Horses of the Sahara.

Manawatu Herald, 2 April 1896, Page 3

Horses of the Sahara.

The three most esteemed races in the Western Sahara are those of Haymour, Bou-Ghareb, and Merizigui; the first being generally bay?, the second whites, and tile third grays. The favourite colours are white — " take the horse white as a silken flag, without spot, with the circle of his eye black."— black— " he must be black as a night Without moon and star? " — bay—" the dark red one said to the dispute, stop there "—chestnut -" desire a dark shade ; when he flees beneath the sun it is the wind ; the Prophet was partial to chestnuts '' (which may account for some of the fine old orusted humour of the Koran). Grays also are much in demand— " the gray of the wild pigeon,", lighter in colour on the head than on the body ; the pie-bald no selfrespecting Arab—" flee him like the pestilence, for he is own brother to the cow.'' The horses that fetch the best prices are those with no white beyond a star on the forehead, or a narrow blazo down the lace, or a snip on the muzzle. If he has white stockings he must have them on the off forefoot and the near hindfoot ; one foot at least must be stockingless. "Never buy a horse with a white face and four stockings, lor he carries his winding sheet with him." In earlier times the estimate a3 to colour was rather different. The Prophet, for instance, said, "If thou would'st go to the war, purchase a horse with a star on (he iorehead and stockings on all his legs with the exception of the right forefoot ;" and if the white were not overdone he must have looked remarkably well on his chestnut mount. According to Abel-el-Kader, " the fleetest of horses is the chestnut ; the most enduring the bay ; the most spirited the black ; the most blessed, one with a white forehead." The ordinary Arab of the Sahara prefers a mare because of the profit to be made out of her produce, because also she does not neigh in the time of war and is less sensitive to hunger, thirst and heat, and also because she can feed on anything; she will graze on the same herbage as the sheep and camels, and requires no one to watch her. The foal is weaned in the sixth or seventh month, and is then taken possession of by the women. Much of the docility of these horses of the Desert is owing to this. On the journey and the campaign it 13 rider who sees to his horse, but under canvas and in the times of peace, it ia the wife that superintends and feeds her husband's mount. She brings him hi 3 food in the morning and tends him and washes His mane and tail ; she gentles him and gives him the bread and dates and other dainties, going out herself to gather for him the herbs with tonic and nutritive properties needed for his well-being. Curiously enough, she often gives the horse couscousoo, or even meat cooked and dried in the sun. Many of them give the horse camel's milk to drink, and sonic never give green feel to the war horses. In summer the horse is not watered until three in the afternoon ; in winter he is watered earlier, say from noon to one— in accordance with the proverb, " in the season put back the 11001* of the watering place and put forward that of the nosebag ; in the cold season put forward the hour of the watering place and put back that of the nosebag." Twice a year, in August and September and in December and January, the horses are watered only every other day. The colt is not bridled until he is two years old. At first the bit is covered with undressed wool so as not to hurt him, and " to allure him to docility by the saltish flavour of which he is so fond." Saddling follows, and when he is about two and a na\f years old he is mounted, after a preliminary experience of carrying a pack saddle with two baskets of sand gradually added to until they are the same weight as his intended rider. He is always shod I on his two fore feet, and in stony : districts on all four, the shoes being kept ready made and always put on cold. They are of light, soft-, pliant metal, those on the fore feet having only three nails on each side, the toes being never fastened and the feet being neither pared nor shortened. One foot is never lefc shod ! and the other bare, for if a fore3hoe j is cast the rider takes off both hind 1 shoes and puts one on. the forefoot.

and if only the forefeet are shod, the 1 remaining shoe is at once taken off. The shoes are joined at the heel and follow the curvature of the frog.— • Leisure Hour.