A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Volume 1 of the Bahrani stud book published in 1980 describes the breeding practice of the Al Khalifa family at the time. “No outside stallion is directly used for stud purposes. New blood is introduced indirectly by the high-caste mares received or exchanged with other Sheikhs from the interior of Arabia. When these mares are … Read more
The pedigree pages at skowronek.io pertaining to Skowronek’s non Arabian ancestors are updated and a new article discussing the local mares at the heart of his pedigree was published yesterday. Some of the horses referenced we have discussed previously on this site, so I will list them here for those that are interested: The local … Read more
After a long delay I am happy to announce that www.skowronek.io is now public. 95% of the key documents prior to 1921 along with full translations are available for all to view. More analysis of the documents will follow this year roughly following this post. Once this is complete I will move forward to the … Read more
It’s easy to get lost following any 200 year history and the Skowronek saga is no different. The storyline breaks into two periods of time: the history before his 1921 registration in Weatherby’s GSB and then the commentary post 1921. Each part will be examined sequentially. Each post will include links to English translations of … Read more
There are many ways to judge a horse. Some of the more common considerations include conformation, size, temperament, athletic ability and genetic “potency.” These are normal criteria for evaluating all breeds of horses. However, within the Arabian breed, another criterion takes precedence over all others: pure blood. A pure or asil Arabian horse is defined … Read more
Skowronek’s widespread presence in the pedigrees of horses registered as Arabians is arguably the raison d’etre for a number of different preservation initiatives including Al Khamsa, the Asil Club, the Pyramid Society and probably even this blog. Since I was a boy, I had heard about Skowronek and thought his non-Arabian ancestry was common knowledge … Read more