The horses of Holland are very good for coach-horses: the best come from the province of Friesland: there are also some very good ones in the provinces of Bergues and Juliers. The Flemish horses are greatly inferior to the Dutch: they have almost all large heads, flat feet, and are subject to humours; and these two last defects are essential ones in coach-horses.
In France there are horses of all kinds, but very few handsome ones. The best saddle-horses come from the Limosin, which resemble much those of Barbary, and like them are excellent for hunting; but they are slow in their growth, require great care while young, and must not be used till they are eight years old. There are also some excellent foals in Auvergne, Poitou, and in Moroant in Burgundy; but next to the Limosin, Normandy furnishes the finest horses; they are not so good for hunting, but are better for war: they have thicker coats, and sooner attain their full growth. There are many good coach-horses brought from Lower Normandy, which are lighter than those of Holland. Franche-Compte, and the country round Boulogne, furnish very good draught-horses. In general, the French horses have their shoulders too thick, which in the Barbary horses are generally too narrow.
Having described those horses which are best known to us, we shall now mention what travellers report of foreign horses with which we are unacquainted. There are good horses in islands of the Archipelago: those of the island of Crete were in great reputation among the ancients for their agility and swiftness; they are at present but little used even in that country, from its being almost every where unequal, and very mountainous. The best horses in these islands, and even in Barbary, are of the Arabian breed. The native horses of the kingdom of Morocco are much smaller than those of Arabia, but very light and vigorous. Shaw says, that the breed of Egypt and Tingitania are preferable to all those of the neighbouring countries; and yet a century ago there were good horses all over Barbary. The excellence of these Barbary horses consists in their never stumbling, and in their standing still whilst the rider dismounts or lets fall his bridle. They walk fast and gallop with rapidity, but they are never suffered to trot or amble; the inhabitants of the country looking upon those paces as rude and ignoble. He adds, that the horses of Egypt are superior to all others for their height and beauty; but these Egyptian horses, as well as most of those of Barbary, sprung from Arabian horses, which are, without contradiction, the most beautiful horses in the world.
According to Marmol, or rather Leon, the African, (for Marmol has copied him almost word for word) the Arabian horses are descended from the wild horses of the desarts of Arabia, of which, in ancient times, large studs were formed, which have multiplied so much that all Asia and Africa are full of them; they are so swift as to outstrip the very ostrich. The Arabians of the desart, and the people of Lybia, breed a great number of these horses for hunting, but neither use them in travelling nor in their wars. They send them to pasture whilst there is any grass, and when that fails they feed them with dates and camels’ milk, which makes them nervous, light, and lean. They lay snares for the wild horses, and eat the flesh of the young ones, which they affirm is very delicate. These wild horses are small, and are commonly ash-coloured, though there are also some white ones, and the mane and the hair of the tail is short and frizzled. Other travellers have given curious accounts of the Arabian horses, of which we will only mention the principal circumstances.
Let an Arabian be ever so poor he has horses; they usually ride upon the mares, experience having taught them that they bear fatigue, hunger, and thirst, better than horses; they are also less vicious, more gentle, and will remain left to themselves, in great numbers, for days together, without doing the least harm to each other. The Turks, on the contrary, do not like mares, and the Arabians sell them the horses which they do not keep for stallions. The Arabs have long preserved with great care the breed of their horses; they know their generations, alliances, and all their genealogies[B]. They distinguish their breeds into three classes; the first, which are of pure and ancient race on both sides, they call nobles; the second are of ancient race, but have been misallied; and the third kind are their common horses. The latter are sold at a low price; but those of the first class, and even of the second, among which some are as good as those of the first, are extremely dear. They never suffer the mares of the noble class to be covered except by stallions of the same quality. They are acquainted, from long experience, with the whole race of their own horses, and even with those of their neighbours, and know their names, surnames, colours, marks, &c. When they have no noble stallions of their own they borrow one of a neighbour to cover their mares, which is done in the presence of witnesses who give an attestation signed and sealed before the secretary of the Emir, or some other public person, in which the names of the mare and horse are written down, and their whole generation set forth. When the mare has foaled witnesses are again called, and another attestation is drawn up, which contains a description of the foal, with the day of its birth. These certificates enhance the value of their horses and are given to those who buy them. The price of a mare of the first class is from one to three hundred pounds sterling. As the Arabs have only tents for their houses, those tents serve them also for stables: the mare and her foal, husband, wife, and children, lie promiscuously together; the children will lie on the body and neck of the mare and foal without being incommoded or receiving the least injury; nay, the animals seem afraid to move for fear of hurting them. These mares are so accustomed to live in this familiarity that they will suffer any kind of play. The Arabs never beat their mares, but treat them kindly, talk and reason with them; they take great care of them, always letting them walk, and never use the spur without the greatest necessity; as soon, therefore, as they feel their rider’s heel they set out with incredible swiftness, and leap hedges and ditches with as much agility as so many does. If their riders happen to fall, they are so well trained that they will stop short even in the most rapid gallop. All Arabian horses are of a middling size, very easy in their paces, and rather thin than fat. They are dressed morning and evening regularly with so much care that not the smallest spot is left on their skins; their legs, mane and tail are washed; the latter is let to grow long, and seldom combed, to avoid breaking the hairs. They have nothing given them to eat all day, and seldom are allowed to drink above two or three times. At sun-set a bag is fastened round their heads, containing about half a bushel of very clean barley, which is not taken from them till the next morning when all is eat up. In the month of March, when the grass is tolerably high, they are turned out to pasture. At this time the mares are covered, and immediately after cold water is thrown upon them. As soon as the spring is past they are taken again from pasture, and have neither grass nor hay, and seldom straw, all the rest of the year, barley being their only food. They cut the manes of their foals at a year or eighteen months old, in order to make it grow thick and long. They mount them at two years old, or two years and a half at furthest, and till this age they put neither saddle nor bridle on them. Every day, from morning till night, all the Arabian horses stand saddled at the doors of the tents.
[B] Of this we have a striking instance in Pennant’s Zoology, which contains the following attested paper:
(Taken before Abdorraman, Cadi of Acca.)
"The occasion of this present writing or instrument is hat at Acca, in the house of Bedi, legal established judge, appeared in Court Thomas Usgate, the English Consul, and with him Sheikhs Morad Eben al Hajj Abdollah, Sheikh of the country of Safad: and the said Consul desired, from the aforesaid Sheikhs, proof of the race of the grey horse which he bought of him, and he affirmed to be Monaki Shaduhi[1]; but he was not satisfied with this, but desired the testimony of the Arabs, who bred the horse, and knew how he came to Sheikhs Morad; whereupon there appeared certain Arabs of repute, whose names are undermentioned, who testified and declared that the grey horse which the Consul formerly bought of Sheikh Morad is Monaki Shaduhi of the pure race of horses, purer than milk, and that the beginning of the affair was, that the Sheikh Saleh, Sheikh of Alsabal bought him of the Arabs, of the tribe of al Mahommedat, and Sheikh Saleh sold him to Sheikh Morad Ebn al Hajj Abdollah, Sheikh of Safad, and Sheikh Morad sold him to the Consul aforesaid; when these matters appeared to us, and the contents were known, the said gentleman desired a certificate thereof, and testimony of the witnesses, whereupon we wrote him this certificate for him to keep as a proof thereof. Dated Friday 28 of the latter Rabi, in the year 1135."
WITNESSES.
Sheikh Jumat al Faliban of the Arabs of al Mahommadat.
Ali Ebn Taleb al Kaabi.
Ibrahim, his brother.
Mohammed al Adhra Sheikh Alfarifat.
Kaamis al Kaabi.