The Republican journal., 1897-07-22
Horses of Arabia.
Each Horse is Broken to Its Owners Hand,

EaCn morse IS broken 10 It's owners Hand.
r. Talbot Kelly, an English artist who
has lived much among the Arabs, writes
and illustrates a paper entitled ''In the
Desert with the Bedouin'' for The
Century Magazine. Mr.. Kelly writes as
| follows of the famous Arabian horses:
The Hanaardi and Nephaarta Arabs are
famous horse breeders, and take great
pride in their stud. These horses are. |
think, the best ARABS / have seen; and
usually depicted, they are strongly built,
| large boned animals of from fifteen to fif-
teen and half hands high. | have seen
one of sixteen and half hands, but this
| is unusual. Their immense neck and
shoulders make them appear perhaps a
little light behind; but they have plenty
of staying power, and their length of
hook is an earnest of the speed they
undoubtedly possess. Parties from these
tribes are constantly roaming the deserts
OF Syria and Mesopotamia in search of
good brood mares; and | have heard of as
much as thousand guineas being paid
for one, and a good brood mare is never
| parted with or ridden.
! remember seeing bunch of Nephaarta
| horses brought il for the inspection of an
emissary of the khedive who wished to
purchase pair for his Highness. There
were some twenty or twenty-five of the
most beautiful colts possible, with the
exception of one rather weedy- looking
beast. As soon as Shek Mansour saw it
he shouted: Take it away, and give it
| II,
that as a Nephaarta horse.' The Khe-
dives agent eventually selected two, for
which l saw him pay five hundred pounds
Egyptian.
Entire Arab horses are always rather
difficult to ride at first. though after few
days, when horse and rider have become
reconciled they are docile enough, and
easily trained. Each man has virtually to
break his horse to his own hand, and
should another mount an apparently
quiet beast, he would have to do the work
all over again. 1t seems to be tacit I'M
Outstanding between horse and rider that
their joint career begins with struggle
for the mastery. To visitor like my
self, whose mounts must constantly be
changing, the prospect is sufficiently
alarming. Ones early days in an Arab
camp are frequently days of pain and
tribulation, as one slowly RECEIVERS from a
bout with half savage stallion.
Though they eventually become quiet
and obedient to their master hand, great
care must be observed, when riding in
company, not to allow ones horse to ap-
proach within kicking distance Of an
other, or disastrous results follow The
horses are always ready for fight, and
deceitfully appear to be on their best be-
ha m RI atplxy hafnra
/ was riding one day with small party of
SANTANA Arabs, when two men carelessly
approached too close. | called out to
them to sheer off a little, but before they
could respond a general melee was in
progress, and almost instantly my horse
hand its teeth in the neck of one of theirs
while the other was killed by a kick
which burst it's stomach. Fortunately
we all escaped with few bruises, though
the riders do not always get off so easily.
When riding at full gallop, however, the
attention Of the horses is concentrated up
on the race, and the men may ride as close
together as the like, but care must be
taken to wheel apart as the pace slackens
Nothing can exceed the intoxication OF
a race in the desert Choosing a stretch
of level sand, you give your horse the sig
nal to go, and he is off with a spring that
almost unseats you; and have seen an
instance where the sudden strain burst
the girths, and left man and saddle in the
dust while the horse was a hundred yards
away before the discounted rider realized
what had happened. The speed that these
horses attain is very great, and their
reach forward is prodigious, as l found on
one occasion when my horses hind hoof
cut the heel clean off my boot! After a
gallop, instead of breaking into a cantel
and then into trot before stopping, til ely
simply put their fore feet together and
stop dead, their impetus frequently caus-
ING them to slide several yards. | under
stand that it is on this account that Arab
horses are shod on the fore feet only