Arabian thoroughb ...

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Arabian thoroughb ...
Gatsby.jpg
Important data
Origin: Arabian Peninsula
Main breeding area: Orient, USA, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Russia
Distribution: worldwide
Stick measure : 140-156 cm
Colors : Often mold but also foxes, browns, black horses; Piebalds are tolerated
Main application area: Riding horse, endurance sports, breeding, shows, trail riding
Branding
Arabian thoroughbred brand mark.svg

The thoroughbred Arabian - also Arabian thoroughbred (AV) - is the purely drawn form of the Arabian horse, which belongs to the group of thoroughbreds . Shagya-Arabs , Anglo-Arabs , Arab half-bloods and Arabs are differentiated from pure -bred Arabian thoroughbreds, as they all have a proportion of foreign blood. A thoroughbred Arab, all of which has been proven to go back to original Arabs from the desert breeding of the Bedouins on the Arabian Peninsula , is called “asil” = “noble” in Arabic. In German ancestry papers , the Arabian thoroughbred is indicated by an ox after the name.

Background information on horse evaluation and breeding can be found under: Exterior , interior and horse breeding .

Exterior

Head of a thoroughbred Arab with a very pronounced pike head

A special feature of the thoroughbred Arabian is its small head with a broad forehead, large exposed eyes set low on the head and large, funnel-shaped nostrils that open when excited. The nasal bone is often concave (pike head), which is also known as the "Arab kink". Another characteristic feature is a high tail and a rather square format - seen from the side - in contrast to the modern, warm-blooded riding horse breeds, which have a rectangular format.

Skeleton of a thoroughbred Arab with 17 ribs

A specialty is the number of vertebrae : The thoroughbred Arabian has (mostly) 17 ribs , five lumbar vertebrae and 15 tail vertebrae , while other horse breeds have 18 ribs, six lumbar vertebrae and 16-18 tail vertebrae. The height is between 140 and 156 cm. Despite this relatively small size, it is classified as a horse.

interior

Thoroughbred Arabs have a reputation for being robust, sensitive, frugal, people-oriented and lively. These characteristics made them one of the most popular recreational horse breeds worldwide. Their real sporting domain is - because of their unique endurance, hardness and speed - the distance sport , which is dominated by Arab horses. Arab races are also held in many countries. Particularly in the Arab world, particularly noble animals are considered status symbols .

Breeding history

Thoroughbred Arabs have been bred on the Arabian Peninsula since the 7th century. According to a legend, the five mares that the Prophet Mohammed carried with him on his flight to Medina are considered to be ancestral mothers. For the theory that this is pure breed, i.e. H. took place without the influence of foreign blood, says at least that the Koran passed on statements of the prophet Mohammed , according to which pedigree horses are desirable. The reason for this were military defeats that the Prophet initially suffered against his opponents. These were better mounted than his own cavalry . The Arabian horse is therefore considered to be the oldest domestic breed in the world.

The reputation of this horse breed penetrated over time, especially through Spain , which was ruled by the Arabs for centuries , as far as Central Europe. In the 19th century, therefore, European royal houses sent expensive expeditions to Syria and the bordering steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula in order to secure some of these Arab horses with which they wanted to improve (ennoble) domestic breeding. These expeditions were mostly led by highly qualified stud officials. They bought original Arab horses directly from the Bedouins or from local middlemen and transported the horses they bought to Europe over land and sea . The stallions were used there as refiners in their own state horse breeding. With the few mares that the Bedouins were willing to let go, pure breeds were also set up in order to become more independent of the expensive imports from Arabia. An example of this is the Weil private stud of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg , which was founded in 1817 and imported well-known horses such as Murana I , Tajar and Bairactar from Arabia. Descendants of these horses can still be found today in the main and state stud Marbach , whose famous Arabs go back to the hamlet breeding, and in all sport horse breeds in the world. Mention should also be made of the British Crabbet Park Arabian Stud , which was founded a little later and which also achieved worldwide importance, as well as the stud farms of the Polish princes Sanguszko (Slavuta, Gumniska) and Dzieduszycki (Jezupol and Jablonowo) or the kuk military stud Radautz. The Arabian horse became the source from which 19th century Europe drew to develop its modern, noble riding horse breeds.

At least since the end of the Second World War , a descendant of the Arabian horse, the English thoroughbred , has taken on the main role as refiner of the riding horse breeds. It is descended in the father line of only three oriental stallions, of which at least one ( Darley Arabian ) was an Asil desert Arab. Nevertheless, even nowadays Arab stallions are used again and again in warmblood breeding in order to preserve and promote hardness, health, endurance, sociability and beauty in these breeds. Examples are the Arabian stallions Amurath 1881 and Priboj , both thoroughbred Arabs , the Anglo -Arab Ramzes or the Shagya Arab Bajar , who founded their own sire lines in warmblood breeding. The detour via the Trakehner , which is more or less an Anglo-Arab race, is also increasingly being chosen in German warm-blooded breeding . In French sport horse breeding, this role is played by the French Anglo-Arab. These measures ensure that the desired Arabic blood content is retained without having to accept the disadvantage of the F1 generation's too small size .

At the beginning of the 20th century, introduced epidemics and the introduction of automobiles and rifles tore deep wounds into the population of the Arab horse in its original breeding area. The pure Asil Arab threatened to become extinct in his homeland. The largest populations of Arabian horses are therefore found today in the USA , Great Britain , Hungary , Poland and Germany . The hippologist Tibor von Pettkó-Szandtner relied on the reimportation of Asil Arabs from large European studs as early as the end of the 1950s, in his role as stud manager of the Egyptian state stud El Zahraa . In recent years, the ruling families on the Arabian Peninsula have rediscovered this Arab cultural asset. With horses imported from all over the world, they have breathed new life into breeding in the country where it was created.

Only the emirs of Bahrain have maintained a stud on their island for centuries without interruption up to the present day. There they keep such rare mare lines as Al-Jellabieh and Al-Kray from pure desert breeding, which do not have any imported blood from the western world. They are therefore regarded as a valuable gene reserve . These horses are believed to be the closest thing to the original type of desert horse bred by the Bedouin. Also in Saudi Arabia , Syria and among the Tahawi Bedouins in Egypt there are said to be a few pure (Asil) desert Arabs who are free from the influence of foreign blood or the blood of reimports .

In addition, in some private studs of kings and wealthy pashas and later in a state stud, a largely pure breed of noble Arabian horses was maintained in Egypt . In part, they go back to particularly valuable imports that Egyptian Mamluk rulers imported from the Arabian Peninsula and from Syria in the 19th century. Due to their beauty and rarity, these Egyptian horses gained great popularity worldwide in the second half of the 20th century and were traded at exorbitant prices. This boom has now subsided.

According to their origin, breeders u. a. between Egyptian, Russian, Polish or Spanish Arabs. Depending on the specific breeding goal of these countries of origin, these horses differ more or less in conformation, just as there were different types in the original desert breeding. It is important to note, however, that these different types are not different races. There is always a lively exchange of breeding animals between these breeding areas. All of these horses are therefore thoroughbred Arabs and have the characteristics described above. And all should go back to desert Arabs as completely as possible, as the WAHO (see below) demands in its definition of the thoroughbred Arab.

In Germany, the Association of Breeders and Friends of the Arabian Horse (VZAP) in Hanover oversees the breeding of all Arab breeds (thoroughbred Arabs, Shagya Arabs, Anglo-Arabs, Arab half-bloods and Arabs) and is one of the breeders with around 2,000 members and 1,700 registered breeding horses major member associations of the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO). The WAHO recognizes only one breed association per country. In Germany this is the VZAP. In addition to the VZAP, there is also the ZSAA (Breeding Association for Sport Horses of Arab Descent) in Germany.

use

The Asil desert Arab was used in the past for hunting, racing and war. It was vital for the nomadic Bedouins and was of great value to them.

Today Arabian thoroughbreds are mainly used as recreational and show horses. Due to their toughness and endurance performance, Arabian thoroughbreds are leaders in endurance rides and are often used in the trail riding scene, more and more also in western riding. Due to the English thoroughbreds , bred for speed , the Arabian thoroughbred was pushed into the background in the racing disciplines over shorter distances. A direct comparison with the English thoroughbred was no longer possible, which is why special racing classes were created for Arabian thoroughbreds, which are particularly popular again in the Arab region. The Arabian thoroughbred finds a significant use in breeding, where it is used again and again for the continuation of one's own breed, but also for almost all other breeds as a refinement of the bloodlines.

  • Arab mares with foals

  • Head portrait of GH Kamsin ox

  • Pernod Al Ariba ox galloping with a typical high tail posture

See also

literature

  • Johannes Erich Flade: The Arab horse. 7th edition. Ziemsen, Wittenberg 1990, ISBN 3-7403-0163-5 .
  • Johannes Erich Flade: Breeding, raising and keeping Arabs. A breeder's guide. Georg Olms Verlag , 1999, ISBN 3-487-08394-9 .
  • Judith Forbis: The classic Arabian horse. Paul Parey, 1980, ISBN 3-489-60932-8 .
  • Otto Frey: Nobility and achievement - thoroughbred Arabs in the Weil-Marbach stud. Self-published, 2003.
  • Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall: The horse among the Arabs. Georg Olms Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-487-08225-X . (Reprint of the Vienna edition 1855–1856)
  • Caroline Jordan, Betty Finke: Classic Arabs of old German bloodlines. Verlag Sandra Asmussen, Gelting, ISBN 3-935985-07-X .
  • Eduard Löffler: The Austrian horse purchase mission under the KK Obersten Ritter R. v. Brudermann in Syria, Palestine and the desert: In the years 1856 and 1857. Georg Olms Verlag, 1978, ISBN 3-487-08174-1 .
  • Carl R. Raswan: Drinker of the Skies. Georg Olms Verlag, 1990, ISBN 3-487-08140-7 .
  • Otto Saenger: Arab nobility. Georg Olms Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-487-08313-2 .

Web links

Commons : Arabian horses  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnim Basche: History of the horse. Künzelsau, p. 455.
  2. ↑ Koran, 3rd sura - The house of Ìmrán (Al-Ìmrán), verse 14: People are embellished by the love for those who are desired, women and children and stored heaps of gold and silver and well- bred horses and cattle and field crops. That is the supply for this life; but it is Allah with Whom is the most beautiful home.
  3. ↑ THE ASIL ARABER: the elite of the Asil Arabs in the area of ​​origin ( Memento from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )