'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎254] (293/714)

—Wi
i fj 111-?
254
PERSIA
yet the passage of countless animals has left such impressions
upon the soil that the direction to be followed can often be
traced in advance for miles. At night a stranger would be lost
at once but for the guidance of the post-boy, whose sight and memory
are unerring.
The best known characteristic of the Persian post-horse is his in
curable predisposition to tumble. Most of them have bare knees in
Its consequence, and the first law in mounting is to select an
humours animal with some hair still adorning that portion. I
could not make out that either a tight rein or a slack rein had
very much to do with the occurrence of this phenomenon, and I
ended by concluding that the Persian post-horse has a certain regu
lation number of falls in the year, which may be distributed either
by accident or as he pleases, but the full tale of which some hidden
law of necessity compels him to complete. The fact that I rode
through the country from the east to the centre and from the
centre to the south without a single fall, tended to confirm rather
than to invalidate my theory, for there was no conceivable reason
why I should be so favoured, except that others would have or had
had to pay the price. It became quite a trite occurrence to hear the
groan with which my Persian servant riding behind me sank or
was hurled on to mother earth ; while the chapar-shagird would be
seriously disappointed at an entire day without a fall. There is
this to be said for the instability of the Persian post-horse, that it
appears very seldom to be vindicated at the lasting expense of his
rider. The number of accidents or injuries that take place in
proportion to the number of falls is ludicrously small. Two other
tricks I noticed which were widespread and popular. Some of the
meanest of the animals would very much resent being mounted, a
curious proof that their memories had jjrofited by experience; and
the only approach to an accident that I had was when a horse from
which I had dismounted ran away as I was putting my foot into
the stirrup, and as nearly as possible pitched both himself and me
down the shaft of an open kanat. The lifting of the right arm, whether
with or without a whip, had, further, such a provocative effect upon
the memory of these beasts that they would frequently swerve and
spin right round to the left. The Persians, if peculiarly disgusted
with a post-horse, sometimes revenge themselves by docking his tail,
which incapacitates him from further use in a country where a tail
is considered cle rigueur ; but this is a spiteful, if not a cruel act,