Horse and Pony Breeds; The Arab.

Dear Readers,

Here is the first of five points in my geography project about Horse and Pony Breeds. This is about the Arabian Horse.

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The Arab is known as one of the purest and one of the oldest breeds, 4500years, in the world today. They come from the Arabian Penisula in the Middle east. The geography and climate of this area has ensured their purity.

They have distinctive features; sliky coat, tail carried high and arched in movement, compact body with a short concave back, long level croup, long slender legs with short canons; a dished head that tapers to the muzzle, large flared nostrils, and large intelligant eyes.

There features and skills are all adaptions to the hot desert climate of the Middle East. They do not need a thick coat, therefore they have a light one all year round. The compact body and level croup giving them driving power and stamina, and the long legs mean they can cover more distance in one stride. The short canons mean the Arab can power it's way better over the desert sand, using less energy. The large nostrils help them circulate more oxygen around the body, again improving stamina and performance. The fact that Arabs are used to cover a lot of ground and in a hot climate means it has adapted itself to do so. They were used on the silk road and for long distance racing because they have the adapted features.

They are used for riding, competition, transport and the improve and refrine other breeds. Many of today's horse breeds contain Arab blood like the Thoroughbred, Akele Tehe or the Lipizzaner. The Arab is said to come from the founding Stallion Hoshaba and the founging Mare Baz, both captured at Yemen by Bax.

By 700AD Islamic armies occupied Persia, Turkey, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Spain, Northern Egypt and North Africa. This spread of Islam meant the spread and increased popularity of the breed, even Napolean's horse waas a grey Arab, Marengo. All the best Stallions and Mares were  brought to Damascus in Syria, the capital of Islam, for selective breeding.

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Other variations of the breed began to appear; Egyptian Arab, Polish Arab, Shagya Arab and the Anglo-Arab.

The Arab still remains to be a big part of the breeding world of horses and is one of my favorite breeds.

Hope you learned something!,
Roisin.P.