# Arabians? What do they do, specifically?



## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I've owned, gamed, reined, and even cut on Arabians before. But I see all these stud ads for arabs and I only see them set up like halter, not any performance shots.

Obviously I see the halter classes, but what about the under saddle? I've seen arabians do weird gaited motion like a pleasure class, but I never actually looked into what it was hey did competitively. Of course arabs can do nearly everything, but I'm curious as to what they do at breed shows and what all these famous arab studs are doing.

And another thing - Do they still have Arabian racing? I'd love to see that! Once agin, never looked into it much. Lol excuse my ignorance


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Yep, Arab racing is still going strong. I actually got Latte because she was bred for racing but didn't grow big enough!

Halter is the biggest and most well known (Or infamous) event that Arab's do, but they do a lot more. There was a photo thread on an Arab board from Scottsdale that had amazing photos of the horses doing all sorts of thing, but I lost the link! I love the look of Arab Western Pleasure - The necks are curled and elegant and the western bridles just look stunning on their refined heads.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

The arabs originally bred arabain horses for their endurance.... but i have no idea what they are mainly used for now! haha


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

i know what you mean about arab studs just posing in ad pictures. here are some i found in action. arabs are pretty versaltile, it turns out


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Halter horses are generally just that; used for showing in hand and little else.

Some of them do go on to have performance careers, but like the QH, the Arabian halter horses are not bred for performance anymore, but to look 'pretty' when being show in hand.

I prefer the performance lines, because a horse bred like that can do a variety of disciplines extremely well.

OP, the 'weird gaited' horses you're talking about are Park horses. Arabians aren't truly gaited, but they have a very powerful, floating trot which is exaggerated for the Park classes. Riding a horse like that is like having a freight train between your legs! Not something I've ever aspired to do. :wink:

Performance bred Arabs do especially well at endurance and LDRs, because they're hardy and have almost boundless energy. They also bond extremely closely with their rider, which makes communication between horse and rider quite amazing.

I love Arabs. My first horse was an Arabian, as was my heart horse.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Oh yes, arabians certainly have endurance. That's one of the things I do know. I had a mare that I lunged for a little over two hours (I clocked it) at the trot and canter and she was hardly sweating. I think the final time was two hours, 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Haha 

Thanks for the repsonses. Not really into the whole arab thing unless they can act like a QH or my paints.....Beautiful, but not my type of horse.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

SorrelHorse said:


> I had a mare that I lunged for a little over two hours (I clocked it) at the trot and canter and she was hardly sweating. I think the final time was two hours, 4 minutes and 33 seconds.


Longeing a horse for that amount of time is completely inadvisable and rather cruel. You can do damage to their joints and ligaments, as well as bore them out of their skulls. 

Arabs are intelligent creatures and need mental stimulation. Doing the same thing over and over again is not good for them physically _or_ mentally.

Longeing is not in any way comparable to endurance, CTRs or LDRs. A horse should _never_ be forced to move in a circle for two hours or more.

If your horse has too much energy you should _ride_ it out, not torture the animal by longeing it for ridiculous amounts of time.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Speed Racer said:


> Longeing a horse for that amount of time is completely inadvisable and rather cruel. You can do damage to their joints and ligaments, as well as bore them out of their skulls.
> 
> Arabs are intelligent creatures and need mental stimulation. Doing the same thing over and over again is not good for them physically _or_ mentally.
> 
> ...


Thank you SpeedRacer!

As a former competitive distance and endurance rider - a good endurance horse needs a whole heck of a lot more than just being able to lunge for *way too many* hours. These folks that simply assume because their horse has tons of energy and would make a good endurance horse need to be more educated in the sport.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I just spent my weekend at an arab show. They did halter, showmanship, they did the walk trot classes, they had a therepeautic riding class, they had country pleasure, hunt, they had sidesaddle, driving, bridle path hack, english, and western, plus horsemanship classes and dressage suitabity. They also did trail in hand and undersaddle. It's actually a very versatile breed. The one thing I would say is a shortfall to the breed (IMO) is jumping, they are hollow backed...


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

farmpony84 said:


> The one thing I would say is a shortfall to the breed (IMO) is jumping, they are hollow backed...


True. But they (generalization) are so cute they way the pull their knees to their eye balls to make up for their lack of bascule.


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## Northern (Mar 26, 2010)

Plus, thank you, Speedracer, for your excellent post on longeing/misuse of.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

My uncle breeds and trains Arabs and half-Arabs in Colorado. He uses them for reining
www.ramblin-ranch.com. <-- his website
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I understand about that lunging. I know its wrong now but unfortunately at that time I was really young and incredibly ignorant. I am merely using it as an example of the endurance of that particular horse.


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## grayshell38 (Mar 9, 2009)

There is a stud that I a really like near me. TDR White Stone. He is a reiner first and foremost, but apparently he jumps as well. 
TDR White Stone - Peter


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

grayshell38 said:


> There is a stud that I a really like near me. TDR White Stone. He is a reiner first and foremost, but apparently he jumps as well.
> TDR White Stone - Peter


If he's a show jumper, they certainly used a bad picture to represent him.

I'm not a fan of the SE Arabians, nor do I particularly like the Al Khamsa bloodlines. 

He might be homozygous for black, but what they're not telling you is he's probably also a rabicano, which means any foal produced will most likely roan out.

He's pretty enough, but I see on the owner's website that they're breeding a bunch of partbreds. The Arab/Friesian cross is the one that made me shake my head. Those crosses rarely turn out well, and the example they have hasn't convinced me otherwise.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

SorrelHorse said:


> I understand about that lunging. I know its wrong now but unfortunately at that time I was really young and incredibly ignorant. I am merely using it as an example of the endurance of that particular horse.


Just because a horse will allow it's self to be lunged by an ignorant person for ANY length of time has nothing to do with it's endurance. Even if the horse had been lunged correctly, it is no where near the same type of work load as carrying a person for miles over varying terrian AND passing the vet checks.


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## grayshell38 (Mar 9, 2009)

> If he's a show jumper, they certainly used a bad picture to represent him.
> 
> I'm not a fan of the SE Arabians, nor do I particularly like the Al Khamsa bloodlines.
> 
> ...


I don't think he's a show jumper, just that he does do some jumping. I'm not touting him as the best thing ever, just showing an example of "what arabians can do".  I'm with you on the SE thing. I'm more of a polish girl myself. :wink: But he's a good "do-er" and not just a look how pretty I am horse, which I like, even if I would never breed to him. It is refreshing to see an arab doing something that they "shouldn't", or at least what is not traditional for them to do.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

SorrelHorse said:


> I understand about that lunging. I know its wrong now but unfortunately at that time I was really young and incredibly ignorant. I am merely using it as an example of the endurance of that particular horse.


One would think if you were now older and less ignorant you would have either not mentioned something so foolish that you did in the past or said along with the post that you realize how foolish it was. :wink:

I have to agree with MLS on this one, lunging for way too long in no way shows the horses ability to do actual endurance.


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## Cheshire (Oct 17, 2009)

My BO deals exclusively with Arabians and half-arabs. Her forte is country pleasure, but she does a lot of saddleseat and teaches sidesaddle, Western and English pleasure, and probably some other stuff. She'll show youngsters at halter for clients, though. 

My Spanish Arabian mare's father was competitive in reining and cutting, though most of the other horses in her family tree excelled at driving.

A hugely versatile breed, sharp as a whip to boot. Nothing but respect for 'em.


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