Some Suggestions for Creating Your Own Arabian Breeding Program

written for Arabian Finish Line by Longin Blachut

It is hard to whittle down to a single reason the attraction of mankind to breeding Arabian horses in the 21st century. It's tinted with history, tradition, romance, aesthetics and charm. It is both an intellectual and agricultural challenge. Passion and heart seem to be the secrets of an accomplished breeder. It is a character-building endeavour, as it requires patience, insight, perseverance, enthusiasm, hope, good fortune and tons of humility. It also means hard work, money and commitment. Breeding is a matter of individual responsibility of insight and soundness of judgment. It is a long, often tumultuous and unpredictable journey for which one should prepare well before setting off. A breeding program is simply a plan to reach chosen breeding objectives. Both large and small farms can create a successful breeding program when focused on cultivating the strength within the chosen bloodlines; creating from a well-defined mould for a set purpose and long-term goals. Till today science has been unable to come up with a bulletproof breeding system that guarantees the proliferation of only champions (would be boring if they did). There is no single biological recipe for success in breeding Arabian horses. Champions come in all shapes and sizes. However, breeders have produced a higher percentage of superb horses following one fundamental rule: superior individuals of noble peerage and outstanding performance faculties are more likely to produce offspring with excellent performance abilities.

Before you start

Before selecting your foundation breeding stock do your homework thoroughly. Read all the literature you can set your hands on, plus examine photos and watch films that will help you understand the breed. Visit halter shows, races and trail competition events, talk with breeders, riders, handlers, judges and veterinarians. Observe horse professionals in action. Contact breeding organizations in your country and become involved in the organization. You will be able to make many personal contacts with breeders. Visit farms with serious breeding programs; savour the creation of years of hard work. Question the breeder to get firsthand understanding of his breeding choices. Look at the horses that lie at the foundation of each herd. Get your hands on videos from many breeders with ancestors of today's horses and study their conformation, type, movement and beauty. Look for consistency of family traits; the good and the not so good. Analyse the genotype and phenotype of the various horses, discovering the characteristics shared by members of a specific bloodline. The objective is to train your eye to distinguish the prevailing characteristics of each generation. Go and see outstanding mares and stallions of significance and distinction whose ancestors encapsulate the keystones for Arabian breeding. All this will help you understand how a pedigree translates into a living horse, because whatever is in the pedigree will come out. Nothing else can. In the process you should also learn about the correct conformation of an Arabian horse. There are several visual guides both in book and video form on conformation available for consultation.

You will quickly find out that there is more than one type and more than one bloodline of correct and highly esteemed Arabian horses. However, there are but a few bloodlines that consistently produce certain strength. There is plenty of space for personal preference regarding breeding while staying within the boundaries of Arabian standard as to type and correct conformation. Breeding is selection and it's subjective but there are some universal ideals of an Arabian horse like purity, type and conformation to refer to and these should not be lost.

Breeding program objectives

After acquainting yourself with the various Arabian bloodlines you have to make two very important strategic decisions: what type of Arabian horse and for what discipline do you want to breed? The best place to start is by first identifying your preferred Arabian horse type. Make an image in your mind of the horses you would like. Examine it and try to understand it. What specific characteristics will you focus on? Do you prefer smaller compact horses or taller. What will you be breeding your horse for? Do you strive for halter champions or performance achievers or both? Do you see yourself riding your horse for pleasure or in competition? The following step is to find a mentor who will be prepared to educate you and guide you on the road to success. For that contact a reputable breeder that has been in the industry for a long time, breeding horses for the discipline of your choice. He will help you avoid beginner's blunders in the setting up of your breeding operation.

Buying foundation stock

Now starts the acquisition phase of your foundation stock. It's time to search from those selected families, those special individuals that best express the phenotype characteristics of your dream horse. They have to have the power to reproduce most consistently the traits you admire most. You build the program on those lines, purchasing the mother, the full sibling or half sisters. Go to auctions to familiarize yourself with price ranges of different quality Arabian horses. There will be many people willing to advise you in the purchase but only you can really determine the horse that will steal your heart. Telephone calls, Internet and the press will set you off on the track to buy by private treaty. Breeders love to talk about their favourite bloodlines and horses. Some, however, are like used-car salesmen; fast-talking and with doubtful integrity. Reputation is very important and the horse community recognizes both honest and dishonest individuals. Take your time and narrow your choices, cross checking the soundness of breeder's horses, their performance and his reputation. Buy horses that look, move, perform and behave like the Arabians you hope to produce. Make dead sure that the horses you intend to buy are all registered in the Stud Books of WAHO member states with DNA parentage verified for both parents. Obtain from the buyer such parentage certificates along with horse's health history. Make sure the horses you buy are SCID and CA free. Have the horse checked by a vet before putting down the money. Horse breeding organizations have readily available texts of contracts for the buying and selling of horses, so best use those to legalize your purchase.

Broodmares

Many novice breeders very often begin by buying a stallion. My advice when starting a breeding program is not to buy a stallion but to buy the best possible mares. Buy mares that have had an above average performance career in the discipline you would like to breed your horses for. A good breeding program is based on superior broodmares, for then you can count on their production to make your program famous. Only about 6 mares out of a 100 are exceptionally great producers so get those 6 for your program and let the others stay with the remaining 94. Novice breeders often buy relatively mediocre mares and try to improve them with each generation. It's called breeding up. It's a slow process. In the end it is a far more expensive process in time and money than buying the superior kind of mares from the start. If you buy unproven breeding stock it will take you 4 years of breeding of the same mare to have an idea of what she is worth. Novice breeders more than often lose heart and disperse their herd due to the vast time, effort and money put in that only resulted in mediocre or average results. Due to this, Arabian breeding farms with a large number of weak stock last no more than 5 years on average. A breeding program does not need numbers to be consistently successful. It is advisable to start with a small quantity of high quality broodmares of similar type and bloodlines. The better mares you have, the higher the odds to produce your chosen type of Arabian horse. To find the best nick between the stallion and your mares, breed every one mare to a different stallion that seems compatible in bloodline, type and conformation to your mares for the first two years. If the result is a superior foal, send your mares the next time round to the stallion that sired it. If the rest of the foals from your mares by this stallion are uniform continue breeding to the same bloodlines to eventually find a replacement for your older mares under the condition that the fillies are as good or better than their dams.

An acid test of a broodmare's worth is the quality of her foals. She contributes around 60% to the foal as she influences it in many more ways than a stallion that has only a genetic influence. The mare on top of her genetic influence also contributes to the foal's development through the state of her health and nutrition during and after gestation. In addition the broodmare has an environmental and behaviouristic influence on her foal. A careful selection of a broodmare with a sound mind, good attitude and willing demeanour, in addition to the characteristics stated below, is therefore paramount to a successful breeding program.

Important criteria of selecting mares are correctness of conformation, type and smooth straight action. A plus is also that she be deep and well ribbed-up for the foal to have place to develop properly during gestation. Make a fertility check through the mare's production record. It is necessary to compare each foal with the mare to spot the traits she passes on to her get and which ones she doesn't. The best mother is the one that passes all her best traits without her negatives. A broodmare should produce breeding stock and not just individuals that can reproduce. One should therefore avoid further breeding broodmares that systematically reproduce faults in her foals. The next criterion for broodmare selection is her pedigree. Between mares of equal individual quality one should buy the one with superior antecedents.

Individuals of high vitality bloodlines have high fertility and longevity rates and this holds true for mares and stallions. The average life span of a mare is over 24 years, but there are many examples of horses living to 30 or even 40. Mares are bred 16 to 18 years and usually produce 12 to 13 foals. They remain barren on average about 3 to 4 years and statistically have one miscarriage. Before the age of 20, close to 80% of breeding results with the birth of a foal. However this drops almost by half once the mare passes the age of 20. Mares' best production years are between the ages of 5 to 17, so it's safest to buy and use such for breeding. Mares between 5 and 12 produce the lion's share of champion performance horses. It is a recognized fact that old mares, from approximately 17 years and older, do not produce the most talented performance foals - they somehow lose power. One should consider retiring all but exceptional mares from the breeding program after this age. Basic arithmetic shows it is very quick and very easy to increase the number of horses of ones herd; it therefore makes sense to take out of reproduction a certain number of older mares every year to allow the younger ones a chance in breeding. Astute breeders usually do not dispose of good mares until they have produced daughters who have also produced daughters.

Stallions

For a small to medium size breeding operation especially in the first years you do not need to buy your own stallion. In many cases it limits the odds of success. You are better off using outside stallions. Choosing stallions to service your precious mares is a demanding task. There are many subjective factors in stallion selection that will not be discussed here. However we will touch on a process of how to find an adequate stallion to serve the mare to minimize risk and try obtaining the foal of one's dreams. First, one should know well the mare - her pedigree, her type, conformation, size and goals for her offspring. Then one should look in one's pocket book and decide what one can afford to spend and what type of stallion one wants to use (show, racing, endurance etc…).

Look at prospective stallions by analysing photographs, videos and pedigrees, to establish a short list of possible candidates. Once done go and see the stallion in flesh to check type and conformation. Does the chosen Arabian stallion have type? Do you not instantly recognize him as an Arab, if not do not use him. One does however have to keep in mind that Arabian horses vary in type, so you should aim for the stallion that comes closest to the "ideal" type you want to breed. The foal has a better chance to inherit the desired type if the stallion and the dam are of a similar type. The chosen stallion has to have excellent conformation and superior smooth action in all gaits. Conformation faults and action defects of a stallion have at least 50% of chances to appear in his get, so you should rule out stallions with major defects. Look at the mare objectively and decide which of her conformation weaknesses could be improved upon. The stallion should have strong points where the mare is lacking. There are no faultless horses. Breeding is a balancing act. Every decision you take to breed in one direction or another you face a dilemma deciding what are you prepared to give up in exchange for a hope of achieving your objectives of improving the conformation of your foals.

Last but not least, a very important criterion when choosing a stallion to service your mares is to check his temperament and character. He has to have a gentle, willing personality and attitude. A stallion with a mean character is very difficult to handle and a danger to himself and others. Character traits are inheritable so any of the stallion's flaws of character to a large extent determine his get's development, training and performance.

Fertility too is an important issue for sires, as highly fertile stallions settle mares quickly. For the mare owner it means a lower cost and saves time. As fertility is inherited it is a known fact that some bloodlines are less fertile than others. The best is to analyse the stallions past reproductive performance, namely foaling rates (mares served/foals born) and pregnancy rates (mares pregnant/mares served. As a rule of thumb a stallion should put 75% of mares in foal each year. There are two basic methods of breeding: natural and Artificial Insemination (using fresh, chilled and frozen semen). There might be a variation in settling mares depending on the method used (natural or AI) not directly linked to the stallion's fertility. Especially as the AI method is liable to human error at each stage of the processes of collection, evaluation and dilution of semen, in addition to that of the insemination of the mare.

On average the conception age of a champion-producing sire is 8 to 15. The combined conception age of the champion producing sire and dam is about 19 and in most cases not older than 25. Breeding good mares to young or unproven stallions is a big risk and often may result with inferior foals. With age the fertility of a stallion might decline. Some breeders consider it a risk to use older stallions as it might result with weak foals. However, there are many stallions well above 20 that are widely used due to their bloodlines, fertility and past performance, even at advanced age, resulting with excellent foals.

In the end it is the quality of the get that speaks most about the stallion (type, conformation, performance). Some points to consider are: Does the get of the stallion look uniform? Is the stallion prepotent meaning does his get look like him? What strong points and weaknesses does he consistently pass on?

One of the biggest mistakes made by novice breeders is to think that a champion stallion can cross well with any mare of different bloodlines, even make up for conformation flaws and result with a champion foal. It is the constant pitfall in the quest of the inexperienced breeder towards immediate gratification for his efforts. Alas not all champion stallions are good producers and often only a handful of excellent foals originate of a foal crop of a hundred. In a nutshell brilliant stallions are rare and unfortunately mediocrity is far more common than infertility.

The foal and his future, as well as the success of a breeding program, ultimately depends on the responsible decisions made by the breeder respecting the Arabian horse within the boundaries of high ethical principals. Breeding just for a performance discipline or just show, with its fashion fads, might endanger the Arabian horse. Arabians are intelligent, versatile, willing and ambitious and can perform well in many disciplines. Certain lines are more adaptable to different performance disciplines and naturally one uses them there. However, this cannot be done at the expense of conformation, type, purity and disposition. An Arabian is a blend of specific traits all of which should be preserved at all costs in a breeding program.

Longin Blachut, Polski Dwo