Oh bummer. I wonder if Ghareeb is an Arab approved for ISH? (just guessing based off the name.)
Here’s a clear photo of the horse, I would not guess Arab blood based off it: https://www.katehoneyeventing.co.uk/mw-gangsters-game/
According to the HorseTelex pedigree, Ghareeb is listed as a TB (xx)
The Trakehner, Tsetserleg has several lines to the Shagya-Arabian, Lapis. That’s the only other horse in the 5* at K3DE that I found with any noteworthy Arab-bred ancestry besides Vermiculus. I haven’t had time to go through the 4* list.
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Coming back to say that I’d also look around at Cleveland Bays or Cleveland Bay crosses as well.
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How lovely to see him again!
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This Morgan is SOLD to a dressage home:sparkles:
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This is great advice BUT you really have to look at conformation and movement. A lot of Arabians and Half-Arabians aren’t put together to do the collection really required at the higher levels and while they’ll try their heart out for you, things like pirouette and real collection may never happen because of it. So by all means, go looking for a good one and you will enjoy it. I certainly do. But beware of all the ones out there that simply aren’t suited.
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I see a lot of Friesian X’s out there lately, seems to be a good X for disposition and dressage athleticism.
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I bought my Arabian as a green 3 year old. I fully expected needing a trainer to ride him, but he ended up been the most talented, smart and willing horse and I trained him myself with lessons, I earned my bronze and silver medals on him. I have ridden with several BNT and each one said he could go GP and that we could earn our gold medal. Pirouettes are very hard for him but he never says no and tries and tries. He is 16 now and schooling I1. I don’t have a burning desire to push him any further at this point. Medals were never my goal…the partnership that is so classic of the Arabian breed of loving their human is what fills my heart with joy,
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When I was looking for a horse for me the traits that I wanted were size of the horse, feeding/care requirements, skillset transferability between different activities, personality, and trainability.
All of which led me to having the Arabian I have today. He’s all-around low maintenance, highly athletic, 15 HH, and more. Absolutely wouldn’t change him for anything
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How is he for dressage, the topic of this thread? Some comments further up mention that the flat croup can make collection hard above 2nd level. Has that been your experience?
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He’s actually not flat and built more like a warmblood. He literally floats in his gaits.
Yes, most Arabs float. It’s lovely. It doesn’t mean they can collect.
My good friend at the barn has an Arab and I am watching her school him. His croup is not level, but she says he falls on his forehand and can be hard to stop. He is so graceful that it doesn’t look like falling on the forehand in a heavier breed but she is experienced enough that I believe her. He doesn’t really sit. So I’m curious about other dressage Arabs.
I’ve never seen an Arab that looked like a warmblood, though.
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you’ve peaked my curiosity, so I found this to use to check it out:
May have to do a follow-up at some point
If they have long gaskins couldn’t that compensate for a short or flatter croup?
When I became interested in Arabians for dressage, it was lines like these that I sought out.
This is the 1957 Arabian stallion, “The Count of Al-Marah” with Ward Wells. He had enough “sit” to do some “airs” of the haute ecole. I purposely breed for this kind of substance and bone.
What I found to be one of the biggest differences between the WBs and Arabians relates to muscle fibers. Arabians have been selected for stamina to a degree that they do not start with anywhere near the same muscle “power” ("carrying/thrusting"muscle fibers) that WBs or even TBs have so they need more time spent developing the strength for high collection. If their training is rushed they will continue to “fall forward” instead of really truly “sitting”. And “rushed” is in relation to what might be a typical timeline for a WB.
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Here’s a mini-profile of a 1956 era Arabian stallion that did not compete in sport disciplines himself, but sired two internationally competitive offspring. While I wouldn’t say he’d be confused with a WB, he displayed clear sport horse type, IMO.
At shows people have often asked if my Arab stallion is a WB cross or a German Riding Pony. I don’t consider it an insult. 
He’s in the early stages of learning to sit for the piaffe now (ridden by his trainer):
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I believe if you read the whole thread there are discussions upthread comparing Deb Bennett and Judy Wadropes contribution to functional conformation analysis. Both of these would be good sources beyond this brief magazine article, if the topic interests you.
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Thanks!
