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The History of Pure Breeds

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Disclaimer: The discussion below was moved from the http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeding/why-you-breeding-94683/ thread. Thank you!
Kitten_Val


The Arabian breed is typically known as the improvement breed/blood. There is Arabian Blood in most all horses as they typically are known to be the only purebreed of horse that exisits today. There is of course those that dispute this and state the Akhal Teke is the only purebreed that exisits....so who is correct?? I am not an expert nor is there a 100% guarantee either is correct so I continue to read and learn. Thus far, based on the information I have as of todays date, my vote if I had to vote would go to the Purebred Arabian ;)

Denise Gainey
 
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#2 ·
The Arabian breed is typically known as the improvement breed/blood. There is Arabian Blood in most all horses as they typically are known to be the only purebreed of horse that exisits today. There is of course those that dispute this and state the Akhal Teke is the only purebreed that exisits....so who is correct?? I am not an expert nor is there a 100% guarantee either is correct so I continue to read and learn. Thus far, based on the information I have as of todays date, my vote if I had to vote would go to the Purebred Arabian ;)

Denise Gainey
I agree the arabian is the oldest and the foundation to every saddle horse out there.
 
#4 ·
Except that people would then be neglecting breeds like the Norwegian Fjord, which is actually suspected to be the oldest and purest horse breed (and which is closely descended from the Przewalski, which is the oldest "modern" horse by far), in addition to Icelandics (which probably are the purest current horse breed, and are certainly very old), and then breeds like the Flanders horse, which contributed not just to the draft horses we see today, but also to modern riding horses...
 
#6 ·
I don't see where neglecting comes into it. They are all lovely breeds, but have little influence on American breeds as a whole. European- definitely..
Arabians have always been used to refine and improve most other breeds throughout history.. pure in their own right, having evolved as one of the three, possibly four sources of modern horses. I don't see a lot of Icelandic and Przewalski seeding our modern stock..
Horses, having been introduced to North America, not being indigenous, owe their ancestry in large part to the Spanish Barb. Arabian blood later refined untold numbers of horses in existence, including the draft..i.e- the Percheron as one result..
 
#5 ·
The Fjord studbook was only closed at the start of the 19th century, and before it was, there was other colours that were not dun in the breed prior to that point. I wouldn't discount Arab from them ;-)

Icelandics would have to be the only other breed aside from Arabs that I would consider to be 'pure'. A government imposed ban on importing horses for the last 1000 years will do that to a breed lol.
 
#8 ·
The point I was making, simply, is that Perlino's quote is not exactly correct, nor is it an "indisputable fact," as some seem to believe and have said. I like Arabians, anyway, and the influence they've had on some modern breeds is certainly substantial, in terms of adding refinement and the "pretty factor." Perhaps some help with endurance, too. But sometimes I think people tend to give Arabians too much credit, to the detriment of the reputation of other breeds, which may be older or purer or more suitable for X discipline. And there's certainly a lot of misinformation about the origin of the Arabian horse, though I don't claim to be an expert in that regard....
 
#9 ·
Look at a Perchie for example. You might not see the Arab in there, doesn't mean it isn't there. In fact, Percheron's have a quite large percentage of Arab blood.

The only question in my mind is when you can say the Arabian was a breed, and not just a horse of oriental type. Because if you count the oriental type as Arab, then every breed that is not a Przewalkski has Arab influence, including the Icelandic.
 
#15 ·
Good point, but I believe the Icelandic was a combination of breeds resulting from the Exmoor and Shetlands taken to Iceland from England and Scotland by the Vikings, so they are not Asian in origin.. Arab is one of the three major modern horse predecessors.. The Przewalski is a second.. I have to think on the third, but I believe the Barb is a percentage of that mix...
 
#12 ·
How are you reckoning that? Were there not hardy, thick, short-of-stature ponies in China and Russia far apart from the "Oriental" breeds--and how would the latter end up in Norway? And if you're counting everything "Oriental" as an Arabian, how does that distinguish from things like the Akhal-Teke, or the gaited Marwari?

From the Fjord registry:

The Norwegian Fjord Horse is one of the world’s oldest and purest breeds. It is believed that the original Fjord Horse migrated to Norway and was domesticated over 4,000 years ago. Archaeological excavations at Viking burial sites indicate the Fjord Horse has been selectively bred for 2,000 years.
 
#14 ·
From the Fjord registry:

Quote:
The Norwegian Fjord Horse is one of the world’s oldest and purest breeds. It is believed that the original Fjord Horse migrated to Norway and was domesticated over 4,000 years ago. Archaeological excavations at Viking burial sites indicate the Fjord Horse has been selectively bred for 2,000 years.

Lies! what they really meant to say was Fjords are all arabs with crazy hair! lol
 
#64 · (Edited)
Most of the time, if registered, or with an oral history, per Arabian tradition, all the way back to the desert, and before..

My Arabs can trace their history to the desert. Before the "Registry," Arabs kept "books" highly valued with the breeding records or cited them from memory, a task very carefully honed by families.
 
#32 ·
Quite frankly the pedigrees of any horse breed prior to the advent of DNA testing and parentage verification are extremely unreliable and untrustworthy.

Found this in regards to Arabians:

Over time, the Bedouin developed several sub-types or strains of Arabian horse, each with unique characteristics, and traced through the maternal line only. According to the Arabian Horse Association, the five primary strains were known as the Keheilan, Seglawi, Abeyan, Hamdani and Hadban. Carl Raswan, a promoter and writer about Arabian horses from the middle of the 20th century, held the belief that there were only three strains, Kehilan, Seglawi and Muniqi. Raswan felt that these strains represented body "types" of the breed, with the Kehilan being "masculine", the Seglawi being "feminine" and the Muniqi being "speedy". There were also lesser strains, sub-strains, and regional variations in strain names. Therefore, many Arabian horses were not only Asil, of pure blood, but also bred to be pure in strain, with crossbreeding between strains discouraged, by some tribes. Purity of bloodline was very important to the Bedouin, and they also believed in telegony, believing if a mare was ever bred to a stallion of "impure" blood, the mare herself and all future offspring would be "contaminated" by the stallion and hence no longer Asil.


So according to that, wouldn't most if not all modern Arabians no longer be considered "pure?"

Arabian horse history
 
#34 ·
Not at all, and that is a rather shallow observation. I like Arabs myself, and obviously used them in my Araloosa breeding program to produce some of the best endurance trail horses there are.

But I get weary of the fantasy world approach some people have about Arabs, cramming fairy tales down people's throats. They are what they are, and to accept them for what they are is not discrediting anything.

What they ARE is a good horse and the most popular horse breed in the world, excelling at endurance coupled with reasonable performance ability. They are extremely aesthetic and invoke a picture of what most of us think as the "classic" horse. They are very smart and easy keepers, able to survive on just about anything. They are hardy, and have strong hooves, bone, and joints. That is hardly discrediting them.

What they ARE NOT is a horse that jumped off the page of a fairy tale book. They are NOT the origin of all breeds as I explained earlier...they are an intermediate breed - as most breeds are. They are NOT pure in blood as so often represented by the uninformed, although they are certainly more pure than almost all - or perhaps all - other breeds. They have NOT been used to "improve" the breeds of the world - quite the contrary, they and their desert cousins are base breeds that helped found more modern breeds and from which improvements have been made to create other breeds better at speed, strength, and performance. That whole "improving other breeds" line of thought is totallly illogical to begin with. Again, is the glass half full or half empty. While introducing more Arab blood into a Quarterhorse would improve endurance, introducing Quarterhorse blood into an Arab would improve speed and performance. To suggest that the former is "improving" the breed and the latter isn't is irrational and illogical.

Again, I like Arabs myself. They are good versatile horses and have a long, rich history. But they are flesh and blood horses - not mythical, ethereal unicorns with wings of gold, and there is nothing discrediting about seeing and accepting them for what they are...
 
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#52 · (Edited)
Here's a great video on the Bedouin way of training Arabians..
I think what is lost in this culture is the concept of honor and consistency.. Bedouins' lives centered around the Arabian horse, therefore their word and their honor were a direct result of their breeding standard and production of the finest horses possible. They ruthlessly culled all but the best.
An interesting bit of video in the beginning is their history of feeding their mares milk and dates.. This was actually verified by a friend of mine who lives in Pakistan who has Arabians and Punjabis. They feed their horses dried fruits, figs, dates soaked in milk..
Also, I use some of the same training methods with my Arabs and their loyalty is just amazing.. Having bred them over centuries literally in Bedouin tents, aside their masters, certainly must have influenced their attachment to humans..

 
#56 ·
The Icelandic would have a high probability being one of the purest breeds due to limiting outside breeding as they did not allow imports and once exported, ponies were not allowed to return..

Some info:
"The recently revived Eriskay Pony breed in Scotland is perhaps the closest modern day example of the type of horse that left Scotland for Iceland in those Viking longboats all those years ago. It is fair to say that the Icelandic horse shares some of its genetic history with of our native Scottish breeds particularly the Shetland, Highland and Eriskay with whom they have many characteristics in common."

"The ancestors of the Icelandic horse were small, sturdy and well adapted to the harsh Icelandic climate. They were brought to Iceland in the 9th century by settlers from the north of Britain and western Norway."

"Its closest relatives today are assumed to be the native horse breeds of Scandinavia and horse breeds of the British Isles."

"The icelandic pony is based on stock taken to Iceland by the Vikings when they colonized it between AD 870 and AD 930, and probably included the Fjord pony and a group of ponies from the Lotofen Islands. Later, settlers from Scotland, the Orkneys and Shetland brought their own ponies. These have blended into one breed, but various types and sizes can still be seen."

"The breed is not indigenous, but was brought to Iceland by migrants in disagreement with Norway's reigning King in the 9th Century. These were joined later by settlers from the Western Isles of Scotland who brought with them native ponies of Celtic stock (Highland ponies)."

"The Icelandic horse orginates from Celtic horses taken to Iceland by boat from Norway and Britain in the Ninth Century. The horses have been held isolated on the island with very little import for nearly thousand years. This makes the Icelandic horse one of the oldest breeds in the world and it preserved most of the appearance of the original Celtic horse."
 
#57 ·
Regarding the Bedouins:

Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates

"The pure bred Bedouin horse stands from fourteen to fifteen hands in height, the difference depending mainly on the country in which he is bred, and the amount of good food he is given as a colt. In shape he is like our English thoroughbred, his ******* cousin, but with certain differences. The principal of these is, as might be expected, in the head, for where there is a mixture of blood the head almost always follows the least beautiful type of the ancestors. Thus, every horse with a cross of Spanish blood will retain the heavy head of that breed, though he have but one-sixteenth part of it to fifteen of a better strain. The head of the Arabian is larger in proportion than that of the English thoroughbred, the chief difference lying in the depth of jowl. This is very marked, as is also the width between the cheek-bones where the English horse is often defective to the cost of his windpipe. The ears are fine and beautifully shaped, but not very small. The eye is large and mild, the forehead prominent as in horses of the Touchstone blood with us, and the muzzle fine, sometimes almost pinched. Compared with the Arabian, the English thoroughbred is Roman nosed. The head, too, and this is perhaps the most distinguishing feature, is set on at a different angle. When I returned to England the thoroughbreds seemed to me to hold their heads as if tied in with a bearing rein, and to have no throat whatever, the cause perhaps of that tendency to roaring so common with them."

"It is commonly said in England that the Arabian has but one pace, the gallop; and in a certain sense this is true. Trotting is discouraged by the Bedouin colt-breakers, who, riding on an almost impossible pad, and without stirrups, find that pace inconvenient. But with a little patience, the deficiency can easily be remedied, and good shoulder action given. No pure bred Arabian however is a high stepper. His style of galloping is long and low, the counterpart of our English thoroughbred's. He is a careless but by no means a bad or dangerous walker. It is considered a great point of breeding that a horse should look about him to right and left as he walks; and this, combined with the great lengths of his pasterns, makes him liable to trip on even ground, if there are slight inequalities in his road. I have never however seen him even in danger of falling. The horse is too sure of his footing to be careful, except on rough ground, and then he never makes a false step. The broken knees one comes across are almost always the result of galloping colts before they are strong enough over rocky ground, and, though a fearful disfigurement in our eyes, are thought nothing of by the Bedouins. The reputation, so often given to the Arabian, of being a slow walker, is the reverse of true. Though less fast than the Barb, he walks well beyond the average pace of our own horses."

"There is among English people a general idea that grey, especially flea-bitten grey, is the commonest Arabian color. But this is not so among the Anazeh. Bay is still more common, and white horses, though fashionable in the desert, are rare. Our white Hamdaniyeh mare, Sherifa, which came from Nejd, was immensely admired among the Gomussa for the sake of her color almost as much as for her head, which is indeed of extraordinary beauty. The drawing at the beginning of this chapter is her very faithful portrait. Perhaps out of a hundred mares among the Anazeh one would see thirty-five bay, thirty grey, fifteen chestnut, and the rest brown or black. Roans, piebalds, duns, and yellows, are not found among the pure bred Arabians, though the last two occasionally are among Barbs. The bays often have black points and generally a white foot, or two or three white feet, and a snip or blaze down the face. The chestnuts vary from the brightest to the dullest shades, and I once saw a mottled brown. The tallest and perhaps handsomest horse we saw was a Samhan-el-Gomeaa, a three-year-old bay with black points, standing about fifteen hands one inch. He was a little clumsy, however, in his action, though that may have been the fault of his breaking. He had bone enough to satisfy all the requirements, even those of a Yorkshire man, but showed no sign of lacking quality. With very few exceptions, all the handsomest mares we saw were bay, which is without doubt by far the best color in Arabia as it is in England. The chestnuts, as with us, are hot tempered, even violent. Black is a rare color, and I never saw in the desert a black mare which I fancied. In choosing Arabians I should take none but bays, and if possible bays with black points."

"It must not be supposed that there are many first-class mares among the Bedouins. During all our travels we saw but one which answered to the ideal we had formed, an Abeyeh Sherrak of the Gomussa. Nor were there many which approached her. Among the Shammar we saw only two first-class mares, among the Fedaan perhaps half a dozen, and among the Roala, once the leading tribe in horse-breeding, none. The Gomussa alone, of all the Anazeh, have any large number of really fine mares. We had an excellent opportunity of judging, for we were with the Gomussa when fighting was going on, and when every man among them was mounted on his mare. I do not consider that we saw more than twenty "fok el aali," or, to translate it literally, "tip-top" mares, nor more than fifty which we should have cared to possess. I doubt if there are two hundred really first-class mares in the whole of Northern Arabia. By this I of course do not mean first-class in quality and appearance as well as blood."

"I cannot help suspecting that a certain amount of deterioration has taken place within the last fifty, perhaps the last twenty years. There is no doubt that in the early years of the present century, the Roala were possessed of immense numbers of mares, and had the reputation of having the monopoly of some of the best strains of blood. It was to their sheykh, Ibn Shallan, whom he called the "Prince of the Desert," that Abbas Pasha sent his son to be educated, and from them that he bought most of the mares, of which he made such a wonderful collection. Yet from one cause and another the Roala, though still rich and powerful, have now no mares to speak of. They have within the last few years abandoned the old Bedouin warfare with the lance, and taken to firearms. Horses are no longer indispensable to them, and have been recklessly sold. The Shammar of Mesopotamia have suffered for the last two generations by the semi-Turkism of their Sheykhs, Sfuk and Ferhan, and have been divided by internal dissensions to such an extent, that their enemies, the Anazeh, have greatly reduced them. Abbas Pasha also bought up many fine mares from among them at extravagant prices; and they now have not a single specimen among them of the Seglawi Jedran breed, for which they were formerly famous. The Montefik in the south, once also celebrated for their horses, have allowed the purity of their breed to be tampered with , for the sake of increased size, so necessary for the Indian market which they supplied. It was found that a cross-bred animal of mixed Persian and Arabian blood, would pass muster among the English in India as pure Arabian, and would command a better price from his extra height. The Persian or Turcoman horse stands fifteen hands two inches, or even, I am told, sixteen hands; and these the Montifik have used to cross their mares with. The produce is known in India as the Gulf Arab, but his inferior quality is now recognized. Lastly, among the Sebaa themselves, who have maintained the ancient breeds in all their integrity, various accidents have concurred in diminishing the number of their mares. Several seasons of drought and famine, within the last fifteen years, have reduced the prosperity of the tribes, and forced them to part with some of their best breeding stock. Many a valuable mare was thus sold, because her owner had no choice but to do so or to let her starve, while others, left "on halves" with inhabitants of the small towns, never returned to the desert. Mijuel, of the Misrab, told me of a mare of his, which he had been obliged to leave in this way with a townsman, and which , from having been left standing a whole year in a filthy stable, had become foundered in all four feet and could not be removed. Finally the continual wars, which for years past have devastated the tribes, have caused an immense consumption of horses. When a mare is taken in war she is usually galloped into the nearest town, and sold hurriedly by her captor, for what she will fetch, for fear of her being reclaimed when peace is made. While we were at Aleppo, mares were thus every day brought for us to look at, terribly knocked about, and often with fresh spear-wounds gaping on flank or shoulder."
 
#59 ·
Are you flipping kidding me that video was neat and I enjoyed watching it the horses were gorgeous. Sadly you felt the need to rip it to pieces....unbelievable , you go out of your way to contradict Druydess very obvious I see a certain few follow her from thread to thread alway's after her every word.
 
#58 ·
"Besides all these reasons, the Bedouin system of breeding, as at present practiced among the Anazeh and Shammar, must have had a degenerating effect upon their blood stock, which is only now beginning to show its results. That this system has in most of its features been the same from time immemorial in Arabia, is no doubt true, but there is one point on which it is more likely the practice has been modified by recent circumstances. In former times when the tribes were rich prosperous, it cannot be doubted, but they kept a larger proportion of horses as compared with mares than is now seen. At present time there can hardly be more than one full-grown horse kept for stud purposes to every two hundred mares. Indeed, the proportion is probably far smaller, and this fact alone is sufficient to account for much of the barrenness and much of the inferiority of the produce, complained of in the desert. In England such a proportion would not be tolerated. Then , if there be any truth in the doctrine that in-and-in breeding is wrong, this too may be looked upon as an increasing evil in the desert. The Shammar have long been separated from the rest of Arabia, and, though occasionally recruiting their breeding stock by capture from the Anazeh, they have been for a couple of hundred years practically cut off from all communication with other horse-breeders. They have despised the horses of their Kurdish and Persian neighbors too thoroughly to allow any infusion of blood from them, and thus have been forced to breed in-and-in during all these generations. The Anazeh, too, though not so absolutely severed from Central Arabia, have, since the reduction of Jebel Shammar by the Wahabis, been precluded from free communication with the peninsula, and have become more and more isolated; and the evil has been exaggerated by the extraordinary fanaticism shown by both Anazeh and Shammar in favor of certain special strains of blood which monopolize their attention. At the present moment all the blood stock of the Anazeh tribes must be related in the closest degrees of consanguinity. That this fanaticism operates most injuriously there can hardly be a doubt. The horses bred from are not chosen for their size or their shape, or for any quality of speed or stoutness, only for their blood. we saw a horse with a considerable reputation as a sire, among the Aghedaat, for no other reason than that he was a Maneghi Hedruj of Ibn Sbeyel's strain. The animal himself was a mere pony, without a single good point ot recommend him, but his blood was unexceptionable, and he was looked upon with awe by the tribe."

"It is difficult to understand how it happens that the pure Arabian race should have in fact retained as much of its good quality as it has. In all ages and in all parts of Arabia, to say nothing of the points I have already mentioned, an unpractical system of breeding has prevailed, due in part to prejudice, and in part to peculiarities of climate and soil. To begin with, there has been the extraordinary prejudice of blood I have spoken of, and which, though doubtless an excellent one as between pure Arabians and "kadishes," is hardly valid as between the different strains of pure blood. An inferior specimen of a favorite strain is probably preferred all over Arabia to a fine specimen of a lower strain, or rather of a less fashionable one. Thus the Bedouin's judgment of the individual horse itself, when he does judge it, is rather a guess at this pedigree than a consideration of his qualities. In examining a horse, the Bedouin looks first at his head. There, if anywhere, the signs of his parentage will be visible. Then, maybe, he looks at his color to see if he have any special marks for recognition, and last of all at his shape."

" The education they receive, no doubt, prepares them for this, but at the same time it interferes with their growth, and prevents them from developing the full posers of strength and speed they might otherwise acquire. The colt, as soon as it is born, and this may be at any time of the year (for the Bedouins have no prejudice in favor of early foaling), is fastened, by a cord tied either round the neck or round the hind leg above the hock, to a tent-rope, and kept thus close to the tent all day, its dam going out the while to pasture. The little creature by this early treatment becomes extraordinarily tame, suffering itself to be handled at once and played with by the children. It is fed, as soon as it can be made to drink, on camel's milk, which the Bedouins pretend will give it the endurance of that beast; and, at any rate by the end of the month, it is weaned altogether from the mare. The real reason of this can hardly be the good of the foal, but the necessity of making use of the mare for riding. The Bedouins allow at most a month before and a month after foaling for rest. The colt then has not the advantage we think so essential to proper growth, of running with its mother during its first season. It continues, however, quite tame, and, as soon as it is a year old, is mounted a little by the children, and later on by any boy who is a light weight. The Bedouins declare that, unless a colt has done really hard work before he is three years old, he will never be fit to do it afterwards; so in the course of his third year he is taken on expeditions, not perhaps serious ghazus, where he would run some risk of breaking down or being captured, but on minor journeys; and he is taught to gallop in the figure of eight, and change his legs so as to grow supple. This treatment is indeed a kill or cure one; and, if the colt gets through it, there is little fear of his braking down afterwards. It is seldom that one sees a three-year old without splints, though curbs and spavins are not common. I have seen several animals with the shank bone permanently bent, through hard work when very young. I agree, however, with the Bedouins, in believing that to their general health and poweres of endurance this early training is necessary. The fillies go through the same course of treatment, and themselves become mothers before they are four years old. The colts are sold off when opportunity offers to the townsmen of Deyr, Aleppo or Mosul, as the case may be, or to dealers who come round to the tents of the tribes, during their summer stay in the extreme north. The best are usually taken by the townsmen, as the dealers, especially those who supply the Indian market, seldom or never purchase hadud colts. These cost about three times as much as the others, and it is easy to forge a pedigree. The townsmen, particularly those of Deyr, who are almost Bedouins themselves, know the difference well, and care for nothing but the best. Others are sold to the low tribes, who take them in to the towns for further sale, as soon as they have broken them. The fillies are generally kept in the tribe."


Very interesting stuff!
 
#60 · (Edited)
From the same article:

As I have already said, they will not tell a falsehood in respect of the breeding of their animals, a habit partly due to the honor in which all things connected with horseflesh are held, partly, too, not doubt, to the public notoriety of the breed or breeds in each family, which would at once expose the falsehood; and public opinion is severe on this head.


"The Arabians have indeed no tables of genealogy to prove the descent of their Kochlani; yet they are sure of the legitimacy of the progeny; for a mare of this race is never covered unless in the presence of witnesses, who must be Arabians. This people do not indeed always stickle at perjury; but in a case of such serious importance, they are careful to deal conscientiously. there is no instance of false testimony given in respect to the descent of a horse. Every Arabian is persuaded that himself and his whole family would be ruined, if he should prevaricate in giving his oath in an affair of such consequence.
.


Interesting indeed.

"Horse traders" are everywhere... a quality breeder is just that...
 
#61 ·
I did see that. Wonder why she contradicts herself....or perhaps she was talking about two different tribes, and just didn't make that clear?

And LMPQH, if you'd actually read what I'd posted, you'd see that all of my post was QUOTED FROM A LINK FROM AN ARTICLE WRITTEN IN 1869 BY SOMEONE WHO EXPERIENCED IT ALL FIRSTHAND.
 
#62 ·
We were told by the admin guy to keep the discussion going lol that he was gonna create a separate thread after a certain post then his posts were poof gone lol
I did see that. Wonder why she contradicts herself....or perhaps she was talking about two different tribes, and just didn't make that clear?

And LMPQH, if you'd actually read what I'd posted, you'd see that all of my post was QUOTED FROM A LINK FROM AN ARTICLE WRITTEN IN 1869 BY SOMEONE WHO EXPERIENCED IT ALL FIRSTHAND.
I would think in part, because her husband wrote part of the article, and from what I've learned of their history and the history of Crabbet Stud, he wasn't always in agreement with Lady Blunt. SHE however made the decisions as to what Arabians were imported..and spent lengthy amounts of time living in the Middle East doing her research.
 
#67 ·
All of this is assuming that the old studbooks really are accurate. I don't take that as a given fact. Were fences (or stakes in the ground) really that much stronger in those days then they are now? Did mares never slip foals after being covered by a certain stallion (with witnesses), only to be rebred shortly thereafter by a roving stud? Was every single person honest every single time? Were horses never "lost" for a time, in battle or whatever, and then regained, and misplaced? Did horse traders never cheat, lie, steal, forge, or substitute proof of pedigree? Without DNA evidence, there is absolutely no way to verify claims, and absolutely no way that all of our knowledge of Arabian (or any breed) pedigree is correct.

As for the Bedouins treating their horses so very well, there's a lot of disagreement on that point from the link I stumbled across.

"They go, however, immense distances in this way, cantering and stopping and cantering again, and are out sometimes for a whole month together, during which time their mares are very insufficiently fed, and often kept for days at a time without water. They are also exposed to every hardship in the way of climate, heat, and cold, and pitiless wind. The mares then, depend rather on stoutness and long endurance of privations, than on speed, for finding favor with their masters."

" Horses, mares, colts, and all alike are starved during great part of the year, no corn being ever given, and only camel's milk when other food fails. they are often without water for several days together, and in the most piercing nights of winter they stand uncovered, and with no more shelter than can be got on the lee side of the tents. Their coats become long and shaggy, and they are left uncombed and unbrushed till the new coat comes in spring. At these times they are ragged-looking scarecrows, half-starved, and as rough as ponies."

"He knows little of showing off a horse, or even of making him stand to advantage, but, however anxious he may be to sell him, brings him just as he is, dirty and ragged, tired, and perhaps broken-kneed. He has a supreme contempt himself for everything except blood in his beast, and he expects everybody else to have the same. He knows nothing of the simple art of telling a horse's age by the teeth, and still less of any dealer's trick in the way of false marking. this comes from the fact that in the tribe, each colt's age is a matter of public notoriety. We avoided, as much as possible, having direct commercial dealings with our friends in the desert, but, form all we heard and the little we saw of such transactions, it is evidently very difficult to strike a satisfactory bargain. As soon as one price is fixed, another is substituted; and, unless the intending purchaser rides resolutely away, there is no chance of the bargain being really concluded. Once done, however, and the money counted and re-counted by half a dozen disinterested friends, the horse or mare may be led away. I do not think the Bedouins have in general much personal love for their mares, only a great deal of pride in them, and a full sense of their value."

Much like the Indians of the Americas, and the Vaqueros of Mexico, and the Greeks of Xenophon's time, it seems as though much of the "horse whisperer" and "gentle, trusting, understanding horsemanship" stuff has been greatly exaggerated to suit myths and stories.
 
#69 ·
Some information on the five strains of the Arabian horse, which all have origins in the purest blood..

For centuries, the Bedouin tracked the ancestry of each horse through an oral tradition. Horses of the purest blood were known as Asil and crossbreeding with non-Asil horses was forbidden. Mares were the most valued, both for riding and breeding, and pedigree families were traced through the female line. The Bedouin did not believe in gelding male horses, and considered stallions too intractable to be good war horses, thus they kept very few male foals (colts), selling most, and culling those of poor quality.
Over time, the Bedouin developed several sub-types or strains of Arabian horse, each with unique characteristics. The strains were traced through the maternal line, not through the paternal. According to the Arabian Horse Association, the five primary strains were known as the Keheilan, Seglawi, Abeyan, Hamdani and Hadban. There were also lesser strains, sub-strains, and regional variations in strain names. Thus, many Arabian horses were not only Asil, of pure blood, but also bred to be pure in strain as well, with crossbreeding between strains discouraged, though not forbidden, by some tribes. Purity of bloodline was very important to the Bedouin, and they also believed in telegony, believing if a mare was ever bred to a stallion of "impure" blood, the mare herself and all future offspring would be "contaminated" by the stallion and hence no longer Asil. Carl Raswan, a promoter and writer about Arabian horses from the middle of the 20th century, held the belief that there were only three strains, Kehilan, Seglawi and Muniqi. Raswan felt that these strains represented body "types" of the breed, with the Kehilan being "masculine", the Seglawi being "feminine" and the Muniqi being "speedy".
This complex web of bloodline and strain was an integral part of Bedouin culture. The Bedouin knew the pedigrees and history of their best war mares in detail, via an oral tradition that also tracked the breeding of their camels, Saluki dogs, and their own family or tribal history. Eventually, written records began to be kept; the first written pedigrees in the Middle East that specifically used the term "Arabian" date to 1330 A.D.
 
#70 · (Edited)
Some very interesting facts about the spread of the Arabian, including evidence of similar skeletal structure dated 1700BC, thought to be brought to the area by the Hyksos invasions, as well as the importance of Lady Blunt's Crabbet Stud..

Fiery war horses with dished faces and high-carried tails were popular artistic subjects in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, often depicted pulling chariots in war or for hunting. Horses with oriental characteristics appear in artwork as far north as that of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. While the horse wasn't called an "Arabian" in the Ancient Near East until later, (the word "Arabia" or "Arabaya" only first appeared in writings by the ancient Persians, circa 500 B.C.,) these "proto-Arabian" or "Oriental" horses shared many characteristics with the modern Arabian, including speed, endurance, and refinement. For example, a horse skeleton unearthed in the Sinai peninsula, dated to 1700 B.C., is considered the earliest physical evidence of the horse in Ancient Egypt. It was probably brought by the Hyksos invaders. This horse had a wedge-shaped head, large eye socket and small muzzle, all characteristics of the Arabian horse.
Following the Hijra in A.D. 622 (also sometimes spelled Hegira), the Arabian horse spread across the known world of the time, became recognized as a distinct, named breed,[82] and played a significant role in the History of the Middle East and of Islam. By A.D. 630, Muslim influence expanded across the Middle East and North Africa. By A.D. 711, Muslim warriors had reached Spain, and controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula by 720. Their mounts were of various oriental types, including both Arabians and the Barb horse of North Africa.[citation needed]
Another way Arabian horses spread to the rest of the world was through the Ottoman Empire, which rose in 1299, and came to control much of the Middle East. Though it never fully dominated the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, this Turkish empire obtained many Arabian horses through trade, diplomacy and war. The Ottomans ecouraged the formation of private stud farms in their territories in order to ensure a supply of calvalry horses. Ottoman nobility, such as Muhammad Ali of Egypt also collected pure, desert-bred Arabian horses. An early record of importations and horses occurs with the stud farm of El Naseri, or Al-Nasir Muhammad, an Egyptian Sultan (1290-1342) who imported and bred numerous Arabians in Egypt. A record was made of his purchases, which describes many of the horses as well as their abilities. The record was deposited in his library, forming a source for later study. During his time, an early anatomical study of Arabian horses was also conducted, with several Arabic anatomical diagrams of Arabian horses surviving in manuscripts today.
From the Middle East to Europe
There were some ways the Arabian horse reached Europe .Muslim invasions and during the Crusades, beginning in 1095, European armies invaded Palestine and many knights returned home with Arabian horses as spoils of war. As the knights and the heavy, armored war horses who carried them became obsolete, Arabian horses and their descendants were used to develop faster, agile light cavalry horses that were used in warfare into the 20th century. Probably the earliest horses with Arabian bloodlines to enter Europe came indirectly, through Spain and France. Others would have arrived with returning Crusaders. Under the Ottoman Empire, Arabian horses often were sold, traded, or given as diplomatic gifts to Europeans and, later, to Americans.
One major infusion of Arabian horses into Europe occurred when the Ottoman Turks sent 300,000 horsemen into Hungary in A.D. 1522. Many Turks were mounted on pure-blooded Arabians, captured during raids into Arabia. By 1529, the Ottomans reached Vienna, where they were stopped by the Polish and Hungarian armies, who captured Arabians from the defeated Ottoman cavalry. Some of these horses provided foundation stock for the major studs of Eastern Europe.
Polish and Russian breeding programs
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. Thus, many European monarchs began to support large breeding establishments that crossed Arabians on local stock. One example was Knyszyna, the royal stud of Polish king Zygmunt II August, and another was the Imperial Russian Stud of Peter the Great.
European horse breeders also obtained Arabian stock directly from the desert or via trade with the Ottomans. For example, Count Alexey Orlov of Russia obtained many Arabians, including Smetanka, an Arabian stallion who was a foundation sire of the Orlov trotter.[89][90] Orlov provided Arabian horses to Catherine the Great, who in 1772 owned 12 pure Arabian stallions and 10 mares. To meet the need to breed Arabians as a source of pure bloodstock, two members of the Russian nobility, Count Stroganov and Prince Shcherbatov, established Arabian stud farms by 1889.
Notable imports from Arabia to Poland included those of Prince Hieronymous Sanguszko (1743-1812), who founded the Slawuta stud. Poland's first state-run Arabian stud farm, Janow Podlaski, was established by the decree of Alexander I of Russia in 1817. By 1850, the great stud farms of Poland were well-established, including Antoniny, owned by the Polish Count Potocki (who had married into the Sanguszko family); later notable as the farm that produced the stallion Skowronek
The rise of the Crabbet Park Stud
Perhaps the most famous of all Arabian breeding operations founded in Europe was the Crabbet Park Stud of England, founded 1878. Starting in 1877, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt made repeated journeys to the Middle East, including visits to the stud of Ali Pasha Sherif in Egypt and to Bedouin tribes in the Nejd, bringing the best Arabians they could find to England. Lady Anne also purchased and maintained the Sheykh Obeyd stud farm in Egypt, near Cairo. Upon Lady Anne's death in 1917, the Blunts' daughter, Judith, Lady Wentworth, inherited the Wentworth title and Lady Anne's portion of the estate. She obtained the remainder of the Crabbet Stud following a protracted legal battle with her father, Wilfrid. Lady Wentworth expanded the stud, added new bloodstock, and exported Arabian horses worldwide. Upon Lady Wentworth's death in 1957, the stud passed to her manager, Cecil Covey, who ran Crabbet until 1971, when a motorway was cut through the property, forcing the sale of the land and dispersal of the horses.
 
#71 · (Edited)
The severe desert conditions surrounding the Euphrates and Tigris rives would have guaranteed that the unique ancestors of the Arabian evolved in an isolated environment with little or no influence from other breeds..neither able to wonder far nor other breeds wander in.. Only with human influence later in history was there opportunity for breeding inlux..

he origin of the Arabian horse remains a great zoological mystery. Although this unique breed has had a distinctive national identity for centuries, its history nevertheless is full of subtleties, complexities and contradictions. It defies simple interpretation.

When we first encounter the Arabian, or the prototype of what is known today as the Arabian, he is somewhat smaller than his counterpart today. Otherwise he has essentially remained unchanged throughout the centuries.

Authorities are at odds about where the Arabian horse originated. The subject is hazardous, for archaeologists' spades and shifting sands of time are constantly unsettling previously established thinking. There are certain arguments for the ancestral Arabian having been a wild horse in northern Syria, southern Turkey and possibly the piedmont regions to the east as well. The area along the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent comprising part of Iraq and running along the Euphrates and west across Sinai and along the coast to Egypt, offered a mild climate and enough rain to provide an ideal environment for horses. Other historians suggest this unique breed originated in the southwestern part of Arabia, offering supporting evidence that the three great river beds in this area provided natural wild pastures and were the centers in which Arabian horses appeared as undomesticated creatures to the early inhabitants of southwestern Arabia.

Because the interior of the Arabian peninsula has been dry for approximately 10,000 years, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for horses to exist in that arid land without the aid of man. The domestication of the camel in about 3500 B.C. provided the Bedouins (nomadic inhabitants of the middle east desert regions) with means of transport and sustenance needed to survive the perils of life in central Arabia, an area into which they ventured about 2500 B.C. At that time they took with them the prototype of the modern Arabian horse.

There can be little dispute, however, that the Arabian horse has proved to be, throughout recorded history, an original breed-which remains to this very day.

Neither sacred nor profane history tells us the country where the horse was first domesticated, or whether he was first used for work or riding. He probably was used for both purposes in very early times and in various parts of the world. We know that by 1500 B.C. the people of the east had obtained great mastery over their hot-blooded horses which were the forerunners of the breed which eventually became known as "Arabian."

About 3500 years ago the hot-blooded horse assumed the role of king-maker in the east, including the valley of the Nile and beyond, changing human history and the face of the world. Through him the Egyptians were made aware of the vast world beyond their own borders. The Pharaohs were able to extend the Egyptian empire by harnessing the horse to their chariots and relying on his power and courage. With his help, societies of such distant lands as the Indus Valley civilizations were united with Mesopotamian cultures. The empires of the Hurrians, Hittites, Kassites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and others rose and fell under his thundering hooves. His strength made possible the initial concepts of a cooperative universal society, such as the Roman empire. The Arabian "pony express" shrank space, accelerated communications and linked empires together throughout the eastern world.

This awe-inspiring horse of the east appears on seal rings, stone pillars and various monuments with regularity after the 16th century B.C. Egyptian hieroglyphics proclaim his value; Old Testament writings are filled with references to his might and strength. Other writings talk of the creation of the Arabian, "thou shallst fly without wings and conquer without swords." King Solomon some 900 years B.C. eulogized the beauty of "a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots," while in 490 B.C. the famous Greek horseman, Xinophon proclaimed: "A noble animal which exhibits itself in all its beauty is something so lovely and wonderful that it fascinates young and old alike." But whence came the "Arabian horse?" We have seen this same horse for many centuries before the word "Arab" was ever used or implied as a race of people or species of horse.

The origin of the word "Arab" is still obscure. A popular concept links the word with nomadism, connecting it with the Hebrew "Arabha," dark land or steppe land, also with the Hebrew "Erebh," mixed and hence organized as opposed to organized and ordered life of the sedentary communities, or with the root "Abhar"-to move or pass. "Arab" is a Semitic word meaning "desert" or the inhabitant thereof, with no reference to nationality. In the Koran a'rab is used for Bedouins (nomadic desert dwellers) and the first certain instance of its Biblical use as a proper name occurs in Jer. 25:24: "Kings of Arabia," Jeremiah having lived between 626 and 586 B.C. The Arabs themselves seem to have used the word at an early date to distinguish the Bedouin from the Arabic-speaking town dwellers.

This hot blooded horse which had flourished under the Semitic people of the east now reached its zenith of fame as the horse of the "Arabas." The Bedouin horse breeders were fanatic about keeping the blood of their desert steeds absolutely pure, and through line-breeding and inbreeding, celebrated strains evolved which were particularly prized for distinguishing characteristics and qualities. The mare evolved as the Bedouin's most treasured possession. The harsh desert environment ensured that only the strongest and keenest horse survived, and it was responsible for many of the physical characteristics distinguishing the breed to this day.
 
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