[QUOTE=J-Lu;3770619]
The point of this thread is to discuss dressage and dressage breeding. Several people have mentioned arabians that produce offspring successful in dressage. To those complaining that this thread has a warmblood bias, why not start discussing those non-warmblood lines that produce good sport horses?[/QUOTE]
Part 1:
While I am not one of those who complained about WB bias (I still like WB’s and admire many things about the various WB registries and that system for producing sport horses), I am happy to discuss my little pieces of understanding of certain Arabian lines that I think are among the Arabian bloodlines that are capable of producing some good sport horses. I know that there are other lineages beside the ones I am using that have and can produce the traits desired in a sport horse, but my own knowledge (such as it is) is focused on the lines with which I have the most direct experience.
While chance played a role in my initial encounter with some individual Arabians that were of good sport horse type and then later with finding my young stallion as a foal, research into the bloodlines entered the process very early when I was leasing this little Arab mare that I started under saddle. She was 15 years old and had never been started, but she took to the training and to the interactions with me both on the ground and under saddle with ease and obvious pleasure. I had just sold my young incredibly talented KWPN gelding due to his difficult temperament (he was aggressive on the ground and aggressive with other horses; I could manage him, but working with him was not a joy) and had leased this mare as a way to have a horse to ride until I found my next “real” horse. This Arab mare was quick to learn and had excellent balance and natural athleticism. She was not for sale, so I started researching her lines and discovered that she came from a bloodline nick known as Double R (Rissalix plus the Skowronek sons Raffles and/or Raseyn) Double R horses were known for compact balanced bodies, good movement, great temperaments, and excellent work ethics. AM Quebec, the ATA approved Arabian stallion, is a classic example of Double R breeding. As I looked more deeply, I found that other lines within the Crabbet/CMK (Crabbet-Mayenesboro-Kellogg) group that often produced individuals that appealed to my eye and that had proven themselves in performance/sport. Before I bought my first Arabian, I’d already figured out what lines I seemed to like best and which of those lines seemed to nick well together. Breeding was not yet in my plans, I was just trying to understand what I wanted in an Arabian that was to be my next dressage horse. I started considering the idea of breeding when I discovered that many of the bloodlines that I liked were dying out. I found so many lovely horses that had not bred on and good breeding programs that were not continued --and that made me sad.
I eventually found a young mare that I liked and bought her. Here owner was dying of cancer, but was able to share photos and stories of 5 generations of this mare’s relatives on both sides of her pedigree. I could clearly see which ancestors had influenced her most and how many generations certain traits–both desirable and less desirable-- could be traced. This mare was the one of only a few representatives of her bloodlines that had not been outcrossed to “fad” bloodlines so I did think that I would like to breed her at some point.
Then I was given an extraordinary mare that I hoped to breed. Unfortunately, this fine mare turned out to be infertile (I exhausted all options with my repro vet to try for a foal including ET), but she really got me thinking that I wanted to do something to help preserve these bloodlines. Then I was sent a link to a filly out of a friend’s mare and on the same page was a colt that blew me away. I thought he might be the best dressage type Arabian I’d ever seen. Over the next 6 months, I kept visiting his page and was surprised to see that he was still for sale. I kept thinking it would be a shame if he didn’t get the opportunity to sire some sport type Arabians. So, having had no intention of ever owning a stallion, I started talking to his breeder. When he was 8 months old, I bought him. 
And I watched him grow up…
(2 foal photos, yearling, two year old, three year old)
