Jimmy Dean remembered: Excerpts from Taped Interviews

Jimmie Dean Remembered

Arabian Visions July 1991  Copyright 1991 Used by permission of Arabian Visions

        Jimmie Dean, long-time manager of Selby Stud, died in his sleep at his home in Kentucky during the night of March 21, 1991. In preparing this issue, we asked friends of James Parker Dean to send a few words of remembrance.

Bob & Ginger Detterman, Bo-Gin Arabians, Thousand Oaks, California

        I wish we had met Jimmie Dean 25 years earlier. We learned so much from him in the years we knew him – he was a great friend and source of both knowledge and information. Although I had heard Jimmie’s name ever since I was knee-high to a grass-hopper (my grnadmother had purchased her foundation mares from the Selby Stud in the 1930’s when Jimmie was in charge of the Arabians), it was Azy (Azraff x Poppy) who actually brought us together.

        As we visited breeding farms and horse shows in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we kept seeing individual horses that really appealed to us, and a great number of them were sired by a stallion named Azy, who was bred and owned by Jimmie and Thelma Dean. We decided we had to see this horse, so we gathered up our courage and telephoned the legendary Mr. and Mrs. Dean to make an appointment. The rest is history.

        They were such warm, hospitable and genuine people — you couldn’t help wanting to make them a part of your lives. I’ll never forget the first time we suggested the idea of bringing Azy to California. We had been sitting around after dinner, talking about Arabian horses, and when we approached him with the idea, his answer was an instantaneous and unequivocal “NO!” I believe the only reasons we were ultimately able to get Jimmie and Thelma to let us bring Azy to California three years later were that (1) we would not give up, and (2) we sent a mare back to Kentucky to be bred to Azy, and Jimmie was able to get an idea of how we handled our horses from this mare.

        Jimmie was one of the finest horsemen I’ll ever have the privilege of knowing. He was able to communicate with a horses with his voice and with his hands using great finesse. Horses responded to his gentle touch. The last time he visited us in California, both Azy and Azleta were here, and we wanted to get a picture of Jimmie with these two great old horses that he bred.         I put a halter on Azy and handed the rope to Jimmie, while I went to get Azleta. We decided to take the picture in front of a row of olive trees that are located halfway between Azy’s paddock and the breeding barn. Azy and I had made that trip many times, and Azy and I had an understanding — he would lead quietly until we went throuugh one particular gate, and then he could call the ladies and animate. I didn’t think about that as I headed Jimmie and Azy toward the olive trees — but when Azy went through the gate, he “turned out.” Jimmie simply spoke to Azy and hit him once in the flank with his hand, and Azy stopped, looked at Jimmy, and led the rest of the way to the olive trees quietly. We got our picture, and Jimmie and Azy walked back to Azy’s paddock, with Jimmie talking to Azy the whole way.

        For several months after that day, as Azy and I would walk through that gate on our way to the breeding barn, Azy would look at me as if to ask permission before calling to the ladies, and if I told him to keep quiet, he would! Incidentally, Jimmie told me that it was not necessary to use a stud chain on Azy — even in the breeding barn — and to this day, I haven’t used one on him.

        In all the years we knew him, I never heard Jimmie say an unkind word about anyone. He was the ultimate diplomat. Although we frequently asked for his advice, he never pushed his opinions on us. There is no doubt that his influence upgraded the quality of our breeding stock. During his lifetime, he put us in touch with a number of other breeders across the United States whose goals are similar to ours, and with this network of friends, we expect his influence on our breeding program to continue for many years.

 

Garth Buchanan, Comar Arabians, Story City, Iowa.

        Fifty years have passed since I made my first (of many) trips to the Selby Arabian Stud, then managed by James P. and Thelma Dean. Thus began what developed into a personal friendship, collaboration on horses and “cross-pollination” of breeding programs which endured the rest of their lives.

        As in years gone by Jimmie and Thelma are in my heart, and in loving memories they will remain inseparable — near impossible to think of one without reminiscing of the other and their ceaseless dedication to the Arabian horse.         Words poorly convey my gratitude for their interest and encouragement through the many years of precious association.  

Sandy Rolland, Sandell Farms, Macomb, Illinois

        I first met Jimmie and Thelma (“Buck”) Dean when I was researching my book, *Raffles, His Sons and Daughters.

        Jimmie and Buck were wonderful to me and they spent hours with me answering questions as I followed them around the farm, helping them feed horses or sitting in Buck’s kitchen peeling potatoes for dinner for her while she related fascinating facts and stories to me about the old foundation horses.

        My sons were about eight and ten when we first met the Deans, and their favorite memory of Jimmie is riding around the farm with him on the manure spreader!

        Jimmie Dean was truly “The Dean” of our Arabian horse world, and he has left a legacy that won’t be matched for generations to come, if ever. His great generosity to come, if ever. His great generosity in sharing his knowledge and his refusal to make negative remarks about others have made him, unfortunately for the rest of us, one of a kind.

        Jimmie and Thelma Dean, I salute you with love and sincere thanks.

Julie K. Smithson, Signature Stud Ltd., London Ohio

        I last spoke with Jimmie on March 14th, just eight days before he died peacefully, in his sleep. James Parker Dean would have been 88 years young had he lived until the 21st of April. I cannot conceive of him as ever being old, for he thought and lived on such a vital, optimistic plane. I remember his musing that he would have to find more recipes for asparagus (his favorite vegetable), because he had seen to it that there’d be more of it than ever to harvest this year from his generous garden.

        My knowledge of Jimmie Dean spanned five years of reading every scrap that I could find about *Raffles, and 51 months of cherished friendship and correspondence, enhanced by two visits to Sanders, Kentucky. Would that I had been blessed to know him for 51 years! The knowledge and appreciation of life, in general, and the Arabian horse, in particular, that I absorbed from Jimmie was priceless.

        Jimmie Dean was to me what he was to many: friend, mentor, father figure, brother, confidant and horseman par excellence. You could say anything to Jimmie; all would be heard by the kindest of ears, the biggest hearts. Jimmie never said an unkind word about, or to , anyone. He advised only with the utmost tact. Kindness, with honesty and integrity, was his forte.

        Once I asked Jimmie what it was like to have actually known *Raffles. He replied that *Raffles “can best be described as an experience without parallel.” He expressed regret that many of those who so admired *Raffles did not have the opportunity to experience him personally.

        To borrow his own words, this is how I feel about Jimmie Dean: I regret that many of you who so admired him did not have the opportunity to experience him personally. He can best be described as an experience without parallel. He was my friend, and I loved him. I miss him greatly.

 

Jo & Dick Ellis, Ellis’ GreenLea Arabians, Dallas Center, Iowa

        Jimmie Dean — a remarkable person and a great horse breeder and horseman — we feel extremely fortunate to have known him for 35 years.

        When we first met Jimmie he fulfilled the image we expected of “A True Southern Gentleman” and he continued to be that same person for as long as we knew him.

        Jimmie was a man of many talents. We think of him as being a geneticist, a nutritionist, an agronomist, and, although he was not a veterinarian, he was very well versed on horse medications as related to prevention and cure to what may afflict a horse. He had many other areas of expertise which were not directly related to the horse business. Most importantly, he generously applied his good logic to all circumstances. He as widely respected for this broad range of knowledge and was always willing to give advice to any serious Arabian owner or breeder. He liked to help others.

        Whenever we had a puzzling problem relating to the horses or horses business, Jimmie always seemed to be able to come up with good solid reasons, explanations, or suggestions as to how to go about solving them in an honest, business-like, and forthright manner. As some will recall, Jimmie pioneered the consignment auctioning of Arabians in this country. He was determined to operate ethical auctions whereby the buyer and seller had equal opportunity and information. Consignors to his auctions were bound by very strict terms. Some terms recalled were: no reserve bidding, no by bidding or any other kind of illegal or unethical bidding, honest veterinary inspections the day of the sale with all findings announced in the sale ring, and we can remember being required to furnish valid registration papers with our signatures in place as sellers. (The bidders knew that the horse would be sold to the person with the highest bid.) Wouldn’t it have been great if the Arabian horse industry had followed the lead of this brilliant, hones, and ethical horseman by conducting auctions that were a credit to the breed?

        This tribute is to Jimmie but a part of what he was was contributed by his very capable wife Thelma, who preceded him in death. They were a great team, as each supplemented the other so perfectly. They were an inspiration to all who knew them. We feel particularly blessed to have known Jimmie and Thelma Dean.

 

Ann Jo Hall, Hall Farm Arabians, Lexington, Illinois

        I am glad to have a chance to tell you about some of the feelings and memories I have of our great friend Jimmie Dean.

        I have a lifetime of memories, from early childhood to the very recent past. He was a dear and constant friend to me and so many others. Words like trusted advisor, counselor, the very biggest shoulders to hold me up in the tough times all tell who and what he was.

        When I was grown and ready to start a serious breeding program, I told Jimmie that I wanted to breed a few good horses. He knew what I meant. He took me seriously at my word. Through the years since, I have listened and watched and enjoyed our student-teacher arrangement.

        When I caught on to a principle of his breeding theory I always spoke up by letter, in person, or over the phone and let him know he had gotten another point across. This generally got him to say something like “I always knew you were smart” or “That’s my girl!” or “Glad I could be of help”

        He was a great student of human nature. He was able to make people feel good just by being around him. When I was at his farm or he was at mine we always worked hard fixing fence, building a new breeding set-up or breeding mares. I learned so much and he was so kind and generous with his valuable time.

        We drove thousands of miles hauling horses together. He said we had more fun than other people. It was a riot to be his friend!!! My memories will make me giggle the rest of my life. I will miss you, Jimmie!

 

Bill Munson, Shalimar Ranch, Harrison, Nebraska

        I first met Jimmie in 1942. At that time I was captain of the Iowa State polo team and a vet student working for Mrs. Garth Knox (later Buchanan). She had a stable of grade school horses and ran an organization for girls called Bit & Spur. Joe Buchanan was stationed in Texas, and in May of that year she went down there to marry him, leaving me in charge.

        The girls had planned a picnic at Boone, Iowa on the Des Moines River. This was in the spring when the river was deep and swift. I was riding Garth’s Arabian stallion Ragin (*Mirage x *Indaia). It was a warm day and we thought we’d swim the horses. It turned out Ragin couldn’t swim a stroke; he started to drown. I was horror-stricken. He had only a hackamore on and went down three times. I went down with him, afraid he’d get caught in the hackamore, which he did. Then I was hit in the head and knocked cold. Someone had to jump in to pull me out. When Garth came home, all she said to me was, “Thank God they got you out.”

        Regin was insured, so Garth gave me a trip to Selby’s to look for a replacement. Mr. Selby had said she could have her choice of the *Mirage sons. That was when I met Jimmie and Thelma. We were there for six days and picked out Ibn Mirage. When it was time to leave, Jimmie said, “Bill, Mr. Selby wants you to have a colt.” So I picked Selmage (Image x *Selmnab), who became a great show horse.

        That was the start of a friendship which lasted from 1942 to 1991. At first our friendship was very horse-oriented, but over the years it transcended that. We could go a week together without once mentioning horses. I always called him “Pappy.” He was the one person I always deferred to.

        Jimmie was the greatest P.R. man I’ve ever known. He could sell you a horse without you even knowing it.

        Jimmie was a very kind, thoughtful person. He wouldn’t say anything bad about anyone or their horses. Jimmie never said anything to hurt your feelings. It’s hard to describe how we felt about him. Bazy Tankersley, Garth Buchanan, Gina Manion, Margaret Shuey, R.B.Field, Dan Gainey, Tish Hewitt, Dick Lodwick, Lois Selby, and Alice Payne felt the same way. We bred our own horses our own way, but Jimmie was at the core of it. We all loved and respected Jimmie Dean.

        Jimmie made Selby’s what it was. Mr. Selby imported the horses, of course, but Jimmie made the Selby Stud a breeding force. For example, Jimmie and Thelma were the ones who started using *Raffles. At the time it seemed like a crazy idea to use a little stallion everyone thought was sterile, but they had faith in him.

        Jimmie probably had more influence on the Gainey program than anyone else. He encouraged Gainey to use Azraff, and he encouraged Garth to use Ferzon. It was Jimmie who bred his mare Azleta (by Azraff) to Dan Gainey’s Ferzon to produce the National Champion Gai Parada. This Azraff/Ferzon nick is one of the greatest in Arabian history.

        Alice Payne was greatly influenced by Jimmie. After she saw some of the *Raffles horses, she wanted to go after as many as she could get. Jimmie knew where they all were, and she used to phone him and pester him about them. One night she called to say where she’d found a certain *Raffles daughter. Jimmie asked why she wanted that mare, and Alice answered it was because she was by *Raffles. Jimmie told her that was the worst reason for wanting a horse he’d ever heard.

        Some of the mares bred to *Raffles were not good mares, so there were good *Raffles horses and bad *Raffles horses. It took Alice some time to learn this, but when she did she became even more particular than Jimmie about mare lines. Alice and I both took that to a further extreme than Jimmie did. But we still loved the man.

        After a certain point in time, Jimmie had no further influence on my breeding program, or for that matter Bazy’s or Alice’s, etc. Once the programs were established to a certain point, we went ahead and bred our own horses. But we all stayed close friends, and we still respected and loved him. Jimmies’s own preference in later years was for the Ferzon/Azraff cross, and he promoted those horses.

        Back in the 40’s Jimmie told me that nobody would ever live long enough to change the Arabian horse. But he was wrong. None of us foresaw the influence some people would have. In the show ring we’re going to a Saddlebred type that is not a true type Arabian horse.

        Many of the people interested in the Saddlebred type have left the breed. The people Jimmie Dean influenced are in the Arabian breed for the long haul. I don’t know of anyone else in the history of the Arabian horse who has touched more people or influenced as many programs as Jimmie Dean.

 

Carolyn Hasbrook, Twin Brooks Arabians, Ames, Iowa

        I first met Jimmie and Thelma 22 1/2 years ago after the IAHA Convention in Ohio. The last time I saw Jimmie as the 1990 U.S. Nationals in October. The last time I talked to him was two weeks before his death, and I received a letter from him the day he died. Every letter, conversation or personal contact was uplifting and rewarding. He was an inspiration to talk to and one of the most intelligent men I’ve known.

        Jimmie could be funny and mischievous but was always the “Kentucky” gentleman. He was a marvelous cook, knew a great deal about geology and could design and build, or have built, anything he needed. He was building on his house right up until his health gave out.

        When his health problems started, he read everything he could about vitamins, minerals and different foods that might help him, instead of just sitting back and feeling sorry for himself.

        I made a video type of horses and places I knew would be of interest to Jimmie. Upon the urging of Joe Meiman, I sent it with him. He and Joy shared it with Jimmie just four days before he died. It was a long tape, but I understand he watched it more than once, knew the horses and enjoyed it.

        We bought our first stallion from Jimmie and Thelma. He was Phleta’s last foal by Azy. All of our horses trace back to the Selby horses that Jimmie bred or back to horses Jimmie had a hand in crossing (Azraff and Ferzon). Without his influence we would not have the typey Arabians we admire. There are farms and ranches all over the world that feel the same about their horses and breeding programs.

        Almost from the beginning of Arabians in this country through the present and even into the future, James P. Dean has had more influence than any other person in maintaining the typey Arabian. He was a very special man with special talents and will be greatly missed.

The Bedouin of Arabia and His Horse: from Upton’s Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia

THE BEDOUIN OF ARABIA AND HIS HORSE

Excerpts from Upton’s Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia compiled by Jeanne Craver used by permission of Jeanne Craver

“AL KHAMSA is an organization of people devoted to furthering the survival of the asil* horse of Bedouin Arabia by means of education and research in a social climate which draws the owners and admirers of such horses together in a friendly and cooperative way.”

“The following list of migratory, horse-breeding tribes of Bedouins have provided the ancestors of AL KHAMSA ARABIANS: The Anazah confederation, consisting of the Amarat, the Fid’an, the Ruala, the Saba, the Wuld Ali, the Wuld Sulayman; the Shammar (northern and southern branches), the Ajman, the Atayban, the Banu Hajr, the Banu Khalid, the Dhafir, the Dawasir, the Muntifiq, the Muteyr, the Qahtan.”

*********

These two quotes from the reference book Al Khamsa Arabians, pages 8 and 16 respectively, bring up the questions: Just who were these migrating, horse-breeding tribes of Bedouins? and why, if there were “Arabian horses” all over the middle east, does Al Khamsa list these tribes as sources of their horses? To present some answers to these questions, we turn to Maj. R.D.Upton, who, in his Gleanings, gives us one of the best accounts, although certainly not the only one available, of these people and their horses. Written about Upton’s journey to Arabia in 1875, Gleanings was originally published in 1881. Upton had passed away earlier in the year, and perhaps for that reason, only a very small printing was made, and it has been very difficult to find a copy of this valuable book. Fortunately, Olms Presse, Hildesheim, West Germany, has reprinted this important work and it is available in paperback form at very reasonable cost.

Excerpts from Upton, Maj. R.D.: Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, originally by C.Kegan Paul & Co., I, Paternoster Square, London, 1881, reprinted by Olms Presse, 1985, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York.

THE PEOPLE pp. 205-211:

“The Badaween of Arabia are neither savages nor barbarians…they are not poor, miserable outcasts…The tribes of Badaween are very numerous, some poorer, some very rich and powerful; collectively they are a great, free, rich, pastoral, and at the same time a warlike people, and have no exact parallel in history. The Badaween have laws of their own, a traditional code of morality strictly kept, a policy as between tribe and tribe, and a system of government in each tribe, and alliances, which are faithfully observed. Besides single tribes, small or great, each under the guidance and rule of its own Shaykh, there are confederations of tribes, over which the Shaykh of one particular tribe holds, to a considerable extent, great influence, if not actually supreme authority. Such a Shaykh can summon the others to councils for deliberation, or collect the tribes of the confederation for war.

“There are many families which have become so numerous or important that they constitute tribes within their own parent tribe; some of these have separated from the parent tribe and formed confederations; yet, after the lapse of generations, intercourse and alliances with their ancestral people are kept up. “… among some tribes and confederations there is perpetual and hereditary hostility; such, for instance, exists to only between the whole race of Anazah and the Shammar Arabs, but between every individual Anazah and Shammar Arab. Some tribes which are less powerful, especially those who are to some extent located in the northern parts of the desert, ally themselves with greater tribes…By this arrangement the weak tribes have the benefit and right of protection when attacked by tribes hostile to the protecting tribe …

“The Badawee, although free and independent in thought and action, and ill brooking restraint, has great respect for his laws. When the Shaykh enters his tent, where scores of his people may be collected (they look upon the Shaykh’s tent as a kind upon being told by him to do so. When he is once seated, he rarely rises to received any one. I heard that a singular exception to this custom exists, and that the mark of respect of rising is usually shown to the possessor of any celebrated mare, when such a one enters the tent of the Shaykh…The real armour of the Badaween horseman, offensive and defensive, is the speed of his mare.

“The office of Shaykh is not hereditary … but is usually held for life. When a Shaykh dies, his heir may be set aside, and the most worthy or popular man in the tribe appointed his successor; it is generally some member of the late Shaykh’s family … A Shaykh is generally a wealthy man, so that he may be able to exercise hospitality to strangers, and help or maintain the poor of his tribe … In certain tribes there are persons of acknowledged penetration in legal matters, and such, by common consent, are allowed to act as judges…

“The Akeed is the military leader of a tribe; he is also elected for life by popular vote. The two chiefs, the Shaykh and Akeed, rule in turn, as their tribe amy be at peace or war. But there are instances of both offices being vested in the same person, as in the case of … Jadaan ibn Mahaid of the Fadan (Anazah)

“… The Badaween … are not naturally aggressive, but wonderfully tenacious, and, except under the influence of great excitement — such as was the case after the death of Mohammed… — the Badaween are more inclined to hold their own than to become a dominating race…Their intelligence is undeniable, their perception quick, their imagination lively, their wit keen…

“The Badaween, for the convenience of description only, may be divided into three classes: those who migrate but little, and are to be found in the desert bordering upon Yaman, Hijaz, Palestine and Syria, and along the right bank of the Euphrates; those who have crossed the Euphrates; and those who migrate or roam all over the deserts. To those who migrate but little must be added the Badaween of the Najd and central province of Arabia.”

pp. 246-249:

“All Badaween as a rule, are free from many of the maladies incident to settled populations, whether civilized or uncivilized; their habits, their mode of life, their exclusion from other nations and people, the absence of illicit connections, all tend to keep them sound and healthy, and marrying among their own people preserves not only the purity of their race, but by it their characteristics are retained. The customs observed among all Badaween are even more rigidly kept among the Anazah; they are more exclusive, more conservative. .. the Arabs, and especially the Badaween tribes of the desert, require to be understood (which at present they are not) before attempting to interfere with them… Faults they may have, both many and great — what people has not? — but they have many and great virtues, and are of a noble and generous character. Let it be remembered that for centuries their worst features have been called forth and noised abroad, their excellences have been hid among themselves in the desert. Not only this, but the crimes and faults of other nationalities have been heaped upon their heads; for in the ignorance which has existed in Europe among highly civilized communities, Arabs have been confusedly mixed up and classed with Turks and other races and peoples of the East in general, which are not well known, or may possess the religion, not of Islam, but what passes for it generally.”

THE ARABIAN BREED pp. 269-272:

“The term ‘Arabian horse’ expresses a breed or race in a restricted sense — the horse of the Arabs. Horses of other countries cannot be defined in the same manner… but among the tribes of the desert of Arabia, the Arabian is the only horse. He is one by himself…What general knowledge there may be of the Arabian horse has been, for the greater part, acquired from horses in India, Syria, and Egypt, or from horses occasionally sent to this country as presents from Constantinople or elsewhere – indeed, from horses, or accounts of them, from very many countries, districts, and peoples, rather than from actual acquaintance with the horses of Arabia, and more especially with those tribes of the interior desert, who have the best horses …

“Horses are not numerous in Arabia, certainly not in proportion to the size and extent of the country, and the supply, I consider, is not greater than to meet the demand of the country. There are many parts of Arabia in which the horse is rarely, and perhaps some in which he is never seen. Although of Arabia alone, the Arabian horse may be said to belong rather to certain families or tribes in the desert of Arabia, than to the country or people at large.”

pp 353-354:

“Allusion has been made by certain authors to ‘studs’ in Arabia. This may cause misapprehension, as it is inferred that there are different breeds of Arabians, and that these breeds have their several and separate localities. I never heard of any such existing, unless, indeed, the system of collecting and breeding horses in Erack by the people who supply the Indian market, can be considered in the light of a breeding stud. The Imam of Muscat, the family of Ibn Sawood at Riad, and the Sherif of Mekka have private establishments of horses, but these are more or less supplied or replenished by horses from the desert tribes. In the desert, and in certain portions of the Badaween race, lies the real home of the Arabian horse, and this is especially so in the case of particular tribes of the great Anazah family. In Arabia itself, among the Badaween, the horse is indigenous. A variety of different breeds are not to be found there; the Keheilan is the only horse. The Keheilan is to be found in such tribes as have horses. In some tribes there are very few, the Shaykhs and leading men being the only ones possessed of horses — a mule or two each, and perhaps a horse for the use of the camp or tribe. It is in certain particular tribes of the Anazah race that horses are chiefly reared and to be found; these are the property of private individuals, and a poor man, or a poor family, may often have the best. It by no means follows as a matter of course that the Shaykh of a tribe has the best mares…”

pp. 272-275:

“In certain towns…Arabian horses may be found in the possession of families or persons of good social standing, or of officials of high rank; but these, for the most part, are acquired from the neighboring deserts … That horses are to be found in a wild state in the deserts of Arabia is a fallacy. I never heard of such a thing hinted at in the desert.

“In the whole of Arabia, the Anazah, a great race of Badaween, dating back to remote antiquity, composed of many tribes…the most powerful, the most important in the country, have the best horses. This is by the general consent of all Arabs, and of all conversant with the subject. Another general impression, urged by several writers, that there are many breeds of Arabian, has, I suspect, arisen from mistaking the various distinguishing names of strains of the same blood for separate or distinct breeds. Such are often only the names of owners, and some have been given or added from some feature or incident which caused an animal to be peculiar, or which had rendered him or herself famous, and which names are applied to the offspring generation after generation…

“I consider there was but one breed or race of horses in Arabia, i.e. the Arabian horse, so called from the country, or, with more truth, from being the horse of the Arabs, is of one origin, and was derived from several later varieties of the horse family.

‘The Arabian horse is of the Kuhl race. Keheilan is the generic name of the Kuhl or Arabian breed of horses. Thus a true Arabian horse is a Keheilan, and a mare a Keheilet — fem.”

THE HORSE pp. 330-343:

“In the Keheilan or genuine Arabian horse (speaking in general terms from seeing a number of horses and mares at one time), setting on one side what may be called their great personal beauty, you are at once struck by the general appearance of character, of blood or high breeding — which features are very conspicuous — and their great general >length. ‘What reach, what stride these horses must have! They are natural born racers,’ we both exclaimed at once. (Ed. Upton was joined on this trip to Saba Anazah by Mr. Skene, at that time HM Consul in Aleppo. Mr. Skene later helped the Blunts decide to begin their Crabbet stud.) One is equally struck by the perfectly natural appearance of the Keheilan: he presents in his form of undisturbed structure the evidence of his origin from an uncontaminated stock, in the same manner as do lions, tigers, and other animals which have been left undisturbed in a free and natural state and have not come under the destructive influence of man…

“The head is very beautiful — not only pleasing to the eye in its graceful outline, but beautiful from its grand development of the sensorial organ, and the delicacy of such parts as are more subservient. It is not particularly small or short in its whole length, in proportion to the size or height of the horse, but it is large above the eyes, small and short from the eyes to the muzzle. The centre of the eye more nearly divides the length of the head into equal parts than is observable in other horses…The head of the horse of the Anazah especially tapers very much from the eyes to the muzzle, and the lower jaw does so equally or even in a greater degree to the under lip, and if these lines were prolonged, they would meet or cut each other at a short distance only beyond the tips of the nose. The nostril, which is peculiarly long, not round, runs upwards towards the face, and is also set up outwards from the nose like the mouth of a pouch or sack which has been tied. This is very beautiful feature, and can hardly be appreciated except by sight; when it expands, it opens both upwards and outwards, and in profile is seen to extend beyond the outline of the nose, and when the animal is excited the head of this description appears to be made up of forehead, eyes, and nostrils…

“The frontal and parietal bones, or walls of the skull above, are large, bold, well developed, and often prominent. The brain cavity is capacious, giving an appearance and power almost human. The nasal bones, on the other hand, are fine and subservient to the frontal, and of a delicate and graceful outline. The orbits of the eye are large and prominent; the eye is full, large, and lustrous. It is very beautiful; the beauty is not so much dependent upon the size of the eye visible through the eyelids, as it is derived from its depth and expression. The part of the eyeball seen between the eyelids may not be so large as is often to be seen in other horses, but it is very full; standing on one side of the animal, and a little behind, the fulness of the ball and its prominence are very observable, and when the animal is excited the eye displays much fire, but it is seldom that any of the white is seen. The lids are particularly fine, the eyelashes long and silky. The face is lean and full of fine drawing. The muzzle is particularly fine; the lips long and thin (not fleshy); the upper lip well cut or chiselled; the lower lip small, well formed, compressed, and terse. The nostril in a state of repose is very long, beautifully curled, delicate, and thin: when the horse is in action or excited, the nostril opens very wide, and gives a bold, square, sharp and vigorous expression; the lower jaws are fine, clean, and set wide apart; the cheek-bones are sharply cut; the ears are beautifully shaped, pointed, and well placed, and point inwards in a marked and peculiar manner, which is considered a point of great beauty, and a great sign of high or pure breeding. The neck is of moderate length, and of a graceful curve or gently arch from the poll to the withers; it is neither a light, weak neck, nor a heavy neck, but it is a strong, light, and muscular neck, with the splenius muscle well developed. The junction of the head and neck is very graceful; the head is well set on. The withers are high and run well back, are well developed and not too narrow or thin. The back is short; the loins are powerful, the croup high, the haunch very fine, the tail well set on, and the dock short. The quarters are both long and deep; the gaskins sufficiently full and muscular without being heavy, ponderous, or vulgar; the thighs are well let down; the hocks are clean, large, well formed, well placed, and near the ground. The shoulders are long and powerful, well developed, but light at the points; the scapulae are long and of a good slope, and broad at the base. The arms are long, lean, and muscular; deep square and deep; the trapezium, or bone at the back of the knee, is very prominent. The legs are short, deep, and of fair-sized bone; the tendons and ligaments large and well strung. The fetlock-joint is large and bold; the pasterns are long, large, sloping, very elastic, and strong; the feet wide and open at the heels, and not very high in the desert. The chest is both deep and capacious…His body, or trunk, behind the chest is small, but formed like a barrel. He is essentially short above, but long below…The skin is fine; the hair is short, soft, and silky: the skin is seen through the hairs to a greater degree than in other horses. The mane and tail are long, and hair often very fine. The whole of the hinder parts, from the haunch to the heels, taken collectively or in detail, show great length. there is also a width of haunch noticeable indeed not only in the horses of the Anazah, but in most desert-bred Arabians in so marked a degree as to be almost a distinguishing feature…

“The Arabs are very particular with regard to three points in connection with the head of their horse: the Jibbah, or forehead; the Mitbeh, or form of the throat at its junction with the head; and the shape, size, direction, and attitude of the ears.

“The Jibbah, or forehead, can scarcely be too large or too prominent to please an Arab… The shape of the Jibbah in which the Arab delights, gives a large brain cavity, adds greatly to the beauty of the head, and gives an expression of great nobility…The Mitbeh is a term used to express the manner in which the head is set on to the neck, and especially refers to the form of the windpipe, and to the manner in which the throat enters or runs in between the jaws, where it should have a slight and graceful curve…This, of course, gives great freedom to the air passages: and the Keheilan is essentially a deep-breathed and a good and longwinded horse.

“The ears to be perfect should be so placed that they point inwards, so that the tips may almost touch; the outline of the inner side of the ear should be much curved, and, as it were, notched about halfway down. In the horse the ears are generally smaller and more pricked; in the mare they are usually rather longer and more open…

“It is not uncommon for Arab horses to stand back, more or less, at the knees. Many are stag-legged, in fact. There is no prejudice among the Arabs against such a formation; many do not like it in England…All desert-bred Arabs, at least, have a long, striding, free walk. When trotting…the hind legs of the Arabian appear to be, and often may be, too long, and there is too much reach for a pleasant trotting pace; yet with good riding, some will trot grandly: but it is far more labor to the Arabian than galloping, who from the present length of the hind extremities, and his reach, is essentially a galloper by nature…

“In height…the Anazah horse ranges from about fourteen hands one inch and a half to fifteen hands, but generally just under the latter height. We remarked that we did not see any that we thought as low as fourteen hands, or even, perhaps, fourteen hands one inch; some we measured proved to be fourteen hands three inches, which is a very general height; and several would be found, I have no doubt, quite fifteen hands. The height hardly varies a hand.”

Haras De Gelos

by Maj. John A. Gorman Biarritz American University (Western Horseman Jan/Feb ’46)

Beldebel, 18-year-old Arab stallion at Pau, France.

The stud of Gelos is located in the southwest of France not far from the Pyreneese mountains. This stud was established in 1811 by Napoleon, the object being to breed superior light horses for cavalry and similar purposes.

At Pau, there are many stallions. A few are pure Arabians, a few Thoroughbreds but the greatest percentage are Anglo-Arabs. The Anglo-Arab is a cross between the Arab and English Thoroughbred. This cross has been developed and bred by the French government for a long period. The percentage of each breed cannot be maintained at an exact percentage, but evidence indicates a tendency to run towards the Arabian.

The stallions are kept at the government stud from July to February. Then they are placed with the farmers to use for breeding to their mares and to those of the neighbors. For this a small fee is collected. After the breeding season, the stallions are returned to the government stables and maintained until the following season.

Besides the Anglo-Arabs a group of Breton stallions are kept for the production of work horses and mares for mule production. The Bretons are medium draft horses weighing about 1300-1500 pounds. They come from the Brittany peninsula of France. Almost all of the Breton stallions at Pau are black, because mule breeders like black mules. This is fortunate as the black color is not liked by the breeders of Breton horses in Brittany and the government can obtain good black stallions. The Breton is a heavy muscled, large boned horse with well shaped feet of good texture. They are just as muscular and drafty as the larger draft breeds without their extreme size. The influence of the Breton stallion is seen in the mules as they are almost all black, heavy, muscled mules with large feet and bone.

The southwestern part of France breeds good light horses of the Anglo-Arab type. The region around Pau is a famous region for hunting and in the past English people often went there during the hunting season.

Before the war a fair was held in Paris where the best of horses were shown. This year a show was held at Pau on October 9 and 10 for the light horses of Arab and Anglo-Arab type. Being in the region of greatest production the number was greater than it would have been if the show had been held in Paris. It was the writer’s privilege to attend the show the day the mares were shown and to have visited the stud on previous occasions. There were classes for Arab mares and foals, mares without foals, and the same for Anglo-Arabs. The Arab class was few in number but there were many Anglo-Arab mares with their foals and a lesser number of mares without foals. It is considered best not to write the number but they are recorded in notes taken at the show.

The writer was greatly impressed with the excellence of the mares and the smooth, quiet operation of judging and showing. There were no stalls, the owners led their mares from private places in town and held them during the show. The judging is by scoring and comparison with most emphasis being on scoring. The mares were scored by a group of judges (three, I believe). Then in the afternoon, they were lined up or placed in a circle and the judges made comparisons, but very few changes were made from the placings arrived at by the score card method.

The winning mares were a superior lot. For the most part they were large, deep, well muscled, smooth mares with excellent feet and legs. A great deal of Thoroughbred type and size was in evidence.

The judging was interesting. The horses were numbered. They were led into an open end of a lane about twenty feet wide, and trotted up to where the judges stood. They were held without posing in a showring stretch until the judges looked them over. Then they were walked away and back and then trotted away and returned for a final inspection. They left the judging lane by a side gate to the left and another mare trotted up the lane to the judges’ stand.

The mares were shown with a single bit bridle, usually some type of a snaffle bit. The foals followed but usually wore a halter so they could be caught with ease.

There was nothing fancy in the way of show equipment. The feet were trimmed in a normal manner. The mane fell to either side or was roached. The tails were natural. But there had been many strokes of brushes for the mares were well groomed and the writer marvelled at the bright shiny sheen shown by most of the contestants. The three-year-old stallions and fillies were to be shown the following days.

On previous occasions the writer had seen some of the sires of the mares that were shown. The mares sired by the Arabian stallion Beldebel could be picked with great accuracy. Beldebel is an 18-year-old Arab stallion that is youthful in appearance and action. I was told that he was considered the best in the world. He did look like a perfect horse except that some may like a little different type head. he was close coupled, strong backed with excellent feet and legs. A daughter of his placed fourth in mare and foal class.

The sire of Beldebel was “Denouste,” a 24-year-old stallion. He is a larger horse than his son and a trifle longer. He is a copper colored chestnut with a brilliant sheen. He had many daughters in the Anglo-Arab class and a greater percentage in the class of Arab mares. He or his son occurred in most of the pedigrees of the Arab mares and stallions.

Two famous Thoroughbred stallions in the Pau stud are Pinceau and Dodji. Pinceau is a dappled brown medium stallion 21 years old. He had a bad hock but otherwise a perfect set of legs. It is understood that he is well known to Thoroughbred breeders as he is a famous sire. Dodji is a more upstanding stallion that has won many good races, but so far his get has not equalled that of Pinceau.

A Look at DNA Testing

A Look at DNA Testing

copyright 1995 by Robert J. Cadranell from Arabian Visions Mar/Apr 1995 used by permission of RJ Cadranell  

        One topic much discussed in Arabian racing circles (and in all horse racing circles) is how to identify individual animals and make sure that their parentage has been recorded correctly. Arabian racing carries the added twist that surreptitiously introducing blood from another breed, the Thoroughbred, can give an advantage on the track.

        Tina (several people interviewed for this article are identified only by a first name, all of which have been changed) is actively involved with Arabian racing. “There is a widespread feeling that some of the horses on the track might not match their pedigrees,” she says. “People don’t want to get beaten by horses that are part Thoroughbred.”

        Niles grew up with horses, and has owned, raced, and bred Thoroughbreds for more than 20 years. “In the Thoroughbred world, when a record is broken, it’s usually by only a fraction of a second, not several seconds,” he points out. “Occasionally in Thoroughbreds we do turn up what we call a ‘sport,’ and these horses reproduce; St. Simon was one. But anyone who has studied the evolution of the Thoroughbred knows you can’t breed success overnight. And even in inbred Thoroughbred families, there is variance. So, sometimes I’m a little suspicious.”

        None of this makes Diane suspicious. She has owned Arabians for about ten years and is just starting to get involved with the sport of Arabian racing. “Arabian racing is still so new, anyone could turn up the next superhorse,” she contends. “Not all the bloodlines have even been raced yet. There are still far too many unknowns. It’s not like Thoroughbred racing, which has been going on for centuries. I think there’s a lot of talk that’s just gossip and sour grapes.”

        Likely much of it is more rumor than substance. Since the 1920s and earlier Arabian breeders have, from time to time, accused each other of having a Thoroughbred cross in their pedigrees. Most of these stories are probably nonsense. But there have been cases in the last 25 years of Arabian race horses turning in good times on the track and later having their papers canceled because bloodtyping did not qualify them to their purported parents.

        ”The Thoroughbred has been selected for more than 200 years for speed,” Niles says. “The proportion of fast twitch muscle is high. Arabians, on the other hand, have been selected over probably a much longer period of time for endurance: slow twitch muscle. Endurance racing records show the Arabians dominate the sport.”

        How long would a race have to be so the endurance of the Arabian would give it the advantage? Results from the Russian track give an indication. “Empirically it has been shown that only the Thoroughbred is faster than the Arab, but the latter is uncatchable at distances above thirty-five furlongs [4.4 miles].” (1)

        If racing enthusiasts are concerned about keeping things “clean,” would it work to race Arabians over distances long enough that there is no incentive to slip in an Anglo-Arab? “Absolutely not,” Tina answers. “The betting public will not sit through even a three mile race. It’s just too long. We’re struggling now to run on Thoroughbred tracks. The Thoroughbred people would laugh at us.”

        Niles agrees. “The public wants action,” he says. “Younger spectators are already complaining there is too much time between races and not enough excitement.”

        With Arabian racing fixed at the current distances, attention has turned to other means of verifying that everyone is playing by the rules. The problem of correctly identifying horses and their parentage is not unique to Arabian racing. Niles comments, “As a breeder, I don’t want to be dealing with an unknown factor. Thoroughbred racehorses can sell for $500,000 or more, and race for hundreds of thousands — even a million. We don’t want ringers. I have to know what I’m dealing with.”

        DNA testing has been a hot topic recently. Some registration authorities and labs are adding information obtained from DNA testing to the battery of data identifying individual horses. The Arabian Horse Registry’s application for a Racehorse Identification Supplement asks for, among other things, white markings and other identifying marks or scars, location of cowlicks, photographs of the animal, information on freeze marks and lip tattoos, and parentage qualification through bloodtyping.

        Since the 1970s, the Arabian Horse Registry has required that all breeding stallions have a bloodtype on record. Beginning with 1991 foals, all foals must be bloodtyped and parentage qualified to both sire and dam — which means all broodmares must now have bloodtypes on record before their foals can be registered.

        Only in recent decades has it been possible to verify parentage scientifically. For most of the history of the breed in America, the reliability of pedigrees has rested on the signatures of the owners. With thousands of people breeding, buying, and selling thousands of horses, mistakes can be made.

        An examination of Arabian Stud Book volume V, which covers breeding from the earliest registered American foal (born 1890) up to foals of 1944, turns up several horses with coat color incompatibilities: a grey with no grey parent, or a bay from two chestnut parents. There must be other foals registered with one or both parents recorded incorrectly, but without a coat color incompatibility to flag them.

        Cases of incorrectly recorded parentage might or might not involve a parent from another breed. One example is the 1938 grey gelding Zarab 1525, who has no registered progeny. Well known photographs of both his purported parents exist. They match the colors given in their registration entries; neither was grey. Photographs of Zarab in the Arabian Horse News and in the ranch brochure of his longtime owners show he definitely was grey. Coat color genetics exclude him as the offspring of his purported parents, Rifnas and Hazzadina.

        Does parentage verification by the currently available DNA test have a higher rate of efficacy than parentage verification by bloodtyping? “It’s close to a toss up,” says Dr. Ann Bowling of the lab at the University of California at Davis. “There really is not much difference between efficacy rates. DNA has the advantage that you don’t need blood, or even a live horse if other tissue exists. Bloodtyping’s advantage is that a huge worldwide database is already in place.”

        Could a DNA test be developed to reveal a cross of another breed one or two generations back? Ann Bowling points out that humans and chimpanzees have more than 99% of the same genes. Arabians and Thoroughbreds are far more closely related than humans and chimpanzees: if a horse has 100,000 genes, the Arabian and Thoroughbred may have as few as ten points of variance.

        ”Some of the markers in the Arabian breed do occur infrequently,” she says. “But are they from introgression, or from an under-represented desert source? If you go witch hunting for animals with rare factors, you could end up throwing out more Arabians of acceptable pedigree than you would cross breds.”

        In a recent article, Pepper Chastain of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University makes a similar point. She says “Testing stringent enough to eliminate impure animals would also exclude 1 in 1000 legitimate Arabians from competition.” She also writes, “It is our belief that parentage verification (using DNA typing) at the time of registration is the only real solution for preserving the integrity of the Arabian breed.” (2)

        When asked if the Arabian Horse Registry of America (AHRA) would use DNA testing for parentage verification or as a way to determine “breed purity,” Registrar Ralph Clark responds, “Our only focus is on parentage verification. By multiple generations of parentage verification you don’t have a breed purity issue. The ISAG [International Society of Animal Genetics] agrees this is the only effective way to do this.”

        At the moment, he does not think there is any reason to replace blood typing with DNA testing. “I don’t see a significant advantage when you would have to retest all the horses. If bloodtyping can’t eliminate all but one sire, we will then use DNA — a test with no relationship and a separate efficacy. We feel we can approximate 100% efficacy using DNA as a second alternative.” Other drawbacks he mentioned include that there is yet no protocol for international standardization of DNA test results, and that the results have not been sufficiently tested in court. All that said, he did mention one advantage: “Hair root bulbs for a DNA test are much easier and less expensive to obtain than a blood sample.”

        The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) is embracing DNA testing as its preferred method for parentage verification, and is using the lab at Davis. Ralph Clark mentions a few reasons why a shift to DNA testing makes more sense for the AQHA than the AHRA. “They have not had a big bloodtyping program. For the most part, it involved just the major sires. Finally they had to address the question of whether to use bloodtypes or DNA. Converting would be a big problem in a couple of years — the number of animals involved is staggering.”

        The February, 1995 AHRA newsletter summarizes the Arabian Horse Registry’s position: “For the present, the Registry will continue to rely on equine blood typing as the primary means of verification of parentage. The Registry will also continue to monitor advances in equine DNA technology and standardization.”

1. Erika Schiele, The Arab Horse in Europe, p. 244.

2. Pepper Chastain, “Continued DNA Research,” Arabian Finish Line, December 1994, pp. 16-17.

Tributes to the Arabian Horse

by Dr. George H. Conn (Western Horseman Apr’51)

Head study of Raseyn taken in 1942

As an owner and breeder of Arabian horses for the past several years, I recall very vividly some early attempts made by us to buy certain desirable Arabian horses. Many owners of Arabian horses, particularly “the Arabian horse,” value their horses above money, and strange as it may seem have no desire to sell them. In other words, without any pretense of rudeness, some of these breeders and owners apparently never hear the question when you ask them whether one of their favorite Arabs is for sale. Their conversation is oftentimes not interrupted at all, and your question goes unheard and unanswered.

In an effort to inform the reader as to the Arabian horse owner’s attachment to his horse, we have selected several tributes which we believe will impress the reader with the fact that the Arabian horse is really different from any other breed known to man.

The first quotation for your consideration is taken from Volume II of Wallace’s Monthly, which was the leading horse paper published in the United States between 1875 and 1893. The quotation is as follows:

“In the tents of the Arabs, the mares with their foals, and their masters with their families, dwell together, and the utmost confidence exists between them. The Arabian horse, the most intelligent of the equine family, is easily controlled when kindly treated, and ever ready to show resistance when abused. The Arab fully understands the fact; hence his success in training or educating vicious horses, and teaching them many amusing tricks. In handling colts, perhaps he has no superior on the face of the globe. He shows his love for his horse by frequently caressing him, feeding and cleaning him, he talks and sings to him, is always happy in his company, a mutual feeling of respect and love is prominent in all their acts; herein lies the secret of his success, and not, as many persons suppose, brought about by some mysterious or secret art of charming.”

Photo by McClasky
Aaraf, a son of Raffles and grandson of Skowronek, was first prize Arabian stallion, saddle class, at the National Stallion show in both 1949 and 1950. He is owned by the Ben Hur farm in Indiana.

In another another article in Wallace’s Monthly in 1877 we find a quotation from Col. George E. Waring, Jr., from his article, “The Saddle Horse — Thoroughbred and Arabians,” and the quotation follows:

The following statements are collated from Daumas’ Horses of Sahara, an accepted authority, and believed to be entirely reliable. The love of the horse, he says, has passed into the blood of the Arab. The cherished animal is the companion in arms and the friend of the chief.

“Said an Arab to him:
“‘You cannot understand, you Christians, that horses are our wealth, our joy, our life and our religion. Has not the prophet said: “The goods of this world, until the day of the last judgment, shall hang at the forelocks of your horses”? You will find this in the Koran, which is the voice of God, and in the conversation of our Lord Mahomet. When God wished to create the mare he said to the wind: “I will cause to be born from thee a being which shall carry my adorers, which shall be cherished by all my slaves, and which shall be the despair of those who do not follow my laws.”‘

“Abd-el-Kader, when at the height of his power, pittilessly punished with death every believer convicted of having sold a horse to a Christian.”

From a book published in 1841 entitled The Natural History of Horses, by Lt. Col. Chas. Hamilton Smith, a book which took us many years to obtain, we take the following quotation which is further proof of the attachment of the Bedouin or the Arabian horse owner for his horse. The quotation is as follows:

“Habitually in company with mankind, all the Arabian breeds become exceedingly gentle and intelligent; a look or gesture is sufficient to make them stop, take up with their teeth the rider’s jereed or any other object he may have dropped, stand by him if he has fallen off their backs, come to his call, and fight resolutely in his defense; even if he be sleeping, they will rouse him in cases of danger. Kindness and forbearance towards animals is inculcated by the Koran and practiced by all Musselmen, to the shame of Christians, who often do not think this a part of human duty; and as a Moor well known in London sneeringly remarked to ourselves, ‘It is not in your Book!'”

The Bedouin’s principal source of wealth consists of his ownership of one or more Arabians. As a general thing, the Bedouin who owns but one mare is very fortunate and has riches well beyond most others of his kind. That you may understand the attachment of the wandering Arab or the Bedouin for his horse, we quote from a book entitled The Horse, by H.D. Richardson. This book has no date, but we presume from the nature of the material it contains that it must be more than 100 years of age. The quotation is as follows:

“To the wandering Arab the horse is of the greatest value. The poorest Bedouin has his domesticated steed, which shares with him and his wife and children the shelter of his humble tent, his caresses, and his scanty fare. Oft may the traveler in the desert behold, on entering within the folds of a tent, the interesting spectacle of a magnificent animal, usually a mare, extended upon the ground, and some half dozen dark-skinned, naked urchins scrambling across her body, or reclining in sleep, some upon her neck, some on her carcass, and others pillowed upon her heels. Nor do the children ever experience injury from their gentle playmate. She recognizes them as the family of her friend, her patron; and towards them all the natural sweetness of her disposition leans, even to overflowing. The Arabs invariable keep mares in preference to horses. They find they better endure fatigue and the privations necessarily consequent upon a journey over the desert. A number of them can also be kept together without danger of their quarrelling or injuring each other. On this account it is very difficult to induce an Arab to sell his mare.”

In the Arabian desert or the land of the Bedouins; the Arabian horse owner is a constant companion to his horses, and by this we generally mean his Arabian mare. The Arabian mare is his source of wealth and she is stabled in the tent with him and his family. This accounts for the great attachment that the Arab or Bedouin has for his mare, which is in nearly every instance much greater than he has for stallions. From the book, The Wonders of the Horse, by Jos. Taylor, published in 1828, we take the following quotation from Mr. Buffon:

“So strong is the attachment that the Arab sometimes forms for his horse, that death alone can separate them. The whole property of a native of the desert consisted of a beautiful mare, which the French consul, it is said, wished to purchase for his master, Louis XIV. The Arab, pressed by want, long hesitated, but at length he consented to part with her for a very high price, which he named. The Consul, receiving authority to close with the terms, immediately informed the owner. The Arab, who had scarcely a rag to cover him, arrived, mounted on his mare. He alighted, and looking first at the gold, and then at his faithful and much valued servant, heaved a deep sigh. “To whom is it,’ exclaimed he in an agony, ‘that I am going to yield thee up? To Europeans, who will tie thee close, who will beat thee, who will render thee miserable! Return with me, my beauty! my jewel! and rejoice the hearts of my children!’ With these words, he sprang on her back, and was out of sight almost in a moment.

“So tender is the Arab of his horse, that he will seldom beat or spur him; and in consequence of this humane treatment, the animal considers itself as one of the family, and will allow the children to play round it, and to fondle it like a dog.”

Photo by Tallant
Ferseyn, son of Raseyn and grandson of Skowronek, sired the champion mare and grand champion of the show at the all Arabian show held in Pomona. He is owned by H. H. Reese.

For a period of 50 years until his death about three years ago, John L. Hervey, who wrote under the name of Salvator, was the most widely known and the best informed writer on the light horse in America. Mr. Hervey has produced some of the greatest books on the Thoroughbred, the Standardbred and on American racing, that have ever been written up to this time. As far as I know, Mr. Hervey never had any practical experience with an Arabian horse through ownership or use, but he evidently appreciated the Arabian horse, probably largely through his association with the Standardbred and Thoroughbred horse, which are of Arabian origin. On March 27, 1942, Mr. Hervey made an address before the Town and County Equestrian association of Chicago, and we quote the last paragraph of this address as follows:

“For the dominant quality of Arab blood is its eternal, its immortal persistence. Wherever, as the horseman of today looks about him and among these horses, observes beauty, speed, grace, fire, activity, docility and fineness yet toughness of fibre, he sees that eternity, that immortality, incarnated. It has triumphed over everything mundane, thousands of years, hap and circumstances, time and tide, incredible hardships and immemorial adversities, misuse, and abuse, the exigencies of mankind’s daily life and the flame and blood of the battlefield, unconquerable, indestructible and victorious. Everything worth while in the shape of a horse in the world today partakes of it. The Greeks believed it Godlike, and verily they made no mistake.”

Surely, the above quotations from a widely scattered source extending back for several hundred years, must impress upon the reader the fact that the Arabian horse is and always has been vastly different than any other breed of horse that is now or ever has been known to man.

Travelers Rest

by Dr. George H. Conn (Western Horseman Jul ’51)

Niwka

Travelers Rest farm was established in 1792 near Nashville, Tennessee. It was established by John Overton, who came to that community about 1789 and who was a law partner of Andrew Jackson and served on the supreme court of Tennessee after that state was admitted to the Union. The original Travelers Rest farm remained in the family of John Overton and his descendants until 1938, and during this time it became famous for the high quality of its Thoroughbred, Morgan, trotting and saddle horses.

Due to the fact that the original Travelers Rest farm was located but a short distance from Nashville, which has grown to be a city of more than 250,000 people, it became necessary in 1938 to abandon the original Travelers Rest which was then moved to Franklin, Tennessee.

The late Travelers Rest farm was owned and maintained by Gen. J. M. Dickinson, who added Arabian horses to his breeding operations in 1930. When it became necessary to abandon the original Travelers Rest, Dickinson disposed of his other horses and kept only the Arabs for future breeding and maintenance of the Travelers Rest Stud on Del Rio Pike, near Franklin, Tennessee.

Horse lovers of all kinds will be very vitally interested in the following quotation of John Trotwood Moore which is printed on the inside front cover of the Travelers Rest Arabian horse catalogs. The quotation which was first used in advertising the famous American Saddle stallion, McDonald Chief, of the old Travelers Rest, is as follows:

“Out from the past, the dim, bloody, shifting past, came this noble animal, the horse, side by side with man, fighting with him the battles of progress, bearing with him the burdens of the centuries. Down the long, hard road, through flint or mire, through swamp or sand, wherever there has been a footprint, there also will be seen a hoofprint. They have been one and inseparable, the aim and the object, the means and the end. And if the time shall ever come, as some boastingly declare, when the one shall breed away from the other, the puny relic of a once perfect manhood will not live long enough to trace the record of it on the tablet of time.”

Nasr

The author of this article had the privilege of meeting Gen. Dickinson and discussing with him briefly some phases of Arabian horse breeding, and my impression is that Gen. Dickinson had the most sound and practical ideas about the commercial production of Arabian horses of any breeder in the United States up to this time. Dickinson’s ideas in general were that you should breed good Arabian horses and sell them honestly and fairly to the most satisfactory buyers you could find. In other words, he followed very closely the policy of many of the earlier breeders of Arabian horses throughout the world. That the reader may fully understand Gen. Dickinson’s policies, we quote from the 1941 revised edition of a catalog of Travelers Rest, as follows:

“We have acquired and bred Arabian horses of the purest blood and most satisfactory individual excellence. Some of these horses have met and defeated many of the best known Arabians in the United States, including imported horses with championship records, in shows and in other competitive events that have been widely advertised in this country and abroad, open to all purebred Arabian horses, and in which horses have competed from all sections of the United States and even from overseas. Various Travelers Rest Arabian horses have made creditable showings against horses of other breeds in the latters’ specialties, and have won honors abroad.

“Of course we wish to sell the produce of our stud, for we are breeding Arabs for the market rather than for the purpose of making a collection. However, there are certain things we are unwilling to do in order to sell more horses. For one thing, we refuse to poison anyone’s mind against other breeds. We will tell you what the Arab has done and what we believe the Arab can do; but it is not our affair to persuade you that some other horse is undesirable.

“We consider it a bad policy to endeavor to sell a horse to a man who does not want it, or whose requirements it cannot fill. Only a bad product requires bad sales methods. We consider the Arab colt to be a good product that will sell itself to the customer who recognizes quality when he sees it.

“Then we are unwilling to argue that our horses are better than all other Arabs. Such claims are made for various studs. Obviously, they cannot be true of all.

“Arab horses from Travelers Rest have been successful in various kinds of competition at home and abroad. They seem to be giving satisfaction in 40 of our states and territories, and a dozen foreign countries. A substantial proportion of our sales is made to customers who have bought from us in the past, and to their friends and acquaintances.

“We believe success depends upon pleasing every customer as much as possible, and we bend every reasonable effort to sell the product of our stud where most apt to give satisfaction. We believe we now have and are breeding better Arabs than in the past, and offer our produce at prices commensurate with costs and maintenance. It is our earnest hope that every Travelers Rest Arabian horse will prove to be satisfactory and worth more than is paid for it.”

Gulastra

In discussing the breeding of Arabian horses with Gen. Dickinson in 1945, he told the author that it was the policy of Travelers Rest to price all Arabian colts of a sex at a standard price. At that time my recollection is that all horse colts were priced at $400 at weaning time, and an additional $50 was added to the price every six months until sold. Fillies were priced at $600 at weaning time and $50 was added to the price every six months until sold. Gen. Dickinson made it quite plain in discussing these prices that he did not at any time make an attempt to get a higher price than quoted for these colts even though some may have shown greater quality than others. At this time he was ambitious to have 50 broodmares producing purebred Arabian colts in his stud.

Travelers Rest Arabian stud was maintained at Franklin, Tenn, until 1946, at which time it was moved to Santa Barbara, Calif., where it was maintained for two years. Much of the breeding stock of this famous stud was returned to Tennessee in 1948, and in 1949 this stud was dispersed, going to a purchaser in Cuba.

The original Arabs purchased for Travelers Rest were secured from Maynesboro stud of Wm. R. Brown. Mr. Dickinson purchased almost the complete importation that Mr. Brown made from the desert, including Nasr, the white Arabian stallion, and the famous Hamida mares together with Aziza. Other breeding stock added to Travelers Rest in the early years consisted of Bazleyd, the national champion Arabian stallion known as the “peerless show horse,” and Gulastra and Kolastra, his son, all of which were bred by Wm. R. Brown’s Maynesboro stud. In addition to the above stallions, Mr. Dickenson secured two very famous grey Arabian mares, Guemura and Gulnare, both bred at Col. Spencer Borden’s Interlachen farm and which were purchased from Mr. Borden by Wm. R. Brown, who in turn sold them to Dickinson. One of the most widely known stallions owned in the early years by Travelers Rest was Antez, which became a very famous running Arabian and which was exported to Poland when he was 15 years old, where he raced very successfully for five years, being returned to the United States just before World War II.

In 1937 Gen. Dickinson made an importation of Arabian horses from Poland and Egypt. This importation consisted of seven grey mares from Poland and a gray mare, Maamouna, which was secured from the Royal Agricultural Society of Cairo, Egypt. Among this importation from Poland the following mares have been very successful in the stud: Przepiorka, Lassa, Liliana and Nora.

Travelers Rest imported in early 1939 a grey stallion, Czubuthan, No. 1499, from Poland. Czubuthan’s first foal arrived on april 3, 1940, and he went on to become the sire of the largest number of purebred Arabian horses from 1940 to 1948, and he was also tied with Raffles for the sire of the third largest number of Arabian foals registered in the Arabian stud book. (1)
          

Lassa

Several other well-known horses found their way to the Travelers Rest Arabian stud farm from time to time. Among the better known Arabs used in this breeding stud we refer to such Arabs as the bay mare Aire, bred in Argentina, and Kasztelanka, the bay mare bred in Poland and imported by Henry B. Babson, as well as the mare Kostrzewa, also bred in Poland and imported by Babson. The well known grey mare Roda, now owned by Margaret Shuey, of North Carolina, and imported by Wm. R. Brown, was also in the stud at one time, as was the mare Rose of France, which was bred at Crabbet Stud, in England, and imported by Roger A. Selby. Zarife, the famous Egyptian stallion which was imported by Wm. R. Brown, found his way to the Travelers Rest Stud and from there he was purchased by Van Vleet’s Lazy V V Ranch where he died in late 1950.

In the 19 years of their breeding operations, Travelers Rest produced many well known horses. It is apparent that they made no special effort to accumulate unusual honors for their horses, but were willing at all times to let them earn what honors they could in a general way in competition wherever and however they found it. Among some of the better known horses produced at this breeding establishment we refer to Bataan, who was used at the old Kellogg ranch while known as the Pomona Quartermaster Depot; Chepe-Noyon, a well known breeding stallion; Genghis Khan, a well known jumping horse; Jedran, a gaited Arabian horse winning in American Saddle horse classes; Nafud, another prize winner in Saddlebred competition, as well as many others which were successful in various show classifications.

Travelers Rest made consistent, steady growth for many years, and shortly before it was transferred to Santa Barbara, Calif., it was probably the second largest Arabian breeding farm in the United States, being exceeded only by the Kellogg Ranch, which was then under the direction of the Pomona Quartermaster Depot. At the height of their breeding operations, Travelers Rest produced in the neighborhood of 30 purebred foals a year. While the writer does not have the exact figures, it is his judgment that this stud at one time contained nearly 80 head of purebred registered Arabian horses.

From the 1947 catalog of Travelers Rest horses we find that during the lifetime of this famous stud, up to the close of 1946, they had bred and sold 274 purebred Arabian horses. These horses were sold to 40 or more of the states in the United States of America and were also sold and exported to 13 foreign countries. At least 37 of these Arabian horses and colts were exported to these 13 foreign countries, principally to South American countries. We find that seven head were exported to Mexico, nine head to the Republic of Columbia, six to Hawaii, three to Cuba, three to England, and two to Guatemala, and one each to seven other foreign countries. It must seem to the reader from the information given here that Travelers Rest Arabian Stud was, for the nearly 20 years that it was in existence, a very important factor in the development and popularizing of the Arabian breed in America. We take pleasure in quoting a short statement from this last catalog of 1947 which is entitled, “To the Arabian Horse.” We do not know by whom the quotation was originally made, but it is very typical and interesting. The quotation is:

“From his veins came the blood of the Thoroughbred, from his style the beauty of the saddler, his endurance gave bottom to the trotter. Big little fellow with the heart of a lion, second to some of his children but third to none, may he live on through the ages as the symbol of all that we love in the horse.”

From: CHAPTER X The Court of Ri’ad — Journey to Hofhoof

Voices of the Past:

Arabia in The 19th Century — Excerpted from:

THE BOOK OF THE HORSE Edited by Samuel Sidney, London 1875 Buying Arabian Horses from the KHAMSAT Volume 10 Number 1 March 1993

 

“All the horses offered to us for sale by the Bedouins were stallions. I do not at this moment remember having seen a gelding in their possession; and although they frequently rode mares into our camp, they never offered any to us.

(MAMELUK’S CHARGER 19th century engraving by J. Greenway)

 

            …”The huffiness exhibited by Bedouins in their horse-dealing transactions, in a great measure the outburst of an insolent, overbearing nature, is seldom able to stand its ground permanently against the greater strength of their passion for money. Of a hundred bedouins that ride off in a fury as resolved never to set eyes on you again, ninety-nine will come back again. Perhaps the hundredth will not. A Bedouin brought a horse of extraordinary size for an Arab into the camp. I did not much admire the animal, but a sum equal to LB100 was offered for him. the owner, a breechless savage, in a sort of dirty night-shirt, rode away in wrath, and we never saw him again.

            “The sum total of horses bought by us in the desert was one hundred. Of these seventy-two were Anazeh, from the Qulad Ali and the Rowallas; the remainder from the tribes of Serhan and Beni Sakhr, and from men of doubtful tribe. The following statements refer to the Anazeh alone. The highest price paid was LB71, 17s. This was given for each of two horses bought by private hand, of which one was the finest that I saw in the desert. Putting these aside, the highest price was a little more than LB50, and the average price about LB34. The average height was 14 hands 1-1/2 inches, and the commonest age four and five years; but this would be an over-estimate both of the height and age of the mass of Anazeh horses offered for sale, as we selected the biggest and the oldest. Many of the horses brought were two and three years old, and might have been brought at much lower prices. Of the different breeds, the Kahailan seemed to be the most numerous, the Soklawye the most esteemed.

            “The Anazeh inflict a temporary disfigurement upon their young horses by cropping the hair of the tail quite short, after the cadgerly fashion creeping in amongst English hunters, but leave the tails of the full-grown animals to attain their natural length. They denied being in the habit of making, as they are commonly believed to do, fire-marks on their horses for purposes of distinction; and denied also all knowledge of grounds for a report which I have seen brought forward very lately, viz., that English horses had been used to improve the breed. The foals, the said, though dropped most frequently in spring, were yet produced all the year round, in consequence of which the age of their horses dated from the actual day of birth, and not from any particular season of the year.

            “With the exception of one Anazeh vicious at his pickets, I remember no instance of an Arab horse showing vice towards mankind.

            “We had an Italian horse-dealer with us, a great black-bearded man, one Angelo Peterlini. He was a good and useful man in his way; well acquainted with the dodges and mysteries of Bedouin horse-dealing; cunning in guessing the price that an Arab would take for his horse, and careful to offer him only the half, that he might work up the other half in process of bargaining; sharp-sighted in detecting the two or three “unlucky” hairs which in the Bedouin estimation might lower the value of a horse, and as pernicious in making them tell upon the price as if he believed in them; in fact, altogether well acquainted with the Bedouins, and monstrously polite to them before their faces, but with, at heart, a horror of them unspeakable (by anybody of less gifts of eloquence than himself), and with the intensest aversion to anything of the nature of what he called a ‘baruffa’ with them. Dogs, thieves, hogs, canaille, people of the devil — I wish I could convey the magnificent and sonorous emphasis with which he rolled out these and other epithets upon them behind their backs, or the ingenuity with which he framed speeches setting forth their precise relationship with the fiend, and the exact nature of a most curious connection with the hogs which he attributed to them.

            “I must add a postscript. Do not let any man, because I have rated the average price of an Anazeh horse at LB34, suppose that LB34 is to buy him a striking specimen of the race; or, because I have described the Anazeh horses as fine, imagine that the very fine ones are anything but the exception to the rule. With the Arab horse, as with everything else in the world, the average is grievously removed from the ideal, and all that you want above it you must pay for. Finally, let any one who may be tempted to seek for an Arab horse in his native deserts remember that though we, buying horses by the hundred, could attract numbers of sellers to our camp, it does not follow that he, in search of a solitary animal, could do anything of the kind, or, indeed, that he could draw together a sufficient number to offer him a reasonable choice; and above all, if he wish to avoid tribulation, let him receive as great truths all Angelo Peterlini’s remarks upon the Bedouins, and shape his course so as — if he will take any advice — to keep perfectly clear of them.”

            Having given an extract which conveys so unfavourable an idea of the moral qualities of the Bedouin, of whom we have been accustomed to read such picturesque and romantic accounts, it is right to add that the British cavalry officer’s admiration for the Anazeh as a horseman is unbounded; and I give his description here, although the subject does not properly come within the contents of this chapter.

            “His horsemanship, when he chooses to display it, is very striking and curious. He puts his horse to the gallop; leaning very much forward, and clinging with his naked legs and heels round the flanks, he comes past you at speed; his brown shanks bare up to the thigh, his stick brandished in his hand, and his ragged robes flying behind; then, checking the pace, he turns right and left at a canter, pulls up, increases or diminishes his speed, and, with his bitless halter, exhibits, if not the power of flinging his horse dead upon his haunches, possessed by the Turks and other bit-using Orientals, at all events, much more control over the animal than an English dragoon attains to with his heavy bit. On theses occasions, it appears to me that the halter served to check, and the stick to guide; but I have seen the same feats performed when the horseman was carrying the lance, and, consequently, was without his stick. Our purchases in the desert amounted to one hundred horses; amongst all I saw tried, I never saw one attempt to pull, or show the least want of docility.”

****************

            “Most horsemen will admit that this is an extraordinary performance, and that none will allow it more readily than those who are acquainted with the Arab horse as he appears in our hands in India, where-so far as I may trust my own experience-he is hot, and inclined to pull. Why should he display this failing with us, and not with his original masters? My own impression is that the secret lies in the different temper of the English and the Bedouin horseman. The Bedouin (and every other race of Orientals that I am acquainted with seems to possess somewhat of the same quality) exhibits a patience towards his horse as remarkable as the impatience and roughness of the Englishman. I am not inclined to put it to his credit in a moral point of view; I do not believe that it results from affection for the animal, or from self-restraint; he is simply without the feeling of irritability which prompts the English horseman to acts of brutality. In his mental organization some screw is tight which in the English mind is loose; he is sane on a point where the Englishman is slightly cracked; and he rides on serene and contented where the latter would go into a paroxysm of swearing and spurring. I have seen an Arab stallion broken loose at a moment when our camp was thronged with horses brought for sale, turn the whole concern topsy-turvy, and reduce it to one tumult of pawing and snorting and belligerent screeching; and I never yet saw the captor, when he finally got hold of the halter, show the least trace of anger, or do otherwise than lead the animal back to his pickets with perfect calmness. Contrast this with the ‘job’ in the mouth, and the kick in the ribs, and the curse that the English groom would bestow under similar circumstances; and you have, in a great measure, the secret of the good temper of the Arab horse in Arab hands.”

[ED NOTE: It is interesting to note in this excerpt the lack of trust and also contempt for the Bedouin on the part of these particular European horse purchasers. This, however, was not the case for Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt, Homer Davenport and his party, and Carl Raswan among others. Each of these people by establishing respect and trust with the Bedouin resulted in a number of important foundation horses we are now the beneficiaries of in Al Khamsa.]

The Arab: the Horse of the Future (Part III)

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series The Arab: the Horse of the Future

Articles of History:

FROM THE PAST: Excerpted from

THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE

by Hon. Sir James Penn Boucaut The Khamsat Vol 10 Num 4 Nov 93

Edward III. was a great warrior.

Captain Thomas Brown, 1830, says in his book that the Turkomans trace all their best horses to Arabian sires. They believe that the race degenerates unless ‘refreshed,’ and they are therefore most anxious to obtain fine Arabian horses. They live upon plunder, and march from 70 to 105 miles a day for twelve to fifteen days together without a halt. They have been known to go 900 miles in eleven successive days. Yet a sprinter would run away from them for a sprint — but for a sprint only. Where would be the sprinter at the end of the fifteen days of 100 miles a day?

The use of the Arab by the Turkoman is further alluded to by Mr. Henry Norman, M.P., in his book on ‘All the Russias,’ fifty years after Captain Brown wrote. He says that the Cossacks on the Armenian frontier are supplied with rifles by the Government; their wiry little horses are their own. Russia has imposed peace on the Turkoman, so, in spite of Imperial commissions and the importation of Arab stallions, the fleet and tireless Turkoman horse, with his flashing eye and scarlet nostril, is extinct for ever. Alas that it should be so! All honour to Mr. Wilfrid Blunt for his keeping the pure breed alive!

Captain Brown says that the horses of Turkey are principally descended from those of Arabia, Persia, and Barbary, have great fire and spirit, are extremely active, and he cites Mr. Evelyn as describing one sent to England as a perfect beauty, spirited, proud, nimble, turning with swiftness, in a small compass, and then quotes great authority as saying that nothing can surpass the Arab’s gentleness, and that his obedience to his master and groom are very great.

Captain Brown also says that in the Mysore country the Princes and people of rank have a superior breed sprung from Arabian blood, and that the Mahratta country has also long been celebrated for its horses, which have much of the Arabian blood in them.

He refers to the East India Company as keeping very fine stallions, generally of the English blood. He says that the produce of these are good parade horses, with more show than the Arabians, but they were unable to stand the same fatigue, nor had they the same mettle. This is corroborated by the Australasian, March 2, 1904, fifty-four years afterwards, which states that at the great Durbar at Delhi there was a ten days’ polo meeting, that the English ponies first gave in, the Australian lasted a day or two longer, but the only ones who stayed throughout the match were the Arabs! Yet they have neither staying power, courage, nor docility! O tempora, O mores.!

And Captain Brown sums up by saying that of late too little attention has been paid to the introduction of foreign Arab or Eastern stallions, asks where can we find such horses at the present day, either as racers or stallions, as Eclipse, Childers, King Herod, Matchem, and others; and attributes the present failure to the departure of our present racers from the foreign blood — in other words, that since racing men have abandoned the use of the Arab their horse is failing.            

Sir Samuel Baker, in his ‘Tributaries of the Nile‘ writes;

‘Never was there a more perfect picture of a wild Arab horseman than Jali on his mare. Hardly was he in the saddle than away flew the mare, whilst her rider, in delight, threw himself almost under her belly while at full speed, picking up stones from the ground. Never were there more complete centaurs than these Hamran Arabs: horse and man appeared to be one animal, of the most elastic nature, that could twist and turn with the suppleness of a snake.’

Further, in speaking of a particular horse Aggahr, in hunting a lion, who flew along as easily as a cat, he says that Aggahr’s gallop was perfection, and his long easy stride as easy to himself as to his rider; there was no necessity to guide him, he followed an animal like a greyhound, and sailed between the stems of the trees, carefully avoiding the trunks, so as to give room for the rider.

‘And once a Hamran,’ so Sir Samuel relates, ‘who was hunted by a rhinoceros who unexpectedly charged, clasped his horse round the neck, and, ducking his head, blindly trusting to Providence and his good horse, over big rocks, fallen trees, thick thorns, and grass 10 feet high, with the infuriated animal in full chase only a few feet behind him, the horse doubling like a hare.’

that is nearly as bold and as manly and as dangerous a sport as to run 800 yards on a smooth level sward for a ladies’ purse, with silks and satins fluttering along the lawn!

Sir Samuel also describes a lion-hunt, where his horse Tetel stared fixedly at the lion and snorted; but Sir Samuel patted and coaxed him, when within about 6 yards from the lion, the horse facing the lion with astounding courage, both keeping their eyes fixed on each other, the one beaming with rage, the other with cool determination. Sir Samuel then dropped the reins on his horse’s neck — a signal which Tetel perfectly understood — and he stood as firm as a rock, for he knew his rider was about to fire. Tetel never flinched, Sir Samuel fired, and the lion dropped dead. But what is that compared to the noble achievement of a jockey in winning a town plate?

Yet one more incident from Sir Samuel’s book: ‘Roder Sheriff, on a bay mare, facing an old bull elephant waiting a good chance to charge, slowly and coolly advanced till within about 8 yards of the elephant’s head, who never moved; the mare snorted, gazing intently at the elephant, watching for his attack. Sir Samuel for an instant saw the white of the elephant’s eye, and called out, “Look out, Roder — he’s coming.!” as, with a shrill scream, the elephant dashed upon the mare and her rider like an avalanche.’ Roder sheriff had never won a Derby, so, of course, you suppose the benighted man was killed! Not so, however. In Sir Samuel’s words, ‘Round went the mare as on a pivot, and away over rocks and stones, flying like a gazelle.‘ For a moment Sir Samuel thought that all must be lost; but he describes how Roder watched the elephant over his shoulder, and lured him on till the horsemen behind came up and hamstrung him. Yet of such mares we are gravely told that they have neither speed, stamina, nor docility!              
Caulincourt, Duke of Vicenza, when ambassador to Russia in 1807, saw a review of the Horse Guards raised by Paul I., the finest corps of horse in Russia, and reported that their Arabian horses ‘were of immense value.’

In the ‘Souvenirs of Military Life in Algeria,’ by the Comte De Castellane, he says of a hawking-party that ‘the Arab horsemen were mounted on the fleet mares held in unbounded estimation.’ Of one mare he says: ‘Her action was so light that she might, according to the Arab phrase, have galloped on a women’s bosom.’ Of course, a jockey or a racing trainer would sneer at this, naturally: he is so wise in horses — ‘one of the knowing ones.’ Yet I think that the opinion of a French officer, often dependent on his horse for his life, engaged in war, with as brave warriors as there are in the world facing him, might be fairly considered to be rather more valuable than that of men engaged only in sprinting races, as to which horse is the better for the ordinary purposes of humanity.

Mr. George Flemming, in ‘Travels in Mantchu Tartary,’ says that the Russian courier used to ride one pony 500 miles to Pekin in twelve days, rest a day, and return in fifteen, on the most unfavourable sort of forage. He relates that their own rides had been long and without intermission, and their ponies looked none the worse, though they were eight or ten hours in the saddle daily, doing forty or forty-five miles a day, and travelling nigh 700 miles of rough country, nothing less than that average on miserable fare — bran and chopped straw.

Whether Tartar or Turkoman or Mantchu, all those ponies have been indebted to the Arab cross.

Mr. John Hill, in the Live Stock Journal Almanack, 1903, writes that he was much impressed by the foals and young stock of, amongst others, the Arab Mootrub, and, again, that it is surer by far to breed up from the beautiful little Exmoor mare with th eMootrub cross on top. Further, that two very beautiful younsters were shown from Exmoor dams and an Arab sire. He speaks of a beautiful little pony as a typical Arab in miniature, a clear proof of the Eastern ancestry of the Welsh mountain pony. In ‘The Breeders’ Directory’ and in the advertisements of the same book are several announcements as to Arab sires.

Mr. Winwood Reade says that Cyrene, in Northern Africa, was ‘famous for its Barbs, which won more than one prize in the chariot-races of the Grecian games. ‘ Further on he says that the Berbers of the Carthaginian army were a splendid Cossack cavalry.

I give in Appendix II. the testimony of several large horse-breeders in the interior of Australia to the excellence, docility, and endurance of Arab stock got by pure stallions.

Sir Edward Creasy, in his ‘History of the Ottoman Turks,’ relates that when Mahomet II, heard in 1451 of the death of his father, Amurath II, ‘he instantly sprang on an Arab horse and galloped off towards the shore of the Hellespont.’ and he says that the Sultan Amerath, when making in 1638 a triumphal entry into Constantinople,’ rode a Nogai charger, and was followed by seven led Arab horses with jewelled caparisons.’ Nogai is between the Caspian and the Black Sea, in the country of the Kirghiz, whose horses were partly Arab.

The first of these extracts from Sir Edward shows the reliance placed by the successsful Sultan on the Arab horse at a great crisis, for often, if not mostly, many of the candidates were massacred straight away by some rival claimant. The second extract proves the admiration shown for him, and the honour always done him by a great conquering race, who conquered by the endurance, the speed, and the docility of their horses.

General Sir Thomas Edward Gordon, Military Attache at Teheran, says that the Persian horses are small, but very wiry an enduring, capable of very long journeys. On one occasion, owing to some great man having got the post-horses ahead of him, he was driven to continue the use of those he had been using for ninety-six miles right away, with only three hours’ rest at one place and one hour’s rest at another.

He was shown the Royal Stud racehorses, Arabs from Arabia, and riding horses, deer-like Arabs of the best blood.

According to Madame Waddington, wife of the French Ambassador, the Russian Emperor Alexander III, always rode his little gray Cossack horse. He rode it at his coronation, and some days afterwards at a review.

Lieutenant-Colonel Prejevalsky, a Russian, says the Mongol riders go at full speed across the desert like the wind, and their horses possess wonderful powers of endurance on very indifferent feed; they will live where other horses would perish. The great traveller, Captain Wood (J.N.), says the same.

Colonel Ramsay says that the Parsees give immense prices for high-caste Arabs, and that Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy has superb English carriage horses, but they cannot stand work in the Bombay climate. That is what Mr. Carwardine, a well known Australian stock-owner, tells me of the Kimberley climate in North-Western Australia — that only Arabs can stand work there. Colonel Ramsay also describes the funeral of a grandee of Spain at Valencia, where ‘there were some splendid turn-outs — Arabs of the purest breed.’ And he speaks of his own regiment, the 14th Light Dragoons, as ‘splendidly mounted on Gulf Arabs.’

Colonel Durand describes a horse he had in India as perfectly untiring, having sinews of steel, a bold, intelligent eye, and feet of flint – he never rode his equal on a hillside — and he goes into ecstasies over his other wonderful qualities, with his ‘easy wolf’s canter, eating up mile after mile without a check, a present fit for a king.’ He says that none but the Arab could show such a combination of courage, fire, endurance, and general temper. His bold heart was the only one he trusted in implicity.

Mrs. Frances Macnab, in her ‘Travels in Morocco,’ writes that she could not say that she ever met with a horse in Morocco which had any faults or ill-temper to be compared with other horses, and they would walk all day without food. In her own horses there was not a scrap of vice in his whole nature.

Mrs. G.R.Durand, wife of the British Minister to the Shah of Persia, in her book writes that the Bakhtiari horses are often beyond price, of pure Arab race, as hardy as beautiful; quite extraordinary in the way they carry their riders over rocks and stones — they scarcely ever make a mistake, and their legs seem to be as hard as steel. A little black mare ‘carried her rider as if she had wings.’ Mrs. Durand herself had a little gray Arab, who used to come into her dining room and stroll round the table, pushing his head over their shoulders and whinnying gently for bits of bread. At a Simla dinner-party he came round the table just like a big dog.

Mr. J.H.Sanders shows that tradition had always affirmed that the Percheron, the most active and beautiful of all heavy breeds, is indebted to the Arab for his good qualities, and that recent research in France proves it. What the Darley Arabian was to the thoroughbred, that, says Mr. Sanders, was the gray Arabian Gallipoli to the Percheron. The American Percheron Stud-Book attributes the starting-point of the breeed to the overthrow of the Arabs by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in the year 732, which left the fine Arab and Barb steeds of the defeated Arabs in the hands of the victors. It also show that the infusion of Arab blood was strengthened by the finest of Arabian stallions brought back by the Crusaders, and was kept up at irregular intervals by many Franch nobles down to 1820. the form and other distinctive marks of the Arab, says Mr. Sanders, were thus stamped upon the Percheron.

The Arab breed, he says, was also the foundation of the celebrated breed of Orloff trotters established by Count Orloff, who imported a gray stallion named Smetauxa, from Arabia, to whom a Danish mare was bred, from the progeny of which cross the breed was founded.

And the now equally celebrated breed of American Morgan trotters is also mostly indebted to the Arab blood for its excellence, through Grand Bashaw, a Barb imported into America from Tripoli. In fact, says Mr. J. H. Sanders, this Oriental blood, wherever introduced, in all nations and all climates, has been a powerful factor in effecting improvement in the equine race. Yet, says Mr. Day, for practical purposes this same noble creature is as extinct as the dodo. O tempora, O mores!

Marco Polo noticed the superb qualities of the Arab in A.D. 1260. He says that excellent horses were bred in Yemen and taken to India, and numbers of Arab chargers were despatched from Aden to India, and ‘fine horses of great price‘ were sent to India from Persia. Colonel Yule has a footnote that these latter horses were probably the same class of ‘Gulf Arabs’ that are now sent, which, as the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica‘ says, are not equal to the pure Arabian.

Old Marco also speaks of the great excellence of the horses of Turcomania and Badakshan, remarkable for their speed, which go at a great pace even down steep descents, where other horses neither would nor could do the like, which subsist entirely on the grass, and are very docile. And he describes how the Turkomans pretend to run away in battle, turn in the saddle and shoot, the horses doubling hither and thither, just like a dog, in a way that is quite astonishing.

He also mentions several instances of the marvellous endurance of these Eastern horses. One accomplished 900 miles in eleven days, and another went from Teheran to Tabriz, returned, and went again to Tabriz, within twelve days, including two days’ rest, a total of 1.100 miles. And he tells us that the Tartars, from converse with the Assyrians, Persians, and Chaldeans, acquired their manners and adopted their religion. He should have included the Arabs, for the religion was certainly theirs; and he might also have added that the Tartars acquired many of the Arab horses. In truth, I rather think that it was the Arabs, and not the Assyrians, Persians, or Chaldeans, that Marco ought to have referred to.

And Laurence Oliphant says that these Turcoman and Badakshan people attained to some degree of civilization by reason of their commercial relations with the Arabs, and that his experience proved that their ponies possessed great pluck and powers of endurance.

Long before Marco Polo’s time far Easstern Asia was on the watch for Arab horses. Knei Shan (probably Khojend towards Merv) was ‘celebrated for its horses of divine race.’

China went to war with the Great Wan in 104-103, and again in 109-98 B.C., for the possession of this country and its horses, which were undoubtedly Eastern horses — most probably Persian Gulf Arabs.

In ‘The History of Russia‘ (Bohn’s Library) the success of the Tartars is attributed partly to their ‘being masters of the provinces which produced the finest horses.’

Mr. Shaw, in his ‘Visits to High Tartary,’ frequently refers to the handsome horses. He describes a sport where a dead goat is thrown on the ground, and the horsemen try to pick it up without leaving the saddle; when one succeeds he is chased by the others, doubling and turning, their hands seldom on the reins, banks and ditches jumped while they are half out of the saddle, galloping with one another, trusting entirely to their steeds when tugging with both hands at the goat. But, says he, ‘the Toorkee horses seldom make a mistake.’

The Rev. Dr. Henry Lansdell(1893) writes of his travels in Central Asia, that, fearing his horse would slip, he dismounted, but found that was for the worse, since the horse proved the surer footed, and he had to remount and trust to the animal.

Sir Henry Layard describes clouds of Bakhtizari and Arab horsemen in mimic fight, pursuing each other, bringing up their horses on their haunches at full speed, firing guns as they turned in their saddles, and performing various feats.

Sir Henry was once chased, and his horses were weary, having been nearly twenty-four hours without rest; but, says he, ‘they were sturdy beasts, and eluded their pursuers – it was wonderful!” The horses were able to bear great fatigue, and required little nourishment. Could Carbine have saved him?

He describes Mehemet Taki Khan’s magnificent and beautiful Arab mare of pure blood, and the exercises of his horses of the finest Arab breeds — galloping to and fro, wheeling in narrowing circles, while their riders, discharged their guns from behind, picked up objects at full speed, or clung at full length to one side of their horse, in order not to offer a mark to the enemy, and so on. How would these exercises suit your thoroughbreds, or your cavalry horses which ran into the streets at Winchester, and into the sea at Southampton?

Mr. Selah Merrill, of the American Exploration Society, writing of his journeys in Syria and Palestine, says that on one occasion he was ten hours and forty minutes in the saddle, and that on another occasion he was seventeen hours in the saddle one day, and fifteen hours the next; that the horses had a remarkable faculty of finding the way, and that, when riding in a difficult place, if you trusted entirely to your horse, you were almost certain to pass it in safety.

The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, describing his journey to Jordan and the Dead Sea, writes (1901) that his chief dragoman was ‘magnificently mounted,’ as also were the four Arabs who were his escort. They put their splendid Arab horses through pretty and skilful performances.

A recent special correspondent writes in the Land of Arabia– Ararat, that the region was celebrated for its breed of horses, high-spirited, well bred, and noted for great endurance.

Disraeli writes in one of his letters:’Hunted the other day, and was the best man in the field, riding an Arabian mare.’ They rode much more cruelly in those days.

The Hon. Sir James Penn Boucaut, 1905.

The Arab: the Horse of the Future (Part II)

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series The Arab: the Horse of the Future

Articles of History:

FROM THE PAST: Excerpted from

THE ARAB: THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE

by Hon. Sir James Penn Boucaut
The Khamsat Vol 10 Num 4 Nov 93

Circassian Warriors, 19th century engraving courtesy of Judith Forbes.

In the autobiography of General Sir Harry Smith, of Aliwal, a very great soldier of wonderful energy, reference is frequently made to his celebrated Arab horse Aliwal, which carried the veteran in all the battles of Gwalior and Sikh campaigns in 1847, accompanied him to the Cape, returned with him to England, afterwards served him faithfully in his commands at Davenport and Manchester, and was in his possession for eighteen years. It is related that on the anniversary of the Battle of Aliwal, when there was a full-dress dinner at the General’s house, someone would propose Aliwal’s health, and Sir Harry would order him to be sent for. The groom would lead him all round the dinner-table, glittering with plate, lights, uniforms, and brillent dresses, and he would be quite quiet, only giving a snort now and again, though when his health had been drunk, and the groom had led him out, you could hear him on the gravel outside prancing and capering.

Sir Harry writes:

‘I had one little Arab, not 14 hands, descended from Arabs; he never gave me a fall, and I never failed to bring the brush to his stable when I rode him; but with all the other horses I have had some awful falls, particularly after rain, when the sand is saturated with water and very heavy.’

It is further written of the General that he usually rode his little Arab Aliwal, and always when the troops were in line he would suddenly put his horse into a gallop and ride at the line, as if he were going to charge through them; that the men were, of course, well up to this trick, and stood perfectly steady, and the little Arab always suddenly halted within a foot of the line.

The following epitaph on his horse by Sir Harry, in his own handwriting, is still preserved:

‘NEAR THIS SITE IS BURIED SIR HARRY SMITH’S CELEBRATED CHARGER OF THE PUREST BLOOD,

ALIWAL.

‘Sir Harry rode him in the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozesshahur, Aliwal, and Sobraon. He was the only horse of the General Staff that was not killed or wounded. He came from Arabia to Calcutta, thence to Lahore; he was marched nearly over India, came by ship to England. He was twenty-two years old, never sick during the eighteen years in Sir Harry’s possession. As a charger he was incomparable, gallant, and docile; as a friend he was affectionate and faithful.’

Is this all a romantic dream? Can the opinion of a racing gentleman founded upon ‘sprinting,’ or of a stable youth founded upon ‘tips,’ or of a ‘dandy’ of Piccadilly, or of the ‘best boy’ of a Melbourne barmaid, be placed against the practical experience of all these great soldiers?

In the Franco-Prussian War the Arab again proved his sureriority. The Times of February 24, 1871, gave an account of the entry of General Bourbaki’s army into Berne, and the distress of both men and horses, but it qualified this as to the Arabs by adding that

‘undoubtedly the Arabs justify the established reputation of their breed for endurance by the very tolerable condition they presented and the comparative elasticity of their paces.’

Mr. W.G.Palgrave, in his ‘Central and Eastern Arabia.’ vol. II., says of some horses then before him, that never had he seen or imagined so lovely a collection. their stature was indeed somewhat low–he did not think that any came up to 15 hands; 14 appeared to be about their average — but they were so exquisitely well shaped that want of greater size seemed hardly, if at all, a defect. He says that they appeared a little, a very little, saddlebacked — just the curve which indicates springiness without weakness; every other part, too, had a perfection and a harmony unwitnessed, at least by his eye, anywhere else — an air and step that seemed to say, ‘Look at me: am I not pretty?’ Their appearance justified all reputation, all value, all poetry.

Captain Burnaby, in his Ride to Khiva, says of horses of the Kirghiz, that no horses that he has ever seen are so hardy as these little animals. He bought one with saddle and bridle, 14 hands, for 5 Lb. Of excessive leanness, and by his description only fit for the knackers, which in England would not have been considered able to carry his boots, yet, in spite of quite 20 stone on his back, he never showed the least sign of fatigue. There is Arab blood in these horses, or they are of a kindred breed. All over the steppes Arabic words are used, showing the influence of the Arabs in the past; indeed, they overran much of this country.

In July, 1270, a French expedition (the seventh Crusade), under Louis IX. attacked Tunis. Mr. Pellissier, writing in 1844 on this Crusade, says that the Arabs attacked the French Crusaders every day, and that

‘if one pursued them they fled; but when the French returned to their quarters, tired out by a bootless chase, the Arabs turned round and assailed their pursuers with arrows and javelins. This is exactly how they treat us today.’

In the latter sentence he referred to the Arabs under Abd-el-Kader in Algiers. It was as bootless a chase for the French cavalry to try to catch the Arab horses in Algiers in 1840 as it was for the same cavalry to try to catch the Arab horses in Tunis in 1270; 600 years had not lessened the difference in merit between the two breeds: the Arab was still facile princeps.

General De Wet could furnish instances yet sixty years later of other European cavalry having bootless chases after Arab horses. In 1535 the Emperor Charles V. attacked Tunis with success, and amongst the terms of the treaty of peace which was made it was provided that the suzerainty of Sprian was to be recognised by a yearly present of twelve horses. No such term would have been made unless the horses had been known to have been of unusual excellence. You don’t take coals to Newcastle nor Arab horses to Arabia. But you send them elsewhere. Another Bey of Tunis, Ahmed Bey, in 1842, sent, amongst other things, a present of an Arabian horse to Louis Philippe, King of the French. So that we have three Kings of France in three far-apart periods receiving presents of Arab horses from the Bey of Tunis, and there are scores of other instances where an Arab horse has been deemed worthy of being a present to be received by one Sovereign from another. Was I not justified in saying that it was childish of my unknown friend, above referred to, to say that there is neither speed, stamina, nor docility, in the Arab horse?

Napoleon Bonaparte, in his ‘Observations on Egypt.’ states that although discipline made 1.000 of the French cavalry superior to 1.500 Mamelukes, yet man for man the Mamelukes were the better — ‘two of them were able to make head against three Frenchmen,’ because they were better armed and better mounted; and Sir Edward Creasy says that Napoleon is the best writer on the subject of Egypt that a general or statesman can consult.

The Mamelukes were probably Arabs, but were certainly mounted on Arab horses, and Cook’s ‘Guide to Egypt‘ cites Warburton as stating that the Mamelukes were the most superb cavalry in the world. Major Upton says in effect the same with reqard to the present age:

‘The real armour of the Bedaween horsemen, offensive and defensive, is the speed of his mare.’

Polybius wrote that it was the superiority of Hannibal’s cavalry which gained him all his victories. That cavalry was Numidian — that is, Arab.

‘Thormanby,’ in a book on The Horse and his Rider, whom I should by no means take to be an Arab enthusiast, affirms that the Arab is in many respects entitled to take the lead among all breeds of horses; that his pace is rapid and graceful; that his is hardy, and can continue traveling at the rate of from fifty to sixty miles a day; that it is proved beyond doubt that for slow, continued work the Arab is immeasurably superior to his English brethren. that distance is the mileage that one of Mr. Quin’s Arabs at Tarella, New South Wales, bought of me, went day after day during the great drought about the end of the nineteenth century, with, I believe, only native grass, or what was left of it. Is that properly to be called ‘slow’?

“Thormanby’ can, clearly, have meant ‘slow’ only as opposed to short sprinting with light weights; in fact, he admits as much in almost the very words that I hears applied to Mr. Quin’s stallion, that an Arab seems at his own pace to be able to go for ever. But I deny that his pace is slow; it is very fast, as many a defeated army has discovered. ‘Thormanby’ describes two Arab horses sent to him from Bombay to Lucknow, which did not reach him for five months, having marched continuously, with many vicissitudes, continual forced marches, and irregularly and scantily fed, still arriving in perfect trim, and continuing to do fast work throughout the hot season. I note particularly the word ‘fast,’ which is the author’s. ‘Thormanby’ might therefore have said more in the previous passage than to say the Arab was immeasurably superior for ‘slow’ continual work! He fairly enough says that, all things considered, he sould prefer in the Indian or Egyptian climate an Arab to any other horse, habituated as he is from infancy to scanty food and water, and to enduring heat and rough usage, and above all with sounder legs and feet — a good tempered, willing and docile slave, and a rare agent to traverse a distance in an open country. Another passage from “Thormanby’ shows how ill adapted the ordinary horsey man, used to the ‘leggy, weedy creature who would fall over a straw,’ is to judge of the merits of the Arab. Says ‘Thormanby’ of five Arabs of the ordinary stamp — by ‘ordinary,’ I take it, he means Bombay Arabs of the old style, not pure-breds of the desert —

‘To an eye accustomed to European horse-flesh they would have looked, perhaps, at the first glance like a lot of screws; but when you came to examine them closely, you found undeniable points about them, and a look of gameness that showed it was, at any rate, no plebeian animal that you had before you.’

A former Duke of Newcastle, one of the best judges of horse-flesh then in England, shows how few people can judge an Arab accurately. He thought very little of the Godolphin Arabian!

‘Thormanby’ points out that the wild-horses of America, both North and South, have descended from Andalusians imported by the first settled Spanish settlers, and that they are fine animals, very hardy, and when caught soon docile. He describes the common amusement of the Mexicans and South Americans in charging like lightning, and stopping so suddenly that the horses’ feet will exactly touch the wall, and even at times will tremble over a precipice, and yet wheel round in safety.

This is of a piece with the description given by Layard and many others of the Eastern Arabs, who would stop in full charge with their spears so close to his face that an accident would have caused his death. I have cited Major-General Tweedie’s references to this, and those of several others.

‘Thormanby’ relates a story of Sir R. Gillespie on the Calcutta racecourse, when a tiger had escaped. A Bengal tiger is no kitten to play with. Sir Robert called for his Arab, a small gray, and attacked the tiger with a boar-spear, which was in the hands of one of the crowd. Immediately the tiger saw Sir Robert, he crouched for a spring, at which Sir Robert instantly put his horse in a leap over the tiger’s back and thrust his spear through the animal’s spine.

This grand and fearless little fellow was afterwards given as a present to the Prince Regent. Though he was like all his race, a born war-horse, cool in the presence of the tiger under a rider that he knew, and not afraid of jumping over him, et, alas! he could probably not have won a half-mile race with 5 stone on his back! How sadly degenerate! Nevertheless, he was not quite ‘so extinct as the dodo‘ on that occasion!

Mr. W.K.Kelly, the traveller, in his book on ‘Syria,’ 1844, says that the Bedouin and his horse should be seen together. When the rider’s feet are on the ground, he creeps listlessly about, and the horse stands tamely, looking hungrily after the few blades of grass. but when the Bedouin springs into the saddle an electric energy seems breathed into the man and horse. The horse makes the air whistle with his speed, while his streaming tail often lashes his rider’s back.

This is exactly what Madam Ida Pfeiffer writes in her ‘Travels in the Holy Land,’ about fifty years ago. She said that at first sight they looked anything but handsome. They were thin, and generally walked at a slow pace, with their heads hanging down. But when skilful riders mounted them they appeared as if transformed. Lifting their small, graceful heads with fiery eyes, they threw out their slender feet with matchless swiftness, and bounded away over stock and stone, with a step so light, and yet so secure that accidents very rarely occurred. It was quite a treat to see them.

Madam Pfeiffer and Mr. Kelly both dwell on the arab’s powers of endurance. Mr. Kelly says they are most remarkable. His on more than one occasion carried him for sixteen or eighteen hours at a stretch without food, and once he cantered him from Hebron to Jaffa, nearly fifty miles, without pulling bit. At the end of such a journey, Arab horses, he says, get only a few handfuls of barley, no bedding or grooming, and generally the saddle is not removed. They are sure-footed and exceedingly sagacious, and exhibit a wonderful degree of activity and fleetness. then he cites Baron von Taubenheim, first equerry to the King of Wurtemberg, who, writing to a friend, reminded him what an anglomaniac he (the Baron) was, but said that nevertheless from henceforth he should set the Arab horse above every other, from experience of his extraordinary performances. The Baron describes the horrible roads of Lebanon — rocks over which the horse has often to mount or descend two or three at a step, loose rolling stones, a track running jaggedly and unevenly along the verge of a precipice. Yet along such roads as these the Arab goes on without flagging from six in the morning till eight at night, and he averred that he never discovered the least flagging, even in the last quarter of an hour, and for many days he literally never took hold of the reins.

The Rev. Dr. Porter, in his “Five Years in Damascus,’ refers to these dreadful roads of Leganon, which, he says,

‘are startling when your steed assumes a vertical attitude or passes along a precipice brink, where a false step would hurl him hundreds of feet below.’

After many other instances of endurance, cleverness, bottom, and docility, Baron Taubenheim says that he knows that vanity would make him in his own country again seek out a six-foot-high English horse, but that he also knows that the Arab is capable of doing much better service. For the day of battle he should, perhaps, make choice of an English hunter, but for a whole campaign, says he,

‘give me one Arab in preference to two English horses.’

He also says that a traveller feels amazement ot think that in such a country men can trust themselves upon horses where you would expect to see them mounted only on goats. Those horses don’t fall over a straw. The Baron’s vanity which he speaks of gives you a part of the key to the Anglomania vanity, the desire of being on a tall horse — the vanity of the horsey youth in top-boots and knee-breeches, whom the Times satirizes as a ‘tendollar amateur’; the vanity of the Piccadilly masher prancing before the dames in the Park; the arrogant vanity of the insular mind, which thinks that nothing can be good which is not English. The other part of the key to this absurd Anglomania is the gambling.

In another place Mr. Kelly says that it is only in the East that you can form a just idea of the Arab horse, and he devotes a full page to enlarging on his merits, his beauty, his gentleness, his picturesque form, his caressing manner to his groom, his playfulness, his inquisitive attention, evincing as much certainty, force of character, and varied play of feature, as the emotions of mind on the face of a child. Many of my guests have noticed and spoken of this caressing manner shown by my young horses, as also their inquisitive attention and wonderful appearance of intelligence. It has been stated that an Arab would prefer his horse to be stolen rather than injured in a long and heavy chase, and that he has been known to rejoice, by reason of his pride in her, when his favourite mare has carried the thief safely away from his pursuit. If he is to be kicked, he hopes that it will be by a horse of pure breed!

Dr. Porter writes of the arrival of a stranger who drew up after a very rapid pace, whose mare stood patient and gentle without symptom of weariness or quickness of breathing, but with expanded nostril and proud eye.

‘I could see,’ said Dr. Porter, ‘why the Arab loves his horse.’

Mr. Frederick Drew, in his book ‘The Northern Frontier of India,’ says that Baltistan is one of the homes of polo, which is so ancient a game that it was played in Constantinople in the middle of the twelfth century.

‘The ponies of the Baltis,’ he says, ‘may be taken fairly enough to embody the experience of generations of players as to the right kind of animal. They stand about 12.3 or 13 hands, rather large-boned for their size, of compact make, broad chest, deep shoulder, well-formed barrel, well ribbed-up, good hind-quarters, and a small, well shaped head.’

This well describes a small Arab; anyhow, the creature to which Mr. Drew refers is an Eastern horse, and certainly more or less crossed with the Arab.

Mr. W.P.Hogg, an American gentleman, in his book ‘The Land of the Arabian Nights,’ After several casual and cursory remarks as to ‘handsome Arab horses,’ ‘a mettled Arab.’ ‘a beautiful full-blood Arab horse,’ and their ‘wonderful endurance,’ and so on, describes his inspection of the stables of the Pasha at Babylon, where there were a score of the finest Arab horses, and naively says that, although he is not especially a horse-fancier, he would fully appreciate the present were the Pasha to give him one of those beautiful animals, so intelligent, docile, and graceful in every motion. Everybody seems to notice their beauty.

The Hon. F. Wallpole, in his book’The Ansayrii,‘ writes of an Arab mare he was shown of the Anazeh:

‘She was worthy of the pen of a Warburton or a Lamartine: clean gray, with black mane and tail, silvered at the end; her skin thin as a kid glove, and the long hairs fine as that which drops over the shoulders of beauty. The eye was bright, wild, and flashing; the nostrils full, almost bell-shaped; tall and strong, yet light and active, she well deserved her name — The Beautiful.”

In ‘Modern Persia.’ C.J.Wills, M.D., describes a fourteen-hand pure-bred Arab which he bought, with a huge scar of a spear-wound a foot long on his shoulder, otherwise perfect, of angelic temper, but small by the side of the Persian horses, as all pure Arabs are; his muzzle almost touched his chest as he arched his neck, and his action was very high yet easy; he seemed an aristocrat; his thin and fine mare and tail were like silk.

He says that he had that Arab ten years; he never was sick, and he never had to strike or spur him; a pressure of the knee and a shake of the rein would make him do his utmost. And he was a fast horse.

“Small as he was, he carried my 12 stone comfortably, and as a ladies’ horse he was perfect, having a beautiful mouth, while he followed like a dog, and nothing startled him or made him shy.’

He speaks, too, of the Arabs which come from Bagdad as all that the heart can desire, except as to size, being seldom more than 14.2. Which is the better — 14.2 that can carry one, or 16.2 that cannot?

The Australasian, April 2, 1904, in showing that the success of mule-breeding largely depends on the sire, says that the best mules in America are by Jacks descended from Catalonian sires imported from Spain — introduced to Spain centruies ago by the Moors, and always carefully bred. Who can doubt that this excellence is owning to the Arab stock owned by the Moors, which made the Andalusian jennet celebrated? Who can doubt after this the prepotency of the Arab sire, and his ability to benefit any breed he mates with, when even his hybrids became famous? Mr. Sydney Galvayne also testifies to this excellence of the American mule.

Captain R.V. Davidson, formerly of the Indian Staff Corps, writing of boar-hunting in India in the Wide World Magazine, says that

‘he and Bethune Temple were on Arabs, and could count on their turn if it came to jinking,’

and that when again and again

‘the active brute, scenting danger, jinked away to right or left, his stanch little Arab followed him like a cat.’

Mr. F.C. Webb, M.I.C.E., in his “Up the Tigris to Bagdad,’ relates that they took on board three splendid Arab horses, which he would not have written if the Arab is only what some of the racing gentlemen affirm. An observation like this — by the way, as it were — is almost better testimony than a designed panegyric.

Professor A.B. Davidson gives a very celebrated line by Imrulquars, an ancient Arabian poet, describing the skirmishing of the horse and the irresistible impetus of his charge:

‘Attacking, fleeing, advancing, backing at once,

Like a block of rock swept down by the torrent from a height.’

He gives part of another poem, in which is the line:

‘My heart is with the horsemen of Yemen.’

The reader asks why I cite this. Because I am not writing for the ‘knowing ones,’ and I desire to show beyond all cavil that, at all times, in all countries, amongst all peoples, the Arab horse was famous. Such fame could never have been achieved for a breed that did not deserve it.

M. Tisset, in relating his travels in ‘Unknown Hungary,’ says that all along the Turkish frontier, and especially in the upper military borderland, a small race of horses of Barbary origin is found well suited to those rugged and rocky countries, which corroborates the statements that the Hungarian horses are largely indebted for their excellence to Arab blood.

Count Henry Krasinski, a Polish soldier, in the ‘History of the Cossacks of the Ukraine,’ says that their horses are small in make, but extremely vigorous, and proof to all kinds of fatigue, clear all difficulties of the ground, carry their riders everywhere with facility, and are, like their masters, content with the most meagre fare; and he describes them as hovering round the enemy like a vapoury cloud, augmenting, fading away, or dissipating entirely again, to form into shape when required. This fortifies the accounts I have given of the Arabs of Tunis in the third Crusade, and of the Arabs of Algiers recently in the time of General Daumas.

These Ukraine horses are Eastern, and, if not pure Arabs, have been imporved by Arabs, and are of a kindred race. Count Krasinski states that at the great annual fair in the government of Volhynia 1000,000 horses often to be seen from all parts of Russia, Poland, Austria, and Turkey, and even Persia. The Kurdish mountains as well as Asia Minor were celebrated for their breed of horses in the time of the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 14).

In Mr. E.H.Parker’s ‘Thousand Years of the Tartars‘ it is stated that Tukuhum of Koko-nor, one of their rulers, who reigned in the sixth century, obtained a number of splendid Persian mares for breeding purposes, and their young obtained great repute for swiftness. Of course, these were ‘Eastern horses,’ and yet not up to the level of the pure desert-bred Arab.

Mr.W.B.Harris, in his ‘Journey through Yemen,’ states that the Arabian King Tubba-el-Akran took an expedition to Samarcand, and afterwards, in A.D. 206, Abou Kariba, another Arabian King, invaded Chaldea, and defeated the Tatars of Adubijan, so that all this country from Arabia to China was saturated with the blood of Arabian horses.

I see by the London Daily Telegraph, February 6, 1904, that the Sultan of Morocco sent a present of six pure Arabs to President Roosevelt from Fez, one for the President himself, the others for his wife and children, the one for himself being a pure white thoroughbred. In ancient times white horses were most esteemed; e.g., Herodotus says that the Sicilians paid an annual tribute of 360 white horses, Arabs or Arab crosses, to Darius, King of Persia. Sicilian horses, of course, came from Africa (Barbary, etc), just opposite. Other instances are given of the preference for white horses; Arab horses have always been deemed worthy of being gifts from royalty to royalty. Incidentally several instances appear in this little work. I may summarize a few more which I have come across in casual reading:

In the year 800 Haroun al Raschid sent a present of five Arabs to Charlemagne. In the tenth century the Grand Vizier presented to the Caliph fifteen Arab horses of the best breed.

In 1131 Alexander I. presented an Arabian horse to the Church of St. Andrews. Mehemmed Khan, governor of Balk, presented Shah Abbas, amongst other presents, with fifty horses of Turkestan. The Imaum of Muscat sent a present to King William Iv. of some horses of the purest breed of Arabia.

Megder, a Tartar Prince, one of the great conquerors of history, sent a present of Tartar horses to the Chinese Emperor about 200 B.C. In A.D. 635 the Turkish Khan sent a present of horses to the founder of the Tang Dynasty in China.

When Ibn Batula visited Sarunda in Asiatic Turkey in 1332, the Sultan presented him with a dress of honour and riding-horses. They never thought of sending pigs or oxen or Suffolk punches, admirable in their way as these creatures may be, and all these horses from Cyprus, and Edward III. purchased fifty Spanish steeds (of course Barbs), and got special permission for their safe transport through France and Spain.

Edward III. was a great warrior. Did he not know the value of the creature he purchased?

Major Butler in his Great Lone Land, describes a wonderful little horse of the prairies whose endurance could not be excelled day by day. He feared that he must give out; but not a bit of it! he still held gamely on, seldom traveling less than fifty miles a day, nothing to eat but the grass, and no time to eat but the frosty night. these prairie horses were descended from Spanish importations — Andalusians, i.e., Arabs or Barbs.

Count Rziewuski (Russian ) says that Asiatic horses are of one family, different from the European horses, except the English, which have much Arab blood, and that Napoleon did his best to improve the horses in France, but they were far inferior to English horses. This was in the middle of last century. The Count could not say that now. The Count also stated that the Poles had spared no expense in introducing Arab stallions, and gives many instances. Why were the English horses of that day superior to the French? Plainly, because up to that time the English had used the Arab very much more than the French, as the Stud-Book shows and as Count Rziewuski states. Why are thy inferior now? Because they have fallen off from the use of the Arab.

M. Chateaubriand, in his Travels in Greece, testifies to the hardihood of the Arab horse, and enters at length into what hardships he can stand, and says that a horse of well-known noble blood ‘will fetch any price,’ while you can get an ordinary horse for 80 or 100 piastres.

Major Denham, on losing a fine Arabian, describes how keenly he felt the loss, and says that although he was ashamed of it, yet he was some days before he could get over it; the animal had been his support and comfort through many a dreary day and night. Almost all riders of Arabs have felt the same sort of affection. As several authorities have observed, ‘the Arab is always a gentleman.’

Some Last Words, Chapter VI of The Arab Horse by Spencer Borden(1906)

Articles of History:

Excerpted from: THE ARAB HORSE, CHAPTER VI – SOME LAST WORDS by Spencer Borden, New York, 1906 from The Khamsat Volume Seven Number Four Oct/Dec 1990

 

            No person who reads the books from which much of the information conveyed in these pages has been obtained can fail to be impressed with the idea that the blood of Keheilet Ajuz is a preponderating influence in the best Arab horses. The animals possessed of this blood are not a separate breed among Arabs–all pure Arabs are of one breed. but, as we know of the old Morgans in America, there were separate families, for example, Woodburys, Giffords, Bulrushes, and all were Morgans, so in Arab horses there is a choice; and of them all the descendants of Keheilet Ajuz are the first. Upton says in “Gleanings From the Desert” (p. 320):

                “It appears to me that although there are numerous offshoots from the Keheilet Ajuz, each with a specific name, there is still a main line or strain of descent carried on of Keheilet Ajuz is sufficient to mark any such horse or mare.”

            He also explodes the tradition that mares are not to be had of the Arabs, and makes evident the fact that if a man knows what he wants, and has the money to pay the price; he can get it, or could at the time of his visits (p.p. 365-6).

                “Before leaving this portions of-the subject, it is convenient to allude to an assertion which has been made, and so oft repeated that it has been accepted as an established fact–that it is impossible to obtain an Arabian mare; that the Arabs will not part with a mare; that they will sell horses, but nothing will tempt them to part with a mare. The least informed on the subject of Arabians will tell you this as glibly and with as much assurance as if he had been brought up in the desert. One certainly announced that there was a law forbidding the export of an Arabian mare; Now, I can assure my readers that it is not by any means impossible to obtain a genuine Arab mare. We visited the most exclusive of all Badaween tribes and never heard of such a law. If any law did exist, it would be against selling, not exporting; but we never heard of such a thing in the desert. I can assure my readers that among the genuine Badaween of the Arabian desert we found no prejudice against parting with or selling a mare. Difficulty there certainly is to induce such people as the Anazah to sell either horses or mares, for they do not traffic in horses; but if there be any difference, you might get a good mare with less trouble than a good horse.

                “I have the best of possible authority for refuting the statement that mares are not to be got, for mares were not infrequently offered to us, and among the Anazah (not the wandering people of Erack) we obtained both mares and horses, and the former without more difficulty than the latter.”

            The idea has also been given currency that Manakhi Hedruj was a strain so rare as to be seldom seen in these days, was no longer to be had even for large sums of money, and that they are always chestnuts, of a sizes o much above the other Arab families that these others are merely “pony Arabs.” Upton says of them (Gleanings p. 321):

                “The Manakhi appeared to us a favorite strain, for both horses and mares of this family are to be found in most tribes of the Badaween; and we thought, with the exception of Keheilet Ajuz, there were more horses and mares among the Anazah, certainly among the Sabaah, of the Manakhi family than any other.”

            The Blunts, four years after Upton, had no difficulty in securing several animals of the Manakhi family, which they brought with them to the Crabbet Arabian Stud. Of their colour and size Upton remarks (Gleanings p. 321):

                “There was a nice clean-made, lengthy, useful, and racing-like dark grey three year old filly of the Manakhi Hedruj family which belonged to Shaykh Jedaan ibn Mahaid. There were four mares of Suleiman ibn Mirshid picketed in front of his tent, the best of which he considered to be the bluish-grey (Azzrak) mare, four or five years old. She was also of the Manakhi Hedruj family, and stood fourteen hands, three inches high.”

            Finally, the question seems pertinent — Why, if Arab horses are so valuable, their value so well known, and they can be procured, have they not become more widely distributed?

            Various answers, all good, may be given to this question. In the first place the average horseman has come to believe their qualities and reputation to be figments of the imagination, like the Arabian nights tales, and having similar origin. He has never seen one of these wonderful horses, and none of his friends have seen one. Therefore, the horse as he is represented does not exist. Again, even if he becomes convinced there is such a horse he does not know where to look for him, does not feel certain he can secure the genuine article if he parts with his good money to obtain one, and if he does find what he becomes convinced is what he wants the price is sure to be a stiff one. The fact is the whole business involves the question of supply and demand, which is the key to all economic calculations.

            From this time forward it will pay less and less to breed anything but the best horses, and those which will yield the safest return will be such as will be best adapted for use under the saddle, either for pleasure or as cavalry mounts. In either of those forms of utility no horse that ever lived can compare with one of Arab blood, and the supply of animals of that kind is extremely limited. The people possessing them, whether the Bedouins or those who have bought from them, have never had an over supply.

            A reason for this is perhaps to be found in one statement of conditions for which Mr. Wilfrid Blunt is authority namely: that the pure Arab is not a prolific breeding animal. He thinks one cause for this may be his intense inbreeding. Inbreeding is the only way to secure fixity of type in any form of animal life; but the penalty carried with it is limitation of the reproductive tendency. Mr. Blunt informed one inquirer that if fifteen mares out of twenty-five produced offspring each year at Crabbet Park, he felt satisfied.

            The tendency of this condition of affairs is to make the supply of pure Arabs always short, and the price high. A careful study of the lists presented to the readers of this book, however, will show that certain mares have been consistent and uniform producers of numerous and valuable offspring.