*Muson, in a new-to-me photo
Jeanne Craver shared a photo of the Davenport stallion *Muson which I had not seen before. I recall reading somewhere — forgetting the source now — that the breed in its original form displayed more distance between the back legs than between the front legs.
The source of the fore feet being closer together than the hind is an 1801 letter published in the August 1802 Sporting Magazine, pp. 241f.. The author was “an Officer, lately Egyptian serving in Egypt”, and the letter was “dated Lutmene, near Palmyra, Dec. 20, 1801.” The description of the Arabian in the letter is given below.
“How beautiful the real Arabian ! his mouth so small that a glass tumbler would serve him for a waterbucket; his nostrils large, and within a fine carnation colour; his cheek-bone flat, wide, and lean, all the veins visible; a large and brilliant eye, the ears close, and in motion erect; the head well set, on a small neck, the throat large, a rising wither, and the blade-bone of the shoulder so far back that it seems under the saddle; a broad chest, the legs perfectly strait and flat as my hand, a hard blue hoof, as hard as the stones he gallops over; the back flat and wonderfully short, croup in a line to the tail, which the Arab carries with more grace than our best necked horses; the ribs large and round, the feet wide behind, and the fore feet stand near together; his pedigree carefully preserved, and certified; his gentleness of temper and docility inimitable; and his blood, bone, wind, and bottom, not to be matched. Such is the real Arab.”
Man he had a fabulous coupling!
best
Bruce Peek