Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

163

PART 3.

CHAPTER I.

The Arabian considered as a racer-Characteristics of Arab racing- His speed considered-Account of various races contested by Arabs in India-Racing sometimes slower in England-The normal speed of Arabs increased by a better system of training-No effort made to secure the importation of the best Arab horse-The European idea of size detrimental to the importation of good Arabs-Ibraheen-bin-Alee and Honeysuckle-The Arabs King David and Antelope.

HAVING discussed both the English horse of the Stud Book and the Arabian-the former having been clearly shown to be nothing more than a registered half-bred, while the latter is the real aristocrat and the true noble, always bearing in mind the necessity of pure breeding for the attainment of great excellence-we will proceed to consider how advantageous it would be to employ the Arabian: first, to establish a pure breed in this country; secondly, how admirably he is adapted to raise the character of half-bred stock for the purpose of field sports and for the army, even supposing that horses of such pure blood might not become available for both such purposes.

First, as a racer. It is said, and will be said again, the Arab is a small animal, and without speed, there

fore incapable of either being a racer or of begetting racing stock. This is a frequent assertion. Let us see if it holds good. Our horse which we call thorough-bred, 'our terribly high-bred racer,' is the Arab's half-bred descendant; the Arab has, in fact, made a breed of racers by the infusion of his blood into a very inferior breed. This part of the subject might be dismissed after the following words. Our racer, such as he is, is a living witness of the Arabian's capability to found and create a breed of racers. He has made a breed of racers in spite of the many inferior strains of blood that he has had to combat with; it is only reasonable to believe that had his blood been used alone, with the same advantages in cultivation and selection that have been bestowed upon his half-bred descendant, his purebred descendants would have exhibited greater excellence.

As a racer himself the Arabian possesses every natural gift and qualification-courage, docility, temper, endurance, good and untiring action, great determination, nervous energy, and speed; for a horse that can run two miles under Derby Course weights in 3 min. 48 secs. cannot truly be called a slow horse or devoid of speed. The speed exhibited by Arabians on the race-course may be termed their normal speed, in contradistinction to the artificial speed of the English racer, because he has not been bred generation after generation as a racer or for the sole sake of speed; but such Arab horses as have come to hand have shown this rate of speed and also ability to maintain a high rate of speed.

The Arab will run an honest and true horse from end to end; he stands training for years; his temper is so good, a large field can be sent from the post without difficulty the first time. Close finishes, severe struggles, dead heats, and not unfrequently dead heats after dead heats, are the characteristics of Arab racing. Open the pages of the 'Oriental Sporting Magazine,' and almost every start of Arabs is described as being got off in capital order the first time of asking—in the usual way, in fact. Then he is so kind and so generous! In his compact form is also contained every requisite for combined speed and strength—the broad, deep, and swelling chest (the most desirable for rapid progression), length in the right place, length of shoulders, length of quarters, length in his arms, immense power to work the parts of motion, and great nervous energy to excite the power; and, owing to his true symmetry, he has nothing superfluous to carry. All these points are more conspicuous and more developed in the Arabian than in any other horse. He has more length in proportion to size, and more power, is a bigger, larger, and far more powerful animal than our thorough-bred, in proportion to size. He does not open his mouth and drop his bit when you ask him to do his best. (It is worthy of consideration whether this trait has not been on the increase the last decade or two.) His heart is all right, and in the right place, which, with his sound constitution and his perfect formation, enables him not only to struggle to the end of his race, but to come out day after day.

The best criterion we have of the speed of the Arabian

is from his performances on the Indian turf. There he has met English racers and his descendants from Australia (thorough-bred as our horse); and although his speed has been inferior as a rule, instances are not wanting in which he has been the victor over English horses of racing blood; and even when beaten, has proved his superiority as a horse; for after having struggled with unflinching gameness to the end against greater speed, the vanquished has been none the worse, and has come out the next day, and day after day, and won; whereas the victor or victress has been unable to put in an appearance. But it is argued only second or third-class racers have found their way to India! Will any man be bold enough to say that the best Arabians have ever appeared on an Indian racecourse either? Even there he is under as many disadvantages as the English horse; and his performances, good as they are, can hardly be considered as fair tests of what the speed and running of some Arabians may be; certainly does not limit what it might be brought to, if they were carefully bred for racers for a generation or two. First of all, in India one is dependent for Arabs upon merchants, who import them often without a guarantee as to their antecedents or ancestry; and although some Arabians do go to India, there are many that are called Arabs which are not Arabs. Besides, many of the best that do get there are never seen on a race-course, or do not appear until well in years and accustomed to other work (and it is well known in England bringing an aged horse out, even if he had previously been a racer, proves

a failure), their owners, keeping them for their own use as hog-hunters, riding-horses, or chargers. Then only horses are imported; and as it has been found that English mares run much better than horses in India, it is just possible that Arabian mares might also run better than horses in that country. This is no doubt owing to climate, especially in Bengal, and perhaps Madras, for the often humid climate of Bengal is as great a change for the Arab as to the English horse, or greater; for in Arabia, although under a burning sun, he has been accustomed to a dry, bracing, exhilarating, and peculiarly pure air, unknown in our island. But from among such Arabs as go to India, when running among themselves, can anyone say that they do not possess the highest merits as race-horses? Possessed of speed only inferior, as a rule, to the carefully-bred racers of England, but combined with stoutness, which enables them to run continuously races of any distance in as good time as is often seen in England.

The race-courses in India are measured to a yard, and I believe at the distance of one foot only from the inner circle, thus giving the shortest possible amount of ground a horse can go over. The following instances of time and distance (taken from the 'Oriental Sporting Magazine'), will prove the claim of the Arabian to be considered a race-horse:-At Calcutta, January 1847, the gray Arab horse, The Baron, aged, ran mile, at 8 st. 7 lb., in 54 secs., which is considered the average rate for a mile, the mile being continually accomplished in 26 secs.

But it is recorded that at Soone

« AnteriorContinuar »