RE:LACK OF GOOD ARABIANS FOR ENDURANCE

[Jerry and Melanie Johnson <payback@dmi.net>]

  <The
"classical" Arabs are seen instead in sports such as endurance, cutting,
dressage, etc., where balance, substance, and strength still matter. 
I am far
more impressed by halter credentials a few generations back in the
shows prior
to 1960 when the judges still judged Arabs than I am in current
placements--and I agree, I almost run the other way if folks start
spouting
about current halter credentials, as odds are those horses won't hold
up to
being ridden. >
*****
Hi,
I am new to this list and have been reading the archives regarding
the lack of GOOD Arabians for Endurance.  I almost fell off my chair
when I read Heidi's post...since this is exactly how I have felt from the
beginning...

I actively search for the 'old ones'...and breed accordingly...I do not breed to the 'fad of the day'...and I could care less about color...most of mine are grey because of their breeding--high percentage Raffles / Skowronek horses including Al-Marah and Shalimar broodmares and an Al-Marah stallion, AM GHOST SHIP (with an 8 1/2" cannon bone)--and who Dr. Matthew Mackay-Smith loves..., he is a cutting horse (placed 3rd in the 1997 Nationals Cutting Futurity with a broken hind splint bone--undiagnosed at the time) and his full brother (first a cutting horse-then endurance raced) was sold to the Arabs after being campaigned by Becky Hart. I also have one of THE last ORBIT (Alice Payne-bred horse) sons still breeding.  He is jointly owned by me and Shalimar Ranch...who have leased stallions and sold mares to Rushcreek for years.  This old boy GREAT CIRCLE was bred by Tish Hewitt...and was known for his iron legs and feet!  Which he passes on!  He was a working hunter among other things in his lifetime..and has a marvelous disposition (something else missing in a lot of the 'new' stuff)  Nice big feet with solid hoof walls....his legs at 21 do not have a ding or bump on them..and absolutely no arthritis...I bred him to a GARAFF daugher (22 at the time) which was the 'recipe' for this breeding program of Dr. Bill Munson's....and got a colt last summer that was exactly what I had hoped for....a young 'antique' by today's standards with body, legs and neck..correct and true. My mares and mare lines read like a 1950's sales catalog...for a reason....There is no 'BASK' anywhere....for a reason.... What I am getting at, is that there are some of us who would not have anything in the 'modern pedigrees'...including the culls produced today..because of the hodge-podge breeding and lack of attention to what produced them.  Sadly, if 'BASK' isn't in the pedigree in multiple crosses (ugh)...or the 'halter horse de jour' isn't in there...well, I end up trying to educate a prospective buyer as to 'why' those horses are not in my pedigrees....
It is hard to compete with the glossies and big-hair halter trainers when dealing with the general public...thank God there are some folks out there like you, Heidi, who understand what we are doing!!  You made my day!

Melanie who now lives in IDAHO