An Arabian Horse
STM Eureka: blue eyed splash purebred Arabian
STM Celestial Snow: moderate sabino purebred Arabian
The Arabian horse is the oldest breed of horse. The Arabian horse stands between 14.1-15.1 hands high. This ancient beauty comes in colours, such as black, bay, chestnut, and grey. The Arabian is "hot-blooded" and very intelligent and good tempered. The Arabian also is a very fast learner. But be careful! These horses and learn bad habits as quickly as good habits. These horses have 6 genetic diseises like lavender foal sydrome, when a foal is unable to stand at birth and contantly having seizures which often leads to eauthanization. These horses make good comapions but remeber, they are very, VERY smart! They are not reccommended for beginners, as they tend to think for themselves a lot.
The magnificent Arab horse can be traced back to around 3000BC in the deserts of the Yemen in Arabia. It is the oldest known, pure breed, and most modern breeds owe much of their development to Arab ancestors. The Arabian is a hot-blooded breed, selectively bred in the Middle East for generations for beauty, strength, speed, spirit and endurance. often called the most beautiful of all the horse breeds, is a stong, willing horse with a beautiful dished face. Arabians are known for their high intelligence, versatility and beauty.
The Arab's dominant genes have been introduced to most modern breeds to improve them including Morgans, Quarter Horses, Welsh Ponies, American Saddlebreds. Two of the three founding stallions of the Thoroughbred breed were Arabians.
Appearance
Most Arabians are 14.1 to 15 hands, but some bloodlines include Arabs as small as 13 hands or as large as 16+ hands.
Arabians are commonly bay, black,and chestnut. Modifiers include grey and rabicano roaning. Pinto patterns in purebreds have been traced back to the desert and include sabino and rare splash. Splash Arabians usually have blue eyes. Dominant white is documented in one bloodline within the breed. Paints, pintos, and crosses are not counted as purebreds in most countries and shows.
A common way to distinguish an Arabian from another horse is by looking at the head. Arabians are recognized for their thin looking faces and delicate features.
Uses
Despite their relatively small size and refined build, Arabs have amazing strength and dense bones that allow them to carry more weight then another horse with similar bone.
Although not as fast as the thoroughbred, there are races held only for this breed.
With the Arabs roots in the desert where they would have to cover huge distance on little water, it is no wonder the breed has dominated the sport of endurance riding.
Trivia
- Their skeleton is also different from other breeds of horses. It has 17 ribs, 5 lumbar bones and 16 vertebrae in the tail. The rest of the races have 18 ribs, 6 lumbar bones and 18 vertebrae in the tail.