Whispers from the Tent

"But our chief delight was to follow when Beteyen Ibn Mirshid rode up on a three year old Abeyeh Sherrakieh of which he had just purchased the “bridle half” from one of his people. The mare is so much more remarkable than the man that I must describe her first. She is a dark bay with four white socks, star and snip standing well over 15 hands. Her head, the first point an Arab looks to, is a good one, though I have seen finer and perfectly set on , and the mitbakh or join of head and neck would give distinction to any profile. Her neck is light and well arched, the wither high and shoulder well sloped, and the quarters so fine and powerful that it is impossible she should be anything but a very fast mare. Her length of limb above the hock is remarkable as is that of the pastern. She carries her tail high as all well-bred Arabians do, and there is a neatness and finish about every move—superior to anything we have seen here or elsewhere and would be worth a king’s ransom if kings were still worth ransoming."

— Lady Anne Blunt