ENGLISH DRAY HORSE FROM THE STUD OF MESSRS. BARCLAY, PERKINS & CO.

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ARAB HORSE.

The Barb is found throughout the North of Africa, from the Mediterranean to the Sahara desert, and has obviously been introduced by the Moors. It is to the Barb that the principal excellence of the Spanish Horse is due; and to this Horse, as well as to the Arab, may be assigned a large share in producing the English Hunter and Racer. All English thoroughbreds are descended from one or other of these.

The Persian Horse is closely allied to the Arab, and possesses great powers of endurance. The distance marked for a race, which Sir R. K. Porter saw, was no less than four-and-twenty miles. In some points, according to Youatt, the Persian Horse excels the Arabian.

WILD HORSES IN AMERICA.—At the time of the discovery of America there were no Horses in any part of that continent, although the boundless prairies were admirably fitted for the support of countless herds. Soon, however, those imported by the settlers strayed away, and as a consequence horses are now met with in vast numbers, in some cases amounting, it is said, to ten thousand in one troop. They appear to be under the command of a leader, the strongest and boldest of the herd, whom they implicitly obey. When threatened with danger, at some signal, understood by them all, they either close into a dense mass and trample their enemy to death, or, placing the mares and foals in the centre, they form themselves into a circle and welcome him with their heels. The leader first faces the danger, and when prudence requires a retreat all follow his rapid flight. In the thinly inhabited parts of South America, according to Youatt, it is dangerous to fall in with any of these troops. The Wild Horses approach as near as they dare; they call to the loaded Horse with the greatest eagerness, and if the rider is not on the alert, and has not considerable strength of arm and sharpness of spur, his animal will divest himself of his burden, take to his heels, and be gone for ever. Byron well describes the Wild Horse in his “Mazeppa”:—

“A trampling troop; I see them come!

In one vast squadron they advance!

I strove to cry—my lips were dumb.