses with any amount of
size and substance, with quality combined. I cannot say
enough about them, as regards their good qualities."

And on October 18, 1909, writing to teil me of the death
of Ben Sira, he says :�

" Ben Sira was out in the paddock and jumped out :
he then raced round and then made a big jump back
again, and landed on a stump 5 feet high, which pierced
through his hind part and tore him fearfully from the
front of the sheath right to the butt of his tail. Death
was almost instantaneous, thank Heaven. The last six
months he had been developing into a beautiful animal,
as handsome as a picture, so kind and docile we had
grown to look on him as one of ourselves almost. The
intelligence of poor Ben was almost human, and people
say it is foolish to think of the loss of an animal, but I
have been so attached to Ben the place is really lonely
without him."

J. W. Brougham, Esq., of Poollamacca Station, Broken
Hill, New South Wales, who purchased Abdallah, wrote:�

" Abdallah's stock promise well; they are beautifully
topped, with a fine carriage. His disposition is wonder-
fully quiet, and a child could ride him with safety."

14 THE ARAB HORSE

On a later date he writes :�

" He is such a pet, ever so docile."

And on February 25, 1904, writing to thank me for a
newspaper I sent him, adds :�

" It was rather strange, the day the newspaper arrived
my boy brought in from the back station two of Ab-
dallah's colts, just broken in. He was so proud of them
he rode them in to show me, and really they show quality,
breeding and usefulness. Perfect hacks, plenty of sub-
stance, standing 15\ hands, and only three years (off).
Am breaking them in now, and when quiet will let them
run till five years, then they will be fit for any work.
I would like you to see the youngsters, and you would still
be prouder of Rafyk."

N.B.�This supports Mr. Vincent Dowling, who stated
that it was a great mistake to say that the foals got by
Arab horses were too small.

On October 30, 1905, he met my son and told him that
he was very much pleased with Abdallah's stock�that
he was just the horse for that country.

And he informs me that Mr. D. Evans rode two Arab
horses bred at Poolamacca in May, 1907, on the first day
twenty-two miles, next day forty-five miles, and back,
making ninety miles before the horses got water. Next
day to Mr. Buil, where they would not drink the well-
water, next day Wykalpa and back again to Border
Tank, ninety-four miles. The horses had no water for
109 miles, two days and two nights, and yet showed no
signs of distress.

Mr. C. R. Bunbury, of Williambury, West Australia,
who purchased Khaled, wrote :�

" I like Khaled very well indeed. He is full of life and
quality and his foals are very handsome. He is very
docile when handled and a good goer."

And since then he writes, on September 12, 1903 :�
" I have broken in a dozen of Khaled's stock lately;
they are the quietest and most tractable youngsters I

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 15

ever had anything to do with, and stand their work well
for youngsters."

And again, July 7, 1908 :�

" I enclose a photo of my team of six half-bred Arabs
by Khaled. I think it would be rather difhcult to find
a team of horses to beat this. I can drive them off the
road as well as on it, and can drive anywhere where it is
possible for a vehicle to go. They also do big journeys.
I did eighty-four miles with them in nine hours' travelling;
and, coming from Carnarvon with a very heavily loaded
buggy, came home the last day, a journey of fiity miles,
despite the fact they got nothing to eat except a bit of
scrub. I should like to get another Arab stallion if you
have one for sale."

Mr. Warburton, a horsebreeder in Northern Australia
(who desired to purchase Zubeir), writes :�

" I very much regret my agents could not induce you
to sell Zubeir, except under conditions that put me clean
out of the running. It has been a great disappointment
to me, as I had set my heart on getting him. Will you
allow me to congratulate you on being the owner of such
a horse as Rafyk ? I can only say that words fail me to
express my admiration for him. I could have spent hours
looking at him. There is not such another horse in
Australia ; he is perfect in every way."

[The conditions were that he was to remain at Quambi
till two mares, Labahda and Sherifa, were stinted, but the
writer has since purchased him.]

He further writes, May, 1904 :�

" Zubeir is growing very like Rafyk, and Is in good
trim. He has not had an ounce of stable feed since he
has been up here. He is doing good work, and it would
take a big cheque to buy him now."

He further writes :�

" As f ar as Zubeir and his stock go, the Arab deserves
all the praise you give him in your book. Some of his

youngsters, getting on for three years old, are perfect
pictures."

And on April n, 1906, when writing in respect of the
purchase of another stallion, Mr. Warburton's agents,
Messrs. Barker Bros., say :�

" Mr. Warburton writes in very eulogistic terms of
Zubeir's progeny."

And on June, 1906 :�

" Mr. Warburton purchased another stallion�Darub."

And in a letter to Messrs. Barker Bros. of this city,
dated July 9, 1809, Mr. Warburton states :�

" Darub is growing into a beautiful colt�all fire and
quality."

Robert Bush, Esq., of Clifton Downs Station, Western
Australia, says of Suleiman :�

" Having used him for about one year, I am unable of
course to say anything about his stock. ... I think he
will mate well with the class of mares I have put to him.
He is a beautiful-tempered horse and a good doer, having
to cut his own grass ever since I have had him."

And again on July 6, 1903 :�

" Sulieman is doing very well, and I like his stock very
much. Although he is small, his stock are of good size,
and if they turn out as well as they look they will be
very good. . . . There is no doubt at all that they will
turn out well. Sulieman is a beautiful-tempered horse."

Mr. Creed, of Cecilwood, Rockhampton, purchaser of
Barak, then just arrived in Rockhampton, writes, July 4,
1903 :�

" I think him a very handsome colt, and should make
a very perfect horse. Everyone that has seen him thinks
him a fine colt. ... I am sure there will be no such
horse in looks, style, etc, about here. I am very pleased
with him."

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK

He also writes, December 13, 1907 :�

" I told you when I first saw Barak that I thought he
would make a perfect horse, and I am quite satisfied now
that he has done so. He is about as muscular a horse
as could be, of beautiful colour, and carries himself in
great style, and what is more, he is throwing it into his
stock. He is about as sure foal-getter as possible, and
from those who have got foals by him I have never heard
one disparaging remark. He is a general favourite with
everyone."

Mr. T. H. Pearce, of the Katherine, says of Ibrahim and
Joktan :�

" They give every satisfaction. I am delighted with
them."

He bought them without seeing them, from his faith
in the blood, as indeed did most of these purchasers.

Mr. Edwin Crozier, who bought Morad, writes, April 29,
1906 :�

"I am very pleased to teil you that Morad has done
well since I got him, and has thickened out very con-
siderably. I am much pleased with his looks. I may
say that I have had him ridden. He is very playful,
but, so far as I can see, absolutely free from vice, has not
the slightest sense of fear, and his carriage is perfect."

And since that purchase I am informed that Mr. Crozier
bought Amezeh, which I sold to a lady who subsequently
died.

R. Maitland, Esq., Maryborough, Queensland, writes
of Hunyar and Naish, September 13, 1906 :�

" You will be pleased to know that both colts have
done well since they came over here, and are much ad-
mired as very fine specimens of their breed."

Mr. Isaac Henderson, Ardrossan, who bought Mesrour,
writes, July 15, 1907 :�

" My little Arab colt, Mesrour, is doing splendidly.
AU who see him admire his graceful manners. I love him
immensely."

And on January 26, 1910, Mr. Henderson called upon
me at my chambers to let me know that Mesrour is quiet
and much admired, and getting popular as a sire by
reason of the excellence of his stock. Mr. Henderson
often rides him. Ke has a notable love of turning ; he
turns in his own length at full gallop.

Half-breeds I have not kept account of, but the late
G. H. Ayliffe, Esq. (Registrar-General of Births), says :�

" Young Jericho (half-Arab, half-thoroughbred) has
greatly surpassed our expectations in quality, temper and
endurance. We experienced not the slightest trouble in
breaking him to and driving him in single and doubl�
harness, and he is very quiet in the stable. As a proof
of his powers of endurance, I may mention that on a very
hot day last summer he carried me (over thirteen stone
weight) nearly sixty miles through the hills with only one
short stoppage to feed, and arrived home so fresh that I
feel confident he could have gone twenty or thirty miles
further without greatly distressing himself. I have some
foals by him, which are showing excellent form as regards
size and points."

Lieutenant Fotheringham says of one of Rafyk's get:�

" The best pony he has ever owned or sat behind, her
temper was perfect and endurance unsurpassed. Rafyk
was the sire."

Mr. Edwin Wilcox writes of another of Rafyk's get :�

" A magnificent fellow ... very handsome ... in harness I
and saddle very docile."

Mr. A. J. McDonald, the Manager of the Great Canowie
Station, on January 9, 1908, writes me with respect to
Nejan, an imported Arab stallion, purchased from
Mr. Blunt :�

" I am well satisfied not only with the horse himself but
with his progeny also. His prepotency is most pro-
nounced; no matter what class of mare he is mated with,
the issue is good and characteristic of himself; and in
most cases courage, carriage and animal spirit are striking

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 19

features of his get. Though high spirit ed, they are of
docile temperament, and in conformation, bone and sub-
stance fi.11 the bill; especially is this so when mated with
our Suffolk cross-bred mares. There are Arabs and so-
called Arabs, but the pure-bred Desert Arab has no
superior for pluck and endurance and the faculty of
transmitting these qualities to his offspring."

I was favoured with a copy of a report, February 5,
1904, by Mr. A. H. Morris, who was sent to inspect my
stud, in which he writes :�

" Rafyk is a powerful horse, and I like him very much.
Faraoun is a shade finer in bone than Rafyk, shows more
quality about the head ; he is a beautifully-made horse
and worth a day's journey to look at. If you get a chance,
go out and see him. He is a beauty. The pure-bred
Arab mares are a nice lot, but Ros� of Jericho is quality
all over. There are two nice yearling colts (pure Arabs),
but both are sold. I saw three geldings, out of Stud
Book mares, one that I wish had been kept for a stallion.
He would have suited me. He is out of a thoroughbred
mare, but has the stout body of an Arab ; he is a powerful
horse-�I like him very much. I have seen that the cross
between the thoroughbred mare and Arab is a splendid
cross. The other gelding�a chestnut�is lengthy, lean
and wiry ; but if he is not a hard, wiry horse and a fast
one, I am much mistaken. I thoroughly enjoyed myself
to-day. I wish I had money for what I could do in the
shape of producing horses that would not only be useful,
but would give pleasure to look at."

(Neither the writer of the report nor his principal was
known to the owner of the stud.)

Mr. G. Leonard Brown, of Wirronna, New South Wales,
who bought Faraoun at my dispersal sale, writes me :�

" Faraoun is as quiet as a lamb. I ride him bare-
backed at the canter and jump on and off as he careers
along, much to his delight, as he squeaks in joy from time
to time."

And he proposes sending to Mr. Wilfred Blunt in Sussex
for some more mares.

In September, 1909, Dr. Jude, formerly of Adelaide,
now of White Cliffs, New South Wales, introduced Mr.
Byers of that place to me, who told me that he had
bought one of my pure-bred stallions, Assad, from Mr.
Quinn, of Tarella, to whom I sold him, and that he was
very much pleased with him. He said that about the
end of July, 1908, in a matter of life and death, he sent
Assad with a stock-keeper from White Cliffs to Morden,
fifty miles away, for medicine. The rider weighed thir-
teen stone. He started in the morning and was back
the same evening, doing the doubl� journey in about
thirteen hours, and Assad had no food on the road. Mr.
Byers mentioned that Assad's stock are exceedingly good
and of remarkable docility.

Mr. Maughan, a professional gentleman of Adelaide
whom I did not previously know, on April 11, 1909, saw
Rafferty, belonging to Mr. Hickes, of Mount Torrens, by
Rafyk out of a roadster mare, and called to teil me that
Rafferty is very docile and throws splendid stock; he
comes galloping up to you in the paddock when called.
He is a most perfect hack�" like a rocking horse "�a
bright chestnut about i5^-2 ; he was never in harness, but
has splendid action.

Mr. A. R. Crawford, a well-known breeder of New
South Wales, on a visit to Mr. J. Fitzgerald's station at
East Kunderang, writes me that Kahtan by Rafyk, foaled
August 25, 1907, is doing finely, is very gentle, a great
pet, and in fine condition, though not at all pampered,
and will make a powerful weight-carrying horse, fit to
produce Army remounts. Mr. Crawford adds that the
English thoroughbred is still jogging on in the old way�
heart disease, breaking bloodvessels, shoulders and legs,
and getting worse. He denounces stallions by St. Simon
as the most ill-tempered lot the world has seen in our
time.

CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK

Mr. Joseph Fitzgerald, of Kunderang East Station,
New South Wales, on January 12, 1911, writes that
Kahtan has grown into a beautiful horse, with as much
strength in body and legs, and character as the best judge
could desire; he has a beautiful disposition, a stylish
carriage and plenty of life; still, he can be ridden bare-
backed. " I have a few foals by him all showing energy,
activity, intelligence, style and strength."

DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD

I was exceedingly sorry to feel it desirable to disperse
my pure Arab stud, but with the weight of seventy-
eight years upon me and with failing health, and my
stud farm being in the hills over thirty miles from my
residence, I found it not only a difhculty to get there,
but a greater difficulty to ride about in the paddocks as
freely as I would wish, and as I had been used to do.
Indeed, it was my main pleasure in life to ride to my
paddocks and walk amongst my mares and have them
come up to me and rub my shoulder. But my managing
son, being an admirer of sneep and not of horses, confided
to me that he would not be a horse-breeder, so I had no
alternative but to disperse my stud, keeping, however,
a couple of mares for a grandson and one as company for
myself.

I hope to be excused for having inserted the statements
in the last chapter, they being a collection of other men's
opinions. But when tWenty or thirty or more gentlemen,
having intimate practical knowledge of the subject, afhrm
that the Arab is a most excellent horse and throws
splendid stock, then it is desirable that all honest breeders
should give some consideration to what those gentlemen
say, and indeed not merely consider it, but carefully study
it. Even supposing there be one " frigid liar " and two

DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD 23

silly dreamers amongst them�which I deny�they cannot
all be Hars or dreamers.

There are assuredly some level-headed men who will
take facts into their consideration, even if they own race-
horses, and although I shall have a certain measure of
joy should there be only one " ignorant person who
repenteth," yet I shall live in hopes�if I.live at all after
writing this book�that a good many will be advantaged
by the further information which I shall place at their
service. " One swallow does not make a summer," so
one poem�even Job's�on a horse may not be conclu-
s�ve; but universal praise during at the very least two
thousand years, probably during the last five thousand,
and possibly during the last ten thousand, by all who
knew�many of them the best horsemen the world ever
saw, men who lived on horseback, nations of horsemen
from the Far East in China to the Far West at the Pillars
of Hercules�will be entirely rejected only by fools, or
by the other sort of creature.

The most extraordinary thing that I have noticed in the
discussion about the Arab is the bitterness of spirit which
is shown by many of those who oppose his claims to
excellence. They show no bitterness of spirit when they
say that the Suffolk Punch or the Shire horse cannot
gallop as fast as the thoroughbred.

Why, then, show such bitterness in speaking of the
Arab ? He has done them no harm. That it is so is
patent to all. Indeed, he has done them much good.
He made their thoroughbred. Even upon a sober
commission of wise and well - informed men this
bitterness is found to creep out. For instance, one of
the Peers who was on, or was a witness before, Lord
Rosebery's Committee, complained of the deep-seated
prejudice he had to meet whenever he alluded to the
Arab.

Mr. Huntingdon, the great American breeder, also
wrote to me complaining of this bitterness. On seeing
my original book, he obtained from England f�ve copies
for his friends, and af ter reading it he sent to England for
rifteen more copies for other friends. Farmers and general
utility horse-breeders will see from this that there must
be something about the Arab worth reading and studying
to have induced a man of Mr. Huntington's reputation
and judgment to act like this.

The reason for the complaint made by Mr. Huntingdon
is plain, viz., that a positive jealousy of the Arab is feit
in many quarters by men some of whom have great
influence in forming public opinion, which almost always
sets up certain authorities to be worshipped as unmean-
ingly as the Australian aboriginals worship their god
Mumbo Jumbo, or obey the orders of their medicine man.
There are two reasons which, unconsciously it may be,
influence some gentlemen : first, their interests as breeders
or racers of thoroughbreds, and, secondly, their long belief
in their favourite strain, which pride or stubbornness will
not allow to be shaken.

I wish�I say it with all grave and becoming respect,
disclaiming emphatically any irreverence�that it were
possible, for the good of the nation, that we could get the
opinion of some entirely neutral person (say, for example,
some great ecclesiastic, ignorant of horse-racing and not
much acquainted with horses), on the dispute between the
advocates of the thoroughbred and those of the Arab,
to be given after careful consideration and according to
the lessons of history and the experience of men who
know. There would soon be a very different opinion
abroad. If the proposed ecclesiastic agreed to ride in
order to have a more satisfactory test, I think he would
prefer to trust himself outside an Arab rather than on a
thoroughbred.

DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD 25

But that is not possible. I now set forth various
opinions of many of the newspapers of the day as to my
former book. Press opinions of a book, even when
favourable, do not always bear conclusively upon the
discussion entered upon in that particular book. The
Press, for example, might praise a book on biology as of
unexampled cleverness or as deeply interesting, and yet
state that the author was wrong from beginning to end.
But here the Press statements happen to show directly
that the author is right, not by their praise of his book,
but of the Arab horse, the particular subject-matter which
the book praises, and therefore I feel justified in citing
them as authorities in the Arab's favour. I trust that
farmers and country gentlemen who breed horses will
recognize the force of these opinions. They cannot all
be wrong. A farmer's son may scoff at Job and say, " O
his is only one !" ; but when almost thousands are brought
before him, who say the very same, he will do sad injustice
to our modern education system if he does not pay some
consideraticn to the matter.

PRESS OPINIONS OF MY PREVIOUS BOOK

Pall Mali Gazette.�" The author has done a good
service."

South Australian Register.�" An earnest, interesting
work."

Leeds Mercury.�" The author abundantly proves that
deterioration of thoroughbred horses exists to an alarming
extent."

The Scotsman.�" The book merits earnest attention."

Glasgow Herald.�" It is to be hoped that the book
will be carefully read."

The Sporting Times.�" No horse in the world is as good
for pig-sticking purposes."

The Australasian.�" The book cannot fail to be both
instructive and interesting."

The Yorkshire Post.�" lts lessons are worthy of note.
There is abundant evidence of the value of a good Arab
strain."

Bulletin.�" The old judge has not lost his trick of
vigorous language."

Morning Post.�" This book will enable horse-breeders
to understand the value of the Arab."

Dundee Advertiser.�" The book is well worth study, for
the time has come to revert to the pure Arab."

Field.�" A case of great strength, both against the
thoroughbred and in favour of the Arab."

South Australian Advertiser (London Correspondent).�
" The book contains a great deal of sound sense."

Baily's Magazine.�" The Arab remains unspoiled, and
if Sir James can induce colonial breeders to recognize his
sterling merits he will have done a service not only to
Australia, but even the Empire."



	THE ARAB HORSE, THE THOROUGHBRED, AND THE TURF

				BY THE

HON. SIR JAMES PENN BOUCAUT, K.C.M.G., FORMERLY SENIOR P�ISINE JDDGE OF THE SUPR�ME CODRT OF SODTH A�STRALIA, AND THREE TIMES PRIME MINISTER OF THAT STATE

		WITH A FOREWORD BY THE RT. HON. SIR GEORGE H. REID, G.C.M.G., HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR A�STRALIA

			LONDON ARTHUR F. BIRD 22 BEDFORD STREET. STRAND 1912 *[All rights reserved]*



		FOREWORD
			vu


adapted. On the great plains of the remote interior the distances to be traversed are enormous, and can only be covered by animals capable of travelling at a fair pace all day and for days together upon scanty rations. In a unique degree the Arab possesses these qualifications. lts powers of endurance, docility, and hardiness are proverbial. I think abundant evidence of this will be found in this book. No allusion, however, is made, I think, to the famous match in Egypt, in 1864, between an Arab horse and an English mare. The race was one of eighty-four miles from Suez to Cairo. The Arab, which was of the Anazeh breed, completed the journey in less than eight hours, whereas the mare collapsed at the sixtieth mile. It is a pleasure to write these few lines in support of Sir James Boucaut's contentions, whose force is obvious to a reader who is not an expert. My sole desire is to recommend to notice a matter which I regard as of the deepest interest, not only to the Mother Country, but also to Australia and to the Empire at large. I cannot refrain from expressing my admiration of the spirit dis- played by my old friend, who, after a strenuous and brilliant career in the arena of politics foliowed by twenty-seven years as a Judge of the Supr�me Court, brings his first-class fighting qualities to bear on a matter of serious moment to our national and Imperial welfare. Many will agree with the author in his belief that the best mode of improving our horses would be " the infusion of a large amount of pure and fresh Arab blood of the desert breed." G. H. RELD.

	'�



	CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK
	CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK	17
		17

He also writes, December 13, 1907 :� " I told you when I first saw Barak that I thought he would make a perfect horse, and I am quite satisfied now that he has done so. He is about as muscular a horse as could be, of beautiful colour, and carries himself in great style, and what is more, he is throwing it into his stock. He is about as sure foal-getter as possible, and from those who have got foals by him I have never heard one disparaging remark. He is a general favourite with everyone." Mr. T. H. Pearce, of the Katherine, says of Ibrahim and Joktan :� " They give every satisfaction. I am delighted with them." He bought them without seeing them, from his faith in the blood, as indeed did most of these purchasers. Mr. Edwin Crozier, who bought Morad, writes, April 29, 1906 :� "I am very pleased to teil you that Morad has done well since I got him, and has thickened out very con- siderably. I am much pleased with his looks. I may say that I have had him ridden. He is very playful, but, so far as I can see, absolutely free from vice, has not the slightest sense of fear, and his carriage is perfect." And since that purchase I am informed that Mr. Crozier bought Amezeh, which I sold to a lady who subsequently died. R. Maitland, Esq., Maryborough, Queensland, writes of Hunyar and Naish, September 13, 1906 :� " You will be pleased to know that both colts have done well since they came over here, and are much ad- mired as very fine specimens of their breed." Mr. Isaac Henderson, Ardrossan, who bought Mesrour, writes, July 15, 1907 :� " My little Arab colt, Mesrour, is doing splendidly. AU who see him admire his graceful manners. I love him immensely." 2



		THE ARAB HORSE
	32	THE ARAB HORSE
	32

maintaining that it is wiser to look to blood than to bigness or beauty, Mr. Collins only repeats what the Arabs have been saying for several thousand years. In the " Crusades," by T. A. Archer, it is said that the pictures of the time show the Crusaders on low horses, their feet almost touching the ground. Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, is described as mounted on his fleet Arab, and the writer relates that the heavy horses of the Cru- saders were no match for the swift-footed Arabs of the Saracens. In " Egypt," Mr. F. Barham Zincke says a fair horse is seldom more than 14 hands high : he looks too small for a cavalry horse, but it is his great merit to be better than he looks. He is very docile, very hardy, and can go through a great deal of work. In the " Persian Gulf and South Sea Isles," Sir Edgar Boehm mentions that he passed a lot of Turkish officers mounted on showy little Arabs, and he says that the Arabs are so jealous of their horses that they keep them in the interior at Nejd for fear of the Turks seizing them. Now, as in ancient times, raiders cannot get into the heart of that country. In " Eclipse and O'Kelley," it is stated that in intelli- gence and temperament the Celtic pony compares favour- ably with Arabs. It is usually extremely keen and active, and the skull is like that of a well-bred Arab in its measure- ments. Naturally, that is so, for this pony has a large infusion of Arab blood. In " Through Savage Europe," Mr. Harry De Windt writes that at Tikhonitzka the Cossacks mounted their shaggy ponies, which had hitherto wandered freely around the place like human beings, and galloped homewards like the wind. These ponies have been systematically improved by Arab blood. In "" Hazards of Life," Mr. V. Tweedale states that a Gulf Arab is a cross between the big Persian mares and the smaller but far better bred Arab horses.



	36	THE ARAB HORSE
	36

mares. I cannot think it possible that the Turkish Cavalry (except, perhaps, some of the officers) could be mounted on pure Arabs, by reason of the cost. In " Twenty Years in the Near East," A. H. Bearman narrates how they climbed the Anti-Lebanon, about another 6,000 f eet, and thence descended into the Valley of the Baradar, and trotted gaily into Damascus, doing the whole distance of 125 kilometres in about fourteen hours. After a day's stable, his pony took him back just as easily. The mules were slipping in all directions on the huge, slanting, polished slabs of rock, which constituted the path, but the pony scrambled like a cat from bottom to top. From that day onward he never again discarded a horse for a mule on the popular delusion of their superior sure-footedness. The saddle had not been off the pony's back since two o'clock on the preceding after- noon, and he was slightly off his feed that night, but was all right the day after. The ordinary Egyptian mounts, he says, are good little beasts. Doubtless they are mostly Syrian Arabs. Victor Tissot, in " Unknown Hungary," says that small horses of Barbary origin are found along the Turkish border well-suited to the rugged and rocky countries, and furnishing excellent horses for the cavalry. Some of these horses are certainly of Barbary breed, but more of them from the East. Lieutenant-General Sir Montagu Gerard, K.C.B., V.C., a wonderful fighter and sportsman, who fought in nearly all our recent great wars, states that one lesson he learned in his campaigning was the great value of the Arab horse. Whilst English and Australian horses got off their feed and rapidly lost condition, the little Arabs would tuck into any species of food, and start fit and fresh in the morning. He twice shot tigers off a small Arab, and never feit for a moment that there was any particular risk about it. He says that he rode an uncommonly handy and plucky Arab, who swerved at nothing.



			BY THE SAME AUTHOR

		THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE W1TH PREFACE BV SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bart. Cloth gilt, pp. 270, and 9 plates. 7S. 6d. net





		FOREWORD No one has done more�in Australia, at any rate�to substantiate the claims of the Arab horse than the veteran statesman of South Australia, Sir James Boucaut, both by his writings and through the establishment of the Quambi stud, which he maintained for many years at Mount Barker Springs in South Australia. His former book on the subject, published in 1905, attracted wide- spread attention in Great Britain, America, and the Commonwealth, and his opinions were, I believe, endorsed by a very large majority of experts. From those who resented any reflection upon their theories or methods some criticism was to be expected. With that the present volume effectually deals. That the selection of the so-called " thoroughbred " purely for speed has been detrimental to horseflesh in general admits of no doubt. Lack of stamina is the common defect. If the thoroughbred were intended solely for racing, this might be of little consequence, but surely the legitimate function of the thoroughbred is to serve as the stock for improving general utility horses. As Sir Walt er Gilbey has observed, " two-year-old races, short distances and light-weights, leave all the best qualities of horseflesh untaxed. They do more : they tend to develop delicacy of constitution." Many who breed horses for the Turf do not even pretend to aim at effecting the improvement of horses apart from racing V



			PREFACE

		I must crave the indulgence of the public for a considerable lack of finish in this volume, probably some repetition, and possibly some mistakes in dates and in the spelling of names. These errors, however, are not in themselves serious, and do not affect the general accuracy of the book. My excuse is that I had to choose between publishing the manuscript as it is and abandoning it altogether. At the age of eighty, and subject to repeated attacks of illness, I am quite unable to undertake the task of careful revision which I had intended. The work of verifying and com- paring references is beyond my strength. I have decided, therefore, to publish the book at once, since I am anxious that the admirers of that grand creature, the Arab, should be in possession of further information to weigh against " the enemy." At the same time, I wish my farming friends in the country to have full opportunity of learn- ing what may be useful to them, but is not at present sufficiently brought to their notice. Information even badly arranged is better than no information. I should add that the facts mentioned are for the most part entirely new, and not a mere repetition of my former book. I desire to express my grateful thanks to the High Commissioner for Australia, Sir George Reia, for writing a foreword to this little volume, and to Sir John Cockburn and Mr. J. C. Medd for kind assistance in seeing it through the press. JAMES PENN BOUCAUT. November, 19II.



	CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAOS FOREWORD .... - - V PREFACE ------ ix I. INTRODUCTION - - - - X II. SOME TESTIMONY TO THE ARAB's EXCELLENCE - 5 III. A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK ------ g IV. DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD - - -22 V. THE ARAB A LOW HORSE - - - - 29 VI. UNIFORM EXCELLENCE OF ARABS GATHERED FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS - - - "44 VII. EXCELLENCE OF THE ARAB, G\THERED CHIEFLY FROM VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES - "77 VIII. ARAB HORSES AS PRESENTS - - - "9* IX. ARAB HORSES IN ENGLAND IN EARLY TIMES - 97 X. MR. WILFRID BLUNT AND PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY - IOO XI. HORSES IN ANCIENT ARABIA - I08 XII. AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF SOME EASTERN HISTORY - 120 XIII. A WORD OR TWO CONCERNING REVERSION - - I28 XIV. THE THOROUGHBRED ----- 134 XV. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM THE " TIMES " - I42 XVI. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM THE " AUSTRAL- ASIAN " - - - - - - I72 XVII. DETERIORATION, AS GATHERED FROM NEWSPAPERS GENERALLY - - - - - igl XVHI. DETERIORATION ACCORDING TO SUNDRY BOOKS AND MAGAZINES ..... _Igy XIX. HORSE-RACING ..... 204 XX. CONCLUSION ------ 218

		xi





			THE ARAB HORSE

		CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Several books dealing more or less with the Arab horse have appeared in recent years, and since the publication of my book in 1905, Professor Ridgeway has compiled a most learned work on the " Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse." There are also " The Horses of the British Empire," edited by Sir Humphrey de Trafford, and " Eclipse and O'Kelly," by Theodore Andrea Cook, which also bear considerably on the subject. But these are all written from a different standpoint from that from which I write ; all, with the exception of Professor Ridgeway's work, are too expensive for most farmers to purchase, and, further, they are somewhat unwieldy. I write with the desire to show my farming friends that the Arab is the best general utility horse in the world,�the glory of horsedom,�and for the infor- mation of many farming friends who have been taught to prefer a big, leggy half-bred to a pure-bred little Arab, I may say, the opinions which I expressed in my former book have been greatly strengthened by reading, experi- ence and inquiry. My profession has taught me to be sceptical, and one of its axioms is never to take anything for granted ; but I acknowledge to being overwhelmed with astonishment at the wonderful history of the Arab horse, and at the consensus of opinion for over five 1



	INTRODUCTION
	INTRODUCTION	3
		3

for all other purposes than sprinting, save when, as in one case out of a hundred, you get an Ormonde or a Per- simmon, and neither of these or their stock are perfect, nor can any of them always be relied on. This is because the thoroughbred is, in truth, a mongrel, and you can never rely on a mongrel to breed true. I further contend that it is impossible for any indifferent man to read what I have collected and here set forth about the thorough- bred without seeing that as a breed he is unreliable, and that, unless the present style of breeding be altered, he will become at his very best useless except for gambling, as many undoubted authorities whom I cite are found emphatically to declare. I rely on the weight of the authorities whom I quote�many of them of the highest class�and I make no claim to personal knowledge of racing. I submit many of our leading writers approach the subject with by f ar too much prejudice and too little genuine inquiry to do the Arab justice. I have been astonished at the ignorance shown by men who ought to know better. One gentleman, for instance, in a letter to a great daily Australian paper to correct my book, stated that an Arab could not be safely ridden in hilly country because for thousands of years he had been used only to travel in a smooth, soft, sandy desert ! which is a grotesque misstatement. Yet many are of this opinion. Arab horses regularly travel amongst hills, rocks and precipices where no English rider would venture to ride a thoroughbred, for one could never depend on his evenness of temper. In many parts of Arabia and on its borders there are most dangerous hills and precipices, and the descripti'ons of them by many travellers will be found herein. Since the above letter, I came across a book on Armenia, by the Hon. Robert Curzon, which tells us that on a road, just wide enough for one horse, passing through streams, over rocks, mountains and



			CHAPTER II

		SOME TESTIMONY TO THE ARAb's EXCELLENCE I wrote my former book because I had formed the opinion that undue praise was being accorded to the thoroughbred at the expense of the Arab horse, although the former has greatly deteriorated, and +hat the great excellence of the Ara!.» was practically ignored� facts which, being an Englishman, were burnt into me, so to speak, by the Transvaal War, the iron whereof entered into my soul, and I desired again to call the attention of all those who wanted general utility horses in Australia to the Arab. That my book was not calculated to do any harm may be gathered from the fact that Sir Walter Gilbey wrote me a preface, for which I record my very grateful thanks, and that it was calculated to do some good is clear from the review of the Times, which I set forth here as an appendix, separate and apart from the general mass of newspaper reviews and criticisms which I shall cite later on. I was more gratified by that review in the Times than by any other laudatory remarks (although they were many), for the Times is admittedly the greatest newspaper in the world. It is invariably careful, de- sirous of being as far as possible accurate, and its policy is always to be judicial, fair and level-headed, while the 5



			8 THE ARAB HORSE

		possible in the longest and hardest day to get to the bottom of either, and, however jaded the little beast may seem, the fire flashes up on the slightest excite- ment." Such a notice would give any author satisfaction, and it deserves the careful attention of all who seek to know the truth.



		CHAPTER III A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK Of course, my book was attacked by some of the sporting newspapers, although most of those which I saw were fair, and some, indeed, were much more commendatory than I had expected. I cannot trouble my readers with comments on the criticisms, but one sapient " sport " in Australia particularly amused me, and compels me to call attention to the speciality of my book, which is its reference to practical authorities and innumerable expert and experienced men. The " sport " referred to wrote that my book was not much good, because it was entirely built of statements made by other persons. I wonder what the gentleman could have expected, or what he would desire ? I could not give what history has affirmed about the Arab horse without quoting the statements of other people, nor could anyone else. I was not at the Battle of Damascus, when the Arabs destroyed the Roman power in Asia Minor, and every rider of a pure Arab horse was awarded doubl� spoil; nor was I with Napoleon Buonaparte in Syria or Egypt, when he stated that the Mamelukes on their Syrian Arabs were better mounted than the French cavalry, although the Syrian Arabs are not of pure blood ; nor was I recently with Abdur Rah- °ian, Ameer of Afghanistan, when, on " his little Arab," 9



		CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK n Most of the purchasers of my pure-blood stallions are large breeders of horses in what is termed " The Bush," occupying many scores of square miles in the interior of Australia�men who are not so severely bitten with the racing mania as to be so jealous of the Arab as so many others seem to be. Thus do these purchasers report:� S. P. Mackay, Esq., of Brunswick, Melville Park, N.W. Australia, who purchased two�Saladin and Jedaan�in 1898 :� " They are sleek as hounds; never had a toothful except the natural herbage. I hear great accounts of Saladin's stock. Jedaan has grown a fine animal; his stock are very promising and handsome as paint, and I ara sorry I have not more of them." This gentleman writes again, August 22, 1902 :� " I hear great accounts of Saladin's stock. Jedaan is here under my eye, and is everything I could wish ; his stock are good and showy as well. . . . I am sure his stock will come out on top. I never made a purchase that has given me more satisfaction." And again, September 15, 1903, Mr. Mackay writes :� " Jedaan is very much to the f ore at present this winter. I have broken in five only of his progeny to the buggy� four-year-olds�: two of them af ter driving them only four weeks I sold for �50. The others I am constantly driving, and they do their work splendidly, notwithstanding that most of the Bush roads are only sand. They are abso- lutely stanch, and have no vice; they carry themselves so well that it pays to put nice harness on them." And being in Adelaide on March 22, 1905, Mr. Mackay called on the breeder to say how much pleased he was with the young stock; they were admired by every- one. Mr. Mackay casually met Mr. Whitham, Inspector of



			12 THE ARAB HORSE

		Education, about February 27, 1907, at Aldgate, and told him that some of Rafyk's stock had turned out splendidly ; that last season he had sold a young pair to the agent of a steam-shearing company to travel to a distant station shed, and they accomplished the journey of 500 miles in eight days, and showed no signs of being run down. He also said that his stallion Sheddon had taken first prize at the last Royal Agricultural Show at Perth. F. S. Thompson, Esq., Warrawagine, Condon, N.W. Australia, who purchased Kazim :� " Kazim continues to give us satisfaction; as quiet as ever, and absolutely no vice. His young stock are doing well, and are satisfactory, those out of thoroughbred mares being especially good." E. P. Quinn, Esq., of Tarella, Wilcannia, New South Wales, who purchased Assad :� " Assad is growing into a fine horse, a nice shape, with really good legs, and bone like steel. His temper is all that could be desired. A more docile animal was never foaled, and yet he is full of fire and spirit." Mr. Quinn has since purchased Adban. A friend casually heard in Melbourne that the manager of Salisbury Downs had ridden Assad throughout the drought, fre- quently getting over fifty and sixty miles in a day, and of ten at the end of a long journey he got very little f eed, but next morning would start away quite fresh, and that he was positive he could not have done the work with the ordinary station-bred horse. In subsequently inquiring what others were for sale, Mr. Quinn wrote, January 1, 1904 :� " I am very pleased with the few Assads that I have ; they are nearly three years old now, and are all that could be desired ; they are handsome and very sturdy. Assad has stamped his stock very much after himself. Adban's stock are faultless as foals. I have nineteen head of as handsome foals by him as I would ever wish to see." He has since bought a third youngster.



		CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 13 On March 11, 1904, he says :� " I have all Assad's foals broken in ; they are all good hacks, very free and game, standing about 15 hands high. Adban's stock are beautiful, no doubt, and admired by everyone ; all fair size, very handsome and sturdy, good tempered as yearlings." And on July 26, 1904, he writes :� " Adban's stock are beauties, are handsome and good sorts. ... I believe in the Arab blood for station horses, and think it is only a matter of a few years, and anyone, seeing the way they answe'r, will be sure and go in for them." And on December 1, 1905, he writes :� " I must continue to praise Adban, as no doubt he got very good stock. They are horses with any amount of size and substance, with quality combined. I cannot say enough about them, as regards their good qualities." And on October 18, 1909, writing to teil me of the death of Ben Sira, he says :� " Ben Sira was out in the paddock and jumped out : he then raced round and then made a big jump back again, and landed on a stump 5 feet high, which pierced through his hind part and tore him fearfully from the front of the sheath right to the butt of his tail. Death was almost instantaneous, thank Heaven. The last six months he had been developing into a beautiful animal, as handsome as a picture, so kind and docile we had grown to look on him as one of ourselves almost. The intelligence of poor Ben was almost human, and people say it is foolish to think of the loss of an animal, but I have been so attached to Ben the place is really lonely without him." J. W. Brougham, Esq., of Poollamacca Station, Broken Hill, New South Wales, who purchased Abdallah, wrote:� " Abdallah's stock promise well; they are beautifully topped, with a fine carriage. His disposition is wonder- fully quiet, and a child could ride him with safety."



			14 THE ARAB HORSE

		On a later date he writes :� " He is such a pet, ever so docile." And on February 25, 1904, writing to thank me for a newspaper I sent him, adds :� " It was rather strange, the day the newspaper arrived my boy brought in from the back station two of Ab- dallah's colts, just broken in. He was so proud of them he rode them in to show me, and really they show quality, breeding and usefulness. Perfect hacks, plenty of sub- stance, standing 15\ hands, and only three years (off). Am breaking them in now, and when quiet will let them run till five years, then they will be fit for any work. I would like you to see the youngsters, and you would still be prouder of Rafyk." N.B.�This supports Mr. Vincent Dowling, who stated that it was a great mistake to say that the foals got by Arab horses were too small. On October 30, 1905, he met my son and told him that he was very much pleased with Abdallah's stock�that he was just the horse for that country. And he informs me that Mr. D. Evans rode two Arab horses bred at Poolamacca in May, 1907, on the first day twenty-two miles, next day forty-five miles, and back, making ninety miles before the horses got water. Next day to Mr. Buil, where they would not drink the well- water, next day Wykalpa and back again to Border Tank, ninety-four miles. The horses had no water for 109 miles, two days and two nights, and yet showed no signs of distress. Mr. C. R. Bunbury, of Williambury, West Australia, who purchased Khaled, wrote :� " I like Khaled very well indeed. He is full of life and quality and his foals are very handsome. He is very docile when handled and a good goer." And since then he writes, on September 12, 1903 :� " I have broken in a dozen of Khaled's stock lately; they are the quietest and most tractable youngsters I



		CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 15 ever had anything to do with, and stand their work well for youngsters." And again, July 7, 1908 :� " I enclose a photo of my team of six half-bred Arabs by Khaled. I think it would be rather difhcult to find a team of horses to beat this. I can drive them off the road as well as on it, and can drive anywhere where it is possible for a vehicle to go. They also do big journeys. I did eighty-four miles with them in nine hours' travelling; and, coming from Carnarvon with a very heavily loaded buggy, came home the last day, a journey of fiity miles, despite the fact they got nothing to eat except a bit of scrub. I should like to get another Arab stallion if you have one for sale." Mr. Warburton, a horsebreeder in Northern Australia (who desired to purchase Zubeir), writes :� " I very much regret my agents could not induce you to sell Zubeir, except under conditions that put me clean out of the running. It has been a great disappointment to me, as I had set my heart on getting him. Will you allow me to congratulate you on being the owner of such a horse as Rafyk ? I can only say that words fail me to express my admiration for him. I could have spent hours looking at him. There is not such another horse in Australia ; he is perfect in every way." [The conditions were that he was to remain at Quambi till two mares, Labahda and Sherifa, were stinted, but the writer has since purchased him.] He further writes, May, 1904 :� " Zubeir is growing very like Rafyk, and Is in good trim. He has not had an ounce of stable feed since he has been up here. He is doing good work, and it would take a big cheque to buy him now." He further writes :� " As f ar as Zubeir and his stock go, the Arab deserves all the praise you give him in your book. Some of his



			16 THE ARAB HORSE

		youngsters, getting on for three years old, are perfect pictures." And on April n, 1906, when writing in respect of the purchase of another stallion, Mr. Warburton's agents, Messrs. Barker Bros., say :� " Mr. Warburton writes in very eulogistic terms of Zubeir's progeny." And on June, 1906 :� " Mr. Warburton purchased another stallion�Darub." And in a letter to Messrs. Barker Bros. of this city, dated July 9, 1809, Mr. Warburton states :� " Darub is growing into a beautiful colt�all fire and quality." Robert Bush, Esq., of Clifton Downs Station, Western Australia, says of Suleiman :� " Having used him for about one year, I am unable of course to say anything about his stock. ... I think he will mate well with the class of mares I have put to him. He is a beautiful-tempered horse and a good doer, having to cut his own grass ever since I have had him." And again on July 6, 1903 :� " Sulieman is doing very well, and I like his stock very much. Although he is small, his stock are of good size, and if they turn out as well as they look they will be very good. . . . There is no doubt at all that they will turn out well. Sulieman is a beautiful-tempered horse." Mr. Creed, of Cecilwood, Rockhampton, purchaser of Barak, then just arrived in Rockhampton, writes, July 4, 1903 :� " I think him a very handsome colt, and should make a very perfect horse. Everyone that has seen him thinks him a fine colt. ... I am sure there will be no such horse in looks, style, etc, about here. I am very pleased with him."



		CRITICISMS OF MY FORMER BOOK 19 features of his get. Though high spirit ed, they are of docile temperament, and in conformation, bone and sub- stance fi.11 the bill; especially is this so when mated with our Suffolk cross-bred mares. There are Arabs and so- called Arabs, but the pure-bred Desert Arab has no superior for pluck and endurance and the faculty of transmitting these qualities to his offspring." I was favoured with a copy of a report, February 5, 1904, by Mr. A. H. Morris, who was sent to inspect my stud, in which he writes :� " Rafyk is a powerful horse, and I like him very much. Faraoun is a shade finer in bone than Rafyk, shows more quality about the head ; he is a beautifully-made horse and worth a day's journey to look at. If you get a chance, go out and see him. He is a beauty. The pure-bred Arab mares are a nice lot, but Ros� of Jericho is quality all over. There are two nice yearling colts (pure Arabs), but both are sold. I saw three geldings, out of Stud Book mares, one that I wish had been kept for a stallion. He would have suited me. He is out of a thoroughbred mare, but has the stout body of an Arab ; he is a powerful horse-�I like him very much. I have seen that the cross between the thoroughbred mare and Arab is a splendid cross. The other gelding�a chestnut�is lengthy, lean and wiry ; but if he is not a hard, wiry horse and a fast one, I am much mistaken. I thoroughly enjoyed myself to-day. I wish I had money for what I could do in the shape of producing horses that would not only be useful, but would give pleasure to look at." (Neither the writer of the report nor his principal was known to the owner of the stud.) Mr. G. Leonard Brown, of Wirronna, New South Wales, who bought Faraoun at my dispersal sale, writes me :� " Faraoun is as quiet as a lamb. I ride him bare- backed at the canter and jump on and off as he careers along, much to his delight, as he squeaks in joy from time to time."



			CHAPTER IV

		DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD I was exceedingly sorry to feel it desirable to disperse my pure Arab stud, but with the weight of seventy- eight years upon me and with failing health, and my stud farm being in the hills over thirty miles from my residence, I found it not only a difhculty to get there, but a greater difficulty to ride about in the paddocks as freely as I would wish, and as I had been used to do. Indeed, it was my main pleasure in life to ride to my paddocks and walk amongst my mares and have them come up to me and rub my shoulder. But my managing son, being an admirer of sneep and not of horses, confided to me that he would not be a horse-breeder, so I had no alternative but to disperse my stud, keeping, however, a couple of mares for a grandson and one as company for myself. I hope to be excused for having inserted the statements in the last chapter, they being a collection of other men's opinions. But when tWenty or thirty or more gentlemen, having intimate practical knowledge of the subject, afhrm that the Arab is a most excellent horse and throws splendid stock, then it is desirable that all honest breeders should give some consideration to what those gentlemen say, and indeed not merely consider it, but carefully study it. Even supposing there be one " frigid liar " and two 22



		24 THE ARAB HORSE Mr. Huntingdon, the great American breeder, also wrote to me complaining of this bitterness. On seeing my original book, he obtained from England f�ve copies for his friends, and af ter reading it he sent to England for rifteen more copies for other friends. Farmers and general utility horse-breeders will see from this that there must be something about the Arab worth reading and studying to have induced a man of Mr. Huntington's reputation and judgment to act like this. The reason for the complaint made by Mr. Huntingdon is plain, viz., that a positive jealousy of the Arab is feit in many quarters by men some of whom have great influence in forming public opinion, which almost always sets up certain authorities to be worshipped as unmean- ingly as the Australian aboriginals worship their god Mumbo Jumbo, or obey the orders of their medicine man. There are two reasons which, unconsciously it may be, influence some gentlemen : first, their interests as breeders or racers of thoroughbreds, and, secondly, their long belief in their favourite strain, which pride or stubbornness will not allow to be shaken. I wish�I say it with all grave and becoming respect, disclaiming emphatically any irreverence�that it were possible, for the good of the nation, that we could get the opinion of some entirely neutral person (say, for example, some great ecclesiastic, ignorant of horse-racing and not much acquainted with horses), on the dispute between the advocates of the thoroughbred and those of the Arab, to be given after careful consideration and according to the lessons of history and the experience of men who know. There would soon be a very different opinion abroad. If the proposed ecclesiastic agreed to ride in order to have a more satisfactory test, I think he would prefer to trust himself outside an Arab rather than on a thoroughbred.



		DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD 25 But that is not possible. I now set forth various opinions of many of the newspapers of the day as to my former book. Press opinions of a book, even when favourable, do not always bear conclusively upon the discussion entered upon in that particular book. The Press, for example, might praise a book on biology as of unexampled cleverness or as deeply interesting, and yet state that the author was wrong from beginning to end. But here the Press statements happen to show directly that the author is right, not by their praise of his book, but of the Arab horse, the particular subject-matter which the book praises, and therefore I feel justified in citing them as authorities in the Arab's favour. I trust that farmers and country gentlemen who breed horses will recognize the force of these opinions. They cannot all be wrong. A farmer's son may scoff at Job and say, " O his is only one !" ; but when almost thousands are brought before him, who say the very same, he will do sad injustice to our modern education system if he does not pay some consideraticn to the matter. PRESS OPINIONS OF MY PREVIOUS BOOK Pall Mali Gazette.�" The author has done a good service." South Australian Register.�" An earnest, interesting work." Leeds Mercury.�" The author abundantly proves that deterioration of thoroughbred horses exists to an alarming extent." The Scotsman.�" The book merits earnest attention." Glasgow Herald.�" It is to be hoped that the book will be carefully read." The Sporting Times.�" No horse in the world is as good for pig-sticking purposes."



		26 THE ARAB HORSE The Australasian.�" The book cannot fail to be both instructive and interesting." The Yorkshire Post.�" lts lessons are worthy of note. There is abundant evidence of the value of a good Arab strain." Bulletin.�" The old judge has not lost his trick of vigorous language." Morning Post.�" This book will enable horse-breeders to understand the value of the Arab." Dundee Advertiser.�" The book is well worth study, for the time has come to revert to the pure Arab." Field.�" A case of great strength, both against the thoroughbred and in favour of the Arab." South Australian Advertiser (London Correspondent).� " The book contains a great deal of sound sense." Baily's Magazine.�" The Arab remains unspoiled, and if Sir James can induce colonial breeders to recognize his sterling merits he will have done a service not only to Australia, but even the Empire." Irish Times.�" A valuable work." Country Life. �" The Arab's docility, constitution, easy paces and hardiness commend him for many purposes." The Standard.�" Sir James Boucaut forces upon our attention a state of affairs which is of national and Imperial importance." New York Herald.�" In Arabia the horses maintain the qualities which are most useful in war horses, and, indeed, in all horses where gambling is not the main consideration." Daily Telegraph (New South Wales).�" There is much put forward in the book which will take a great deal of answering." The Referee, a sporting paper, admits that Arabs, more or less pure-bred, can go great distances, can endure great



		DISPERSAL OF MY PURE STUD 27 hardships, carry surprising weights for their size and build, are docile, plucky, and in character better adapted for campaigning over difficult country than the ordinary English cavalry remount. Their endurance is wonderful, and so is their power of living and feeding rough. The Sportsman.-�■" There is, however, a certain amount of truth in the existence of the evil which he deplores." The Asian.�" Breeding to the best type of the Arab will be the best means of checking degeneration, for in Arab horses we can get constitution, stamina, staying power, good bone, of the very highest quality and courage." The Spectator.�" And long before the Christian era such horses were sought by horse lovers all over the Mediterranean and Western Asia. . . . With Sir James's main thesis we are in the fullest agreement." Sporting Life.�" One would think that with such a variety of horse literature there was not a vacancy for Sir James Boucaut's work. As soon as we dip into the well-considered volume we are convinced that there was a vacancy, and that this book fills it." The Sydney Morning Herald.�" The book is highly interesting and will prove valuable as a means of pro- moting discussion on the reintroduction of the Arab." Daily Mail (Brisbane).�" Is refreshing reading. His work is valuable to breeders." The Pastoralists' Review.�" In my opinion Sir James Boucaut's Arabs are going to shine in Australia, for my experience is that a man is never called on to take up his saddle and walk if his horse has a teaspooiJul of Arab blood in his veins." The Live Stock Journal (England).�" Australian breeders could not render greater service to themselves and to the Empire than to build upon a foundation of Arab blood. All men who cultivate close acquaintance with the Arab find that there is no breed to equal it in real work. We trust that his (Sir James Boucaut's)



	28
	28	THE ARAB HORSE
		THE ARAB HORSE

teaching may come home to a larger audience than that in his adopted home." The Western Australian.�" Sir James Boucaut deserves well of his country in the nrst place for estabhshing a stud of pure Arabs accessible to all Australian breeders, and secondly for writing the book under review, which is a warning to our rulers to wake out of the indifference hitherto exhibited." Daily Mail.�" From personal observation and ex- perience, I have long urged an Arab development of horse stock for every purpose." The Outlook.�" Of all horses he is the most companion- able, not only because he is intelligent and stout-hearted, but on account of his indomitable cheeriness. You travel on other horses but with your Arab. Of the stoutness and soundness of the breed, of the ivory quality of the Arab bone, there has never been any question, and these characteristics they impart to their progeny." I may add that in February, 1910, I received a letter from a gentleman in England previously unknown to me, who wrote me that my former book had twice been read through by him, a much occupied lover of horses, and that he had frequently heard it quoted. Indeed, he says : " My love for the Arab and its derivatives makes the book precious to me." The best small, compact horse known to him is the Connemara Hobby, which he largely praises, and of which he has a stud of the best procurable. He concludes by saying that if I would care to have one mare or stallion he would gladly give me a foal or filly. What praise can be more emphatic than that ?



			CHAPTER V

		THE ARAB A LOW HORSE The Arab is a low horse. He is what the old bushmen of Australia of the forties and fifties, riders of half-bred Arabs, used to term a big horse in a little compass. They always preferred low horses. They knew the craze for tall horses is a huge mistake. You cannot possibly breed for speed and height without losing other more valuable qualities, as many breeders of thoroughbreds now admit, and this chapter will contain much matter which goes towards proving it. The constant reference to " little " horses and " small " horses shows that the writers using those words had been accustomed to big horses�their eyes had been accustomed to size�which made the feats of the smaller horses appear the more remarkable to them. Their tastes had become depraved by love of bigness for bigness' sake. By-and-bye, in a generation or so, people will wonder how they came to be so unwise. If you had offered a stock-rider of the Bush in the forties a stock-horse of 16 hands and upwards for stock-riding, he would have considered himself insulted: he would have thought you were laughing at him. In his book, " With the Khirgiz," Lord V. Beauclerk says that Khirgiz ponies, wiry, well-balanced little animals from 12$ to 13^ hands high, will climb all day, and their feet will last several weeks' work amongst the 29



			30 THE ARAB HORSE

		rocks. The regulation distance for a race in their country is thirteen to fourteen miles. The time, thirty-three minutes for the fourteen miles, seems extraordinarily good for a grass-fed pony of under 13 hands, and these weekly races have been held for generations by the natives at Kashgara. These, ponies for many generations have been improved by Arab stallions. In the Argus of February 19, 1906, Mr. William Day is cited as saying that you may get fifty small good horses for one good large one, and the former will do well after the latter has been put to the stud (i.e., after he is done for as a racer). A good big horse, he says, may beat a good little one over a short course or even at a mile or so, but at three or four miles a good little one would beat the best big one he ever saw. In truth, the small horse seems to revert more to the Arab, the big horse to the Flanders mare. The Times of January 1, 1906, says that :� " A more suitable beast for mounted infantry than the Chinese pony is hardly conceivable�docile, easily trained, and easy to mount. The breed was improved by Arabs two milleniums ago." On November 26, 1906, it wrote :� " In the breeding of all classes of stock where prominent consideration is given to purity of blood and fineness of quality, there is a distinct tendency towards diminution in the size of the progeny, which suggests that size and quality are in a certain degree incompatible terms. The history of the polo pony itself furnishes proof of the contention that the maintenance of size is as difncult of attainment as uniformity in type." Blackwood''s Magazvne for November, 1904, states that General McQueen, one of the ablest soldiers who ever commanded in the Punjab, rode not a superb charger which would be useless on the rough ground, but a small pony that could scramble over rocks like a goat.



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			THE ARAB A LOW HORSE 31 Elder's Weekly Review, on April 26, 1905, tells its farmer readers that the type of animal aimed at by all high-class breeders who cater for the army trade is a low- set, compact animal, and not the long-legged, high- standing, short-necked 16 hands animal which almost invariably becomes " a roarer " if turned out to grass, and points out that many horses with silver tubes are to be met with. The Register of October 23, 1905, informs us that in the previous September the South Australian Govern- ment received from the High Commissioner of South Africa a despatch requiring about 400 horses for the South African Constabulary, the minimum height to be reduced as regards 20 per cent. of the horses to 14* 1 In the " Horse-trainer's Guide," Mr. Digby Collins writes that he had seen many good little horses on almost every racecourse in the kingdom. He recalls the race between Stockwell and Teddington, the one big enough to carry the other, yet the little one had the greatest weight in addition to being a little amiss, and nevertheless defeated his great adversary after perhaps one of the most severe struggles ever witnessed. Mere formation, he states, must be thrown to the winds, and the character of the blood carefully weighed. The breeder must esti- mate good looks and formation only for just so much as they are worth. The folly of going for looks alone is nothing short of madness. It should always be remem- bered that, although no animal commands so high a price as the thoroughbred colt of high character, no animal is so valueless if the reverse. Mr. Collins adds that Bay Middleton and the Flying Dutchman have proved decided failures at the stud, yet they were themselves quite unsur- passed as racehorses. In a steeplechase, want of size is no bar to success in the very best company. He says that there are on an average some 1,500 thoroughbred colts and fillies bred every year, out of which there are about three really first-class racehorses, or one in 500, and some twenty or thirty moderate racehorses, or about one in fifty worth keeping in training for the Turf. In



		THE ARAB A LOW HORSE 33 The Saltash Gazette of June 12,1906, points out that the horses in general in France, Germany and Austria are better than those of England, owing to the free use of Arab blood. M. Hornez, the administrator of the horse-breeding establishment at Har as, in France, reports that in the year 1905 there were at that place 240 Arabs and 247 thoroughbreds. Elder's Weekly Review of May 14, 1905, informs its readers than in Basutoland the Government have imported nine pure-bred Arab stallions to improve the native ponies. The Australasian of November 28, 1908, says that England has only just awakened to the f act of her very great deficiency in horses for army purposes, and con- trasts the great interest taken in France and in Germany. In the latter country there were 241 thoroughbreds, 100 Arabs, and 220 Anglo-Arabs belonging to the Govern- ment. J. P. Hore, in his " History of Newmarket," says that nearly all the gold and silver coins of the Iceni bear the figure of a horse, and that horse-racing may be traced back to the times of the Romans. He adds that all the successful horses on the Turf from the remotest ages have been of Eastern descent. The earliest mention of horse-races in England, he says, was in the reign of Emperor Severus (a.d. 210), at Netherby, in Yorkshire, and the horses were delicate Arabs of famous speed and stamina. The superiority of the English thoroughbred horse, he continues, is only attributable to the Eastern blood introduced and maintained by the Romans. The Mail of January 1, 1905, points out that the Celt, like the Jew, is an invincible proof of the persistence of race type. That is a f act beyond question, and extends to the Arab horse as well as to the Celt and the Jew. Dr. Robert Wm. Stewart, in his " Journey in Syria and Palestine," writes that the road over the hill was 3



		34 THE ARAB HORSE atrocious, yet the little sure-footed animals got over it without accident. H. B. Tristram, in the " Land of Isra�l," states that their horses unhesitatingly " walked up a long flight of steps cut out of the road, which was bare and glossy, without any parapet." His horse slipped, with his haunches overhanging the precipice, where no English horse could have saved itself, but the little animal, after a few struggles with its nose and forefeet, got itself on to the path again. He tells us how his favourite horse, a thoroughbred Arab, with the docility of his race, im- plicitly foliowed the commands of the voice, and allowed him to traverse his gun between his ears, and, if he dismounted, would stand patiently till his return or follow at the word of command. He describes two Bedouins splendidly mounted on the finest Arab mares ever seen, with exquisite heads. A party of them pulled up their horses on their haunches within half a spear's length, and, to try their nerves, galloped among the writer and his friends, the spears quivering a few feet from their faces. In " Mount Omi and Beyond," Mr. Archibald John Little writes that his pony nimbly scrambled over a very dimcult place to the safe ground, but a mule imme- diately behind went rolling down, and was instantly killed. The pony was absurdly small, n hands 2 inches, so that he feit some compunction in mounting him until he recollected that he had bjeen loaded daily with 250 pounds of rice and carried his load safely over the steep mountains. The author suggests that these ponies are a survival from Arabs brought into China by the Turkish followers of Genghis Khan, of which there can be little doubt, as for years Arab stallions had been intro- duced there. In " The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," Sir Samuel Baker relates that he purchased three horses, a bay and two greys, handsome animals, none exceeding 14! hands, and none had ever been shod, yet their hoofs were as hard as ivory. Abou Do rode a grey mare not exceeding



		THE ARAB A LOW HORSE 35 14 hands, full of fire and speed, which appeared to be able to twist and turn with the suppleness of a snake. Aggahr was an exceedingly fast horse. His gallop was perfection, as easy to himself as to his rider ; there was no necessity to guide him, as he foliowed an animal like a greyhound, avoiding the trunks of the trees and choosing his route where the branches allowed ample room for the rider to pass beneath. On a pair of rhinoceroses charging, there was no time for more than one look behind. Sir Samuel dug the spurs into Aggahr, and, clasping him round the neck, ducked his head blindly, trusting to Providence and his good horse over big rocks, fallen trees and grass 10 feet high, with the two infernal animals in full chase only a few feet behind him. In " Patriots and Filibusters," L. Oliphant writes:� " We learn that the Circassian ponies possessed great pluck and powers of endurance, and in no other country that the author had ever been in do horses perform such extravagant feats. Except in Nepaul, he had never seen such dangerous roads." In " The River of Golden Sand," Captain Gill mentions that ponies in Northern China are stout, hardy little animals from the Mongolian Plateau, but that they do not come up to the wiry little creatures found in Persia, which are largely Arab. These Mongolian ponies them- selves have Arab blood in them. Of the Tibetan ponies he writes that they are docile, and never showed the least sign of temper or vice, and were as hardy as the people themselves. They required no clothing and were scarcely ever groomed. There is little doubt that these ponies have been improved by Arabs. In " Six Months in Mecca," Mr. J. F. Keane writes that the horses of the Turkish mounted troops are the well-known hardy little Arabs, good horses at their worst, never groomed, and hardly shod. The horses he referred to are doubtless the breed of little Syrian Arabs, spoken of by Stevens in his book, " With Kitchener to Khartoum," sons of Arab horses and not sons of Arab



		THE ARAB A LOW HORSE 37 General Gerard also says that one little Arab did seventy miles in about twelve hours, and was fit and well at the end of it. Arabs are amenable and tractable as dogs. Their reputation for stumbling he attributes largely to their docility, owing to which they are seldom broken in or taught their paces, but just simply saddled and mounted. In " The Australian in China," the author tells us that his pony was small, rat-like, and wiry, and carried him without wincing over the stone-flagged pathway, scaling and descending the long flights of steps which led over the mountains. An article by Thomas F. Dale states that ponies crossed with Arabs will produce small horses of the best riding type�hardy, handsome, enduring and economical; while, as to feed, the Arab horse can work on far less stimulating and expensive food than English horses, which is one reason why Arab blood is so valued on the Continent, where economy is more thought of in horse- keeping than it is in England. The Transvaal War, he says, made a great difference in the prospects of South African horse-breeding ; and by the steady importation of horses, especially of high-class Arabs from the Crabbet Park Stud, endeavours are made to improve the breed. In " A Varied Life," General E. T. Gordon writes that in the Punjab they forced the enemy to abandon two led horses�one a fine dapple-grey Arab, 14-2 hands, sound in wind and limb, a horse of high quality, and one a steady charger, which carried him well when hog-hunting. The General mentions that he had had a vahr.ble Arab horse cut down by a boar, which appeared to have had the effect of stimulating his love of the dangerous sport after his recovery. He states further that Sheik Mizal delighted him with his stable of Arab horses, which showed great powers of endurance on long journeys and over rough roads. They worked well on scanty fare and the lightest covering at night against cold.



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In his " General John Jacob," Mr. Alexander James Shand says that the Beloochees' wiry little ponies, sure- footed as goats, scrambling over roeks and river channels, eluding pursuit, and giving him no little trouble, charged home, and twenty-five of the Beloochees were cut down, but the rest were saved by the fieetness of their horses. These ponies are greatly Arab blood. Mr. George A. B. Dewar, in " Memoirs of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigriy," says that right cleverly the little Arab horses negotiated the ditches. In " On Foot through Kashmir Valleys," Marion Daughty refers to the hardy, sure-footed hill ponies which the Syces habitually used on the rough tracks, and in which they had such confidence that they even ventured across the rickety swinging bridges, feeling certain that, if there was danger, the ponies would be the first to perceive it. In " The Land of Ararat," by a Special Correspondent, the author states that at Erzeroum the horses were small, but strong and very steady. They were high-spirited, and well bred, and noted for their great endurance. When parting from his guide, the latter told him that robbers were lying in wait for him behind the hedges. He went with him to the river, and then said : " Now you have an open plain, and your horse is enough for safety. I give you in God's keeping." The guide was satisned to trust him to the speed and purity of his Arab horse. In " Tafilet," Mr. W. B. Harris says that almost the sole remainder of the Arab origin of the Berbers of to-day is the fact that they are great horsemen. It is a sight well worth seeing to watch an old ruffian of the tribe galloping about on his handsome desert horse, with a youth holding on to each stirrup and another at the tail. The horses are small, wiry, often very handsome, and capable of standing a great amount of fatigue. In " Travels in the Three Great Empires of Austria, Russia, and Turkey," C. B. EUiot, F.R.S., observes that the Turkish horses displayed a good deal of blood. " Their