It is also especially to be remarked, although the Arab does not trot and only gallops, that all his get are quick, square trotters. We can produce numberless examples of this, although Arab blood has been infinitely less disseminated than any other in our Northern districts.
We can cite the famous Eclipse of M. de Narbonne, the no less famous Herminie of M. Forcinal, all the descendants of Bacha, Aslan and Gallipoli, which were matchless, and the noble sons of Massoud, Eylau, and Noteur. But, as all these have a certain amount of English blood joined to the Arab, we shall be answered:—It was the English blood that trotted and gave them their winning points.—We will confine ourselves to citing only the sons of Bédouin, all admirable trotters, though all coming of poor Brittany mares, the Kerims, the Avisos, and the Moggys, whose fine action invariably attracts the attention of every one.
But the endurance possessed by the Arab in so eminent a degree is not the only quality to be considered. It is also the opinion of the best breeders that the race is good tempered, docile, patient, of great precocity, and easily raised, all of which qualities it invariably transmits to its get.
No steeple-chase horses have shown themselves more intelligent than Pledge, Raphael, Senora, and above all the immortal Franc-Picard, by whom the best riders found themselves excelled in the art of measuring an obstacle and mastering it skillfully; also, those were deep in the Arab blood. If Auricula, notwithstanding he was a son of Baron, with his variable and peevish temper has shown himself to be, when he chose, one of the best leapers of our age, it is because through his dam he is of Arab blood.
From all these considerations the Arabian seems greatly preferable to the English horse, which exacts, moreover, too much tact and skill on the part of man. The education of the wagon driver is not yet sufficiently advanced for him to be able to reap all the advantages claimed of the working races. The irritability of the English horse, his impatience, and his nervousness, which are, doubtless, of utility on the turf, are transmitted to all his descendants, which for this very reason are less fit for work, less governable, and more trying to the patience of the raw and ignorant driver during protracted service.
All who have raised colts out of common mares by Arabians are unanimous in opinion, and we have ourselves proved it, that their get is generally even tempered, of a mild, willing, and quiet disposition, easily and cheaply reared, and fit for work at three years old, thus paying for their keep.
It is quite the contrary with the colt of English blood. He, by reason of his fractiousness, his nervous ardor, his exacting nature, and his slow growth, requires a degree of care and management which does not permit him to render any essential service before the age of five years.
It results from this that the Arabian progeny, even at the first crossing, which is always the most difficult and critical, pays for its nourishment from the age of three years, whilst the English does not pay until he has reached five years, and this without counting the greater expense of his raising and the difficulty of finding men capable of breaking and training him without accident and bringing him safe to that quinquennial period.
Were their qualities the same, the Arabian would cost much less to the breeder than the English horse. To the former, then, should always be given the preference in moderately rich countries where agriculture has not arrived at great perfection. Thus it was by means of the Arabian that Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, the plains of Tarbes and Auvergne, all countries neither very fertile nor wealthy, have formed their unrivalled horses, the hardiness of which suited the productions of the soil. These being unsuited to the more delicate and less vigorous English horse, its introduction was an injury to the native stock. In our days, Limousin has been ruined by the introduction of English blood, as formerly, in the district of Tarbes, three important breeders, Messrs. de Gontaut, de Bouillac, and de Montréal, ruined their studs with the English cross.
The Arabian can be used without fear upon the undulating slopes of elevated hills, and upon thin stony lands where agriculture is but little advanced; but the English horse requires rich, well-cultivated meadows and grassy valleys.