A Blast from the Past
Since I have not blogged in a few months, I decided I needed to get back into it. I think sharing with others is important in this day and age. I received an email from another Arabian Horse breeder that started with
"A Blast from the Past", which triggered memories of why I got into breeding Arabian Horses. So I decided to go through
old magazines that I still have on
Arabian horses and share some of the interesting stories of the past with you.
So lets start with the real history of the Arabian Horse and where they originally came from. This except was taken from the Arabian Horse Express, May 1982, but felt it was worth sharing with you Arabian Horse Lovers.
The Arabian Horse: An Introduction (by Beckie Brenn)
Arabian. The word alone conjures up romantic images. Clusters of tents under a merciless sun. A camel caravan winding slowly across brill ant white sand dunes. Sun browned, bearded sheiks and veiled, dark-eyed women.
Oil wells pumping up black gold.
And horses. Arabian horses, with flaring nostrils and flashing eyes. They pound over the desert, graceful necks arched, long manes and gaily-held tails streaming in a wind of their own creation. They appear to fly without sings, slender legs carrying their weight effortlessly, dancing hooves skimming over the earth
without seeming to touch it.
Surely the writer had the Arabian horse in mind when he penned these verses:
"Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?...The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword....He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage....He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha...." (Job 39:19-25).
The Arabian Horse, ancestor of all light horse breeds, is the most ancient of today's modern breeds. There is evidence that the Near East contained horses of Arabian type as early as the 17th and 16th centuries B.C. Arabians were the war horses of all the nations and city-states in that area. Early Egyptian art pictures horses with the same familiar, distinctly Arabian tail carriage and head style as
found in Arabian horses today.
Horses were apparently not considered necessary by the ancient desert Arabs until they began getting caught by warring Assyrian horsemen. These cavalry units were unable to catch the camels ridden by the Arabs in a long-distance run, but they could catch up fast in a close race; which they did with monotonous regularity and disastrous consequences to the hapless camel-rider. The horses were quicker, more maneuverable, and more effective in hand-to-hand fighting. Consequently, the Bedouins soon became skilled horsemen themselves.
With the advent of heavy armor in Europe and the de-emphasis on quickness and agility, the Arabian horse was gradually replaced by the ponderous, heavy boned draft-type horses. Little was required of the horses except the ability to carry several hundred pounds of rider and armor and to run in relatively straight line at the enemy, in order for the rider to pierce said enemy with his long lance.
It was really no wonder that the Godolphin Arabian, a small bay stallion, was a laughingstock when he was first received in the royal court of Britain. It was not until much later that he was given the recognition due him as a sire of great influence.
In the desert, a male horse was rarely gelded, which resulted in the practice of only mares being used on raids, since silence was mandatory and stallions had a habit of being noisy and too easily distracted. The importance of mares gave rise for the matriarchal system of record-keeping in the Arabian breed. The strain name is passed on only by the tail-female line, from dam to daughter.
At first, there were no written pedigrees; instead, the record of ancestry was kept by memory alone. Today, however, there is a detailed stud book and voluminous literature on the subject. Anyone, who has studied Arabian pedigrees will affirm that the system is quite complicated, including strains, sub-strains, and family names.
Fortunately, the ability to understand and recite pedigrees is not a requisite to appreciating Arabian horses. The Arabian can be appreciated by all horsemen, regardless of which breed they may fancy, for its ancestral influence.
Each of today's light horse has borrowed characteristics from its Arabian forefathers, developing these characteristics to a degree where they have, in many cases, become specialized trademarks of that breed.
For example, the Thoroughbred traces its endurance and heart to the three foundation sires of that breed, the Godolphin Arabian, the Darley Arabian, and the Byerly Turk. Through its foundation sire, Janus, the Quarter Horse inherits its quickness and agility from the Arabian. Saddle bred horses may thank the Arabian for their proud and elegant style. The Morgan horse has many similarities in conformation to the Arabian and possesses the same strength in a deceptively refined appearance.
The Arabian did not appear on the show scene until after most other breeds had been firmly established as show horses. Consequently, at first there were no classes open to Arabians, forcing them to compete in their own shows.
Now showing that is another complicated subject........so to be continued.
