Prejudice against arabians

[MBlanchrd@aol.com]

RE: Dark days for Arabs.....realize that there's going to be prejudice
wherever you go, in ANY endeavour, not just horses.
 My best friend has a huge  (16.3 and still growing at 4 years) Dutch
Warmblood mare  who happens to be a pinto. (she's by Domino). Steffie lives
and shows her mare in the middle of Paint/QH country. So in the open classes
she wins only the gate from judges who say, "golllleee, that sure is a big
paint..." (but boyhowdy, is that mare going places in Combined
Training.......)

The only way around it is to make a joke out of it. When folks in my neck of
the woods, who are all TB and Warmblood types, look down on my eeny teeny 15.1
fleabit grey Arab, when they make those snide little comments, I hit them with
all sorts of things. For instance,
"this isn't an horse, it's a very big Jack Russell Terrier". or "When he grows
up he's gonna be a warmblood". or "when the fleas got at him, they shrunk him
to this size" 
or "he's really a "My Little Pony" "
 Then again, you can hit them with all the advantages of owning an Arab:

Arabians are labor saving. I don't need a footstool to get to his back or
braid his mane. Jordan is so sweet that he lowers his head for me to braid his
mane. When I bathe him, I don't need four hours, a freshwater pond,  and a
bucket brigade. A jug of Orvus will last me a couple summers. I'm the only one
I know who can brush both of the the backs of his hocks at the same time.
(think about it..heheheee). 

Arabians are economical. If I was so foolhardy as to try,  I betcha I could
fit him into the back of my husband's pickup truck. (who needs a trailer!?)
When I buy tack, I shop in the equine equivalent of the boy's department. His
shoes are small..and his feet are like granite, so that I can get away with
keeping him barefoot for most of the year. Now my farrier bitches because he
has to use his sharpest rasp and a lot of sweat just to trim him, but I don't
need Farriers Formula at 45 bucks a pop to keep shoes on my horse. I don't
need to buy sixteen tons of hay to feed him..a couple of flakes will keep him
happy whereas the big horses need half the bale.

Arabians are safe. My horse is "16.2 hands"........IF you measure by (I'm
sorry, I'm not sure who said it, so I can't give you the credit) the "arabian
hand" which is your three middle fingers held out sideways................
being so small, when I fall off I don't break, just bruise. When he crowhops
on a frosty day I don't feel like I'm riding the T.Rex in Jurassic Park. When
I dismount I don't have that freefall of three or four feet that jars my
knees, spine and neck when dismounting bigger horses.

And, most of all, and this is no joke..I haven't found another breed so
personable. I've worked with TB's and Warmbloods, grew up with Quarter Horses
and Paints. When I clean his paddock with rake and wheelbarrow, Jordan's the
only horse to follow me around, pestering and bothering, intensely interested
in sniffing in the wheelbarrow what he produced and has been lying in his
paddock all day. No matter what time of day or night, he insists that I've got
a carrot or an alfalfa cube hidden somewhere on my person, and he's going to
find it...
He's the only one who I've been able to teach cute little tricks at the age of
21.(like "which hand is the carrot in?"..no matter which hand he says it's in,
he's always right. Kids LOVE that.. and they love HIM...the smallest horse in
the barn, and the kindest...........). He's also the only horse in the barn
that the children can ride without fear.
He's brave and trusting, knowing that I won't lead him into something that's
going to hurt him. Consequently, he'll walk right past the marsh where a black
bear has been seen on more than one occasion, and none of the bigger horses
will even go near. (mind you, he KNOWS it's there...he's all bugeyed and
flinchy, but....he stilll goes.)
When I walk in the barnful of Appaloosas and TB's and Warmbloods, only my
little bitty Arab leaves his hay  and hollers out to the world that his momma
is here and he's happy to see her. 

So, the next time someone sneers down at you from the top of their skyscraper
horse, just smile and shake your head, as if to say, "Well, if I had to
explain, you wouldn't understand."

Michelle and Jordan (aw shucks, mom-tell them how I roll in my manure.)