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What is an Arabian horse?
The Arabian was prized throughout the Near and Middle East as a war horse. Faras (pure-bred Arabians) – especially those from Nejd in Central Arabia – were the favourite mounts of the Mamlūks of Egypt, celebrated for their horsemanship and their skill with arms. In Central and Eastern Europe, close contact with the Near and Middle East meant that the Arab had long been well-known and valued for its qualities as a cavalry horse, but until the 18th century the breed was relatively rare in Britain. The result was that while Oriental horses, as they were often known, were generally (where they were available) used to improve local stock, there was little real knowledge or appreciation of their qualities.
It was not until the twentieth century that Arabians were bred in any numbers outside the desert. Gradually the Arab horse population increased so that there were far more Arabians outside Arabia than there ever had been in it. The Arab Horse Society now has over 4,000 members and registers hundreds of purebred foals every year. In the USA and other parts of the world, the figures are many times higher. Paradoxically, the Arabian’s very popularity has worked against it. The boom in Arab showing, first in the USA and then in Europe, has led to some very substandard stock being produced. While some top show winners have undoubtedly been superlative examples of the breed, there have been many others, even at the highest international level, that could never have fulfilled the breed’s original role as a war horse. This, together with some of the arcane and dubious practices often seen in Arab show classes, has devalued the breed in the estimation of the general equestrian public. Modern myths about the Arabian have been piled onto others dating back 200 years or more, so that Arab-haters can find plenty of ammunition and outlets for their prejudices. It is regarded as something of a heresy in Arabian horse circles to suggest that the oriental ancestors of the Thoroughbred were anything but pure-bred Arabians; but I am afraid that, following analysis of DNA samples from various breeds, the weight of evidence points to a good many of these illustrious ancestors having been either Barbs or Turkomans. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century it was usual to refer to all horses imported from the Near East, indiscriminately, as Arabian, Turk, Barb etc., which has resulted in a great deal of confusion and unwarranted assumptions regarding the origins of the oriental ancestors of the TB. Adding fuel to the controversy, a number of writers have stated that there was a special racing strain of Arabian (the Managhi, or Muniqui) in the desert, that looked more like a Turkoman, and which is not accepted as a ‘pure’ strain[1]. In fact, there never was such a ‘racing strain’; this was a non-Bedouin invention. Horses of the Managhi strain look like horses of any other Arabian strain, and are just as pure. If a horse looked like a Turkoman, that was probably exactly what it was.
The latter may well have been of the strain now known as Akhal-Teke. Aleksandr Klimuk, zootechnician and manager of the Stavropol Stud Farm, has pointed out that the portraits of some of the oriental sires used in founding the Thoroughbred bear a strong resemblance to the Akhal-Teke. He also points out that no other breed bears such a striking resemblance to the Thoroughbred in conformation and general appearance. Although the final results are yet to be published, research carried out by Dr E. Gus Cothran[2] into equine DNA has so far tended to confirm that the Akhal-Teke, or at any rate a very closely related Turkoman breed, did indeed play a major role in the foundation of the Thoroughbred.[3] However this may be, the Arabian has in some ways suffered from its association with the Thoroughbred, so that in the eyes of many it is simply a rather slower type of racehorse. This means that the breed’s real potential is grossly underestimated. The success of Arabians in endurance riding is well-publicised, yet it is less well known that there are countless Arabians quietly doing extremely well in showjumping, eventing and even team chasing. That they do not fare so well in dressage is not so much a reflection of their abilities in this sphere, as of the degree of unreasoning prejudice shown by some dressage judges. Fortunately there are any number of horses in the USA and Australia who are showing just what Arabians can do in this respect. One example is the purebred mare E A Novette, who has won no less than four Horse of the Year awards from the US Dressage Federation. Arab racing has become immensely popular in recent years. However, many enthusiasts are concerned that the trend away from Arab racing as a purely amateur sport will result in the Arabian becoming just another racehorse. Although the breed was used for racing in certain parts of the Arab world, this type of racing was not at all like modern short-distance flat races. In the desert, the Arabian was bred exclusively as a war horse: this was a small but tough, compact, powerful horse, in whom agility and manoeuvrability were prized far more than mere speed for its own sake. In fact the Bedouin war horse, which was rarely ridden for any distance in a straight line, needed to be capable of great acceleration over short distances, and to have the ability to stop dead, spin on its hocks, and dart off again. This is far removed from the modern racehorse! It seems to many that some sections of the Arab horse world are hell-bent on re-inventing the Thoroughbred, and that there is a real danger (as there is in breeding for showing) that in the process of concentrating too much on this aspect of the breed the Arabian’s true qualities will be lost. There has probably been more utter twaddle (some of it, regrettably, from Arab-fanciers themselves) written and spoken about Arabian horses than about any other breed, much of it to do with their supposed physical peculiarities. Few people stop to ask whether these peculiarities do in fact exist, or whether what they are seeing might be accounted for by other, unseen factors. Much is made, for example, of the tendency of Arabians to carry their heads high and hollow their backs. This is generally held to be the result of their conformation, and this may indeed be the case with certain Arabians bred specifically for the showring, with its exaggerated ideas regarding the levelness of the back and croup. This sometimes results in a pelvis which is too level to enable them to engage the hind legs with ease. Some Arabians of certain bloodlines are rather croup-high, which again compromises their ability to lighten the forehand. However, as I pointed out in The Arabian Show Horse, neither of these types of conformation is correct for the Arabian. The first stems from a misconception about the structure of the Arabian’s pelvis. The second is derived from an idea that, because the Arabian was supposedly the progenitor of the Thoroughbred, and because some of the most successful racehorses have been slightly croup-high, this must be correct for the Arabian. But if one looks at eighteenth and nineteenth-century paintings and drawings of Arabians, as well as at photographs of horses widely held to be excellent representatives of the breed, one can see that they do not generally have either of the peculiarities described above.
Arabian stallion from the stud of Abbas Pasha
In my observations of Arabian horses (which include some rigorous measurements of angles), I find that in the majority of Arabians it is not the pelvis itself which makes the croup appear relatively flat, but the line of the sacral vertebrae and the musculature of the quarters. As for the high head carriage, this is most often the result of tension (as Arabians do tend to have a high postural tonus) or of excitement. Arabian horses correctly trained, and worked and ridden sympathetically, do not poke their noses or stick their heads in the air. Although small, Arabians can carry weight far out of proportion to their size, and give a deceptively big ride. If overfed, under-exercised and not given enough to occupy their minds, their natural intelligence, liveliness and playfulness leads them into mischief, and they may become silly or flighty. They are in general very sensitive and reactive, and need tactful training, riding and handling. Arabians have proved their versatility in a wide range of disciplines: endurance, dressage, horse trials, Arab racing, polo, team chasing, showjumping and showing, and they are in great demand in some quarters for Western riding of the kind which requires agility and manoeuvreability allied to quickness of reactions. Sometimes individuals can shine in several of these disciplines, such as the little chestnut stallion Ferishal, foaled in Canada in 1949, who competed successfully in showing, dressage, showjumping, trail riding and eventing. However, not all Arabians are this versatile; some are temperamentally and physically more suited to certain disciplines than others. As always, we must consider the horse as an individual! Description
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