CONFORMATION I NSIGHTS Arabians for everyone
From a founding population of less than 400 horses have come thousands of useful and beautiful Arabians in America.
From a founding population of less than 400 horses have come thousands of useful and beautiful Arabians in America.
Through two previous installments, we have traced the fascinating history of the Arabian horse in its Asian homeland and in America. This called for presenting photos of many famous stallions and mares, the “foundational” individuals who were often also champions in show and performance. Your letters tell us that you’re interested in this information as a valuable resource, for the Arabian horse is one of the most popular and influential of horse breeds. Nonetheless, what most people own is neither the champion horse nor the foundational sire or dam but rather geldings and mares not needed at the big breeding farms.
By no means does this indicate, however, that horses owned by “ordinary” people and “backyard” breeders are of poor quality. One of the most amazing facts about the Arabian horse in America is that despite a founding population of far less than 400 individuals---this number being considered the minimum necessary for the permanent establishment of any animal bloodline that “breeds true”--we have produced thousands of useful and beautiful individuals. Over more than 25 years, EQUUS readers have sent in many photos of such interesting Arabian horses. Let’s take a look at a sample of the best, along with a
selection of their ancestors from the 19th century to the present.
I’ve included pedigree information for the horses presented in this article to demonstrate both relatedness and unrelatedness. Many different names in a pedigree indicate unrelatedness and a low degree of inbreeding; when names are repeated, the degree of inbreeding rises. As explained in the two previous installments in this series, there are six major sources of Arabian horses in America:
(1) What can be called “old American” sources, generally diplomatic gifts which predate the 20th century, including the horses *Leopard (an undoubted purebred) and *Linden Tree (either a Barb or an Arabian, but accepted as Arabian).
(2) The Hamidie Society horses presented at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the subsequent Davenport importations of 1906. These animals were imported primarily from Syria.
(3) The Crabbet Stud in England, whose bloodstock originally came from breeders in Egypt and the Negev in what is now Israel, but later included Skowronek and other influential stallions bred in Poland from stock
As the pedigrees of the horses presented in this article show, American breeders have often crossed unrelated
bloodlines.
imported to Poland and Russia from Turkey. Major importations of Crabbetbred horses to the United States came with the dispersal of the Crabbet herd in the late 1940s.
(4) Direct importations of small numbers of horses by various individuals from breeding farms in Egypt. These include the Babson importation of 1932 and Judith and Donald Forbis’ importation of *Ansata Ibn Halima in 1959.
(5) Importations from breeding farms in Poland and Russia. Almost all of these date after 1960.
(6) Importations from Spain and France, again almost all dating after 1960.
As the pedigrees of the horses presented in this article show, American breeders have often crossed unrelated bloodlines. This is wise--especially where the number of unrelated founding individuals is small---because it tends to ensure a high percentage of healthy foals that grow into useful horses of good size and substance. A small number of American breeders follow the opposite philosophy in the belief that inbreeding creates “purity”---a relic of World War II-era thinking that in the view of geneticists is truly a chimerical quest. While inbreeding---the deliberate mating of related individuals---can increase the frequency with which desirable qualities such as endurance capability,
beautiful heads and tractability are passed to offspring, it equally increases the frequency of undesirable qualities such as crooked legs, lack of substance and persistent diminution in size. With intense inbreeding comes what biologists term “genetic load” ---a much higher frequency of genetic disease, including various gene combinations that are lethal before birth; genetic diseases such as hydrocephalus, spinal stenosis and achondroplasia; and birth defects including cleft palate, wry nose and “windswept” hind limbs.
The presence of a few inbred individuals in a larger population can be a good thing---when such horses are used like spice in a tasty stew--one little pinch at a time. The most consistently successful breeding philosophy is linebreeding, in which a relatively inbred stallion is put to a variety of unrelated mares. In a day when there are very few real jobs for horses, breeders must always be encouraged to produce horses useful for work; this is the reason for repeated rule-making in the Arabian show world that requires national and regional champions to present performance credentials. In recent decades, Arabian marketing has swung strongly toward promotion of horses with “extreme” appearance---ultrarefined heads, long and superfine necks, very fine limbs, long rubbery backs, and touchy or aggressive temperaments---a trend which alarms older and more knowledgeable fans of the breed, who remember
the Arabian as a tough,
substantial horse of great intelligence and gentleness (see “Fashion Versus ‘Using Ability,’” opposite page). Our reader-submitted sample underlines the desire of most buyers for horses that meet exactly this description. Indeed, those just beginning in the wonderful hobby of horseback riding and horse ownership have no business with any other description of horse!
In this article, I present 19 images of famous Arabian ancestors, both mares and stallions. This is in addition to many more foundational individuals presented in the first two installments of this series. You’ll want to have those articles on hand as you do this month’s “homework”: See if you can match the famous horses to some of their less-famous (but no less beloved) descendants. Be forewarned: It is not always easy to “see the sire or dam in the foal,” and therefore this is a test of fairly great difficulty. Please don’t let this discourage you, because the real purpose is to tease you into careful study of all the images in order to improve your eye for conformation, while you hone your familiarity with various well-known Arabian bloodlines.
Coming Next: The Unknown Hobby