Hi there, (this got long so fair warning) now this is just my personal experience (I grew up with Arabs and have 4 now) and I am no expert, but here's what I've found working with quite a few:
CMK (Crabbet, Maynesboro, Kellogg) and Selby lines are versatile, and one of my very best horses ever was highly Selby bred (they owned Raffles for a while). We trained her to ride and drive as an 8 year old, untouched pasture horse and she never once gave me a hard time. As a 15 year old kid I took her trail riding through a neighborhood with cars, trucks and flags.... it was her 3rd ride ever, and she acted like it was old hat. She could go saddleseat, western, jump and drive. Fantastic mare.
I knew quite a few Crabbet bred horses that were safe for beginner children even when the horses themselves were at a fairly young age.
I recently had a straight Egyptian mare somewhat linebred to Halima that was the most gentle soul ever, unfortunately I lost her minutes after she delivered her last foal.
She was one of the least reactive horses I have ever met, she would relax anywhere and just loved attention from anyone. I have her 2 daughters, one with domestic lines on top and a straight Egyptian filly. They both have great personalities but the straight Egyptian filly at just a few months old is able to be led with just a neck rope, calmly checks out new things and basically functions as my shadow. She's been hand raised unfortunately because of the tragic loss of her mother but even so, she's developed none of the issues I would expect from a bottle baby. She is very gentle, not at all pushy, and is extremely non reactive. I have, however met very hot Egyptian Arabs so this could just be her particular lines.
Halter lines are often quite hot, but some do make really good performance horses. Others... not so much.
My favorite riding horse is what I would consider reactive/hot breeding, with Padrons Psyche and a ton of linebreeding to *Bask, but while very reactive she is very good at watching her feet and luckily if handled calmly she is able to contain herself. She's amazingly responsive to aids, but if she gets overfaced she rears a slight bit, which is usually my fault so I don't blame her. She does react to Every. Little. Thing. On a ride, stall, wherever but her reactions are usually really small. That said, when my 70 year old mother leads her, the mare takes tiny, mincing little steps and waits patiently if mom drops behind a little.
I've had both ends of the spectrum with Polish lines, but I really like them.
Again, I am no expert and this is just based on personal experience. I'm sure there's others who can comment on lines I have no experience with, and of course each horse is an individual. There are for sure plenty of non reactive Arabs out there.
Edit: I cannot believe I forgot Khemosabi, I had the great fortune of meeting him when I was a kid, and he just exhuded calm confidence. He was stunning too. I met a stallion recently that was Khemo/Ferzon bred and he was so quiet, calm and relaxed even at a big show. I like the addition of a little Khemosabi to the hotter lines, though his lines seem to carry a lot of white markings which really just goes down to preference but I like less white on my horses.
CMK (Crabbet, Maynesboro, Kellogg) and Selby lines are versatile, and one of my very best horses ever was highly Selby bred (they owned Raffles for a while). We trained her to ride and drive as an 8 year old, untouched pasture horse and she never once gave me a hard time. As a 15 year old kid I took her trail riding through a neighborhood with cars, trucks and flags.... it was her 3rd ride ever, and she acted like it was old hat. She could go saddleseat, western, jump and drive. Fantastic mare.
I knew quite a few Crabbet bred horses that were safe for beginner children even when the horses themselves were at a fairly young age.
I recently had a straight Egyptian mare somewhat linebred to Halima that was the most gentle soul ever, unfortunately I lost her minutes after she delivered her last foal.
She was one of the least reactive horses I have ever met, she would relax anywhere and just loved attention from anyone. I have her 2 daughters, one with domestic lines on top and a straight Egyptian filly. They both have great personalities but the straight Egyptian filly at just a few months old is able to be led with just a neck rope, calmly checks out new things and basically functions as my shadow. She's been hand raised unfortunately because of the tragic loss of her mother but even so, she's developed none of the issues I would expect from a bottle baby. She is very gentle, not at all pushy, and is extremely non reactive. I have, however met very hot Egyptian Arabs so this could just be her particular lines.
Halter lines are often quite hot, but some do make really good performance horses. Others... not so much.
My favorite riding horse is what I would consider reactive/hot breeding, with Padrons Psyche and a ton of linebreeding to *Bask, but while very reactive she is very good at watching her feet and luckily if handled calmly she is able to contain herself. She's amazingly responsive to aids, but if she gets overfaced she rears a slight bit, which is usually my fault so I don't blame her. She does react to Every. Little. Thing. On a ride, stall, wherever but her reactions are usually really small. That said, when my 70 year old mother leads her, the mare takes tiny, mincing little steps and waits patiently if mom drops behind a little.
I've had both ends of the spectrum with Polish lines, but I really like them.
Again, I am no expert and this is just based on personal experience. I'm sure there's others who can comment on lines I have no experience with, and of course each horse is an individual. There are for sure plenty of non reactive Arabs out there.
Edit: I cannot believe I forgot Khemosabi, I had the great fortune of meeting him when I was a kid, and he just exhuded calm confidence. He was stunning too. I met a stallion recently that was Khemo/Ferzon bred and he was so quiet, calm and relaxed even at a big show. I like the addition of a little Khemosabi to the hotter lines, though his lines seem to carry a lot of white markings which really just goes down to preference but I like less white on my horses.
