Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 3) (London, 1835)

234

HORSES OF TOORKISTAN.

by means of an agent in Cabool. Afghans sent
from that city could also purchase them.

The breed of the Toorkmun horse is of the
purest kind. When the animal is over-heated, or
has performed any great work, nature bursts a vein
for it in the neck,—which I did not at first credit
till I had become an eye-witness of the fact. The
Toorkmuns cut their horses; as it is a popular be-
lief among them that they are then more on the
alert, and undergo greater fatigue, than stallions.
The Toorkmuns believe their horses to be exceed-
ingly nice in hearing ; and will often trust to their
steeds for the alarm of an approaching enemy. I
was particularly struck with the fine crests of the
Toorkmun horses; and I heard, though I could
not authenticate its truth by observation, that they
are often confined in a stable with no other aperture
than a window in the roof, which teaches the animal
to look up, and improves his carriage. The con-
trivance seems fitted for such an end. The finer
horses of the Toorkmuns are seldom sold, for their
owners may be truly said to have as much regard
for them as their children. It must not, however,
be imagined that all the horses of Toorkistan are
equally renowned ; for as almost every person be-
yond the Oxus has a mount of some kind, a great
portion of them are very inferior animals, In
Bokhara there are many Kuzzak horses, a sturdy
and little animal, with a shaggy coat and very long
mane and tail, much and deservedly admired. They
are brought from the deserts between Bokhara and
Russia.