Abbas, The Late Pasha, Did His Best To Buy First-Rate Arab
Stallions:
On one occasion he sent a mission to Al-Madinah for the sole
purpose of fetching a rare work on farriery.
Yet it is doubted whether
he ever had a first-rate Nijdi. A Badawi sent to Cairo by one of the
chiefs of Nijd, being shown by the viceroy’s order over the stables, on
being asked his opinion of the blood, replied bluntly, to the great man’s
disgust, that they did not contain a single thoroughbred[.] He added an
apology on the part of his laird for the animals he had brought from
Arabia, saying, that neither Sultan nor Shaykh could procure colts of
the best strain. For none of these horses would a staunch admirer of
the long-legged monster called in England a thoroughbred give twenty
pounds. They are mere “rats,” short and stunted, ragged and fleshless, with
rough coats and a slouching walk. But the experienced glance notes at
once the fine snake-like head, ears like reeds, wide and projecting
nostrils, large eyes, fiery and soft alternately, broad brow, deep base
of skull, wide chest, crooked tail, limbs padded with muscle, and long
elastic pasterns. And the animal put out to speed soon displays the
wondrous force of blood. In fact, when buying Arabs, there are only
three things to be considered,—blood, blood, and again blood. In Marco
Polo’s time, Aden supplied the Indian market. The state of the tribes
round the “Eye of Yaman” has effectually closed the road against
horse-caravans for many years past.
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