Habitually in company with mankind, all the Arabian breeds become exceedingly gentle and intelligent; a look or a gesture is sufficient to make them stop, take up with their teeth the rider’s jereed [a spear or javelin] or any other object he may have dropped, stand by him if he has fallen off their backs, come to his call, and fight resolutely in his defence; even if he be sleeping, they will rouse him in cases of danger. Kindness and forbearance towards animals is inculcated by the Koran and practised by all Mussulmen, to the shame of Christians, who often do not think this is a part of human duty; and as a Moor well known in London sneeringly remarked to ourselves, “It is not in your Book!”
The Natural History of Horses by Charles Hamilton Smith, 1841
(Before anyone makes a point about halal slaughter, bear in mind that British newspaper accounts from the same period as this book mention a horse seriously injured in a road accident having its throat slit. Evidently considered at the time to be a swift, benevolent way to put the horse out of its misery)
Obviously an Arab lover. Takes all sorts, I suppose… ;)