Learn About Arabian Horses
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Transcript of Learn About Arabian Horses
What are Arabian horses?
Arabian horses are a breed of horse that originates from the Arabian
peninsula.
Arabian horses are visually striking.
They are dis;nguished for their recognizable head shape and high-‐
carried tail.
Arabian horses are perhaps the oldest breed of horses alive today.
Archaeologists have iden;fied bones of horses resembling the Arabian breed in the Middle East that are
over 4500 years old.
Arabian horses are very desirable; valued for their speed, strength and
intelligence.
Arabian horses are oGen bred with other breeds to pass on their good
quali;es.
Today, you can find Arabian bloodlines in nearly every prominent
breed of horse.
There are many physical quali;es that make Arabians excellent horses.
Firstly, there bones are strong.
Arabians have chiseled bone structure that is highly enviable.
The have an arched neck, concave profile and high carriage tail.
Another dis;nguishing feature common to Arabian horses is a bulge between their eyes on the
forehead.
This feature, known as a jibbah by the Bedouin people who originated
the bred, expands the nasal capacity.
It is believed this helps the horses deal with the harsh desert climate
they were bred to thrive in.
Another interes;ng quality that was determined by their environment is
their skin color.
Arabians all have, regardless of coat-‐color, black skin.
This helped protect them from the intense sunlight of the Arabian
Peninsula.
These quali;es have been intensified through selec;ve breeding, giving us the high
quality animals we have today.
Those quali;es have been bred into many other types of horses.
Arabians were developed in harsh desert climates and as a result they
have an incredible endurance.
Through centuries of selec;ve breeding, Arabians have developed a coopera;ve rela;onship with
humans.
A well trained Arabian is quick and eager to learn with high-‐alertness
and spirit.
The Arabian people who were breeding them originally needed horses that would be effec;ve
during war and the modern Arabian horse is the culmina;on of that
effort.
So much sensi;vity and alacrity in the horse makes it necessary for the
owner to be respecRul and competent.
That being said, Arabians have been connected to humans for such a long ;me and bred with such
exper;se that, although they are classified as hot-‐blooded, they are excep;onally well tempered horses.
In fact, Arabians are one of the few breeds that the United States
Equestrian Federa;on rules allow youth to show stallions in
compe;;on.
In Legend
Arabians, due to their outstanding gene;cs and long history, have many legends and fables detailing their
excellence.
They have reached mythic propor;ons.
One such legend details how King Solomon received a giGed horse
from the Queen of Shiba.
Solomon named the horse Safanad, meaning “the Pure”.
It is said the horse was faster than the zebra or the gazelle and that every hunt he par;cipated in was
successful.
Naturally, he became the stud that would create the Arabian breed.
There are several other origin stories describing the beginning of Arabian
horses.
The different mythologies are evidence of how old the breed is
and how important the animals are to the culture of the area.
In fact, there is li[le agreement in where the breed truly originated.
Some believe the Bedouin people of the Arabian peninsula began
domes;ca;ng them shortly aGer beginning to domes;cate camels, around 4500-‐5000 years ago.
Others maintain that Arabian horses began to develop in large
numbers aGer the rise of Islam around the 7th century.
Newly converted Persians, moving from the fer;le crescent to the Arabian peninsula, brought the knowledge of horsemanship and
breeding to the Bedouin.
Regardless of fabled origin, it was the climate and culture that
ul;mately created the Arabian horse as we now them today.
Horses cannot survive as long as camels without water, so humans had to provide water and food to
the animals in the deserts In Middle Eastern deserts, it can be leagues and leagues before you find water and a horse cannot survive more than 72 hours without drink.
The owners would feed their horses dates and camel’s milk by hand, which helped to forge the deeply coopera;ve rela;onship between
the horses and humans.
The harshness of the area also necessitated very selec;ve breeding, such that the weaker bodied horses were not allowed to reproduce.
Also, the ways humans used the horses also guided their
development.
The horses were trained in wars and raids, so traits like speed, strength and intelligence were valued.
Arabian horses were hugely important of the development of
the Middle East and the surrounding areas.
They pulled chariots in Ancient Egypt and carried warriors across
the O[oman Empire.
They eventually spread into Europe and were brought to the New World
by Spanish conquistadors.
Prior to the rise of industrialism and the moderniza;on of warfare,
breeding opera;ons were numerous and wide spread.
What About Today
Rebecca astride First Ghazi in compe;;on
Today, Arabian horses are used in many different ways.
They compete in nearly every type of compe;;on at every level.
From racing, show jumping, cubng, reining, and dressage, the Arabian
horse is a successful in all disciplines.
The event where the Arabian has the most gene;c advantage is probably endurance racing.
For example, at the Tevis Cup, an endurance race in California where compe;tors cover 100
miles in a single day, Arabians are the leading breed.
In America, there are spor;ng compe;;ons that are Arabian and half-‐Arabian only, under the direc;on of the Arabian Horse
Associa;on.
Arabian horses are amongst the most beau;ful and faithful horses
someone can own.
Their high-‐spirits and bodily prowess has earned them a well-‐deserved
reputa;on of excellence.
Arabians were hugely influen;al in the rise and fall of civiliza;ons, the
spreading of ideas, and the migra;on of people.
Rebecca Skeeles is someone lucky enough to grow up riding Arabian
horses.
She has shown them in compe;;on and been delighted by their intelligence and sensi;vity.