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“Never have I seen or imagined
so lovely a collection. Their stature was indeed somewhat low; I
do not think any came fully up to fifteen hands; fourteen
appeared to me about their average; but they were so exquisitely
shaped that want of a greater size seemed hardly, if at all, a
defect. Remarkably full in the haunches, with a shoulder of a
slope so elegant as to make one, in the words of the Arab poet
‘go stark raving mad about it’; a little, very little,
saddle-backed, just the curve that indicates springiness without
weakness; a head broad above and tapering down to a nose fine
enough to verify the phrase of ‘drinking from a pint pot’, did
pint pots exist in the Nejd; a most intelligent and yet a
singularly gentle look, full eye, sharp thorn-like ear, legs
fore and hind that seemed as if made of hammered iron, so clean
and yet so well twisted with sinew; a neat round hoof, just the
requisite for hard ground; a tail set on or rather thrown out at
a perfect arch; coats smooth, shining and light; the mane long,
but not overgrown or heavy; and an air and step that seemed to
say ‘Look at me, am I not pretty?’; their appearance justified
all reputation, all value, all poetry. If asked what are, after
all, the specially distinctive points of the Nejdee horse, I
should reply, the slope of the shoulder, the extreme cleanness
of shank, and the full rounded haunch, though every other part
too has a perfection and harmony unwitnessed (at least by my
eyes) anywhere else.”
Thus were
the words of William Gifford Palgrave, distinguished Arabic
scholar, Roman Catholic priest and much–traveled British
Diplomat, as recorded in 1863, in assessing the Arabian horses
of the Ibn-Saoud Stud of the Nejd. Aptly detailed through the
eyes of an historian, this vivid account of the Arabian horse
sheds great insight into the distinctive characteristics that
ordain the Arabian as unique within the equine world as well as
into the definition of Arabian type. This type, has of course,
been expounded upon by countless experts throughout the ages,
yet this brief narrative perhaps comes closer to summarizing the
true essence of the Arabian than any other.
When
considering authentic Arabian type, it is essential to put the
breed in the context of its origin – the Nejd of the Arabian
Peninsula. Implying upland by its very name, the Nejd is an open
steppe rising 2500 to 5000 feet above sea level. Primarily an
arid, desert region of sand, rocks and widely dispersed oases,
the Nejd comprises the vast central region of modern day Saudi
Arabia. The Nejd is a harsh environment in which the basics of
life, food and water, are scarce, and the existence of both man
and beast is challenged in the extreme.
Within this
unforgiving terrain, the nomadic tribes of the Arabic Bedouin
have survived for millennia. Essential to their survival has
been their relationship with the Arabian horse; a creature most
prized above all earthly possessions. The oral tradition of the
Bedouin claims the Arabian horse was first captured thousands of
years before the birth of Christ from among the wild horses of
the Nejd and tamed for utility under saddle. This was the
beginning of perhaps the most important and most intimate
coexistence between man and any other member of the animal
kingdom, one that would drive both progress and civilization and
forever change the fortunes of both species. Since that time,
the horse of the desert has been both warhorse and wealth for
the Bedouin, providing a sense of power, a mode of
transportation and the facilitation of fundamental commerce to
the starkly practical and oftentimes bleak existence of the
nomad.
Amongst the
Bedouin, the life of the Arabian horse was starkly unromantic –
harsh, little food of poor quality, scarcity of water, hot dry
conditions, times of restrictive confinement followed by swift
and tortuous raids. The life of the Bedouin was that of the
daily struggle for survival, hence life was approached in the
most unforgiving of contexts. Raids were considered an essential
element of Nomadic culture, especially those taken against
travelers. Life was one of incessant warfare, entailing forced
marches and the roughest treatment. Pity was not taken for the
injured or dying – death was accepted as both inescapable and
inevitable. Both environment and culture seemed the most
unlikely combination in which the successful rearing of any
creature could long be sustained, yet through centuries of
natural selection dictated by the necessity of man’s survival,
the Arabian horse has not only efficiently evolved, but
astonishingly thrived.
The
extraordinary environmental conditions of the Arabian Peninsula
demanded the evolution of a superior equine athlete of
exceptional intelligence and uncommon courage. Strength,
fortitude and tenacity of constitution were paramount if any
horse were to survive life as a warhorse on the rugged terrain.
Swiftness and endurance were vital to the success of raids, and
only those Arabians with the best combination of these nearly
polar attributes were fortunate enough to escape the dangers of
battle and earn the respect of their masters. Vitality of spirit
and courage were also essential to success in battle; this was
to be tempered by intelligence and kindness as both a willing
mount and as a large domesticated mammal forced to live in close
coexistence with the spartan, mobile life of his keeper. Beyond
this, the Arabians of the Nejd were required to be extremely
efficient metabolizers, capable of going for many days without
food or water, and sustaining both strength and vitality on very
poor quality foods. The extreme daytime heat of the region
furthermore predisposed those horses capable of dispersing heat
more efficiently through thinner, more highly dilated skin for
an increased chance of survival. Even those individuals blessed
with the best combination of critical characteristics were
subject to the availability of food and water and the good
fortune of eluding death in battle. It is within this crucible
that the Arabian horse was perfected and the distinct type of
the breed made evident.
The modern
Arabian, though no longer a warhorse subject to the cruel and
unforgiving environment of the Arabian Desert, remains a breed
of horse richly abounding in the qualities that made his
ancestor a survivor. Above all, the Arabian horse was bred to
serve his master, whose very life depended on the bravery,
faithfulness and swiftness of his steed. These intrinsic merits
as a synergistic whole define the breed as distinctly Arabian,
comprising the essential elements of authentic Arabian type.
Perhaps,
best described as a cross between an Olympic gymnast and a
champion long distance runner, the Arabian horse is unrivalled
as an athlete in the equine world. The defining characteristics
of Arabian type are most often those that have historically been
in highest demand by horse breeders of the civilized world down
through the centuries. As the original racehorse, the Arabian
was crucial to the foundation of the Thoroughbred, contributing
the ability to run at great speeds over vast distances with
courage, tenacity and superior physical fortitude. Arabians put
the “hot” in the “hot-blood”, and all horses considered as such
are largely Arabian in origin. The superior density, structure
and quality of bone along with balance and harmony of proportion
are unrivalled in the equine world and have been highly sought
after in all equine breeds in which athleticism is of primary
importance. Superior beauty, quality and refinement have always
been distinct Arabian traits – all warm-blooded horses inherit
these aesthetically pleasing and spiritually inspiring
attributes from the horse of the Nejd.
Type in the
Arabian breed must always be approached within this historical
perspective and primarily from a broad vantage point, as a
superior summation of definitive characteristics, rather than a
singular focus on the more striking traits of the horse. It is
of paramount importance to consider the unique qualities of the
desert horse as defined by Lady Wentworth – utility, soundness,
temper and vitality – those qualities that separate the Arabian
from the other breeds as superior in all respects. More
quantitatively, yet not wholly so, these fundamental assessment
criteria can be put into the context of four major areas:
Balance, Quality, Movement and Disposition.
Chiefly, the
Arabian is a horse of superb balance, symmetry and harmony of
proportion. The Arab is not a horse of extremes, but rather a
distinctively athletic horse of perfect three-dimensional
utility. Although balance is essential to all horse breeds, the
zenith is achieved within the structure of the Arabian. Simply
put, the Arabian horse is “the quintessence of all the good
qualities of an equine in compact form”. It is true that balance
is also a fundamental element of correct conformation, yet it is
equally essential in establishing the foundation of type.
Without balance, the Arabian horse fails to be a creature of
utility, the very aspect that has so endeared him to the service
of man. Certainly exceptional individuals within the breed may
be extreme in one or more specific attribute – say head, neck,
height or movement – yet the ultimate goal has always been
balance and harmony to achieve a supremely useful, and in all
ways synergistic, design. True beauty of the Arabian horse must
always first be assessed as the eurhythmy of a harmoniously
integrated composite of form and function.
If extreme
is to be accepted in any aspect of Arabian type it is in the
area of Quality. This elusive attribute, though often hard to
quantify, is unmistakable by all who have seen it. Sometimes
referred to as beauty, refinement, elegance, presence, charisma,
radiance or vitality, quality is the singular element of breed
type that has defined the excellence of the Arabian most
proficiently. This quality is manifest in the proud, alert
command of the Arabian stallion, the confident maternal bearing
of the Arabian mare, the zest for life of the young foal, and
the intelligent majestic countenance of the Arabian as both a
creature of Nature and in service to mankind. All Arabians
labeled as typey must radiate irreproachable quality. It is
exactly the quality of the Arabian about which the author wrote,
when he penned the words “there is something about the outside
of the horse that is good for the inside of man”.
Efficiency
and capability of movement are vital in defining Arabian type,
for the warhorse was principally a superior form of
transportation. Bedouin mounts were expected to be both swift
and enduring, demands, which forced the evolution of the Arabian
as an equine of superior soundness, agility and versatile
athleticism. As the original surefooted vehicles of war, Arabian
horses were expected to have great dexterity – to be able to
charge at great speeds with lancers astride and to stop at a
dead halt upon assault, make a swift and surefooted turn on the
haunches and beat a hasty retreat to safety. This agility not
only required uncompromising soundness, but ample muscularity
and synergistic strength of proportion, attributes which serve
the Arabian well as the most celebrated versatile athlete in the
Animal kingdom. The stride of the Arabian horse has always been
long, light, true, powerful and purposeful, with great
overreach, efficiency of exertion and fluidity of motion. All
Arabians of superior type exude abundant athletic ability.
As important
as balance, quality and movement are to the most fundamental
definition of Arabian type, they are of little consequence if
the disposition of an Arabian is failing. Arabian horses are,
without question, intelligent, kind, willing, courageous,
curious and social. Blessed with an enthusiastically energetic
but supremely tractable character, the Arabian horse is
unrivalled as a companion within the equine world. His forced,
extremely intimate coexistence with the nomadic Bedouin demanded
a highly compliant and agreeable disposition. Yet despite
domestication, the Arabian horse remained a vitally indomitable
force within his desert environs, an attribute which proved
critical to his resiliency and survival. It is perhaps this
most intangible quality that has most endeared the Arabian horse
to mankind.
Once a
thorough assessment of the broadly unique qualities of Arabian
type has been considered, it is then of prime importance to
acknowledge the hallmarks of the Arabian breed, which number
three. They are:
1.
head & neck
2.
topline
3.
tail carriage
Some may
classify these hallmarks as five, separately categorizing the
head from the neck and subsecting the topline into back and
croup (ignoring the loin). Yet since the head and neck, as well
as the topline as a whole, exist in such critical harmony in a
typical Arabian, they should seriously be considered in
conjunction.
For many
Arabian enthusiasts, the breed hallmarks have come to define
Arabian type. But to classify any horse as just essentially the
upper third of his physical form would be a gross
underestimation of the importance of the rest of the horse not
only in defining function, but in understanding the true essence
of type. Rather than dealing with each of these distinctive and
essential hallmarks separately, it is important to analyze them
in relation to their coexistence within the horse as a whole.
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