THIS. People often advertise green arabs as endurance horses because they have washed out of everything else and are nuts.
There are very few specific endurance bred arabs, and a lot of the endurance people get their horses from the arabian race horse people. Lapco is quite popular.
I agree! Besides Crabbet bred, which it seems like are universally loved and pretty well known, it would be helpful to know what some of the other bloodlines are. It seems to me that it’s gotten harder and harder to find those breeders.
I think the OP would be well served to come to Sport Horse Nationals and see who brings what. And see if they can find a horse that matches what they like and then go looking for those bloodlines/breeders.
Side note: a noted main ring breeder/trainer imported a Crabbet bred stallion from Australia to cross with their popular main ring mares. The circle completes itself! And he is a lovely horse:
He would make a heck of a sport horse cross too in my humble non breeder opinion.
That approach would automatically exclude any of us who are not involved in the AHA show world. We exist, but rely on developing a reputation within our local/regional all-breed sport discipline networks rather than using the AHA show system which is not always well suited to everyone’s interest or goals even when we respect and love the Arabian breed. 
Here’s one longtime Arabian and Anglo-Arabian breeder who has had generations of successful horses in the open world, but is virtually unknown by the AHA world: Ann McKay When someone asked me if one of my homebreds was a “McKay horse” that was one of the biggest compliments I have received.
I know of a small scale breeder in OK who also has been mostly focused on eventing, who is known and respected in their area. She used certain Egyptian lines (not my forte, so I can’t offer details) to produce some good event horses.
In terms of dressage, I look more at the levels and scores (whether at USDF shows or AHA shows) than at SHN standings. Scores and levels tell me more about a horse’s capabilities than how it placed at breed shows.
When I started researching Arabians and Arabian-bred horses around the world who had success in sport disciplines at higher levels and in sport horse breeding, just looking at breed show results would have ignored TONS of information that helped reveal some repeated patterns of lineages over decades.
I’m waiting to see video of Rhythmic AHSA. Other than some foal videos from his breeder’s farm page on Facebook, there is no video to view yet. I’ve got enough planned breedings at the moment, that I’m waiting to see a bit more from him, but he is on my radar. He looks very promising as a new infusion of Crabbet lineages with the versatile athleticism that is typically associated.
Not trying to be snarky, but we get scores at breed shows too? Judged allegedly with the same standards are open shows and by open judges, so… Sport horse nationals is not just rail classes.
I have shown in the rail classes in sport horse but have put that aside to show dressage this year. It is so important to me to be open show ready that I deliberately work with a dressage instructor who generally does warmbloods rather than a trainer that focuses strictly on Arabs (plus there is only 1 around here anyhow).
And I don’t doubt that there are some sport type breeders out there who are doing wonderful things, but if you don’t do just a little breed promotion, including within the breed, how are people supposed to find you? Maybe the sport horse alliance? Well, it’s an ongoing problem.
I acknowledged scores at breed shows:
In terms of dressage, I look more at the levels and scores (whether at USDF shows or AHA shows)
That was INCLUSIVE of horses competing at the breed shows, not dismissing them at all!
I have even attended SHN to check it out. There were some great folks and nice horses, but the open world remains a better fit for me. I have plenty of friends who love the AHA circuit and are successful at SHN.
My point was that JUST singling out SHN as the source to look for good Arabian prospects ignores that there are other valid sources, too.
Those of us out in the open world DO engage in breed promotion, it’s just mostly visible to those in our geographic area because that is where our horses are seen and where our promotional support is engaged. Some of us also promote through the Arabian Sport Horse Alliance. I’m active in AHA too, just not on their show circuit.
I had a halter barn reject who I successfully competed in lower level dressage before his untimely death. I was of the mind set of “leave no stone unturned” so I looked at any Arabian that had 3 good gaits and a willing temperament. That said there are bloodlines that I won’t look at…just a personal preference regarding the amount of snort and blow I want to deal with. My current Arabian is FEI and is mostly CMK and Polish.
Most of the people who show at SHN show in the open world and qualify with open show points. I don’t know any that don’t actually.
Main ring arab shows are often totally separate from sport horse arab breed shows as well
I think it’s a great idea to go to a sport horse show, because that world is becoming much more competitive. You used to get a lot of main ring trainers who felt their drop outs would win but that isn’t truck anymore as the competitive horses are also competitive in the open world.
My comment was NOT about dismissing SHN or the people who show in the sport disciplines at AHA shows (whether or not they also show in the open world too).
I am encouraging people to not overlook that there are breeders and riders of Arabians who ONLY participate in the all-breed competitions, and that those Arabian sport horses are worth considering too. That’s all.
I just wanted to reiterate the caution about “endurance prospect” advertising in Arabs. I’ve found that it is very, very often code for “not typey and very hot”. There are some TRUE endurance breeders (I have several friends who fit that description), but there’s not a lot of consistency as to what type/bloodline those programs focus on, so the horses themselves vary quite a bit in size, structure, and way of going.
I’ve put up this picture of my friend’s desert-bred Arabian stallion before. To me, he’s the ideal Arabian. Very sporty! He jumped and was a successful endurance competitor then sold/ retired to stud at a breeding farm in Saudi Arabia. They call that line of Arabians: Desert Bred Arabians. Here’s his pic again
i was talked-into adopting a retired broodmare. She’s 15h and lovely long-legged gray. Her leg movement originates from her shoulder and hip without much hock or knee. Looks good at her trot, looks not-so great at a canter. I guess it is an age thing…she’s 20 now, i’ve had her five years though and she was like that at 15 too.
Totally THIS.
The type of Arabian that the Bedouins rode in the desert has absolutely no resemblance to today’s Arabian halter winners.
The chestnut DB above has SUBSTANCE. He has short cannon bones. His knees are broad and flat in the front, his hocks His croup is not horizontal. He looks like he has a decent amount of heart girth and depth to the flank. The hocks are a tiny bit small, but crossed to a proper mare it probably would not matter for the foal produced.
Yeah, I’d buy him in a heartbeat if I was able.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
If I still had a Davenport mare I would have no hesitation breeding to him based on this picture. He would blend well, much better than a modern Arabian halter champion.
he’s actually being ridden by Bedouins now … He’s used as a school horse as well as a breeding stud. When they come to that area, they set up camp on this ranch…tents, rugs and camels etc and the children get to take riding lessons! I agree about his hocks…but all horses look like they have small leg bones now that my eyes are accustomed to mustangs.
In one of the books about Lady Anne Blunt when she had the Sheik (sp?) Obeyd stud in Egypt included her perceptions of the Egyptian Arabians there. This lady knew her stuff, she and her husband were the ones who bought the DB Arabians who are the foundation of just about every European and American country’s Arabians, horses like the mares Rodania and Dajania, and the great producing stallions Azrek and Hadban. Hadban just produced two mares at Crabbet, *Rose of Sharon (out of Rodania) and Dajania’s daughter by him (sorry I can’t remember her name this minute) who bred on to be the most prolific mare lines internationally of the modern Arabian breed.
One comment stood out to me. She said that the Egyptian bred Arabians (from the Abbas Pasha on) tended to have SMALL HOCKS, and that they often had a curb on their hocks.
Of course these Egyptian horses were crossed on the DB Blunt Arabians, and Crabbet stud worked at breeding an Arabian that was the best of both worlds, combining Egyptian beauty with the substance and endurance of the Blunt DB horses. Later on, early last century I think, the Egyptian government HAD TO bring in Crabbet horses of the Blunt-old Egyptian crosses in order to save their breeding program and the Blunt-old Egyptian blood now permeates the “pure Egyptian” Arabians.
I love the old Desert Bred lines, good horses with substance, endurance, trainability and BRAINS. These horses were not “perfectly” conformed, but they managed long treks across the desert with limited water and food, and survived to breed on.
I strongly dislike the modern Arabian halter ideal, weedy horses, shallow heart girths, too long necks and fragile looking legs topped by a head that looked like it is only suitable for a horse who is not going to be ridden over two miles at a moderate gait, any faster or longer the modern halter head looks like it would guarantee the horse collapsing with an enormous oxygen debt.
Yes, I am really opinionated about Arabian horses!
I’m on the board of the Eastern Crabbet Arabian Horse Society. ECAHS does “Crabbet/Blunt” percentage certifications. Lots of folks with Straight Egyptians are surprised to learn that their horses have significant Crabbet/Blunt ancestry.
The really odd thing is that, at least until relatively recently, there were lines from the Crabbet stud that were really, honestly and truly pure Egyptians. They were called the Doyle Egyptians, quite rare and often used to outcross other Arab lines and other breeds (like the endurance mare Bint Gulida.) These horses had NO Blunt blood in them, pure Egyptian breeding through and through.
The Blunts picked GOOD HORSES from their trips to the Middle East (they did not find any Arabians that they thought were good enough when they did their trip to the Nejd desert in Arabia.)
When they started breeding their desert bred imports they quickly dropped certain horses, including Hagar, the mare that carried Lady Anne Blunt through the Euphrates trip (Rodania and Dajania were from that trip too if I remember correctly.) Another English lady based her stud on these rejected horses, they were nowhere as “pretty” but they were TOUGH horses. I think they still have descendants in Great Britain.
Nowadays, except for the Davenports, the Blue Star group, horses in Arabia and other countries in the Middle East that have not been crossed with modern Egyptian Arabs, and the Doyle Egyptian group, there are no Arabian horse breeding groups that I have found that do not have the Blunt DB. The Blunts picked horses for the ages and every country that breeds Arabians, the Blunt DB blood is there except for the really small breeding groups listed above. Go back FAR in the pedigrees and they are there, Rodania, Dajania, Queen of Sheba, Hadban and Azrek, often heavily line bred for several generations.
The hardiness of those Blunt horses is still present in many of their descendants --even those that also include other lineages. I have lots of Blunt lines in my herd still, plus some Davenport, Hamidie, Hearst, and Kellogg too. I’m glad that there have continued to be some breeders with a long view and a dedication to the hardiness of those foundation horses.
Got bone? Why yes!!! This is my personal riding horse. Well, he will be soon; I’m in the process of starting him under saddle now.
i know NOTHING about my gray mare, except that she is a retired broodmare. Her body is…odd (to me, a non-arab person). I call her basic physique: dry. Her legs are dry, her muscles sinewy. Her chest is wide and flat (ie front legs positioned well forward of her wither). Her forehead is domed and nose dished. Her feet are large, round and quite hard. I don’t trust her so i don’t ride her. She came here to retire to pasture, and that she does well quite well 
From my description can you tell anything about her type?..i’ve always thought her to be a generic show-type American Arabian? Here’s another pic of her: (she lives sort of around the house with two other horses i need to keep a close eye on…a Percheron w/bilateral stringhalt and a Morgan mare with Cushings. Why she’s close to the house is because she’s a hard keeper and there is that whole melonoma thing …she has a few small spots
I am probably wrong but she might be Gainey bred–Azraff crossed with Ferzon mares (Crabbet breeding plus Polish through *Raffles and *Raseyn, Crabbet-bred sons of the Polish stallion Skowronek).
Or she might be Polish/Polish cross, or have both groups in her ancestry.
It can be hard to say because most Arabians share some of the same ancestors if you go far back enough in the pedigree.
She has wonderful withers! I do suspect that if she is not reliable under saddle that her trainers did not use a saddle that was comfortable for her withers and/or did not do enough proper exercising to muscle up her loin.
If you ever decide to start riding her I would do a lot of slow steady work on hills.
In spite of my handicaps I have gotten good result with two “spirited” Arabians who were essentially “dumped” at my lesson stable. They were not trained properly to develop the muscles necessary to carry weight easily. They had super sensitive mouths (compared to most horses) and they responded well to my Forward Seat riding and schooling. They turned out to be dependable horses for me and they took care of me when I was on their backs even when I was suffering an MS exacerbation complete with HORRIBLE balance, incoordination, bad proprioceptive sense and inability to properly coordinate my aids. Both of these horses would invert when I first rode them, both of these horses would bolt if their rider irritated them enough (as in use as a lesson horse) but they responded with relief to my sane, gentle training and riding, totally stopped inverting when I rode them and they never bolted with me.
With my MS I have found that it really helps if I explain to the Arabians, before I mount, all my physical problems, along with a solemn vow that I will do everything possible to not hurt their mouths, including falling off. They were my lesson horses for several years, then one, a Russian bred gelding, went back to his breeder who finally found him again after looking for a while. The mare, probably mostly Crabbet breeding, is now retired at we think age 38 or so, very arthritic but really happy that she finally has a boyfriend she can hang out with!
But if you don’t want to ride her it is fine. You have an absolutely gorgeous mare to feast your eyes on, and with patience the personal relationship one can have with an Arabian mare is simply marvelous even if you never get up on her back (warning, Arabian mares can be sort of opinionated but they will work with you once they understand).
There are plenty of Arabs with substance left out there - you just have to know where to look! My girl may be only 13.2 (she’s Al Marah bred), but she is absolutely not dainty or light-boned! I calculated her pedigree at roughly 35% Skowronek/28% *Raffles this winter, and it absolutely shows. I think she’s an excellent blend of substance and athleticism without the loss of type that can come with certain lines.
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