On knowing the authentic and enduring horse, from the Nasiri book
From the Nasiri book, again, my translation:
The knowledge of the authentic (‘atiq), enduring (sabur) and generous (karim) horse needs [some] citation and demonstration, because all past horsemen of the Age of Ignorance [jahilliyah, before the advent of Islam] have featured horses in their poetry and mentioned them [along] with their characteristics.
The Prophet of God, Peace Be Upon Him [from now on, PBUH] has favored them [i.e., the authentic horses] over other horses because he, PBUH, has set aside (‘arraba, same root as Arab so a play on words) the Arab and disparaged (hajjana, same root as hajin, again a play on the next word) the hajin; he allocated two shares [of the spoils] to the Arab horse (al-faras al-‘arabi) and one share to the non-Arab horse (al-faras ghayr al-‘arabi). It was reported, after the Prophet of God, PBUH, in featuring the authentic horse, that the jinn do not manifest themselves to anyone in a home with an authentic (‘atiq) horse.
A horseman needs such a horse. The first thing he needs to know is to pick for himself an enduring (sabur), generous (jawad, also means charger) horse on which to face his enemy [in battle]. If he does not have the eye and the knowledge to recognize it, he should not take it upon himself to choose without knowledge one that sets him back when he needs it, throws him down from its weakness, or breaks down while galloping, annihilating him and his horseman together. What has reached [us] of the accounts of preceding equestrians is that they would only go to battle on the most generous and enduring of horses (jiyad al-khayl wa saburiha).
[a description of the characteristics of the authentic and enduring horse follows, which I will translate later]
It is said that the the clearer evidence in knowing the authentic and enduring horse is the softness of the hair at the root (asl, for a literal usage of the word asl to mean root) of the mane; that it be tender and soft like silk; if it were so, then the horse is authentic (‘atiq) and enduring (sabur); but if there was roughness to it, the horse is not clear of tahjin (from the root hajin), which means cross-breeding (tajnis), whether from his sire or from his dam.
If the knowledge of the authentic (‘atiq) horse [still] escapes you, put water in a flat plate, and make the horse drink from it. If he drinks without bending his knee and without folding back the tip of his hoof, then he is an authentic horse, because the authentic horse drinks while standing and does not fold back the tip of his hoof.
Some [Greek] philosophers have mentioned that horses have two wings; when they spread them, they don’t care about the weight they carry.
The penultimate paragraph is great! We had a friend, a retired coal miner in southern Illinois, who had several of our stallions. He had a test for his horses: he carried some dried corn in his pocket, and would drop some in front of a horse. If they could drop their muzzle to the ground and eat without bending their knees or spreading their legs, they were good.
An interesting similarity across cultures!
I like this very much, as it shows that performance was a vital selection criterion in the development of the Arab horse.
Re the Greek philosophers, I shall see if I can track down any references to winged horses (my brain is currently stuck on Plato and mythology).
As for drinking without bending the knee, or eating corn, is the idea that the horse is strong and supple through the back, so can reach down easily? I’m just thinking about this, given that you can often improve a horse’s ability to reach down with stretching exercises and other work to raise the back, and wondering if it was supposed to be indicative of strength and suppleness in the water/corn tests.
Check the Greek legends about the hippocampus mythical creature. Also Phoenician ones.
Thanks for the direction – I’m going to have to spend an afternoon in the library, going through the pre-Socratics through to the Hellenistic philosophers, and then probably digging up the natural historians as well. Library might be lacking somewhat in the Phoenician department, though.
Kate, I think we were thinking of it as balance, so that the sections of the body and the legs, neck and head were all balanced properly. But strength and flexibility, too, you are right.
Jeanne, that makes sense, as a test of balance and proportion. Thank you for clarifying!