WHAT IS A THOROUGHBRED ARAB ?

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 3 August 1888, Page 25

WHAT IS A THOROUGHBRED ARAB ?

Not every horse imported as an Arab 13 a thoroughbred. Many are what the Arabs call "sons or daughters of a horse." What, then, is a thoroughbred Arab ? ' A well-known English writer on the Arab, and an acknowledged authority on the subject, defines a thoroughbred Arab to be "one belonging to the Khamsa." There is a tradition among the Arabs that the Khamsa is descended from one of the five mares of King Solomon. We read in Holy Writ that " King Solomon brought horses out of Egypt." It is assumed that the wise king procured the best horses available in Egypt. The Eastern tradition therefore is that one of the Egyptian mares produced five fillies of surprising beauty, and from these five mares the five great breeds of Arab horses are descended. According to the writer referred to — well known by his initials "E. F. D."— all true Arabs trace to one or other of these five fillies of King Solomon. Some of the Arab tribes preserve the pedigrees of their horses With as much care as a Scotch laird preserves the charber of his estates ; and when a chief sells his horse he usually gives a written pedigree or guarantee that the horse is pure. This guarantee is generally preceded by the remark, " Praise be to Allah, this is a good horse ! " It then recounts how the family came into possession of the tribe, and how it had been handed down unalloyed from generation to generation, and that the present is a pure lineal descendant of one of King Solomon's mares.