Arabian Horse

The Arabian horse is one of the most recognizable and the oldest horse breeds. Ancient paintings featuring Arabian horses date back to the 2,000 B.C. These horses originate from the Middle East (the territory of modern Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iraq.) By both war and trade, Arabian horses spread around the world. The most remarkable features of these horses have always been their endurance, intelligence, alertness and willingness to please. Bedouins and other nomadic tribes depend on these horses as the quickest means of transportation in the desert. Camels can replace Arabian horses in carrying weights, but they are very slow.

Horses could not survive in the desert without humans. They never tried to escape and were always ready to please. Close association with humans and harsh living conditions of the desert made Arabian horses very devoted to the owner. Nomads kept their best horses in their tents close to the family. Up to nowadays, all Arabian horses possess a naturally good disposition. These horses form close bonds with the rider, which makes learning easier, if the rider is consistent and experienced. Intelligence and sensitivity of the Arabian horse can also make it difficult to train. Such horses lose trust in a poor rider, and refuse to obey. Inept or abusive training practices do nothing but harm to this breed.

The Arabian horse of today looks much like its ancient ancestors, because the purity of the breed was carefully preserved. The Moslems considered these horses to be the gift of Allah and never crossbred them with other breeds. However, Arabian stallions and mares were often used to improve other breeds. Many modern breeds were developed from the Arabian horse.

For many centuries, the ancestry of Arabian horses was tracked through an oral tradition. Pedigrees were traced through the female line. Bedouins valued mares as war and breeding horses, and did not believe in stallions. Only the best stallions were kept for breeding; the majority was sold. The sub-types within the breed were developed by Bedouins for various purposes. They preserve their original names up to nowadays: the Keheilan, Seglawi, Abeyan, Hamdani and Hadban. The first written pedigrees of the Arabian horse date to 1330 A.D.