Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-02
BUYING ARAB HORSES
French Government Improv-
ing the Breed at Home.
GETTING VERY SCARCE
WHY THE RACE DETERI0RATES
IN FOREIGN LANDS.
Threatens to Disappear at Home-Re
suits Of Purchasing
Mission.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


PARIS, March IS, 1904.
'The race of Arab horses tends infaiiibly
to disappear. We hunted likely specimens
from Constantinople to Damascus, from
Akkar to Aleppo; yet we brought back to
France only twelve stations and five mares
and to acquire these we examined, literally
thousands"
The speaker ought to have known what
he was talking about. He was a French
government Haras veterinary, Monsieur
Maurice Manoury, head surgeon OF the
stallion station of st. Lo. He had just re-
turned from a buying mission into Syria,
where he Travelled with his own caravan.
under brilliant Official protection.
1t is by this important government serv-
Ice of the Haras. you know, that the
French farmers and rich men in town and
country are encouraged to assure them
selves fine races of horses.
Every now and then the government
sends such missions out to foreign lands to
purchase sires and dams (Which remain
government Haras property for breeding
pure and half-blood SreS), and to Stu1y
methods and results of breeding and train
ing. Sometimes they go to Ireland, some
times to England, Austria or Hungary.
Oftener, of late. they have been going to
Syria, the last stronghold of the pure
Arab race.
You say the race tends to disappear?
asked.
''Thc pure race, yes" he answered. up
to a few years ago the expectation of ami
mails of pure race was forbidden. Now it
IS free on the payment of a tax per head
to the Turkish government Thus the Eng
lish were able to drain away quantities of
fa1r to average specimens for the use of
officers in the Transvaal war. So now
there continues considerable export move
ment of such fair to average animals to
Russia, Germany, Austria, England, Italy
q mr. cfiv 1rrla tod Inv
fever. The English, in particular, have
the practice of buying up one and two
year old colts for expectation to India
there to finish their education before pass
ing into the cavalry. All the cavalry regi-
ments of Egypt are mounted on Syrian
horses. Besides which, always remembe-,
the best young animals are snapped up by
high local officials, to be sent as presents
to their hackers in Constantinople"
But that don't explain why the race it
self is tending to disappear 1 objected
The Two Causes.
'Tt explains the first part of the race
degenerescence; that is to say, the drain
ing of young blood to foreign lands The
second is due to the immigration into Syria
of numerous Mahometan Circassian tribes.
who bring their troops of horses with
them, from which comes a lamentable mix
ing. 1t is no ones business to keep the
races distinct"
IAN the same. the pure Arab race seems
to have been kept distinct for more than
LOCO years." / said.
THE Arab horse has always been the
expression of the civilization that produces
him. replied the expert. 1.-THE travels of
Niebuhr, Burkardt, Pulgrane and Lebon.
and the reports of the Haras agents from
the earliest times all go to show It, Where
he IS the property of warlike tribes and no.
mads OF the desert. the Arab horse rem aims
magnificent. On the contrary when he be-
longs to sedentary populations and becomes
nothing more than an article of commerce
he degenerates through incorrect breeding.
vices of training and a neelectfuI mode 81
lffe."
Your mission was actually to buy for
breeding purposes in France?"
Yes. Note. the same reasoning applies
10 pure Arab horses raised in France. For
one thing the breeding of pure blood Arabs
in France does not pay enough to greatly
encourage private enterprise. Apart from the
Jumenterie de Pompadour which furnishes
a Few animals of good type each year to
the government breeding farms. the pro-
ductfon of the south of France cannot be
counted on. And 1t must be admitted that
however beautiful they may be- pure blood
Arabs of French production show a ten
dency to become less tempered less hardy.
less rustic than those bred at home on the
plains Of Syria
Three Famous Horses,
You speak only of Syrian horses.
bred race horses in England or America
who do not on one side or another trace
their genealogy back to one or all of three
historic stations imported into England be-
tween the end of the seventeenth and the
beginning of the eighteenth centuries These
were Byerly Turk. barley Arabian ana
Gondolphin Barb; and their descendants
key. Arabia and the Barbary States. com
pose the English Stud Book. which begins
in the year 1871. How is it you say nothing
of Turkish, Barbary and Persian horses of
pure Arab blood? Why always Syrian !?
They all form one race. do they not?''
They used to be considered all of one
race. yes: but the fountain-head was al
ways the Arabian soil. At present the de-
generescence of the race goes on every
where. thanks to the sedentary life of the
peoples and the vices of negligent crossing
In Alexandria. Cairo. Smyrna and Con-
stantfnople We saw numbers of very au-
thentic pure-bloods. but they were the prop
erty of wealthy men, snapped up by them
from pachas. travelling merchants or. par
ticularly, pilgrims returning from Mecca.
They were not for sale. And when We
found here and there a fine specimen for
sale there was often a question about the
animals certificate"
"How can such certificates be worth any
thing?"
Honest Horsemen.
"They bear the name of HadjIs Often,
owing 10 tnelf HOWery ana pomp0uS style,
their authenticity seems to the western
mind doubtful. yet they offer serious guar
antees. An Arab of the desert will not per-
jure himself on the origin of a horse be-
cause of family and tribal pride. for one
thing: because of old established opinion,
for another. and also because, according to
his ideas on luck and religion, the perjury
would recoil on himself
You bought nothing In COnstantinople.
them"
I'VE were there twenty days. As we
came with the prestige of French gov
eminent mission. a great number of ami
mails were offered US. and out OF them all
we found just three worthy to figure in the
Haras service. three stations, Collaro.
STEAMBOAT and Kadikeny. the first two
grays, from the suitans stables and pre-
scented by him to two high officials who
sold them to us. For his small height Col
laro Is little Hercules. close to the earth,
large, strong-muscied and very distinguish
ed. STEAMBOAT is larger. finer, with even
more distinction and an irreproachabIe up
per line Kadikeny was bought from Gen.
Talat-Pacha, afd-de-camp of the sultan,
who had received him as gift from his
relative. All Mosim Pacha military gov
ernor of Afeppo. great horse expert"
You found only three animals fit for
your purpose In all Constaninople? ex-
claimed