All the Pretty Arabians...

There have been a lot of bloggers who have posted about their favorite breed, or breeds, of horses lately, so I thought that I would take a minute to show you mine! Those of you who know me, know that I have had a lifelong love affair with the Arabian horse, and even though I may now prefer Arab crosses to purebred Arab's, it is only because of the way some prominent Arabian breeders, similar to breeders of any type of registered horse (or any registered animal for that matter!) have focused only one area, typeyness, and sacrificed other areas that should count more than looks-brains!!!! By brains, I am not referring to the spookiness of a horse-I have ridden several breeds of horses who are spookier than many of the Arabians that I have ridden-rather what I am referring to is the intelligence and problem solving (or problem causing...lol!!) abilities that the Arabian horse was/is known for.

Take a look at Abu Farwa, a Crabbet-bred stallion, in the above picture. I bet that he is not what most of us think of when we think of the Arab "type," but 40+ years ago, he was. Today, there are several types of Arabian horses, and to me, the interesting thing about them is that they are all interconnected.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time to write a really in-depth post (I should be finishing one of my papers right now!) so I am just going to touch on the various types/strains of Arabian horses that there are today, post a link where you can go read about their history, and post a few pictures of some of the Arab stallions who are credited with being the forefathers of their particular type.My favorite type of Arab is known as the Crabbet Arab. They were selected from Bedouin herds in Egypt and imported to England's Crabbet Park, by Lady Anne Blunt and her successors. *Abu Farwa, the chestnut featured earlier, and *Skowronek (actually imported from Poland), the gray stallion above, are a few famous stallions that came from this breeding program, and who's influence is still seen today. (See this link for more info)Perhaps no Arabian stallion is as well known as *Bask++ (above stallion). He is one of the most prominent Polish Arabian stallions ever, and many horses can be traced back to him. Polish Arabians have a fascinating history that is riddled with many hardships, and the fact that the breed survived in Poland is amazing. You can read more about them here and here, and Val over at Fantastyk Voyage did an excellent post on their history as well!Another bloodline, which is closely related to the Polish Arabian, is the Russian Arabian. This bloodline was also lucky to have made it through political turmoil and strife, and it really took off when prized, Polish Arabian stallions were sent to the Tersk Stud in Russia during World War II. Until then, the Russian Arabian was mostly composed of some stallions who were imported from France and the Crabbet Stud in England. The stallion above is *Muscat, and you can read more about them here.Most likely the least known Arabian, the Spanish Arab composes less than 1% of the Arabian bloodlines today. They were originally bred from Polish and Crabbet horses, but were eventually refined to represent the Spanish Arabian as it is known today. They were introduced in Spain to enhance the breeding of Iberian horses, and their influence can be seen in breeds such as the Andalusian and Lipizzaner. The above stallion is *Barich de Washoe, and you can read more about the Spanish Arabian here. Lastly there is the line that most people think of when they reflect upon Arabian horses, and that is the Egyptian Arabian. They are often considered to be the purest of the Arabian bloodlines, and were developed by breeders such as Henry Babson. The important thing to remember about Arabian horses is that they all stem from the Egyptian Arab, and that the various "lines" that are seen today, are representative of the areas/regions where they come from-Poland, England, Russia, and Spain- and their breeding programs. Two prominent stallions that helped to carry on the Egyptian line, are *Morafic (above), and *Nazeer (below). You can read more about Egyptian Arabians here. Again, this is just a brief synopsis of the Arabian horses current lineage, and I will write more about their versatility in another post. If there are any major errors, I am apologizing ahead of time...my research time is limited and I am going off of what I can remember "off the top of my head"...lol!!!! Can you tell which line, Bo (Caballero SF), comes from by noting any resemblances to horses in the above photos??

Hope that everyone is recovering from Thanksgiving!!! Have a great weekend!

PS-My other favorite breed is mentioned in this post. Can you guess what it is?