Our mare is mostly Polish, with a touch of
Khemosabi and Gainey. I think adding some "Gainey" tends to pretty up some
lines of Arabs I have seen. My daugher's Arab got the long, arched neck
and pretty head from the Gainey side, we like to think. She also got what
we call the "collapsable Ferzon chin."
In strict sense, an Arabian either bred by the
Gainey breeding program or consisting entirely of lines descended from the
Gainey program. In looser discussion terms, an Arabian that is a high
percentage of Gainey blood.
I'm not as "up" on the Gainey program as some
others here may be, but Dan Gainey and family utilized a lot of Ferzon
breeding, and their program was well-known in the show ring a few decades
back. They tended to utilize really extreme-headed horses, and also in
seeking the rather stylized "level topline" look, somewhat started the trend
toward long, tubular bodies and flat pelvises. Despite that, they did
have some pretty decent stock that descended from some pretty tough horses, so
when one finds Gainey breeding without those particular traits, it can be
pretty respectable riding stock.
