[1] The term for their Noble race.
The breed of these horses is dispersed throughout Barbary; the chiefs among the Moors, and even among the Negroes along the rivers Gambia and Senegal, have them of uncommon beauty. Instead of barley, or oats, they give them maize reduced to flour, which they mix with milk, when they are inclined to fatten them; and in this hot climate they seldom let them drink. The Arabian horses are also spread over Egypt, Turkey, and perhaps Persia, where there were formerly considerable studs. Mark Paul mentions one in which were 10,000 white mares; and he says, that in the province of Balascia there was a great number of large nimble horses, with their hoofs so hard that it was unnecessary to shoe them.
The horses of the Levant, as well as those of Persia and Arabia, have the frog of the foot very hard; they shoe them notwithstanding, but with shoes so light and thin that nails may be driven through any part of them. In Turkey, Persia and Arabia, the custom of taking care and feeding them is the same. Their litter is made of their own dung, which is first dried in the sun, to take off the ill smell, then reduced into powder, and a bed made with it in the stable or tent, four or five inches thick. This litter lasts a long time, for when soiled, it is dried in the sun a second time, and again loses its disagreeable odour.
In Turkey there are horses of Arabia, Tartary, and Hungary, beside the native horses of the country, which are very handsome and elegant, have a great deal of fire, swiftness and symmetry, but are soon fatigued. Their skins are so tender that they cannot bear the curry-comb, so that they are obliged to use a brush, and to wash them with water. These horses, although handsome, are much inferior to those of Arabia, and even those of Persia, which are, next to the Arabians, the most beautiful and the best horses of the east. The pasture of the plains of Media, Persepolis, Ardebil, and Derbent, is excellent, and by the order of government, a prodigious number of horses are raised there, most of which are very handsome, and almost all excellent. Pietro della Valle prefers the common horses of Persia to the most excellent of the kingdom of Naples. They are commonly of a middling size; some are very small, but equal in goodness and strength, while there are others bigger than the saddle-horses of England. They have small heads and thin necks; their ears are handsome and well placed; slim legs, handsome cruppers, and hard hoofs; they are docile, lively, light, bold, courageous, and capable of bearing great hardships. They run very swift, without ever stumbling. They are robust, and easily fed, being kept on barley mixed with straw chopped fine, and are only put to grass for about six weeks in the spring. Their tails are long, and the Persians never make geldings. They use coverings to defend their horses from the injuries of the air, and are particularly attentive in their care of them: they manage them with a bridle only, and without employing spurs. Numbers of them are transported into Turkey, but more to the Indies. Those travellers who are so lavish in their praises of the Persian horses agree in allowing that the Arabians are superior for their agility, courage, strength, and beauty; and that they are more valued, even in Persia, than the horses of that country.
The horses bred in the country are not good. Those used by the grandees of the country are imported from Persia and Arabia. They give them a little hay in the day, and in the evening pease boiled with butter and sugar, instead of oats or barley; this nourishment strengthens and gives them spirits; without it they would soon decay, the climate being contrary to their nature. The native horses of India are very small; some of them are so little that, Tavernier says, the young Prince of the Moguls, who was about eight years of age, rode on a handsome little horse, whose height did not exceed that of a large greyhound. It should seem that extreme hot climates are contrary to the nature of horses. Those of the Gold Coast, Juida, Guinea, &c. are also very bad. They carry their heads and necks very low; their walk is so tottering, that one would imagine they were always ready to fall; they would never stir if they were not to be continually beat, and the greatest part of them are so low that the feet of the riders almost touch the ground; they are most untractable creatures, and only fit to be eaten by the Negroes, who are as fond of their flesh as they are of that of dogs. This taste for horse-flesh is common to the Negroes, Arabians, Tartars, and Chinese. The Chinese horses are no better than those of India, they are weak, spiritless, ill-made, and very small; those of Corea are not more than three feet in height. In China almost all the horses are made geldings; and they are so timid that they cannot be made use of in war; so that it may with propriety be said that the Tartarian horses conquered China. Those horses are very fit for war, though commonly but of a moderate size, they are strong, vigorous, spirited, agile, and very swift. Their hoofs are hard, but the bottom is too narrow; their heads are small, their necks long and confined, and their legs are too long; with all these defects they may be considered as good horses, for they are not easily tired, and gallop extremely fast. The Tartars live with their horses in the same manner as the Arabians. When about seven or eight months old they are mounted by children, who make them walk or gallop a little way by turns. They thus break them by degrees, and oblige them to undergo long fastings; but they never mount them for travelling or hunting till they are six or seven years old, and then they make them support incredible fatigue, such as travelling two or three days together without stopping; passing four or five days without any other food than a handful of grass every eight hours, and also to go twenty-four without drinking, &c. These horses which are so robust in their own country become enfeebled and useless, when transported to China or the Indies; but they succeed better in Persia and Turkey. The little Tartars have a breed of small horses which they value so much, that they are not allowed to be sold to foreigners. These horses have all the good and bad qualities of those of Great Tartary, which shews how much the same manners and education give the same disposition to these animals. There are also in Circassia, and in Mingrelia, many horses which are even handsomer than those of Tartary. There are also some fine horses in the Ukraine, Wallachia, Poland, and Sweden; but we have no particular account of their qualities or defects.
If we consult the ancients on the nature and qualities of the horses of different countries, we shall find, that the horses of Greece, especially those of Thessaly and Epirus, were held in great esteem, and were very useful in war; that those of Achaia were the largest then known; that the handsomest came from Egypt, where there was a great number, and where Solomon sent to buy them at a great price; that in Ethiopia the horses did not thrive, on account of the great heat of the climate; that Arabia and Africa produced the finest horses, but above all the lightest and best calculated for the chace; that those of Italy were extremely good; that in Sicily, Cappadocia, Syria, Armenia, Medea, and Persia, there were excellent horses, remarkable for their swiftness and agility; that those of Sardinia and Corsica were small, but lively and courageous; that those of Spain resembled those of Parthia, and were excellent for war; that there were in Transylvania and in Walachia swift horses with small heads, large manes hanging down to the ground, and bushy tails; that the Danish horses were well made and good leapers; that those of Scandinavia were small, but well made and very agile; that the Flanders horses were strong; that the Gauls furnished the Romans with good horses for the saddle, and to carry burthens: that the German horses were ill-made, and so vicious, that no use was made of them; that the Swiss had great numbers fit for war; that the horses of Hungary were also very good; and lastly, that the Indian horses were small and weak.
From the above facts it results, that the Arabian horses have ever been, and are still, the first horses in the world, both for beauty and goodness; that it is from them, immediately, or by the means of Barbs, that the finest horses in Europe, Africa, and Asia are bred, that Arabia is perhaps not only the original climate for horses, but the best suited to their natures, because, instead of mixing the breed by foreign horses, the Arabs take care to preserve their own purity; that if the climate is not of itself the best for horses, the natives have produced the same effects, by the care they have taken, from time immemorial, to ennoble their breed by putting together only the most beautiful individuals, and of the first quality; and that by this attention, pursued forages, they have improved the species beyond what nature alone would have done in the most favourable climate. We may also conclude that warm climates rather than cold, but above all, dry countries agree best with the nature of horses; that in general, small are better than large horses; that care is as necessary for them as food; that familiarity and caresses will do more with them than force and chastisement; that the horses of warm countries have their bones, hoofs, and muscles, more firm than those of our climates; that although heat agrees better than cold with these animals, yet excessive heat does not agree with them; and lastly, that their habit and disposition depend almost entirely on the climate, food, care, and education.
In Persia, Arabia, and many other parts of the east, it is not customary to geld horses, although so general a practice in Europe and China. This operation deprives them of much of their strength, courage, and fire, but renders them gentle, quiet, and docile. The only seasons for performing this operation are spring or autumn, great heat and cold being equally hurtful. With respect to age, they have different customs in different countries; in some parts of France they geld horses at twelve or fifteen months old; but the general and best custom is, not to geld them till two or three years, because, in not doing it till that age, they preserve more of their masculine qualities. Pliny says, that they never lose the milk-teeth if they are made geldings before they have shed them. But this is not a fact; and it is probable that the ancients grounded this supposition merely on the analogy it bears to the falling of the horns of the stag, goat, &c. which, in reality, never fall off after castration. The gelding it is true, can never engender, but we have sometimes examples of their being able to copulate.
Horses of all colours shed their coats, like most animals covered with hair, once a year, usually in the spring, though sometimes in autumn; as they are then weaker than at other times, they should have more care, and be more plentifully fed. There are also horses which shed their hoofs; this usually happens in humid marshy countries, such as Holland.
Geldings and mares neigh less frequently than horses. Their voices are not so strong, but much more shrill. In all horses we may distinguish five kinds of neighing, relative to different passions; in the neigh of joy the voice begins and ends with sharp tones; the horse kicks up at the same time, but without attempting to strike. In the neigh of desire, whether of love or attachment, the horse does not kick, and the voice is dragged to a great length, and ends with a deep sound. The neigh of anger, during which the horse kicks violently with his foot, is short and sharp; that of fear, during which he kicks also, is scarcely longer than that of anger, the voice is hoarse and grave, and seems as if it came from the nostrils only. This neigh is something like the roaring of a lion. That of pain is more like groaning, or breathing with oppression, than of neighing; it is in a grave tone of voice, and follows the alternatives of respiration. It has also been remarked, that horses which neigh frequently from joy or desire, are the best and most generous. Horses, in general, have the voice stronger than mares and geldings; from the birth the male has the voice stronger than the female. At two years, or two years and a half, which is the age of puberty, the voice of males and females, as in mankind, and other animals, becomes much more strong and deep.