bone size/bone density

[Todd & Toni Jones <tjones@coinet.com>]

I can't say anything about density
on desert bred arabs from "several
hundred years ago" or even on arabs
today. However, as far as size goes,
meaning the entire cannon
measurement we use today which
includes the tendons and so forth, I
can. At least going back a little
over 200 years. The purebred desert
bred Arabs imported to Babolna
Hungary for their Shagya and
part-bred Arab breeding programs,
both mares AND stallions had their
measurements all kept track of
including heighth, girth, cannon and
other types including head. The
studbooks, which have all this
information, indicate that the
horses finally allowed into breeding
programs indeed had what we would
call 8" cannons and larger on horses
that ranged in wither measurement
from 15 to 16 hands high. There was
a lot more criteria for the horse to
be acceptable, but that was part of
it. Bone and body substance were
required.

Since they were imported (from Syria
mostly), the genetics for this had
to come from somewhere and so I
would assume that it's reasonable to
postulate that yes, arabs from
several hundred years ago had more
bone than we see now on the average,
show bred arab. Look at Lady
Wentworth's book, those early mares
from late 19th and early 20th
century had lots of bone for the
most part. Lots of body too.

As an interesting side note, one
book I have from Academic Press on
the Genetic Behavior of Livestock
and domestic animals in their
chapter on horses states that
according to their experiments and
tests that heavy boned horses are
calmer than light boned horses as a
rule. There are always exceptions.
They compared draft horses to
TB's... but even in the purebred
Arab department this rings fairly
true in my limited experience. The
heavier boned CMK lines are often
calmer overall than some of the fine
boned beauties I've met in my day.
In the Shagyas, which usually have
more bone overall, they are known
for their calm, layed back
temperaments as a breed. Keep in
mind there are ALWAYS exceptions.

Well, my post for the month... :)

Toni Jones and Shagya stallion
O'Biwon
Central Oregon