Re Bloodlines

Continuation Letter by Ian Thompson to SAArab Magazine.

These remarks should not be construed as implying that merely because an Arabian horse is of authentic descent it must needs have excellent conformation . It would be difficult to find in any present-day Arabian more deplorable conformation than that possessed by the Ali Pasha Sherif stallion FEYSUL (to judge by a photograph , which is not always reliable ) , but he has gained immortality through his several excellent progeny , the best known to us being the famous RASIM . However , it is a fact that Arabians of "clean" pedigree , even though they may be most indifferent individuals , usually turn out to be good producers . This fact was well known to the famous Polish breeder , Prince Wladyslaw Sanguszko , who , in his treatise published as long ago as 1850 , refereed to two superb stallions SZUMKA (whose "sire was the son of an Arab , his mother was an English mare ") and Zboj (of "absolutely unknown " descent ) as being complete failures at stud , and went on to say : " In order to support my opinion with futher evidences , I could denominate several ugly and small stallions with a bad conformation who have left good progeny , and only for the reason that they descended from good and noble parents ".

( Incidentally both the aforementioned SZUMKA and ZBOJ appear in SKOWRONEKS pedigree and the prince's statement about them constitute irrefutable evidence of SKOWRONEK'S impurity , along with various other sources of reference .)

The real danger of the SKOWRONEK bloodline of course is quite extraordinary prepotency so that in breeding from even the best conformationed individuals regards phenotype , the undesirable recessive characteristics inevitable reappear .

Breeders of Arabian horses would do well to be guided by the following words of Miss Jane Llewelyn Ott ( Compiler of the " Blue Arabian Horse Catalog " ), which constitute one of the great truisms of breeding :

"Approval on inspection of individuals favors the above-standard animal of poor breeding over the below standard animal of good breeding . This is directly contrary to the best interests of the Breed , for the better bred animal is a better breeding risk ."

So much for the value of shows and Championships !

Yours Faithfully Ian Thompson.