"The fetlock joints of their hind-legs are small, but the muscles on both sides stand out prominent."
The hoof, round and hard.
"The hoof should resemble the cup of a slave. They walk on hoofs hard as the moss-covered stones of a stagnant pool."
The frogs, hard and dry.
"The frogs concealed beneath the hoofs are seen when he lifts his feet, and resemble date-stones in hardness."
"When my courser rushes towards a goal he makes a noise like to that of wings in motion, and his neigh resembles the mournful note of the nightingale."
"His neck is long and graceful as a male ostrich's. His ear is split in two and his black eye full of fire."
"In the elegance of his form he resembles a picture painted in a palace. He is as majestic as the palace itself."
If by protruding his head and neck in order to drink from a stream that flows level with the ground, a horse can remain upright on all fours without bending either of his fore-legs, be assured that his form is perfect, that all parts of his body harmonise with one another, and that he is thoroughbred.
Among the horses of the tribes of the Sahara, those of the Hamyân, the Arbâa, the Oulad-Naïl, and their respective branches, are the most patient of hunger and thirst, the most capable of enduring fatigue, the fleetest gallopers, and the most able to keep up a good pace for several days together without stopping,—very different in that respect from the horses of the Tell.