From the folks who gave us the Arabian:
The rider’s grave is always open.
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Sayied iben-el Rabil quotes the Prophet: ’ The expression in a horse’s eye is like a blessing on a good man’s house .’
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Not necessarily strictly Arabian, but I love this one:
Allah took a handful of southerly wind , blew His breath over it, and created the horse. Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any sword , O, Horse! ~ Bedouin Legend
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“OMG!!! What’s that over there?!?!?!”
~Arabian proverb re anything and everything
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Did you notice that the Arabian horse was Allah’s final creation in the animal kingdom, AFTER humans were created?
I consider Arabian mares the highest form of life on this Earth, much more perfect than us mere humans.
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I always wondered why, in a culture that adores mares and treats stallion as disposable, do they not treat women with more respect? There’s a huge disconnect between the old Bedouins and the modern Arabian culture. I’m not familiar with the history of Saudi Arabia, but something changed.
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Add the word “chestnut” to that statement and I agree 100%! 
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This thought definitely crossed my mind when on my young Arab after a very nice, quiet ride he turned into a whirling dervish and I jumped off. (I did get back on and school him, no grave for me today). Sigh…
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“The air of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s ears”.
-Arabian proverb
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What’s Bedouin for “Bingo!”?
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Hell yeah.
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Protecting the purity of the line or the honor of the family by protecting females. One woman’s paternalism is another’s repression. Saudi Arabian wahhabism is an exception within the Islamic world, though influential due to the wealth of the kingdom and the location of Mecca, but the majority of other Islamic nations have a totally different attitude towards women’s participation in society.
I had a variety of experiences during the war and I can understand your assessment. I also saw Bahrain when it was still very open and Westernized. It was crazy how just over the bridge from SA, things were so different, yet, the same players were there. The rich princes with their concubines from Eastern Europe in private Bahraini apartments….insanity.
Protecting one’s honor is all well and good until a woman is killed because she dared to love someone forbidden. I doubt they kill mares that are accidentally bred.
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Over the top of the door to the Visitor’s Center at the Kentucky Horse Park is a plaque that says “Thou shalt fly without wings, and conquer without sword”, as was quoted above, yet slightly differently.
IIRC, mares which were bred to non-Asil stallions were regarded afterwards as no longer pure. Planned matings had to be witnessed by 2 men of known character to verify the parentage.
And I was told the story of a Bedouin riding to a rival camp after a prized mare was taken in a raid to recite her “rasan” to the new owner.
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Alhamdulillah!
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Wow, I didn’t know that. Interesting.
The eeriest part is how this kind of mare mirrors your mood, your outlook, like you share just the one brain between you.
A Bedouin talking to Carl Raswan:
“To the degree that an Asil horse possesses thy heart, will she respond to thee. She will humble thine enemies and honor thy friends. Willingly will she carry thee upon her back, but she will consent to no humiliation. She is at once aware whether she carries a friend or an enemy of God. The mare that lives under divine orders, as a mute and obedient companion of man, has an insight into the mind of her master, whom she may even prefer to her own kind.”
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Note"she" as mares are prized above stallions. That is why Europeans, such as the Blunts, were able to import stallions from the Ottoman empire as the breed was building up again in Europe in the late 19th century.
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A Russian tutor told me that among Russians who drink (so maybe 90% of the country?), the final toast for the last round of drinks for the night is always “To horses!” (Za loshad).
Meaning, to the horses who will bring us home safely when we are too sloshed to steer.
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