Just for fun – Stallion comparisons
While Edouard is preparing to return home, I thought it would be fun to post a few images. Being a visual person, I so often see common features among unrelated bloodlines that I thought it would be fun to post these two sets of comparisons.
The first is the Davenport bred chestnut stallion Plantagenet, born 1976 in the U.S., a popular sire in the 1980s and below him is the straight Egyptian stallion Nasr, born 1918 in Egypt, sire of Sirecho and grandsire of Rabanna. I love this light airy trot exhibited by both which when seen almost leaves no sound as the horse’s feet touch ground. The Pritzlaff stallion Oracle RSI also moved like this.
The second set of images is the EAO grey stallion Akhtal, born 1967 and an important sire in Egyptian bloodlines, and below him is a Muniqi Hadruj stallion who was the senior stallion of the Tai Bedouin tribe when I visited the tribe in 1996. I found some interesting comparisons here in overall proportions and I believe they probably had similar body language as the Tai stallion had a noble upright kind of bearing. You comments are invited.
Great information !! Love seeing the great structure and oh my they are beautiful too !!! ..Love Love Love it !!
Joe the Syrian Muniqi stallion really looks like a horse to be proud of! I hope that he and his owners are doing ok vis a vis the unrest going on there now.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek
Plantagenet and Nasr are almost identical in the body balance and the beautiful desert look.
It is sad about the Akhtal line not being used more and was the same case in the U.S. As for the beauty of the Arabian head, anyone who knew Plantagenet in person (the chestnut at the top) will remember what a beautifully handsome horse he was. Because of his large eyes, his shapely, lively ears, his expanding nostrils and balanced head proportions, the impression was just the right amount of classic look without need of deep dish now sought after. Also because of his nobility, his body language was full of Arabian type. In fact he was neither too small or too big. His size fit him perfectly in harmony, just the way Homer Davenport described some of the horses he saw among the tribes.
The deeply dished profiles of the heads of Sherifa and *Abeyah attracted so much attention in the desert precisely because they were so rare. I don’t know where the idea came from that this sort of head is “typical” of the Arabian horse. Even the American standard for Arabian horses says that the profile is “straight or preferably slightly concave.”
If Plantagenet wasn’t perfect, he came pretty darn close!
This is so interesting and educational, it would be wonderful to do some of our living stallions in the same manner… Thanks!!
agree RJ, if i had an arab stallion with a straight profile i’d advertise it as a rare and desirable thing! shame to lose that aspect.
il faudra bien un jour revenir aux aspects fondamentaux du cheval arabe sous peine de destruction de la race pour des raisons mercantiles en mettant uniquement en avant des aspects soit-disant esthétiques pour plaire au plus grand nombre qui souhaite souvent un caniche et ou un hippocampe.
D’autres mettent en avant des souches très spécialisées dans le sport (courses,endurance et autres…)où la pureté du sujet est le moindre de leurs soucis et qui ne sont pas du tout homogènes dans la qualité de leur production.
Il y a de ce fait création d’autres races issues de chevaux arabes asils et non asils.
tout a fait; on rentre dans la phase des post-arabes ou des neo-arabes.. autant de sous races eloignees de l’original
et je ne parle pas de l’évolution du mental des arabes dits modernes.
If one studies the bigger picture of Arabians and their history one will still be able to find the original types, though it seems increasingly they are not found in the popular or mainstream places. To a person who has never seen an Arabian, upon seeing a horse like Plantagenet, a clean impression would be made that I am sure would be unforgettable. The photo above is nice but the memory of him is indelible. He fit beautifully so many of Homer Davenport’s descriptions and sketches in 1906.
Plantagents picture shows a horse moving better- more light and with better elevation because all four feet are off the ground even though he’s being trotted out with a halter on and a handler directing him. Whereas Nasr is moving in liberty and so should theoretically be able to move,’ better,’because he is unencumbered so to speak. plantagent shows all the ,’type,’ you could want nice large eyes set low in his facial profile, very high set neck, good coupling and tail carriage.
As for the Syrian stallion he seems more substantial than the Eygyptian stallion, larger bone, better hocks, and a shorter back. Also his thigh shows a band of muscle extending down into, and below his gaskin indicating a very strong hindend, or possibly very knowledgeable training and or handling by brilliant, kind and considerate horsemen who know how to tend the needs of their horses in a sympathetic fashion.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek