Mr. T. E. Cornwell, who has had twenty years' experience of travel and
residence in Morocco, gives the ponies in common use in that country a
high character as weight carriers and for endurance on scanty food; they
are also very sure-footed. These horses he describes as Barbs, very
hardy with thick shoulders; they average 14 hands 2 inches, rarely
attaining a height of 15 hands. They generally receive a feed of
rough straw in the morning and a ration of barley, from 6 to 7 lbs., at
night; they are watered (when water can be obtained) once a day. Grass
can be had at some seasons of the year, but the horses, being tethered
during halts, cannot graze, and as the task of cutting grass would
entail delay it is never used.
[Illustration: _Here they come!_
_There they are!_
_On the Look Out._
_On the Look Out._
_Charging on them._
_Receiving the Charge._
_From original pencil sketches by Henry Alken._]
Mr. Cornwell, a 14 stone man, has ridden one of these ponies for
thirty-two consecutive days, with only one day's rest, covering an
average of thirty miles per day.
General Maclean, who for a long period was the "Kaid" or
Commander-in-Chief of the Sultan's forces in Morocco, once tried the
experiment of stabling his horses instead of picketing out in the open,
which is the usual practice. The experiment did not answer, for on his
next expedition every horse died; shelter for a period had no doubt
rendered them susceptible to maladies brought on by exposure at night.
These ponies could be purchased at a figure ranging from L8 to L11 per
head. An export duty of L3 10s., which is levied on every horse sent out
of Morocco, must be added to these rates by foreign purchasers.
Mr. Cornwell states that an infusion of English blood does nothing to
improve these hardy Morocco ponies. Blood horses from England have been
imported and crossed with the native mares, but the produce have always
been leggy and less capable of continued hard work than the native
breed.