ZARIFE
From the hot desert sands of Arabia, the purebred Arab horse has brought us all of his beauty, affection, strength and glory. For over 4,000 years the Arab steed served the desert Bedouins in peace and war, ofttimes meaning the difference between life and death for his master. He lived in the tent of his owner, as a member of the family. In his noble heart this developed an affection unsurpassed.
Pasture land and water are very scarce in the desert country, but the Arab horse does not require the food and water of an ordinary horse—because of his small stomach. This was invaluable to the Bedouin, who then could travel for days on a fiery charger without sighting pasture or a water hole. Thus, the Arab has become known to us as “Drinker of the Wind.”
Although from this courageous lineage have descended all light breeds of horses known to the world today—the Thoroughbred, Standard Bred, American Saddle Horse, Morgan, and so on down the line ... still we cannot tell you the origin of the purebred Arab. That belongs to the dim and distant past. God gave him to us and is preserving this precious blood through the generous hearts of a handful of large breeders, mostly located in the United States.
Why the United States? Because, with the advent of the automobile in Arabia, the Bedouins learned they could travel faster and farther in “war cars” than by Arabian horses; so they discontinued the use of horses in warfare. This resulted in diminishing the breeding of pure Arabians in the desert. Then, during World War II, many of the large European Studs, which had been established from desert horses, were completely demolished.
To give you a word picture of the purebred Arab, the United States Department of Agriculture, in its bulletin, “Breeds of Light Horses,” has this to say:
“A typical Arabian horse has a wedge-shaped head; small nose; dish face; wide, deep jaws; eyes set low, wide apart, and near the middle of the head; a relatively large brain capacity; one less lumbar vertebra than most other horses, giving a short weight-carrying back; one or two less vertebrae in the tail, which is set up on a high croup and gaily carried; ribs spring wide and deep; large knee, hock, tendon and hoof; dense bone; small stomach capacity, with small feed requirements and the ability to assimilate rough feed; and a marked prepotency in the Stud.
“Generally the Arabian horse in action shows only the walk, trot, and canter. The usual height is from 14 to 15.1 hands, and the weight from 850 to 1,100 pounds. Bay, gray and chestnut are the predominating colors, with an occasional white or black. White marks on the head and legs are common, but purebred Arabians are never piebald or spotted, notwithstanding an erroneous impression created by circus horses that are commonly called Arabians.”
