Heidi and others who are breeding CMK type Arabians must be commended for
their attempts to continue a valuable line of Arabian breeding. One also must
remeber the Van Vleets (from CO) and the AM horses that weren't bred for
endurance but were bred to be working cow horses (ranch horses) However,
there are other lines that are also valuable. If I remember correctly Polish
Arabians were developed from 6 different strains of desert bred horses. The
Crabbet horses were primarily bred out of the Ibrahim line (Ibrahim, Skowronek,
Nassem, and Negatiw). Negatiw produced some incredible horses (Nabor, Salon,
Bandos, Diem, Etiw to name a few).
However there are other lines that are not always associated with the
Crabbet horses. I think an example would be Karadjordje (out of Gerwazy
& Karramba). Gerwazy was out of Doktryner & Gwara (who was out
of Wielki Szlem who was out of Ofir and Elegantka).
Karramba was out of Witraz who was out of Ofir who was out of Kuhailan
Haifi d.b. (one of the major strains of Polish Arabians. The dam line of
Karramba (Karmen II) represents yet another strain of Arabians. Karmen II sire
was Kohelian I out of Koheilan IV.
The Taylor farm in Utah represents some of these lines of Arabians.
They are the current home to Aladdin. Aladdin, at 25 is currently the oldest
living sire and arguably the most prolific sire of Arabian Champions in the
world. In the endurance world a horse by the name of Remington Steele++
(out of Karadjordje) is the only Top Ten Arabian Halter Stallion in the
history of the breed to win a "Tevis" 100-Miles one day event, and he is still
competing.
This is just one line of Arabian breeding. There are others. But one thing
I have noticed that the look of the horse bred today is different than those
that were bred in the 1950s and earlier. the earlier horses were stockier. They
were being bred for work as well as show. This change with the collapse of the
Arabian market in the 1980s. It is starting to swing the other way again with
the advent of Arabian reining. There appears to be more emphasis on performance
rather than type and much greater interest in some of the older (and now
considered rare) lines.
The Shagya horses were Hungary's answer to a more performance oriented
horse with greater stature.
