Arabs buying Arabs

[CMNewell <reshan@deyr.ultranet.com>]

>You got it.  They are trying to buy back their
>heritage without really knowing where it all came
>from.

Is this necessarily true? Isn't it possible that there are just as many 
knowledgeable "pedigree freaks" in the Middle East as in the US?

>  Polish Arabs, Russian Arabs, Crabbets,
>etc.  FEW trace in EVERY line back to the desert.


IIRC, those horses which can even be "reasonably assumed"  to trace in all 
lines to horses bred by the nomadic tribes of the desert comprise somewhere 
under 5% of registered Arabians worldwide, and even folks in the US aren't 
beating down barn doors to buy them.
And since endurance horses need not even be registered, many folks could 
care less about  "pure" bloodlines vs. athletic ability.

I met  a number of purist breeders in Syria in 1998. They are quite aware 
of  bloodlines, as is the Syrian National Stud.  In fact, these folks 
were  able to set  the record straight on a number of matters 
where  earlier foreign visitors had propounded on one or another aspect of 
breeding  and related matters, and were way off base, but had been taken as 
the revealed truth by the rest of us.
I also met breeders in Syria and Jordan who were involved in racing of one 
sort or another who freely admitted that breeding  racing stock was not 
necessarily the same thing as breeding asil horses.

As a breeder of stock considered "asil" by Syrian standards, I'd love to 
see  more interest in buying, breeding, and using these animals.  But that 
designation doesn't necessarily make the horses any "better" then general 
list Arabians, simply different.
                           --CMNewell