# Arabian Horse Bloodlines & The Sport of Endurance



## EnduranceLover6

So just curious to see what people think of certain arabian bloodlines when it comes to endurance and CTR. Many endurance riders prefer certain bloodlines over others when shopping and breeding arabians for the sport. Some also prefer a "type" such as russian, polish, egyptian, etc. Although any horse breed or bloodline can excel in the sport, what are some good bloodlines to look for in the arabian breed and why? 

I am considering purchasing an in-utero foal that a family member has, both sire and dam are purebred arabians and have great conformation and personalities, however I don't know much about their breeding other than the obvious Bask, Aladdinn, etc. What do you think about the combination? Positive? Negative?

Sire: Zarie Slg Arabian (sorry about the missing lines on Starry's side, she is registered just not in the database)

Dam: Jj Emilee Arabian


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## Joe4d

oops .....


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## Joe4d

Any horse or breed CANNOT excel at the sport, but moving on,
I have been told to avoid Bey's flashy show lines, 
Egyptians tend to be too dainty to hold up, at least for heavier riders.
Polish and Russians sturdy thick legs tend to make long term endurance horses.
Looking at those pedigrees I dont recognize any known endurance lines other than Bask, not saying they aint there but I dont recognize any of those names. There are bunches and bunches of untrained 2-4 year olds from established and respected endurance breeders going for cheap. I dont get the invitro sight unseen purchase.


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## phantomhorse13

While I don't know any of the bloodlines very well until you get far back, the pictures available don't show me anything alarming. I recognize the 'brusally' name as a farm that used to be favorable for racehorses (flat track).

However, I am def a seeing-is-believing person, so I would not be inclined to buy anything in utero.


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## EnduranceLover6

Joe, i did not mean "any horse can do endurance" i simply meant to state that other breeds can excel at the sport. For instance I just came back from this year's Tevis crewing for an endurance rider and I saw multiple other breeds competing and doing fairly well. Yes, I know the Arab is king, but I didn't want to seem "one-sided" with this question. 

As for buying "in-utero"...i understand having any untrained young horse is a gamble...you never know what they will be like and i've raised foals before so i'm prepared for sucess or failure. Like I said, this is a family situation so either way the baby will have a great home. Just wanted to scope out people's opinions on the bloodlines, not the actual situation.


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## Joe4d

somebody on here just mentioned a horse thye bought in kansas from a endurance breeder had some great looking 2 yo's for cheap, like under 1k. The drought is getting them. Tryign to sell a bunch off. Cant remember the sight though.


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## usdivers

Joe4d said:


> Any horse or breed CANNOT excel at the sport, but moving on,
> I have been told to avoid Bey's flashy show lines,
> Egyptians tend to be too dainty to hold up, at least for heavier riders.
> Polish and Russians sturdy thick legs tend to make long term endurance horses.
> Looking at those pedigrees I dont recognize any known endurance lines other than Bask, not saying they aint there but I dont recognize any of those names. There are bunches and bunches of untrained 2-4 year olds from established and respected endurance breeders going for cheap. I dont get the invitro sight unseen purchase.


I concur on the Russian blood lines, I had a 15.2 Arab ages ago, and he was a great HW mount.


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## Tdkalilajohara

Hi I just got my first Arabian this year, can anyone tell me about her bloodlines? Her registered name is Td Kalila Johara
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Celeste

As far as checking out specific bloodlines, there are a lot of experts on that sort of thing on the breeding horses section of the forum.

I agree that you need to look at the individual horse. My horse is straight Egyptian but she is pretty stocky. My last Egyptian was very dainty and much smaller than the horse I ride now. He could go forever, but if we had competed, he would probably have done better with a smaller (less fat) rider. This horse is bigger both in height and mass. Like I mentioned, they both came from straight Egyptian bloodlines and they were totally different.


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## endurancerdr

There is an age old saying "you can't ride bloodlines". That being said, I have a mare who has fabulous bloodlines, Polish bred, she has done ok in endurance. I have a grade Arab who has done fantastic. (I happen to know he is an Egyptian because I know where he came from, he was just never registered). And I also have a little half arab right now who has been the best horse I have had. He has CMK bloodlines on his dams side and is going to make a great 100 mile horse. But I have seen rescues do great, Spanish mustangs do great, gaited horses do great. We even have a Welsh/POA in our region who does 75's and 100s as well as being a 3 day eventer. I tend to look at the confirmation of the horse. The bone, the shoulders, the hips and judge a horse from that rather than bloodlines. I have seen horses with fabulous bloodlines, like my mare, just hate the sport and not do well in it so take that with a grain of salt.

Safe Riding,
Todd


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## EnduranceLover6

Todd great point =) And great info from the rest of you as well! I have my eye set on a 10 year old Arab mare that I looked at yesterday. She was a blast to ride and had a nice forward walk that seemed like she could go forever. Finally a horse that enjoyed being out on the trail!!! I've been searching FOREVER. I posted her pedigree below as well as a picture (i know you can't tell much about her conformation)...can anyone tell me good/bad about her breeding? Thanks!

Lr Selena Arabian


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## endurancerdr

Don't see anything wrong with her pedigree. She's triple Bask bred so that's a plus but then again that's a pedigree. Looks great on paper! As far as her confirmation, hard to tell from just the picture, but she looks to have nice big feet (is she barefoot?) Good rear end and shoulders. If she like to go down trail and is forward moving I'd say go for it. Overall she looks nice. And I like her age is good too. 

Safe Riding
Todd


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## EnduranceLover6

Yes she is barefoot and has nice big feet. I also agree with the age. Its a good time to have a break from riding babies and ride something a bit older with trail experience =)


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## Remali

Joe4d said:


> Any horse or breed CANNOT excel at the sport, but moving on,
> I have been told to avoid Bey's flashy show lines,
> Egyptians tend to be too dainty to hold up, at least for heavier riders.
> Polish and Russians sturdy thick legs tend to make long term endurance horses.
> Looking at those pedigrees I dont recognize any known endurance lines other than Bask, not saying they aint there but I dont recognize any of those names. There are bunches and bunches of untrained 2-4 year olds from established and respected endurance breeders going for cheap. I dont get the invitro sight unseen purchase.


I've been around Arabians (and have owned them) since the 1960's. With all due respect I beg to differ. The horses of the "Bey" lines are very athletic, look at what Sheila Varian has accomplished. Egyptians, especially the Babson-bred Egyptians, are some of the most athletic Arabians out there. 

Quite often you will find very successful Arabian endurance horses with CMK lines, they are exceptionally athletic.


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## BlueSpark

My mare is egyptian, probably the narrowest horse I've owned, and she will go all day, through or over anything, carrying my fat butt all the way. Best horse I've ever owned. I plan on doing some endurance next year, so we'll see how she goes. The love of trails is just as important as the breeding or conformation.


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## QOS

All of the horses where I board are straight Egyptian bred. The barn manager's Arab mare is 15.1 and while she isn't a chunky QH she is by no means a tiny horse!!! They all have wide backs and good bone. She will be riding in her first endurance ride next month on Legato.


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## AbsitVita

EnduranceLover, I don't recognize the others but I did recognize Bask, Aladdinn, Witraz, Ofir and Skowronek to name a few...Raffles was sired by Skowronek, the foundation sire of the Polish bloodlines. There is also Egyptian and possibly spanish lines as well. The thing is two Arabian horses with "perfect" pedigrees and "perfect" confirmation don't always produce the "perfect" foal...the legs can be off, the ears two small or something less concrete ie temperament. I hope your foal is "perfect" and fulfills all your hopes and aspirations for it.


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## deserthorsewoman

OP, I think you misspelled the sire's dam's name on allbreed. If it's Starry Serenade instead of "Screnade", that is. She is on there and would bring some more interesting lines.

With the Polish Arabians in there, you can't go wrong with any sport. Poland breeds only proven performers to proven performers. Mostly racing. And the "Bey" lines are also performance bred (had to say that, sorry).

As for stocky or dainty.....anybody who knows Arabians will know that their bones are denser than any other breed's and smaller horses carry more weight in relation to size than larger horses. 
IMO, if that foal grows up well, with lots of room to run, with a herd, and is fed properly, I don't see where there should be a problem doing endurance. Maybe not the Tevis, but not very many at all make it that far, regardless of bloodlines.


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## Saddlebag

Altho we didn't do endurance my arab was always ready to go even after a 5 hr trail ride. He was built much like this mare when he was 10 and had big feet as well. Never did he pull a lame step in the 10 yrs I owned him. Myna Cryderman who competed a number of times in the Tevis Cup, kept her horses fit by making a large pen on two rises of ground so they were almost always moving up or down hill at the trot. She would exercise 4 at a time.


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## WSArabians

CMK Arabians have been fabulous in the endurance world. Real solid, hearty horses.


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## Druydess

WSArabians said:


> CMK Arabians have been fabulous in the endurance world. Real solid, hearty horses.


One of the reasons I love CMK bloodlines and have them in my barn! :wink:


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## dbarabians

Abvits, the poles have been breeding Arabian horses for over 400 years Showronek was indeed an important sire but not a foundation one.
There are plenty of straight eygptian arabs that are very atletic. In fact those horses from the desert ahd legs hooves and tendons of steel. Lameness was very rarely a problem. After all those desert bred horses were the foundation for all the other "types". Shalom


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## goneriding

Straight Egyptian......


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## deserthorsewoman

goneriding said:


> View attachment 115195
> 
> 
> Straight Egyptian......


I'd like to see that one standing normal, not stretched out and on level ground and THEN judge....sorry;-)


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## goneriding




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## goneriding

Abraxas Halimaar


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## Celeste

My girl is straight Egyptian. She is big and bold. This is her in a nonposed picture just trotting along. She is not bred to be a grand prix jumper, but she is not a dainty toy that needs to sit on a velvet pillow. 










And cantering


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## clippityclop

What is CMK - a breeder or farm or type of arab? I'm clueless - didn't get my first arab until just a couple of years ago - don't know much about bloodlines....the only thing I can find online about my horse's breeding is all horse show show show - but he's been a darn fine animal for my distance riding hobby....


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## goneriding

Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg


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## deserthorsewoman

goneriding said:


> View attachment 115197
> 
> 
> Abraxas Halimaar


much better, thanks
well built. Only thing I would like to see is more heartgirth.


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## clippityclop

So what type of arab breeding is The Fury (Garret Ford's horse - Tevis)? He seems wider than most and well built - at least in pictures....sorry, off topic!


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## Remali

CMK is a blend of Crabbet bloodlines with Maynesboro and Kellogg lines as well. I love those horses!


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## tranquilmorning

*lr selena*

endurancelover,
did you end up buying lr selena? I hope she found a good home...a friend of mine was her breeder and I've ridden her a few times, she's a wonderful horse! 
Kristen


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## EnduranceLover6

Yes I did! I love her dearly and actually just got home from riding her. She does have a bit of a high/low syndrome in her front hooves that I'm trying to figure out right now, not sure if it's from an old injury or from habit but it makes her short strided on her right front. Thinking it's not going to be such a good thing if I want to vet her through when trying to compete :-( But we'll see if it can improve. 

I also have another Arab I would love for you guys to look at when it comes to bloodlines. We owned him since he was 1 1/2 years old and sold him last year to a young girl because we didn't have time. Now we are getting him back and I'm very excited to have a second partner to work with. His name is WOW IBN CHYMAHRUS. Sweet boy with a huge personality! Here's his pedigree:

Wow Ibn Chymahrus Arabian


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## tranquilmorning

*Selena*

I'm glad to hear she found a good home. I almost bought her a few years ago, but had to move my horses to a full board barn and couldn't add another horse at that point. I don't know of any injuries she's ever had. I know the owner previous to the one you bought her from jumped her a lot. I hope it works out with her...she's a real sweetheart.
Kristen


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## JustImagine

My horse is an Arabian and he has really good endurance =] I use him for show jumping. He's also bombproof and will literally jump anything I put in front of him. 2 months after training him to jump I was jumping him over gates, hay bales, jump decorations, oxers, etc. and I've never had 1 refusal. He's also 13 and was a western horse before I got him, so it was a big change.


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## EnduranceLover6

Thank you. Endurance or not, she will have a forever home as a friend and possibly trail horse & broodmare. She is a gem


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## deserthorsewoman

EnduranceLover6 said:


> Yes I did! I love her dearly and actually just got home from riding her. She does have a bit of a high/low syndrome in her front hooves that I'm trying to figure out right now, not sure if it's from an old injury or from habit but it makes her short strided on her right front. Thinking it's not going to be such a good thing if I want to vet her through when trying to compete :-( But we'll see if it can improve.
> 
> I also have another Arab I would love for you guys to look at when it comes to bloodlines. We owned him since he was 1 1/2 years old and sold him last year to a young girl because we didn't have time. Now we are getting him back and I'm very excited to have a second partner to work with. His name is WOW IBN CHYMAHRUS. Sweet boy with a huge personality! Here's his pedigree:
> 
> Wow Ibn Chymahrus Arabian


picture is needed of the boy, you know that.......;-)
surprised to see a Marbach-line in there, and not through Sahnacht.


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## EnduranceLover6

Deserthorsewomen,

I wish I had a picture for you, however I can't seem to find one :-(

Can you tell me what you mean by "Surprised to see a Marbach-line in there, and not through Sahnacht."??? 

This is the only picture I can really seem to find of him, but he was under 2 years old in this picture. He is 9 years old now.


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## deserthorsewoman

This is Gharib, present through your boy's dam line. 
I'll have to find a pic of the others from Marbach.
Marbach is a state stud in Germany, the oldest Arabian stud in fact. And still breeding, btw. 
They had used Hadban Enzahi for a long time and retained several good mares by him. So they needed an outcross, so Gharib was bought in El Zahraa, Egypt. 
Gharib sired several good stallions, one of them sired three stallion performance testing winners, against warmbloods. 
Sahnacht was imported to the US and produced quite a few good horses, all named "Amurath" in front of their actual names.


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## EnduranceLover6

****, you are good :wink:
Thank you for your knowledge! I'm so interested in all this lineage stuff...it's nice to get a sense of where our horses come from!


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## deserthorsewoman

Hadban Enzahi
sorry for the picture quality, took a pic of a pic in a book
More to come;-)


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## deserthorsewoman

All Hadban Enzahi daughters, Nabya is third from left. 
Easy to imagine why they kept those and why an outcross stallion was needed


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## deserthorsewoman

Nabya


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## EnduranceLover6

No pictures showed up with your posts :?


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## deserthorsewoman

I see them just fine....hmmm
Try again, or go to my album "Arabians", they're all there


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## EnduranceLover6

Strange....
I'll look in your album


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## dbarabians

deserthorsewoman THOSE are what ARABIANS are supposed to look like.
Not what we are seeing in the Fancy barns and showring.
I hope there are enough breeders that want the versatile Arab that we can counter the modern breeding practices we are seeing. Shalom


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## EnduranceLover6

Agreed...
Just look at the substance to these horses! I love the amount of bone...looks like they'll last forever...oh wait, they will 

I would LOVE to find a stallion up here in VT/NH that had similar characteristics.


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## deserthorsewoman

I agree. Marbach's horses are all worked before they go in the breeding shed. Mares are driven, stallions ridden, do their performance test, 100 days of dressage, jumping and cross country, rideability , character, and what's called a strange rider test(one rider is responsible for the stallion during the 100 days. 
This is what they're being used for, riding. 
And Gharib was also licensed for Trakehner, which is very hard to achieve, Trakehner folks are uber picky with what they allow.
Unfortunately, the stallion licensing is not mandatory anymore, since WAHO says no purebred should be discriminated against......:-(


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## EnduranceLover6

Very interesting, and depressing. That is the way breeding should work. Hell, even I have bred my own horses in the past without a single clue of the flaws my horses had and would pass along, but I had to deal with the consequences of poor conformation, attitude, etc. I think it has a lot to do with lack of education that is paired up with ignorance. People will always have the right to breed but they should always strive for a CORRECT animal, both body and mind.


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## deserthorsewoman

Exactly. That's why it is so important to do your homework. Apart from the general knowledge about conformation etc, studying bloodlines is very important. There is no excuse now that we have internet, to not knowing. There are lots of breeders out there who are more than happy to share their knowledge, have known all the famous horses, and can fill books with what they learned.


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## Tonyc5636

EnduranceLover6 said:


> Todd great point =) And great info from the rest of you as well! I have my eye set on a 10 year old Arab mare that I looked at yesterday. She was a blast to ride and had a nice forward walk that seemed like she could go forever. Finally a horse that enjoyed being out on the trail!!! I've been searching FOREVER. I posted her pedigree below as well as a picture (i know you can't tell much about her conformation)...can anyone tell me good/bad about her breeding? Thanks!
> 
> Lr Selena Arabian





EnduranceLover6 said:


> Todd great point =) And great info from the rest of you as well! I have my eye set on a 10 year old Arab mare that I looked at yesterday. She was a blast to ride and had a nice forward walk that seemed like she could go forever. Finally a horse that enjoyed being out on the trail!!! I've been searching FOREVER. I posted her pedigree below as well as a picture (i know you can't tell much about her conformation)...can anyone tell me good/bad about her breeding? Thanks!
> 
> Lr Selena Arabian


I knew Fa Rajah. This Fadjur son was the exciting stallion I have ever seen. He did not do endurance but multi halter and English and western pleasure and park championships. He was also East coast Champion Stallion in 1972 I believe.


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## Tonyc5636




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## QtrBel

Thread Closed. 

This thread is from 2012. These users are no longer here.


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