I’m wondering if someone can help me. What is
the definition of the Arabian Breed? I’m a little troubled by what
I’ve seen recently. I bought an Arabian Horse World magazine over
the weekend and looked through it, mainly for curiosity’s sake. I
know the magazine is geared more toward the show world rather than endurance,
but what I saw in the magazine rather disgusted me. The conformation of
these horses was so extreme that I wonder that they could even be classified as
Arabians. Extremely dished heads (reminded me of pugs and Persian cats),
looooong necks, toothpick legs, seemingly little muscle tone. How does
this help the breed? How does this demonstrate the original usefulness of
the breed? If you compare the racing Arabians (opposite end of the
spectrum it seems) to these Arabians, the difference is clear. The
conformation of Arabians used in endurance looks very close to that of the
racing bred Arabians, and they are often descended from them, if not off the
track even. Are we getting to a point where most breeds are going to go
at least two different ways – show and usefulness? When I say show,
I’m talking mainly about halter classes, not hunter, dressage, eventing,
jumping, etc. The same thing seems to have happened to the Morgans –
you have your show Morgans and you have your sport Morgans. At least with
cats and dogs that have extreme facial conformation, they are usually indoor pets,
and we can help them overcome the breathing problems we caused by our own
selfishness. With horses it’s a different matter. Horses are
pets, and they’re also expected to be athletes in many situations.
Even miniature horses can pull carts (they’re also being used as guide
animals, believe it or not). However, a full size horse with a breathing
problem that is the direct result of selfish and unthinking breeding is a big
problem, especially when you use that same horse as a breeder. What
happens then?
This may all be rhetorical questioning. There may be
no answer. I like the way endurance is influencing the sport breeds –
people are looking for horses with the kind of conformation that can withstand
the rigors of this sport, and some of you are even breeding for it. I
commend you on that.
