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Do you see Arab?

2K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  Smilie 
#1 ·
Big old family discussion led to an agrument about Spirits breed. The family says QH but she does NOT look full QH to me. I say she's at least got part Arab in her somewhere. My reasoning:
She has a very sculpted head, not a big, jowly, blocky QH type head.
She's fine boned
Very spirited and sensitive
She does the classical Arabian float, tail curled around, head high.
She just doesn't yell stock horse to me.
What do you think?
 

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#3 ·
Could be an appendix. I'll add though, that she's a bit underweight right now, were trying to straighten out a feeding program for her that keeps the weight on but is only cool calories. She also had a very prominent blanket dip above her withers, which is starting to look at least half normal now. I'll add a video of her moving. She's very very Arab-y when she moves.
 
#6 ·
I agree the way she moves and holds her tail would make you think of an Arabian, but otherwise, I see a finer-boned QH. My mare Kodak (in the avatar) has very fine features, but is a full-blooded, registered QH with papers to prove it. And of course there is Arab in Quarter horses. Though I don't think I've seen many QH who hold their tail like that.
 
#7 ·
That's another thing that got me thinking, she had her tail twisted all the way around twice the other day. The only other horses I've seen do that are my neighbours reg. Arab gelding, and our Arab Belgian cross. I thought maybe there was a coincidence, and I started noticing other things that I've only seen Arabs do, or are traits of an Arab. That beautiful floating trot too, it has a bounce in it that makes her just float. Between her and Troubles trot there's an absolute striking difference, and he's a stock horse- Cowy paint/QH on sires side and foundation apps on his dams.

She has very fine ears too, which I noticed today, compared to the other four in the split herd.

That's one thing I love, is reaching back through a horses lineage. I love genetics too!
 
#10 ·
Arcadian, if you spend enough time around stock horses, you will see it.

Any excited horse will probably, at some point in their lives, flip their tails over their backs. I have a daughter of an AQHA world champion reined cowhorse, and out of a pleasure/roping ranch mare, who does it everytime the urge to be energetic suits her.

Mayzi, pictured above, will also.

I see it all the time, and I strictly have stock horses. There is a reason old time QH people did not let their horses live near arabians. They will learn to do that more frequently if their pasture mates do as well, but most of them will do it all on their own.
 
#15 ·
Quarter Horses are not really "typey". It depends a lot on what is in their breeding. Of any popular breed there is none with more vairation.

I think it is possible she is full QH going back a few generations. We would really need to see some pedigree to understand her background.

It looks pretty brisk up there, brrr. I don't know that the posture she is showing is exclusively Arabian. On the other hand, she likely has Arabian in her blood lines somewhere in the distant past. A "Quarab" or whatever you want to call that blend make great horses in my opinion, if that is what she is.
 
#17 ·
I would need very good pictures to make a definitive guess.

I do not see arab, sorry. Arabian traits will be seen in the vast majority of horse breeds as arab blood was commonly used as a foundation or brought in later.

My mother's mare is a ranch bred QH. Have not yet found the ranch that goes with her brand, but other than a very refined (what I call the 'modern QH head') profile, she is stocky and all over QH. She also has a very floaty trot, and both she and my mustang mare were sticking their tails straight up over their backs and running around like arabs last week. Literally the vertical flag pole arabian style tail wave.

A lot of horses appear to float at the trot. I personally think it has less to do with breed and more to do with a horse moving energetically. They compress each step and hold the energy and then spring back up, and its this same motion that many try to recreate in dressage. Sorry, not a very scientific answer, but at about 20 seconds into this video, you can see it for yourself.



And a couple different horses, trot at 1:40



Then arabians, who just have more spring than most lol



Hence I think a very energetic horse will have a lot of 'spring' in their step, and could probably be mistaken for an arab. Just last week, a lady asked me if my horse was part arab (my MUSTANG with a very large, unrefined head!), which was a new one for me. She was a bit tense at the time, maybe she was more springy than usual lol.

I'm sorry for the non-equine-genius explanation. I don't always get my terminology right. Equine Grammar police don't shoot me XD
 
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#18 ·
Many horses will move with their tail flung up,'floating' , at liberty, goofing around, esp when they are also throwing in that nose blow or snort, horses will add, when they are 'high'
Not saying there might not be some Arabian in there, but would not conclude that from those pictures alone
 
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