365
Days in Horse Country – The Aristocratic
Arabian
No one is completely sure where the Arabian horse
originated. His beginnings are
mysterious, which is fitting given the romance behind the rest of the breed’s
history.
The first documented breeders of the Arabian horse were the Bedouins. These nomadic desert people of the Middle East valued the Arabian horse as their greatest possession. They relied on the Arabian for transportation and to carry them into battle.
The Arabian was more than just a beast of burden. The Bedouins saw their horses as friends, inviting them to sleep in the family tent on cold nights and escape the hot sun there during the day. As a result, Arabian horses developed a strong affinity for humans, which lingers to this day.
The Arabian is graced with a distinctive, delicate head with concave face, called a dish. This classic head features large, widely set eyes, small curved ears, and a wide forehead.
The Arabian’s back is shorter than that of most other breeds, and his croup is nearly flat. His neck is set on steeply sloping shoulders, giving him a high head carriage. Arabian horses are most commonly seen in gray, bay, chestnut, and black, and they have long, flowing manes and tails. They rarely grow taller than 15.3 hands.
Michael