A recent entry on this blog witnessed a discussion between two French breeders on the notion of “le sang” as applied to Arabian horses. I would like to come back to it, as I believe it to be fundamental to understanding the kind of Arabian horses this blog advocates. This notion is not well captured by the literal translation of the French term “sang” as “blood”. It is not about purity of blood, nor is it about bloodlines. A closer English approximation is perhaps “stamina”. Robert Mauvy offers the best definition, in my opinion (in French, followed by Mr Google’s version): “Le sang! Ce mot en matière hippique ne désigne nullement ce liquide de vie qui anime celle des êtres vivants; ce muscle liquide qui amène a l’organisme les éléments nutritifs et ramène les déchets de cet organisme, non! L’expression hippique “sang” résume, dans un tempérament nerveux, sanguin au paroxysme — le concentre d’énergie, de force, de solidité des tissus, de densité des os, de résistance a toute épreuve, de volonté et de courage. Le cheval arabe de sang pur est l’expression la plus haute du “sang”. C’est lui le “sang”! The “sang”! This word in equestrian matters does not…