Why select the Arabian Horse?

R D Upton's

Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia

Olms Press

PART 3

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE KEHEILAN, OR ARABIAN HORSE.

THE following statements are based upon personal observation of the horses of the Anazah, which people by general consent are considered to have the best in Arabia. They will serve generally for the Arabian horse as a race, but in a marked and decided degree: for the horses of the Anazah.
In the Keheilan or genuine Arabian horse (speaking in general terms from seeing a number of horses and mares at one time), setting on one side what may be called their great personal beauty, you are at once struck by the general appearance of character, of blood or high breeding-- 'which features are very conspicuous-and their great general length. “What reach, what stride these horses must have! They are natural born racers," we both exclaimed at once. One is equally struck by the perfectly natural appearance of the Keheilan : he presents in his form of undisturbed structure the evidence of his origin from an uncontaminated stock, in the same manner as do lions, tigers, and other animals which have been left undisturbed in a free and natural state and have not come under the destructive influence of man.

It is a treat to see such a horse, although I know from experience many do not and cannot appreciate him at first. This is owing to the fact that his natural structure is different from that of the animals they have been accustomed to admire, which are made up of points some of which may be often very conspicuous and exaggerated, even while others are deficient, and which exaggeration and deficiencies they look for in vain in the Arabian. Throughout the whole frame of the Keheilan, it is the extreme natural appearance of the horse, the absence of anyone predominant or conventional point artificially produced, the beautiful balance of power and symmetry displayed in his form, the just organization of sensorial and structural functions, which cause him to be so beautiful, so perfect an animal.

The head is very beautiful-not only pleasing to the eye in its graceful outline, but beautiful from its grand development of the sensorial organ, and the delicacy of such parts as are more subservient. It is not particularly small or short in its whole length, in proportion to the size or height of the horse, but it is large above the eyes, small and short from the eyes to the muzzle. The centre of the eye more nearly divides the length of the head into equal parts than is observable in other horses; from the top of the head to the centre of the eye will often measure as much as from the centre of the eye to just above the upper edge of the nostril. The head of the horse of the Anazah especially tapers very much from the eyes to the muzzle, and the lower jaw does so equally or even in a greater degree to the under lip, and if these lines were prolonged, they would meet or cut each other at a short distance only beyond the tips of the nose. The nostril, which is peculiarly long, not round, runs upwards towards the face, and is also set up out- wards from the nose like the mouth of a pouch or sack which has been tied. This is a very beautiful feature, and can hardly be appreciated except by sight; when it expands, it opens both upwards and outwards, and in profile is seen to extend beyond the outline of the nose, and when the animal is excited the head of this description appears to be made up of forehead, eyes, and nostrils. Such a head is often supposed to denote a violent temper. It is the type, however, of the head of the Arabian horse, and is, we thought, more marked and to be seen more frequently among the Anazah tribes than elsewhere. Every Arabian horse may be said to have a high temper to some extent, but it is balanced or controlled by the power of the large and well-developed cerebrum. The head I have described of horses we have seen denotes the highest order of qualities-intelligence, energy, and unconquerable courage. It is almost human in its expression of nobility, dignity, and sagacity. Other horses have much fire, but it is but too often the habitual and only expression, not one called forth by occasion and controlled at other times by higher organs ; indeed, a spirit of the highest order is characteristic of the Arabian. With regard to the great development of the upper part of the head and the fineness of the muzzle, I have seen instances of the former measuring nearly two and a half to one; witness a measurement of thirty-seven inches over the forehead and under jaws, taken in a line horizontal with the bone, against one of fifteen inches, or perhaps a line over, round the muzzle above the nostrils, and of perhaps just over thirty-seven inches round the forehead, and sixteen inches, or just under, round the muzzle: and there may be examples of even a greater difference. The frontal and parietal bones, or walls of the skull above, are large, bold, well developed, and often prominent. The brain cavity is capacious, giving an appearance and power almost human. The nasal bones, on the other hand, are fine and subservient to the frontal, and of a delicate and graceful outline. The orbits of the eye are large and prominent; the eye is full, large, and lustrous. It is very beautiful; the beauty is not so much dependent upon the size of the eye visible through the eyelids, as it is derived from its depth and expression. The part of the eyeball seen between the eyelids may not be so large as is often to be seen in other horses, but it is very full; standing on one side of the animal, and a little behind, the fulness of the ball and its prominence are very observable, and when the animal is excited the eye displays much fire, but it is seldom that any of the white is seen. The lids are particularly fine, the eyelashes long and silky. The face is lean and full of fine drawing. The muzzle is particularly fine; the lips long and thin (not fleshy); the upper lip well cut or chiselled; the lower lip small, well formed, compressed, and terse. The nostril in a state of repose is very tong, beautifully curled, delicate, and thin: when the horse is in action or excited, the nostril opens very wide, and gives a bold, square, sharp, and vigorous expression; the lower jaws are fine, clean, and set wide apart; the cheek-bones are sharply cut; the ears are beautifully shaped, pointed, and well placed, and point inwards in a marked and peculiar manner, which is considered a point of great beauty, and a great sign of high or pure breeding. The neck is of moderate length, and of a graceful curve or gentle arch from the poll to the withers; it is neither a light, weak neck, nor a heavy neck, but it is a strong, light, and muscular neck, with the splenius muscle well developed. The junction of the head and neck is very graceful; the head is well set on. The withers are high and run well back, are well developed and not too narrow or thin. The back is short; the loins are powerful, the croup high, the haunch very fine, the tail well set on, and the dock short. The quarters are both long and deep; the gaskins sufficiently full and muscular without being heavy, ponderous, or vulgar; the thighs are well let down; the hocks are clean, large, well formed, well placed, and near the ground. The shoulders are long and powerful, well developed, but light at the points; the scapulre are long and of a good slope, and broad at the base. The arms are long, lean, and muscular; deep at the elbow, which is well developed. The knees are large and square and deep; the trapezium, or bone at the back of the knee, is very prominent. The legs are short, deep, and of fair-sized bone; the tendons and ligaments large and well strung. The fetlock-joint is large and bold; the pasterns are long, large, sloping, very elastic, and strong ; the feet wide and open at the heels, and not very high in the desert. The chest is both deep and capacious, and in the perfection of its form differs considerably from that of any other kind of horse I have seen, not excepting the English racer or thoroughbred horse ; it is neither too flat and narrow, nor too round; it is a very happy and perfect medium, and of a beautiful form in section, securing large capacity with great elasticity. His body, or trunk, behind the chest is small, but formed like a barrel. He is essentially short above, but long below. The line from the withers to the setting on of the tail is short compared with the space of ground he stands upon from fore to hind feet. The skin is fine; the hair is short, soft, and silky: the skin is seen through the hairs to a greater degree than in other horses. The mane and tail are long, and hair often very fine. The whole of the hinder parts, from the haunch to the heels, taken collectively or in detail, show great length. There is also a width of haunch noticeable indeed not only in the horses of the Anazah, but in most desert-bred Arabians in so marked a degree as to be almost a distinguishing feature; and many horses commonly called or known as Arabs are deficient in this respect. The general appearance of the Keheilan indicates the highest breeding and great nobility. He is a horse of high courage, easily excited, and of a nervous temperament, but his high spirit and courage are tempered by his sagacity. The Arabs are very particular with regard to three points in connection with the head of their horse: the Jibbah, or forehead; the Mitbeh, or form of the throat at its junction with the head; and the shape, size, direction, and attitude of the ears. The Jibbah, or forehead, can scarcely be too large or too prominent to please an Arab. The formation of the frontal and parietal bones, which determine whether a horse has a Jibbah, if not altogether peculiar to, is most marked in the Arabian, and when seen in other kinds of horses, as in the thoroughbred horse, it is I think, evidence of Arab blood, and traceable to some remote Arab ancestor. The shape of the Jibbah in which the Arab delights, gives a large brain cavity, adds greatly to the beauty of the head, and gives an expression of great nobility; and thus in this point, as in others of the Keheilan, usefulness and beauty go hand in hand-in him the expressions are synonymous. The Jibbah, or forehead, is somewhat different in the horse and the mare. In the mare it is usually rounder and more decidedly prominent, often strikingly so, and descends in a graceful and easy line to the nasal bones. When a horse has such a forehead he is said by the Arabs to have a Jibbah. The Mitbeh is a term used to express the manner in which the head is set on to the neck, and especially refers to the form of the windpipe, and to the manner in which the throat enters or runs in between the jaws, where it should have a slight and graceful curve. This permits of a graceful and easy carriage of the head, and enables it to be either brought in or extended, at will or necessity, with almost or perhaps quite the same prolongation as the neck. This, of course, gives great freedom to the air passages: and the Keheilan is essentially a deep-breathed and a good and long-winded horse.

The ears to be perfect should be so placed that they point inwards, so that the tips may almost touch; the outline of the inner side of the ear should be much curved, and, as it were, notched about halfway down. In the horse the ears are generally smaller and more pricked; in the mare they are usually rather longer and more open.

These three features, Jibbah, Mitbeh, and ears of the above description, go a long way to form a perfect head.

The hock of the Keheilan is large-may be called very large; for when you find a horse of fourteen hands three inches with a hock often as large, which would measure as much as the hock in many hunters of sixteen hands, it cannot be anything but very large. The point of the hock (os calcis) is well defined, and often so prominent as at first sight to look almost unnatural, as if it had been enlarged by accident. And from the hock the tendon or back sinew runs down to where it passes the sessamoids in a clean, well-defined manner, which not only gives a very clean look, but, I submit, acts in the horse with an advantage similar to that gained in the human subject by a well- formed heel and arched instep.

We were much struck by the general development of the fetlock-joint, pasterns, and feet, all of which are pre-eminently good. It is not sufficient to say the pasterns are long and elastic; all the above-named points are larger and stronger and of greater development, and as if more adapted for use than those in other horses; and the upper and lower pastern bones, in their direction and conjunction with the foot (os pedis), appear to act with greater advantage. There is great depth of leg at the sessamoid bone, and the head of the shank-bone is also large; there is a marked combination of strength and elasticity in these complicated joints, which appears to be very peculiar to the Arabian horse.

Another thing we noticed (which I think of some consequence) is that there was not that decided disparity in size between the hind and fore legs below the hocks and knees, which is so often observable in many of our horses, especially, I may say, in some of our racers. Although the hind leg may be slightly deeper than the fore leg, it is so in a less degree. On reflection, it struck us as an admirable adaptation of parts to the distinctive kinds of work they respectively have to perform; strength and bone in the fore legs are essential to receive the additional weight thrown on to them by the impetus given by the hind extremities when the horse is in rapid motion; and we thought the great reach of the Arabian, propelled by the great power of his loins and quarters, is amply provided for and counterbalanced by the formation of the various parts of the fore legs and fore hands as I have endeavoured to describe them.

We remarked among the horses and mares we saw of the Anazah, that we had not seen a single one with an ewe or a weak neck even, not excepting such as were in low condition and quite lean; they had beautiful necks and strong. Nor did we see among the horses of the Anazah, nor, I think, in other Badaween tribes, any horses which were cut-hammed; yet among horses passing under the name of Arab are often seen cut-hammed animals. I believe that if the history of such could be ascertained, it would be found that they were not Arabians, nor bred in Arabia, but that their dams were cut-hammed ponies or galloways of a mixed or alien breed, the sires probably having been Arabian. Nor do I remember to have seen any horses or mares among the Badaween of a black colour, but in Syria and in the Turkish districts we occasionally did see blacks, and generally these were said to be Jelfon. I was struck too with another feature- I am not, however, prepared to say it is absolutely a distinctive one to be seen in every Arabian, but it was noticed in so many instances that it looks something like it - a line somewhat darker than the general colour of the animal, to be seen in colt foals, running in continuation of the mane along the spine, and to be traced for some way even among the long hair of the tail. I never saw it in a filly; it seemed peculiar to the male sex; it is not obliterated with age; it can be traced in old horses and in those of a very dark colour.

It is totally different to the markings of the zebra, quagga, or of any of the hybrids, or to the dark band to be seen down the back of certain dun-coloured horses, often accompanied by asinine stripes or markings; it appears rather as the first or primitive colour of the animal, which tones away by almost imperceptible degrees from the back to the belly: it may be seen in lines on the males of other wild animals. At certain seasons and as the horse ages, and dependent also in some degree on his condition, the dark colour spreads over the shoulders and upper part of the body, giving on the shoulders and the junction of the neck at the withers, and on the upper part of the body and quarters, an appearance as if shaded with black which is most noticeable in horses of bay colour.

The horses of the Anazah stand over a great deal of ground, as also does the desert-bred Arabian generally. We never saw one among the Anazah which stood with the fore legs inclined backwards and much under the body-which stood over, in other words-a thing, however, which is very often considered to be quite characteristic of the Arab horse. They all have a free, long, striding walk, the hind foot, I may say, invariably overstepping the place whence the fore foot on the same side has just been raised many inches, from twelve to eighteen inches being a quite common distance, and in some cases to an extent of two or even three feet, and at times, I think, more. The longest stepping horse we saw was a two-year-old colt- Seklawi-Jedran ibn Nederi. Watching him walking hour after hour in the desert, we estimated the distance he overstepped to be considerably beyond three feet.

As to colour, I do not pretend to restrict it; but among the Anazah bay appeared to us to be the most general, and, I think, is the favourite colour among the Arabs. Horses of a very rich dark bay, rather than a brown colour, are not uncommon; chestnuts and greys are less numerous, and together would not equal the number of those of a bay colour. But these colours were all distinct, marked, and good. The Arabs like a decided or a clear colour. In other tribes of Badaween the colour among the grey horses was much less decided. Grey horses were more numerous; bay are thought not so general a colour. In Turkish Arabia, which the Arabs call Erack, grey horses appear to be so numerous that grey might be said to be the usual colour.

Grogginess, or knuckling over at the fetlock-joint, either before or behind, we did not see among Anazah horses; even those which showed signs of excessive hard work were upright on their legs and sound in the feet. Scars, enlargements from blows, and lesions are often to be seen among the Anazah horses, and the marks of the firing-irons on many parts of the body are common enough. The actual cautery is the sovereign remedy for almost all ailments. Scars from firing, of the width of two fingers, and extending from the elbows to the stifle, along the whole side and belly, are very frequent; besides these, there are cicatrices from wounds, principally from the lance.

It is not uncommon for Arab horses to stand back, more or less, at the knees. Many are stag-legged, in fact. There is no prejudice among the Arabs against such a formation; many do not like it in England, whilst others, and among them members of the veterinary profession, do not object to it, and some even prefer it. I am not sure if such a formation is not generally accompanied with the best and most lasting of legs, and we observed that when the knees were a little back the heels were rather higher than usual. This stag-legged formation was of two kinds: one in which the whole of the fore leg, from the knee to the pastern, inclined forward; not only the metacarpal bones, but the back sinews had the same direction, and, in many cases, by the time the animal was fully grown the leg had assumed an upright position. This kind may be described as accidental and genital, rather than structural. The other kind is that in which the back sinew is perpendicular to the ground, and the meta-carpals only have the inclination backwards to the knee, and this is further increased in some cases, and to a certain extent, by the size and prominence of the head of the shank-bone. This is a natural and structural formation. All desert-bred Arabs, at least, have a long striding, free walk. When trotting (which is quite an unusual pace among Arabs, as it is, indeed, to the horse generally; for, naturally, the horse does not go at a trot for any distance: as a pace of the road and for harness the trot has been artificially acquired), the hind legs of the Arabian appear to be, and often may be, too long, and there is too much reach for a pleasant trotting pace; yet, with good riding, some will trot grandly: but it is far more labour to the Arabian than galloping, who from the present length of the hind extremities, and his reach, is essentially a galloper by nature, and the faster the pace the more easy and the more true the action.

In height, the Arabian in the desert, or rather (to confine my remarks more strictly to those we saw) the Anazah horse, ranges from about fourteen hands one inch and a half to fifteen hands, but generally just under the latter height. We remarked that we did not see any that we thought as low as fourteen hands, or even, perhaps, fourteen hands one inch; some we measured proved to be fourteen hands three inches, which is a very general height; and several would be found, I have no doubt, quite fifteen hands. The height hardly varies a hand.