Breed characteristics
The Arabian horse is known for
its nobility, intelligence, spirit and stamina. Arabian horses have refined heads with a
broad forehead, large eyes, large nostrils, and small muzzles. Most display a distinctive
concave (dished) profile. Other features are a relatively long, level croup, naturally
high tail carriage and awell laid-back shoulder. Most have a compact body with a short
back. Arabians have dense, strong bone, sound feet, and good hoof walls. The type of a
true Arabian horse is recognizable from far a way with its distinctive head shape and high
tail carriage.
Horses of the purest blood
were known as asil and this purity of bloodline was very important to the Bedouin.
Mares were the most valued, both for riding and breeding, and pedigree families were
traced through the female line. Over time, the Bedouin developed several sub-types or
strains of Arabian horse, each with unique characteristics. The five primary strains (or
Al-Khamsa) were the Koheilan, Saqlawi, Abeyan, Hamdani and Hadban. There were also lesser
strains, sub-strains, and regional variations in strain names. The most esteemed of the
five families are Saqlawi Jidran, Koheilan Ajuz, Abeyan Sherrak, Hadban Enzahi and the
Hamdani Simri. The Dahman Shahwan, a substrain of the Koheilan, has for instance grown in
popularity in the era of the Egyptian pasha's.
Abeyah - bought from the Anazeh by Homer
Davenport & imported
in the USA. Considered by Hashem Bey, the Sheykh of the Anazeh,
to have the most beautiful head in the desert & was known to carry
300 pounds a distance of 35 miles over rough ground in 4 hours with
the sun registering 135. She was not more than 14.2 hands but she
was considered among the Anezeh as their greatest race mare
Arabian horses lived in the
desert in close association with humans, prized war mars were sometimes kept in their
owner's tent. Only horses with a naturally good disposition were allowed to reproduce.
Arabians intelligence enable quick learning and greater communication with their riders.
However, they can quickly lose trust in a poor rider and do not tolerate abusive training
practices. With proper handling, Arabians are exceptional riding horses for riders
at all levels.
History
The Arabian horse spread
across the known world with the rise of the Islam when muslim influence expanded across
the Middle-East, North-Africa and Spain as well as with the returning crusaders. Another
way Arabian horses spread to the rest of the world was through the Ottoman Empire which
came to control much of the Middle East. The Ottoman empire obtained many Arabian horses
through trade, diplomacy and war. Ottoman nobility, such as the Egyptian pashas also
collected pure, desert-bred Arabian horses.
With the rise of light
cavalry, the stamina and agility of horses with Arabian blood gave an enormous military
advantage to any army who possessed them. Especially monarchs in Eastern Europe began to
support large breeding establishments that crossed Arabians on local stock. Napoleon
Bonaparte was also so impressed by the Mameluke cavalery during his Egyptian campain, that
large numbers of Arabian stallions were imported to improve French cavalry horses and to
serve as mounts for himself and his generals. In Egypt, the pasha's paid astronomical sums
to acquire the finest bedouin horses and the stables of Muhammad Ali Pasha, Abbas Pasha
and Ali Pasha Sherif were famous for it's magnificient collection of the finest Arabian
horses.
The 18th century marked the
establishment of most of the great Arabian studs of Europe, dedicated to preserving
"pure" Arabian bloodstock. Very known were the studfarms of the Polish nobility
such as the Sangusko, Potocki and Rzewuski families. Other examples include the Babolna
Stud in the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the royal stud of Wurttemberg (now Marbach).
This period also marked a
period of considerable travel to the Middle East by European civilians and minor nobility,
and by the late 1800s, the most farsighted began in earnest to collect the finest Arabian
horses they could find in order to preserve the blood of the pure desert horse for future
generations. The most famous example were the Blunts who established with Crabbet Park
probably the most famous stud outside Arabia. Later, Lady Anne Blunt also maintained a
small stud in Sheykh Obeyd near Cairo were she managed to preserve the remaining horses of
the Ali Pasha Sherif which was formed later the basis for the Egyptian state stud which
still exists today in El-Zahraa.
In Russia, the Stroganoffs
established an equally famous stud in the Kaukasus based upon desert bred Arabians as well
as some of the very best of Crabbet Park. However, none of the horses are known to have
survived the revolution. The famous Tersk stud was later established on the estate based
upon horses from Crabbet Park, France and Poland. Most of the famous Polish and other
Russian studs were also lost during the revolution and the World War's. In Poland, the
surviving horses were brought to the state studs Janow Podlaski and Michalow.
El 'Sbaa - A French government
commission led
by M. Rieu de Madron purchased this Ma’anaghi
Sbayli stallion straight from the desert in 1925
France became without doubt a
leading breeder of Arabian horses outside Arabia. Not many breeders today realise that
they imported in the 18th and 19th century hundreds desertbred Arabians for their state
studs in Pompadour, Sidi Thabet and Tiaret in Algeria.
Asil Arabians & pure bred
Arabians
Arabian horses today are found
all over the world and most studbooks are under the supervision of WAHO. WAHO facilitate
international trade of Arabian horses very much as it avoided member studbooks doing their
own research. Unfortunately it also means that inpure blood has easily spread.
From Eastern-Europe, before
World War II dominated by Germany and the Austrian-Hungarian empire, several "Araber
Rasse" (under which the their partbreds were cataloged) were mistakenly registered or
deliberately sold as pure bred Arabians. This way Shagya Arabians (partbred Arabian cross)
were imported by Ayerza in Argentina as pure breds and later descendants were imported by
the Duke of Veragua to Spain. The famous Polish breeders are also suspected that a number
of their bloodlines descent from Polish mares, continiously crossed with Arabian
stallions.
In France where racing was
popular, several private breeders were suspected to have English thoroughbred's stallions
in "midnight breedings" and registerd the foals as pure bred Arabians. Their
descendants meanwhile dominate the racetracks everywhere and are contaminating more horses
of pure descendant.
Jaida - A Keheilet Ibn Mizher bred
in the UAE
out of Syrian desertbreds Shaddad and Jinan
Some breeders, worried about
the contamination of the asil Arabian horses, have founded Al Khamsa in the USA and the Asil Club in Europe. These
organisation try to preserve the pure blooded (asil) Arabian with lineage that can be
traced entirely to pure desert bred Arabians imported from the horsebreeding tribes in the
Arabian peninsula. In the orient, large numbers of asil Arabians can still be found in
Egypt, Syria and Turkey but even the large Syrian asil populations are dwindling in
numbers fast because of the use of French racing stallions. Other small asil breeding
programs still exists in Bahrein, Iran and Yemen.
Performance
Arabians
are versatile horses that compete in many equestrian fields, including racing, western,
dressage, cutting, reining, endurance, show jumping, eventing and even driving. They make
reliable pleasure horse for trail riding, and working ranch horses for those who are not
interested in competition. Arabians dominate
endurance racing because of their stamina, where they are the leading breed in
competitions such as the Tevis Cup that can cover up to 100 miles (160 km) in a
day.
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