The Unique Arabian Horse

The Arabian Horse, as a Breed, is unique. It could be said that there are other breeds that have similar unique attributes, for example the Welsh Mountain breed. This Breed identifies the differing types into Sections. Section A (Welsh Mountain Pony), Section B (Welsh Pony), Section C (Welsh Pony of Cob Type), Section D (Welsh Cob) and Section E Welsh gelding. Two sections have adjusted standards (Standard of Excellence) Each section is shown separately. This does not happen with the Arabian Horse. The Arabian Horse is judged against each other as though they are all equal to the modern Breed Standard. By using all the information on this website (Conformation Views #1, #2, #3) or and About “asil” as well as using information available via the internet in general as well as sites with related topics eg defiinitions, will reveal the key to the information that is the Arabian Horse as both an individual and as a Breed. 

Most articles and/or books focus on an issue such as conformation, the Breed’s history whether it be factual or embroiled with myth, strains, bloodlines in general or by country. All of which are interesting and potentially beneficial. There’s limited, if any, articles or books where all the data is combined to explain the Arabian Horse as a Breed as well as it’s evolution since its westernization, to dispel the myths and thereby focus on the factual.

The uniqueness of the Arabian Horse Breed is its skeletal structure. It should be the one Breed that is excluded from the standardization dictate, especially if breeders are following the breeding practices of the Breed’s original breeders, the nomadic Bedouin.

Depending how an individual’s DNA is strung together at conception will define the individual’s ultimate phenotype. Phenotype can 

• represent a combination of both sire and dam; 
• reflect either sire or dam; 
• represent a close relative 
• revert to a distant ancestor.

The Arabian Horse's conformation uniqueness stems from their loin and through to their pelvis:

1. An individual with length to their loin, has a pelvis that will seat their femur (thigh bone) with little to no angle. This has a flow on effect through the other hindleg bones (fibula, hock, hind cannon, pastern and hoof). The movement of hindlegs with little angulation is that it will not reach as far forward as it is not angled to clear the abdomen. The stride usually grounds below or slightly forward of their loin/flanks. After grounding the consequential push off, their stride then continues out behind the line of buttocks before the actions are repeated. An individual with this type of loin/hindquarter is generally narrower and finer in build. This build shows an individual’s stifles and hooves to point more forward and their hocks to point more directly to the rear. 
2. An individual without length to their loin, has a pelvis that will seat their femur (thigh bone) with a slight angle that allows the individual’s stride to travel past their flank and abdomen. The stride usually grounds midway or forward of the body. After grounding the consequential push-off, these individuals’ strides finish under their hindquarters (in-line with their buttocks) rather than out behind as in (1). This build has an individual’s stifles and hooves pointing outwards slightly, not as straight ahead as in (1), and their hocks, while pointing directly to the rear will do so in a reciprocal angulation to that of their stifles and accordingly, their hooves This conformation is not cow-hocks. Also, correction farriery should be discouraged as changing the hoof alignment will detrimentally impact ligaments, tendons and muscles further up the leg.

Note: True cow-hocks is when an individual’s hind cannons are not parallel and tend to present as an inverted V. This undesirable feature will most likely be detrimental to the individual’s agility and could hinder an individual in work.. 

Number 1 and 2 are the two main differences. The desert-bred horse of the Nomadic Bedouin was bred for thousands of years and, overtime, 1 and 2 were bred together and produced variances to the 2 main types. These differences have been defined by westerners as the physical manifestation of strains. Noting that nomadic Bedouin definition known as strains is a naming protocol that validates the lineage of their horses, specifically the tail female. 

With regards to the Arabian Breed, this uniqueness defines the variety within the Breed. It must be noted that neither (1) or (2) is better than the other for the Arabian Horse as a Breed. One type of conformation was/is more agile while the other may have been/is faster. The differences represent the nomadic Bedouin preferences as desert bred horses were used by the nomadic Bedouin for raids (El Ghazu) and both speed and agility were useful for this purpose..  The spoils of a successful raid went to the victor. Those spoils included a choice or all of the defeated tribes desert bred mares. Hence the varied conformation of the desert bred horses. Noting well that the Nomadic Bedouin were successfully breeding horses well before the concept of standardization was thought of.

Another uniqueness of the Arabian Horse is its cultural pedigree as created by its founding breeders – the nomadic Bedouin. 

The Arabian Horse would be one of the oldest, if not the oldest Breeds to have a known history. This was done using a verbalized 'pedigrees' (within basic details) known to westerners as “strains”. Strain names follow the mare lines only. While a male will take its dam’s strain name, that strain name stops when the male sires its own progeny. Being nomadic, the  Bedouin traveled light. They  memorized and recounted the lineage of their mares as well as being aware of other tribes' mares. Only when the mares changed ownership that took them away from the nomadic Bedouin were ‘hujas’ (documents) used to validate the mare’s lineage for the new owners.  

Early authors, pre 1900s, discuss ‘strains’ broadly in their writings about the desert bred horse of the nomadic Bedouin. Strains, as discussed by these travelers, were given phenotype characteristics, some descriptions were general, other descriptions were detailed. What the travelers saw was a snapshot-in-time of the variety that was the desert bred horses of the nomadic Bedouin. 

Notable English travelers, Lady Anne Blunt (1837–1917) and her husband, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), made notes of the desert bred horses they saw. They also acquired, where possible, individual desert bred horses per their preferences and returned with their acquisitions to England or in later years to Lady Blunt's Sheykh Obeyd residence. 

It is interesting to note that over the years Lady Blunt travels to, and lives in, the Arabian Peninsula, she reappraises the information she knows about the desert bred horse of the nomadic Bedouin. At the start of her travels, Lady Blunt notes how each tribe of Bedouin refer to their horses by different names, later noted as strain names. Lady Blunt assumed, initially, that each tribal collection of desert bred horses was a different ‘breed’ as they may have had differing phenotypes as well as referred to by a different strain name. 

The Blunt's daughter, Lady Judith Wentworth (1873-1957), notes in her book, “The Authentic Arabian Horse and His Descendants; Three Voices Concerning the Horses of Arabia; Tradition (Njed, Inner East), Romantic Fable (Islam), The Outside World of the West Horse” first published 1945, that Mutlak a native of the Arabian Peninsula and Lady Blunt’s constant helper and confidant, reminds Lady Bunt that the desert bred horses are all the same ie they all belong to the same breed despite their physical and name differences.

"Mutlak," said Lady Anne Blunt, "was never tired of telling me that all strains derive from Kehailan Ajuz." 

The word 'Ajuz' denotes antiquity of strain. And Kehailan Ajuz is accepted as the first known strain name.

Melding fact with fiction, the Arabian Horse Breeders of the early 1900s embraced the Bakewellian theory of standardization. This action facilitated the show ring comparisons to prevail as well as public acceptance leading to promotional marketing and sales. 

The Blunt’s initial quest, as well as fellow Englishman Major Roger D. Upton (1827-81), was to seek what they thought to be the foundation of the English Thoroughbred, then considered to be the desert-bred horses of the nomadic Bedouin, then each party acquired desert bred horses and returned with them to England. The imported desert bred horses were bred to the English Thoroughbreds. The resulting progeny tended to show a lack of height and speed compared to the racing Thoroughbred and the quest was doomed. However, the interest in the desert bred horse grew. 

The Blunt’s daughter, Lady Judith Wentworth, continued to review both the Arabian Horse and the English Thoroughbred alike. Lady Wentworth was an avid author and as such is the author of  “The Swift Runner. Racing Speed through the Ages including standard points of its foundation breed the marathon runner.” which was published in her final year, 1957. The ‘marathon runner’ referred to is the Arabian Horse. 

Within this book, Lady Wentworth includes a section ‘The Classic Arabian Foundation Breed’ . The section has over 50 pages of text, illustrations and photographs to describe acceptable characteristics of the Arabian Horse as well as characteristics that are not desirable or acceptable. 

The Swift Runner’ was published with an addendum that notes with Lady Wentworth’s prior approval, the section be adopted by [the British] Council of the Arab Horse Society as the inaugural ‘Type and Standard’ for the westernized Arabian Horse Breed. Part of the addendum reads: “The Arab horse being an original breed, not subject to arbitrary alterations of passing fashion, has been unchanged in type for several thousand years.” and that any alterations, addition or subtractions must not be made unless with Lady Wentworth’s express written approval. With Lady Wentworth’s demise, it’s interesting to note the changes over the years to the original Standard. These have been considered minor changes to reflect the modernization of the Breed, and subsequently affecting the modern Arabian Horse over time. 

There is a silver-lining to the misguided attribution of phenotype to strain names. The benefit is that it proves that after a century (100+ years) of westernized breeding practices, there are still visible differences/variety within the Arabian Horse Breed and thereby supporting its uniqueness. 

To promote the uptake of the Arabian Horse Breed by westerners because of its growing numbers and consequential availability, authors have published books noting the westernized versions of the Arabian Horse and its history. Strains were used to describe types. A notable post-1960s author, Judith Forbis with her husband, Don, while employed in Middle East allowed them to familiarize themselves with the Arabian Horse, particularly those in Egypt. This Egyptian herd were acquired by the Abbas Pasha from the nomadic Bedouin and bred on in Egypt. The Forbis' visited notable private and government run horse farms, taking photographs and making notes of desert bred bloodlines available in Egypt. The government run establishment was the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS (now the Egyptian Agricultural Organisation (EAO)) where the Forbis’ acquired a selection of young desert bred horses to establish their US breeding program, Ansata Arabians. Judith Forbis published their findings in a series of books over decades. The visually influential volumes Authentic Arabian Bloodstock: A Reference Guide, Historical Articles, and Racing Records (1990), [the blue book] and its follow-up volume Authentic Arabian Bloodstock: The Story of Ansata and Sharing the Dream (2003) [the gold book] are invaluable for their photographs and historical details. While the books advocate for the assimilation of strains as types, there are short comings. The first of which is that only photographs of individuals looking like the strain type are used as illustrations and the second, within the gold book, there is a further breakdown into broader mare groups. This unwittingly supports the fact that a strain as a type is not consistent. Rather, it consolidates that strains are not type, and that DNA is responsible for an individual’s phenotype with consideration to how closely they are bred. 

Putting all this information together, the interpretation of the revised Breed Standard and the consequential show judging and breeding practices, the desert bred horses’ uniqueness has been compromised due to the acceptance of a standard looking Arabian Horse. 

The onus, therefore, is on each breeder and judge to interpret the Arabian Horse Standard in conjunction with the Arabian Horses’ history and the culture that bred it.