A Brief Breed History

“Every man shall love his horse.”–The Prophet Muhammed

How does one encapsulate the history of a breed that extends back to 8000 BCE in one simple page on a website? This is the problem I faced, as I began to compile the information featured here. Not only did I want to give a sense of the “flavor”–the “romance”, if you will–of what the Arabian horse has meant to humanity since its inception as a breed (the first image of an Arabian dates to Turkey, 8000 BCE), but I also needed to explain what all of the various terminologies one encounters today when researching these horses (Blue List, Al Khamsa, Asil, Sheykh Obeyd, Heirloom, all of the various strains) mean. That is quite a lot of information to cover, and actually do a subject justice, particularly the sort of justice which this breed, which is the foundation of all other Light Breeds, deserves.

Since we are dealing primarily with Straight Egyptian Arabians here at Silk Road, the most logical place to begin a discussion of the Arabian horse and its influence on humans and their history is Egypt. No one is quite certain how these horses were first introduced into Egypt. Some scholars suggest that they were gained in trade from the Nubians of the Sudan, while others believe it was the Hyksos invaders (often referred to in history books as the “Sea Peoples”) who first introduced Arabian horses to Egypt. Either way, what is certain is that there are no depictions of Arabian horses in Egyptian art prior to 1500 BCE.

This date of 1500 BCE for the first depictions of Arabian horses in Egyptian art suggests little to resolve this debate. In order to understand why this is the case, one must first understand that the BCE dating system lists dates going basically backwards from a specific point in time, as opposed to forwards, as we have now with our present-day CE dating system. For example, 1500 BCE would be a later date in history than 1650 BCE, when the Hyksos invaded Egypt in the BCE dating system, whereas 2021 CE (now) is a later date than, say, 1650 CE, in our present CE dating system. Therefore, 1580 BCE (the actual date of the first depiction of horses in Egyptian art) would be a later date than 1650 BCE (the date of the invasion by the Hyksos). This becomes problematic in the debate of who first introduced Arabians into Egypt–was it the Hyksos invaders or the Nubians?– when one considers two factors: 1) that this date follows the Hyksos invasion by about 70 years, and 2) this date also coincides with the Egyptian occupation of Nubia.

From about 1500 BCE up until around 1100 BCE, Egypt occupied Nubia as far as the fourth cataract of the Nile. However, in a study of Nubian petroglyphs of that era, horses are only infrequently depicted, with the primary depictions being of cattle and camels. In fact, the earliest sources where horses were heavily depicted in Nubian art date from around 750 BCE, 900 years after the dates in question.

This would lend itself towards the Hyksos invaders as the people who first introduced Arabian horses into Egypt. The Hyksos were a group of Semitic-Asiatic people, and the term Hyksos itself derives from the Egyptian expression heka khasewet, which means “rulers of foreign lands”. This suggests that they were not a unique “tribe” unto themselves, but instead a varied group of people, which makes it very difficult to identify them as a “people”/culture, per se. Significant archaeological/anthropological evidence, however, shows us that the Hyksos invasions correspond in many ways to the Exodus event depicted in the Christian Old Testament. In his Against Apion, the First Century CE historian Josephus Flavius debated just such a comparison, citing two specific Exodus events mentioned by the previous-to-him Egyptian historian, Manetho. Within this comparison, Josephus cites the mention by Manetho of some 480,000 Hyksos “shepherd kings”, who left Egypt for Israel during what has come to be identified as the Hyksos Period (16th century BCE). These “shepherd kings” are described by Josephus as bedouin-like, which further suggests that these might be the people who first introduced Arabians into Egypt.

While scholars are still debating whether or not there was actually a violent Hyksos Invasion, one thing that is certain is that it was the Hyksos who first introduced the chariot into Egypt, and, obviously, with chariots come horses….

From the beginning of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1550-1069 BCE), horses are depicted in Egyptian art on furniture, weapons, jewelry, and the walls of royal tombs. This not only marked a renaissance of equine art in Egypt, but also the beginning of the reigns of warrior kings in Egypt, who would, from their chariots, go on to unite Upper and Lower Egypt. Among these kings we find the well-known names of Rameses I, Seti I, and the most famous of all, Rameses II, all of whom would memorialize their horses in art and hieroglyphics. In fact, Rameses II so loved his horses that he had two of them memorialized forever in a gold ring. We still know their names: “Triumph in Thebes” and “Mut Is Content” (Mut is the Egyptian Goddess of War).

Yet it is not to the Ancient Egyptians that we trace the ancestry of today’s Straight Egyptian Arabians, but instead to the horses that were bred by the Bedouin tribes. The Bedouins began as a pre-Islamic nomadic culture composed of tribes based on hereditary relationships. Before the introduction of Islam, their religion was a combination of polytheism (worshipping three goddesses: al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat, who were all daughters of Allah, an All-Father type deity), Judaism, and a little bit of Christianity. In 500 CE, Mecca was the center of their religion. It was there, in Mecca, that a relatively obscure citizen named Muhammed began to preach a new religion.

In 610 CE, Muhammad revealed to his closest relatives and friends that he had heard the voice of God. Three years later, these relatives and friends finally convinced him to take his message to the wider audience which they believed God had intended for it to reach. These recitations would come to form the heart and soul of Islam: the Qur’an (Koran).

The teachings of Muhammed were not well-met by the elite and wealthy of Mecca. Being of low caste himself, the message that was given to Muhammed appealed more to the poor and the “down-trodden”, which greatly upset those higher in the hierarchy. Under threat of death, in 620 CE, Muhammed met with the men of Yathrib, a settlement which was, at the time, torn apart by clan violence. These men were so impressed with Muhammed’s teachings that they went home and shared them with others, bringing back larger and larger delegations to visit Muhammed, until finally, over seventy-five citizens of Yathrib had converted to Muhammed’s new religion of Islam in 622 CE. Finally, Muhammed was safe from persecution. He and his followers began the move from Mecca to Yathrib, which they renamed Medina.

The ancient legends of these people whom Muhammed converted to Islam said of the creation of the Arabian horse:

“…And Allah took a handful of south wind and from it formed a horse, saying, ‘I create thee, Oh Arabian. To thy forelock I bind victory in battle. On thy back I set a rich spoil, and a treasure in thy loins. I establish thee flight without wings.’ For a time the Arabian ran wild in the desert. Only the strongest and most intelligent, the swiftest and most disciplined survived. And then the story goes; To Ishmael, son of Abraham, Allah made a gift of the Arabian Horse. And Ishmael was the first to tame and ride him and, from that time on, the fate of the Arabian would be woven into the history of the Western World.”

It was on the backs of these gifts from Allah–the Arabian horses–that the Muslim Bedouins conquered Egypt in 632 CE. From that point forward, Egypt was controlled by various Muslim rulers, and the history of the Straight Egyptian Arabian becomes irrevocably intertwined with the traditions of the Islamic Bedouins.

Considered a gift from Allah, the Arabian horse was cherished, and very nearly revered. It’s nature, color, and many of the traits which make the breed so readily recognizable (the jibbah, or prominent forehead; the mitbah, or arch of the neck) were dictated by the religious beliefs, superstitions, and traditions of the Islamic Bedouins. The Jibbah, for example, was believed to hold the blessings of Allah. Therefore, the greater the Jibbah, the greater the blessing. The Mitbah– the great arch of the neck with a high crest–was considered a sign of courage; a gaily carried, flaglike tail was considered a sign of pride. All of these traits were selectively bred for by the Bedouins.

The purity of the bloodlines of these horses–Asil means “pure”–was also linked directly to the religious significance of the Arabian horse to the Bedouin. It was paramount that these horses remain in the form intended by Allah. Any mixture of blood from outside horses was strictly forbidden. Mares were more highly prized than stallions, and this was also linked to the religious beliefs of the Bedouins, as it was a mare which carried Muhammed. The family lines of Arabian horses were, therefore, traditionally traced through the dam line. The only requirement of a sire was that he be Asil.

Bedouin legends tell the story of a group of mares who were known as the Al Khamsa–the five. These were the five favorite mares of Muhammed. According to legend, a tribe of Bedouin, after a long journey across the desert, released their mares to run to a watering hole to drink. As a test of loyalty, Muhammed blew his horn to call the mares back to him. The five which returned became the Al Khamsa, the foundation mares of the five strains.

Bedouins highly prized pure-in-strain horses. The five basic strains include Kuheilan, Saklawi, Abeyyan, Hamdani, and Hadban. (You will find varying ways of spelling these, such as Koheylan, Koheilan, Kehilan, Seglawi, Seqlawi, Obeyan, Obeyyan, Abeyan, etc. because translation of Arabic into English is largely phonetic in nature. I have used here the spellings which predominate this site, in order to save further confusion.) Other strains, considered less “choice” by the Bedouins, also developed over time, including the Maneghi, Jilfan, Shuwayman, and Dahman. There are also substrains within each strain.

Each strain, when bred pure, developed traits that could be easily recognized and identified. Kuheilan horses are noted for their depth of chest, masculine power, and size; their heads are short, with pronounced jibbah and jowls, and they are most commonly grey and chestnut. Saklawi are known for refinement and almost feminine elegance; they are typically fine-boned, with longer faces and necks than the Kuheilan, and are generally rather small (14.2 hands) and bay. Abeyyan are similar to Saklawi, in that they are very refined in their look, but they often have a longer back than the typical Arabian, and tended to be quite small (seldom above 14.2 hands); they were usually grey, and carried more white markings than the other strains. Hamdani horses are athletic, if somewhat masculine, with a large-boned build; they tend to lack an extreme Jibbah; they are one of the largest of the strains, generally standing over 15.2 hands, and the most common colors are grey and bay. Hadban tend to be a smaller version of the Hamdani, sharing several traits, including the big bones and muscular build; they are also known for having an extremely gentle nature, and their primary colors are bay or brown, with very few white markings.

The modern designations of “Sheykh Obeyd”, “Al Khamsa”, and “Blue List” come from a later period in the history of the Straight Egyptian Arabian, as do designations such as “Russian” and “Polish”. The organization now known as Al Khamsa was begun in the early 1970s to continue the work of Miss Jane Ott, who, in 1952, began a list of horses proven in every line to descend directly from Desert-bred Arabians. Her list became known as the “Blue Catalog” (which is where the term “Blue List” comes from). All horses which are listed Al Khamsa and Blue List either trace their descent directly back to Desert-bred Arabians, or to exceptional Arabians from the stock of such legendary breeders as Lady Ann Blunt or Abbas Pasha (who only purchased from Desert-bred sources). If a horse is listed as Sheykh Obeyd, it means their ancestry traces directly to Blunt/Egyptian horses, as defined by the Al Khamsa organization, making them “old Arabians”, though this designation does not mean that they are automatically considered straight Egyptian Arabians.

“Polish”, “Russian”, and “Spanish” Arabians refer to horses who are the products of breeding programs in these countries. In 1936, Lady Wentworth (daughter of Lady Ann Blunt) sold 19 Crabbet mares (products of Lady Wentworth’s breeding program, which tended to be taller and more robust than the “typical” Arabians which preceeded them) to the Russian government. The star of this importation was the famous Skowronek’s son, Naseem (out of Nasra, who was a granddaughter of the great Egyptian sire, Mesaoud). This was the beginning of what became known as the Tersk Stud. In the wake of WWII, the products of this breeding program became more and more infused with Polish lines, most of them from horses procured via the war. The Polish breeding program focused more on its broodmares than on its stallions, and eventually produced such important horses as Witraz, Wielki Szlem, *Witez II, and *Bask++. 

The horses presented here at Silk Road Arabians are the result of hours-upon-hours of careful research to make sure that they have precise Desert-bred ancestries which are historically authentic and as pure-in-strain (in the dam line) as possible, in keeping with Bedouin tradition. We hope that they will encourage you to further explore the history of their beautiful real-life counterparts, as well as the history of the people who originally bred them, including the unchangeable imprint upon the breed from their Islamic roots. They are beautiful animals wherein Faith and flesh combine, and, if anything, our wish should be to be more like them…..