The Shasta courier., 1864-04-23
SHASTA COU RE r.
hHQ I Hor.es.

General Dumas of France has Published
.a.work .upoh Arab 'horees, with the commen
taries by Emil Ell Kader. We copy the fol-
lowing. The Arabs thus define the charac
teristios Of the thoroughbred horse:
4 fhe thoroughbred horse is well proportion
ed-his.ears are smaland in constant motion,
his bones massive, his cheeks meagre, his
nestrils wide as the throat of lion, his eyes
bright. black and levelwith the head, his neck
long, his chest full, his withers prominent
his lions we'll knit. his launches strong, his
fore ribs long aud the hinder ones short, the
belly hollow, the Group rounded, the upper
part of his legs like an Ostrich and furnish
ed With muscles, like camel's, his hoofs
black and of uniform color, his hair fine and
abundant, his flesh firm, his tail very thick
at the dock, but loose at the extremity. Look
ed at in front he is like unto the peak of a
lofty mountain. Looked at from behind, he
seems to lean forward as if he would postrate
himself. Looked at from the side, he shows
himself robust and we'll set up. To sum up
ne should have four points broad, the front
the chest, the group and the legs; four points
long: the neck, the upper part of the legs.
the belly and the launches fonr points short; /;
the Ions. the pasterns, the ears and the tail.
All these qualities in a good horse. say the
Arabs, prove firstly that he has real blood in
him a nd secondly thai he is certainly feet of
foot for his form combines something of the
greyhound, the pigeon, and the mahari, or
riding camel.
- A thoroughbred horse is one that has three
things long, three things short, three things
broad, and three things clean The three
things long are the ears, the neck and the
fore legs. The three things short are the
dock, the hind legs and the back The three
things broad. are the forward, the chest and
the Group. The three things clean are the
skin, the eyes and the hoafs He ought to
have the withers high. and the TANKS hollow
and without any superfuous flesh. Dost
thou accomplish journey at great speed with
steeds high in the withers aud fine in the
ianks? The tail should be well furnished
at the root. so that it may cover tie space be-
tween the thighs. The tail is like unto the
veil of a bride. The eye of horse should
be turned as if trying to look at his nose, like
the eye of a man who squints. Like beau
tiful coquette who leers through her veil, his
glance toward the cornor of the eye pierces
through the hair of the forelock which covers
bis forehead as with veil. The ears re-
semble those of an antelope startled in the
midst of her herd. The forelock abundant
In the hour of pain mount slender mare
whose forehead is covered by silky and flow
ing hair. The nostrils wide. Each of lis
nostrils resemble the den of a lion the wind
rushes out of it when he is painting The
cavities in the interior of his nostrils ought to
be entirely black. If they are partly black
and partly white, the horse is of only moder-
ate value. The fetlock thick They have
fetlocks that resemble the down which is
concealed beneath the eagles wing, and like
him they grow blank in the heat of battle
The fetlock joints small. The fetlock joints
Of, their hind legs are small, but the muscles
on both sides stand out prominent The
hoof, round and hard The hoof should re-
semble the cup of a slave. They walk on
hoofs as hard as the moss covered stones of
stagnant pool. The frogs concealed beneath
the hoofs are seen when he lifts his feet, and
resembles date stones in hardness Rn