CHAPTER VI

THE VIEWS OF INDIVIDUAL RUSSIAN HORSE-BREEDERS
ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARABIAN HORSE
FOR THE BREEDING OF HALF-BREEDS

pp 130-134

Prince R. V. Sangoushko

"To the questions set out in letter No.4272 of the Main Administration for Horse-breeding, I have the honour to reply as follows:

(1) In my Khristobetzk stud we have been breeding the Arabian horse exclusively for a long time, without any infusion of alien blood (excepting local mares).

For more than several centuries, all the stallions and some of the mares have been brought directly from Arabia; our horses are two-thirds to four-fifths pure Arabians. This can be seen from the stud books, which have been kept since 1824, and from written documents which go back even further. Some horses have nothing but Arabian blood, either because they were born here of imported parents, or of parents who were themselves born of imported animals.

(2) Our first horses were purchased in 1798 by the stable-manager, Pursky, whom my great-grandfather, the Voyevoda of Volynia, Prince Leronim Sangushko, sent to Arabia especially to this end.

(3) At present I have no more pure-blood Arabians (i.e. born of imported parents); the last of these was the stallion "Attyk", which was sold in 1899 (his pedigree is appended).

(4) I also append a detailed list of all paired stallions and mares in my stud at present.

As owner of a stud which I have managed for almost 40 years now, I comment on Prince A. G. Sherbatov's memorandum, 'The Arabian horse and its importance', with the same pleasure I had in reading it. I am in no position to deal with the distinguished author's information about Arabia, with the very special conditions of life of the nomad Bedouins, which have a definite influence on the development, preservation and consolidation of the Arabian horse's admirable qualities. Neither can I judge of the blood-lines, types, branches and sub-divisions of the Arabian horse as listed by Prince Sherbatov. I myself have never been in Arabia; I have not seen many Bedouins and am little acquainted with their character and way of life. This is why I read that part of Prince Sherbatov's memorandum with unflagging attention. But I was particularly interested to read his description of the characteristics of the various blood-lines, the names of some of which have been familiar to me since childhood, and are almost those of old friends.

Whether, as Prince Sherbatov assumes, the nomad Bedouins will disappear in a more or less distant future or not under the impact of European culture, is hard for me to judge; but one thing is certain: the Arabian horse deserves to survive. Whether it will be possible to preserve the Arabian horse of the desert, i. e. those with the characteristics typical of the desert horses, once their original source, i.e. the desert Bedouins, ceases to exist, must remain a matter of conjecture. Indeed, however strong the impact of European culture, this may happen only in the remote future; the Bedouins are likely to hold on for a long time to their so jealously-guarded source of desert horses in all its pristine purity. And so long as it is possible to import horses from Arabia, it will be possible even under the conditions that obtain in Russia today to preserve there the Arabian desert horse, with its characteristic qualities. The best proof of this is our ancient Sangushko stud.

In my stud I can point to fifth-generation animals, i.e. horses whose sires five generations back (and in the case of some dams, even longer), were imported Arabians, but whose more immediate progenitors were all born in our stud and which have some amount of local non-Arabian blood or blood the Arabian origin of which cannot be proven (from one-fifth to one-third). And yet these animals have not only retained the characteristics of the desert horse, but they pass these on to their progeny, sometimes even better than do horses imported directly from Arabia. This is easily explained. Among the horses sold by Arab dealers in Europe and in India (for the British cavalry) there are quite a few animals of common blood. Moreover, following the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the Turkish Government prohibited for some time the export to Russia of blood stallions (this ban has now been rescinded). We in Russia were thus unable to renew our brood-stock with top-class Arabian specimens and were obliged to content ourselves with horses that were inferior to those born in our own studs and that were, in effect, the latter's 'pride and glory'.

Indeed, our Sangushko stud, together with the horses bred there during the past century or so, prove that: (i) so long as it is possible to acquire brood-stock from the desert Bedouins, we will, even given present conditions in Europe, be able to breed perfectly good horses which, in fact, will in no way yield to the horses of the desert and will retain the latter's typical characteristics; (ii) even if this source dries up (with the disappearance of the desert Bedouins), it will be possible in Europe to preserve this animal, with all the above-mentioned characteristics, on condition that we consistently breed only horses of pure Arabian blood. Given European climatical conditions, the animal may lose some of its characteristic leanness and may increase in size, but the beauty and grandeur of its line, its gentle disposition, its speed and endurance will survive, even if to a somewhat lesser degree than in its desert blood-brothers, but certainly more so than in the English thoroughbred. Besides, Prince Sherbatov is quite right in stating that the Arabian horse costs much less to breed than the thorough-bred, which he justly calls a 'luxury horse'. Therefore, for all the present craze about the English horse, preference should go to the Arabian. I fully agree with Prince Sherbatov that had one, when creating the English racer, respected strictly the rules of pure blood (both on the sires' side and on that of the dams), this animal being in fact an Arabian, though born on English soil and reared according to the English system (i. e. more intensive feeding, more exercise, training and racing), better results would have been achieved; indeed, one would have obtained a pure-blood race-horse of more powerful build (as a result of the feed and humid climate), no less speedy, but of nobler appearance and with none of the defects imparted to it through the infusion of cold, alien blood. But more especially, the horse would have had more stamina -to face up to the changing and treacherous climatic conditions and temperature and especially the hardships of military service.

As regards Prince Sherbatov's practical suggestions, I will say that the introduction in Russia of a Stud Book for the Arabian horse would ensure a brilliant future for our various Arabian studs. But, frankly speaking, I cannot understand why Prince Sherbatov recommends that the State stud in Streletzk should breed two different types of Arabian horse -one of them small in size, but with better-rounded, more elegant lines, and the other larger, longer, but coarser. I have never travelled through the Arabian desert and I know, therefore, of only one type of Arabian horse (with the minor distinctive characteristics of the individual bloodlines). It is this type which should prevail in our State studs. It is the one best suited to improving our countless steppe breeds and it is quite adequate to preserve, in our State and private studs, the inborn qualities of the Arabian horse and this to a no lesser extent than those extant in the original desert horse. This is true so long as we are able to renew periodically the blood through the import of brood-stock from Arabia. True, pure-blood mares are becoming increasingly scarce. Neither can I agree with Prince Sherbatov's recommendation that the Stud Book should be in three parts: Part I, with only pure-blood Arabians in the strictest sense of the word, i.e. born in Arabia or born of parents exported from Arabia. Indeed, as in Babolna (where this exists already and has for a long time), there would be a few of these. Part II would include (if I understand the author correctly) those animals that have even the slightest drop of non-Arabian blood. This would apply to all my horses, since I have at present none born from original desert sires and dams, even though I can prove that they are 66-88% pure-blood Arabians. I speak about my own stud, which I know best, but the same could be said about all other Arabian studs in Europe. What would be the difference between Parts I and II? Often (as I have already indicated) the horses in Part 11, if they descend from top-quality Arabian progenitors, are better animals, are themselves better brood-stock and have a more clearly defined Arabian type than those in Part I. I know this, again, from personal experience, since I have bred both. Part III, comprising Arabian half-breeds descended from pure-blood or thoroughbred Arabian sires (Parts I and II) and common-blood dams, would include, almost without exception, all my work-horses. Indeed, my local work-mares have never been covered by any other animal than our Arabian stallions even if these, admittedly, were chosen from among the coarser and more powerfully-built specimens. This policy has produced a very fine work-horse, with at least 50% Arabian blood, and more in successive generations. I sell them as sires for work- mares, or as light carriage-horses, or, lastly, as saddle-horses for the cavalry and even as polo-ponies. This Part III, therefore, as Prince Sherbatov visualises it, would be far too comprehensive. As I see it, to prove that a horse is a half-breed Arabian, it would suffice to issue a certificate showing that its sire is a pure-blood or thoroughbred Arabian and, as such, figures in the Arabian Stud Book, the dam being of native or unknown origin.

In my opinion, the above-mentioned Stud Book should consist of only one part and should include all genuine Arabian horses (whether pure-blood or thoroughbred), i.e. all animals descended exclusively from imported desert brood-stock without a drop of alien blood, but also the horses of the more reputed Russian studs having a minimum of 66% Arabian blood, this being duly proven.

Subsequently, one should record in this book and recognise as Arabian, only those animals born of a sire and dam which themselves figure in the Russian Stud Book of the Arabian horse, or of imported Arabian stock, paired between themselves or with animals figuring in the Stud Book. This system would be less complicated and would involve fewer difficulties in practice."