The following passages on the imperial Ottoman stud during the reign of Abdülhamid II are taken from Frederick Wrench’s article, ‘The Sultan and his Horses’, pp. 782-85 in the 15 December 1900 issue of Country Life Illustrated. Abdülhamid II’s reign from 1876 to 1909 spanned the Blunts’ expeditions, the gifting of Leopard and Linden Tree to Ulysses S. Grant, the export of the Hamidie Society horses, and Homer Davenport’s expedition. WHEN I wrote from Tiflis to our ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Nicholas O’Conor, to ask if he could obtain permission for me to see one of the Sultan’s best studs, I had no idea that I was making a request with which it might not be too easy to comply. As it happens, these State Departments in the Sultan’s dominions are jealously guarded against all intrusion, and no Englishman before this had expressed a desire to see His Majesty’s haras.Fortunately for me, Colonel Ponsonby, the military attaché at Constantinople, had conceived the same wish, and through his friendship with the Minister of War had just obtained a special permit when my letter to the ambassador arrived; so Colonel Ponsonby kindly decided to postpone his visit until wecould go together. Our…