PUTTING A "STRAIN" ON AN OLD SUBJECT  ~ Joe Ferriss

Looking back, the first time I remember hearing the word "strain" in relation to animals was when I was a young boy and I heard my grandfather and my uncle talking about grandpa's dog breeding program (many years ago my grandfather was a prominent breeder of IrishTerriers, Cheviotsheep and Percheron draft horses). But I was a city boy and didn't know "jack" about these details yet I thought when I heard them mentioning "strain" that they were talking about some sort of family by the way they were using that word. I didn't ponder it long and many years later after my grandfather's passing I became involved in Arabian horses and that word surfaced again.

Perhaps the first time I read about strains in an Arabian horse context was in 1972 when my wife, Sharon, presented to me as a gift the second edition of the Raswan Index by Carl Raswan which, as many readers know, was profuse with writings about Arabian horse strains. Carl Raswan not only provided detailed descriptions about what the various strains of Arabians "look like" but provided a sort of formula for distilling the many physical variations into 3 main general categories by strain name complete with color coded charts: Kuhaylan (blue), Saqlawi (red), and Muniqi (black). For a visual learner like me this was wonderful to have some sort of pictorial formula to try and understand the variations.

Looking up the word "strain" in the RASWAN INDEX, one is directed by Raswan to see entry #8571 for ROSETTI which fortifies his position of strains as types presented here in part:

"ROSETTI (1831) gave us a great number of strains and substrains (seventy all together), though neither he nor Colquhoun English Consul General in Basra and Baghdad, 1810 (who was the first European to supply a small but intelligent and almost accurate list of strains) knew anything about strain characteristics. ROSETTI, who lived forty years in Syria, Northern Arabia and Egypt and visited several tribes (speaking their language and a great lover and fancier of Arabian horses), must have sensed the existence of distinctive types among the strains, for he said in his work published by the Academy of Science in Vienna one hundred and thirty years ago: "The strains belong to one breed of genus (the ARABIAN) but they differ in peculiarities of the shape, which they transmit, but even outstanding differences in one mare do not make her the fountainhead of a new breed, though her foals may be named after her as a substrain. Usually after three or four generations these substrains disappear and only the strain from which they originally descended retains its name and carries it on."

This observation is accurate. The SAQLAWI for example are an established type. The SAQLAWI-JIDRAN existed for centuries too, but many substrains - the 'ASHBAH and others - have disappeared. Among the MU'NIQI the SHADDADI have gone and there are dozens more (all to be found in this INDEX).

LADY ANNE BLUNT enlarged on ROSETTI's strain list in her book, "Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates", and I devoted a life time to collect several hundred additional strains and sub-strains, and record their origin, their breeders and their history In this INDEX. Studying the books of Near Eastern travelers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, one finds here and 'there important "bits" of information which confirm not only the existence of distinctive types of Arabian horses, but that these distinctive types have been named equally as distinctive strains to distinguish them from others according to their differences in conformation, Arabian type and other differences at once noticeable in their bodies and heads."

Over many decades the information on strains keeps coming forward by numerous sources many of them have been European or Western travellers of the past, sometimes contradicting, each other as to the concept of strains having each a distinctive type. One example comes from a recently published book from Olms Presse, providing the 1834 translation of K.W. Amnion's Historical Reports on Arab Horse Breeding. Ammon first quotes Mr Von Rosetti: "The horses of various breeds (strains) have no characteristic features by %, which they differ from each other. One does, however, meet experts among the Bedouins who claim that they can identify the breed (strain) of a horse at first sight. Alas they are but charlatans who deceive the gullible person seeking their advice. Only individuals of the Saklawy strain can be recognized by their long necks and beautiful eyes."  Then Ammon, himself states: "Although Mr. Von Rosetti is otherwise most reliable, he has in this case certainly gone too far. It is perfectly plausible that all noble strains of horses, seen as a whole, have something in common (characteristics) or, in other words, that they represent a type, because they all belong to one breed; however, despite the fact that they must upon closer investigation (that is, in an exact examination and comparison of their conformation) differ -at least for the expert- by quite distinctive features. If this were not the case, the division into strains, and the distinction of the same by special names, would be totally superfluous."'

Now in this age of internet communication, increased travel, and new learning from various Middle Eastern sources we begin to hear from native Arab writers that strains are NOT synonymous with types. So what is right? One must remember that the culture and its people are ultimately the ones who define what is from them yet within individual families or strains of strong influence one type may be heartily fixed by repeated use of that strain.

So are Western formulas and theories to be thrown out the window?   I don't believe so. But I think what many Arabian breeders have been interested in for so many decades is a way of understanding the physiological range of type within the breed. So bearing in mind the possibility that "strains" and "types" may or may NOT have a relationship to each other, I have created two simple visual charts on the next two page spread which express the visual range of type. In Chart I are pictures of horses associated with seven familiar strains (Hamdani, Kuhaylan, Dahman, Hadban, Saklaui, Abayyan, and Muniqi) as have been described by Raswan and other non-Arab writers. These pictures are arranged on a scale from the most rounded and substantial lines to the longest and leanest lines. In Chart 2, we have the opportunity to look at these same horses from a purely Scientific point of view by giving them alphabetical type names from Type A through Type G. Chart 1 will likely be embraced by those who believe that strains ARE also types and Chart 2 will find an audience in those who are more interested in the physiological range of the desert Arabian and believe the genetic, rariety to be potentially available in all of the strains. In either case what neither chart tells us is the potential courage, speed, mobility, agility, endurance, intelligence, or other qualities not photographable which are also associated traditionally with certain strains. I find it exciting that we are only just beginning to learn more from the Arab culture about Arabian horses in a deeper way and look forward to seeing more material in print. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the charts which are intended to take some of the "strain" off of a very old subject.

1 Raswan, Carl. The Raswan Index, [1961] (1990), William Bird Press, Vol. IV, p.624
2 Ammon, K.W. Historical Reports on Arab Horse Breeding [1834] (1993), Olms Presse, p.139.
3 ibid., p. 139

European and Western travelers of the past have sought to offer a formula for organizing and describing the range of desert type
they observed.  In the writings of these travelers, these descriptions of type were often associated with certain families or strains
since so much emphasis was placed by Bedouin on strain or tail female line of a family.

Masculine
or Compact, Rounded lines

HAMDANI type

An exaggeration of the compact, rounded line, masculine end of the scale.   Very strong, very circular, rounded lines.

KUHAYLAN type

round, circular flowing lines, strength

DAHMAN type

flowing lines, strength, balanced with some refinement

HADBAN type

strength, but slightly longer lines, with great depth

SAQLAWI type

longer lines, more refinement throughout

ABAYYAN type

very refined, long serpentine like qualities

MUNIQI type

an exaggeration of the longer, stretchier end of the scale.  Long, angular, relatively straight lines throughout

Feminine and/or stretchier, longer lines

Looking at it from a purely scientific view these are the normal parameters of desert type regardless of what strain name
is attached.  If a particular family has a consistent look it is likely to contain a large number of similar looking individuals
or one strong individual ancestor is exerting the major influence (probably through line breeding to that individual).