Comments from the Editor and Guest opinions

FROM JOE CASSEL OWNER OF CASA CASSEL ARABIANS, TYLER TEXAS

MARCH 15, 2001

DEAR FERMAN:

I AM ENCLOSING A COPY OF A LETTER I SENT TO THE ARABIAN HORSE REGISTRY. THIS MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. ONE THING THAT HAS NOT BEEN ADDRESSED IS WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ' MONITORING OF THE QUALITY OF THE ARABIANS THAT ARE BEING BRED. I FEEL THE QUALITY, OVERALL, OF THE ARABIAN IS NOT BEING MAINTAINED,

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

SINCERELY

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

1. ANALYSIS OF PRESENT OWNERSHIP

2. ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION OF FOALS

3.   ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES AND/OR LACK OF SAME

(A) INTERNATIONAL ARABIAN HORSE ASSOCIATION

(B) ARABIAN HORSE REGISTRY OF AMERICA

(C) POSSIBILITIES

Subtotal    150,786             91.37                               214,348                57.85

                                     Owners

"WHAT  DOES IAHA HAVE TO OFFER THE ARABIAN OWNER WHO DOES NOT SHOW ?" HIS REPLY WAS: "FIRST, WE HAVE TO FACE REALITY - IAHA IS PRIMARILY A HORSE SHOW ORGANIZATION AND CANNOT BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. LOOK AT OUR HANDBOOK - IT IS FILLED WITH RULES FOR THE SHOW RING." MR. PENNINGTON IS CORRECT.

Chronology of Activities, Expectations and Practices in North America the Past Fifty Years.

A Primer for New Owners

By Ferman Ansel, Editor, Arabian Horse Legacy,  Inc.

In the zest to be recognized, the early efforts for promoting the Arabian horse encouraged exhibiting the Arabian horse and focused on attracting new owners.

From 1940 through the 1980’s, nearly every owner was breeding Arabians, expecting to meet the increasing demand for the Arabian horse.

The industry unwittingly focused most of its attention on the Arabian stallion, the smallest segment of its population. Then and now, there were so many stallions that the average stallion standing at stud has less than five progeny registered.

Additionally, the marketing schemes that emerged began to emphasis “pure this” and “pure that,” and more importance was placed upon who was the National Champion Halter Stallion.

Uneducated Arabian Horse owners were led to believe that, by breeding their mares to this year’s or last year’s National Champion Stallion, their foals would be highly saleable and in demand.

Profit-motivated owners encouraged and perpetuated indiscriminate breeding practices. Mare owners who could come up with the money for stud fees were rarely turned away.

What emerged in this competition among stallion owners was fad breeding and negative programs campaigning for dollars. Discrimination and whisper campaigns emerged,  targeting successful horses with too much “chrome”  (white markings) such as Abu Farwa, etc.

Height and color became issues. English-bred horses were “too short,” and chestnut horses were undesirable and deselected.

Then came the rush of contemporary imports. The so-called Polish Arabians lacked type, the Egyptian Arabians had type but generally were not the best performance horses but were touted as  rare commodities, and their  scarcity supposedly made them more valuable.

The Russian and Spanish Arabian imports had to compete with all the other myths and self-serving efforts of a few sophisticated marketing efforts. SCID, temperament and white body spots came into focus, with whisper campaigns flaring up and fueled by overzealous owners.

While all these money-driven activities were taking place, the Arabian horse breed in North America was undergoing a pollution of its genetic pool that was never before seen in any other part of the world.

Willy-nilly outcross breeding of Arabian horses was encouraged and became rampant. Uninformed breeders disregarded the importance of established family line traits and characteristics. They ignored crucial testing for traits that are not visible in individuals. Speed, endurance, courage, disposition, and overall athletic ability became less valued.

Generally, the Arabian horses imported to the U.S. from other countries emanate from linebreeding programs that were centuries old. Traits and Characteristics were determining factors in making breeding selection decisions.

In Poland, for instance, no Arabian horse is classified as breeding material until it first passes strict performance requirements. The unsound, both physically and mentally, are never allowed to reproduce themselves. No exceptions are ever made; culling is ruthless and extensive at a very early age. The few that are not culled embark on a very strenuous, exacting program that tests their qualifications as a future breeding animal. They learn to race on flat tracks, jump, and they are trained for hunting and cross-country endurance riding, They do not have to always win, but they must be able to withstand the rigors of race training and remain sound mentally and physically.

Government-run stud farms are not run for profit. They are staffed with experienced career breeding managers who  enforce rigorous culling procedures. In Spain, they keep only three or four foals for testing, from a total of about thirty foals produced each year. This breeding program has been a closed herd for about 160 years (except for the stallions Ursus and Seandrich, both added in the early 1900’s).

These programs generally produce many performance horses but just a few animals of breeding quality. They cull ruthlessly, test extensively, and discreetly remove all horses who cannot benefit their breeding program.

In North America, we breed indiscriminately, discourage culling, and have no requirements and procedures for testing and evaluating breeding stock.

Generally, the Arabian horses in North America have no particular value as breeding animals to knowledgeable breeders. Because very few are knowledgably linebred, they are genetically unreliable and will not be considered for improving any other countries bloodstock.

For over twenty years, I have studied, researched, recorded and documented information about the Arabian horse and the people in the breed. Unfortunately, our capitalistic society in North America discourages practicing the basic fundamentals required to sustain long-term breeding programs.

Very few people own and breed Arabian horses for extended periods of time. There are fewer than twenty people in America who have been actively breeding Arabian horses for 40 years or more.  Many people today feel that those owning Arabian horses for 15 years are old-timers; trainers are generally in that same category.

If one used the statistical averages of successful centuries-old breeding programs and applied them to the current North American inventory and the year 2,000 foal crop, we would take action by implementing the following requirements:

Only about 1,000 stallions evaluated and tested would remain stallions and be licensed for breeding. About 75,000 stallions  would be gelded.

Mares would also be evaluated and tested, and about. 200,000 mares would not successfully make it through this program.

After this rigid culling, we would end up with about 1,000 stallions available for 11,000 qualified mares. Now, what effect would qualifying for breeding by successfully passing the tests have on the financial value of the elite horses who were tested and determined to be worthy of reproducing themselves and preserving the Arabian Horse breed?

But what do we do with the other 358,000 individuals? First, the testing requirements and events would spawn a new industry. The expectations and aspirations of Arabian Horse owners would become realistic, and the majority of the horses and people would enjoy each other and have a lot more fun together. Recreation and enjoyment would  become the primary benefit of Arabian Horse ownership.

The horse show breeding classes will become extinct. By the time a horse is tested and proves itself by producing foal crops that meet expectations, it will be an aged horse.

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