If you would know, at the end of a day of excessive fatigue and hard riding, how far you can yet depend upon your horse, get off his back and pull him strongly towards you by the tail. If he remains unmoved as if rooted to the ground, you may still rely upon him. On an expedition when, after great fatigue, you have only a moment for repose, take for your pillow some of the bridles of your brethren, and you will not be abandoned or forgotten, happen what may. A horseman ought to study the habits of his horse and obtain a thorough knowledge of his character. He will then know whether, when he alights, he can have any confidence in him and can leave him in the midst of other animals, or whether he must keep an eye upon him and hobble him. Not one of these details is a matter of indifference in the presence of an enemy. The proper season for calling on a horse to do great things, is the spring, before the great heats; or the autumn, before the intense cold. The horse is what his work is. Yes, give the heel to your steeds, Learn and teach them what will be of service to you. In this world it is certain that, one day or another, Every man has to face him who demands his life. REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER. The Arabs have preserved the practice of racing their horses against one another, in which they indulged so far back as in the times of idolatry, prior to Mohammed. The new law has in no way altered this usage. On the contrary it has consecrated its lawfulness, and, by impressing it with the seal of religion, has attached additional importance to it. For racing, the Arabs subject their horses to a preparatory regimen, which is called _tadmir_, or training. Thank to this treatment, a horse acquires a wonderful speed. The _tadmir_ is in this wise. They begin by increasing the animal's allowance of food, so that he gains fat to a perceptible degree. When this result has been attained, they begin to reduce his condition by gradually diminishing his rations for forty days, until they have reached the minimum of nourishment. During these forty days, they subject him to progressive exercise. At the same time, and from the very first day from lowering his keep, they cover the animal with seven _djellale_, or horse-cloths, one of which they remove every six days. The sweating disperses all the fat, gets rid of a useless weight, gives tone to the muscles, and leaves nothing but hard flesh. By means of this treatment, a horse attains, according to the stock he comes from, the highest degree of speed. Thus prepared, the horse is brought on to the _djalba_ or race ground. Horses arriving from all districts are led on to the _djalba_, and crowds of people likewise flock thither. At no other time, except at the period of the assemblage of pilgrims, is such a concourse of men to be seen, and all the nobles and chiefs are present.