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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
 United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Sep 2005 : 2:56:23 PM
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I was laying in bed last night thinking about the quizz page and how interesting it is ( I really should get a life ) and a thought popped into my head( strange that ) I would love to know how you all came by your great knowledge of arabians, and how you got started in arabian horses? I will start with a short history of my Arabian life!
since the age of three I was riding, by the age of 10, I started to have real lessons and where I used to ride the owner had Arabian horses, we were not even allowed near them and threatened that if we did go near them we would be thrown off the yard needless to say I wanted to know what was so special about them, so when the said owner was out I took a peek I was mesmerized( spelling) and totally convinced I was looking into the face of god it hit me hard and when I saw these mystical creatures being ridden off down the road, all the hairs on my little body stood on end, it happened so early on in my life and has never left me, that is the long and the short of it. I have had other breeds but I always go back to the Arab all that was 50 years ago now, do you think I will ever get over them???
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Anfi
Gold Member
Denmark
1195 Posts |
Posted - 06 Sep 2005 : 3:34:38 PM
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Great topic Lynda!
Unfortunately I don't have a lot to contribute
I cannot remember a time when I did not love horses - when I was young I lived half my life at the local riding school, but I haven't ridden a horse for many years now.
The Arabian was a dream, it only became tangible when a collegue at my new work place (6 years ago) turned out to be a breeder of Arabian horses. It didn't take me half a second to decide I NEEDED one of those What can I say? It's a craving, an obsession, a disease we all know as arabitis, and I've got it BAAAAD.
Knowledge? I don't know much, really - but I spend a lot of time trying to learn, preparing for the day when I finally get a couple of Arabians of my own - and even if it is not in the immediate future, the day is nearing - I just know it |
     
I Do What I Can and I Am What I Am - Fay Weldon |
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Libby Frost
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4711 Posts |
Posted - 06 Sep 2005 : 7:40:18 PM
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| Been around 'em since i was a tot, my mother bought a part bred filly by Hassani in 1975 she was one hell of a horse introduced to pure breds arabians at about 15,got my 1st at 18,totally hooked by then ,arab raced him ,showed in hand and jumped them,by then we had about 14,few years off horses, now at 35 got my home bred baby riding ( lesson on Bodmin moor on a 3.5 yo ,heroic eh? he's an arab and fantastic!!)so needless to say wouldnt dream of having any other breed!! |
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Edited by - Libby Frost on 07 Sep 2005 4:28:21 PM |
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tracey_c
Gold Member
England
1009 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 12:21:26 AM
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I have always loved horses which is quite funny as none of my parents like them and my sister likes them but not loves them. I didn't get a horse of my own til I was 15 but before hand i used to go to my cousins house (The cousin that owns the colt who busted my nose...) and pretend to ride (Horseless!) in her back garden. We would put up jumps to go round and had mini showjumping comps (banging and bruising our legs on the "jumps" cos they were so well built they wouldnt fall down) and in the evening we would go in her room and take "lessons" on feet and body systems etc... on the weekends we went up to the farm and I used to muck out for lessons and it all started from there....
I started liking arabs when I started my NVQ at Moat House Stud and have LOVED them ever since. I don't really know a lot about them (bloodlines etc) but I know they are the most beautiful creatures on God's planet and like Anfi I am always learning new things about them and one day I hope I get to own my own........
Not a large contribution but thats me..... |
********G4 ROCK********
*****BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THE ARABIAN!***** |
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 09:32:25 AM
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| Tracey and Anfi that was interesting reading because we all had to start somewhere and I find it fasinating how we found our way to arabs in particular, any more stories Please add to this thread. |
www.dreamfield-arabians.com |
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Alchemist
Bronze Member
Australia
77 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 11:24:39 AM
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Okay...I'm game.
Started riding at riding schools at 5. When I was 7, I had one ride on an arab gelding (he wasn't supposed to be a school horse, and was only used to replace a lame horse for the day). That one ride hooked me. I got my first pony at 9, outrode him and had my second by the time I was 10.
Didn't get an arab until I was 15, my deviate gelding. He was 21/2, and is still with me today at 21. Freshly broken, we taught each other a lot. He won everything from costume, to western, to dressage, to hacking.
He's been followed by more pure and deviates, including two pure stallions.
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All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost
J.R.R.Tolkein |
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TommyH
Bronze Member
Norway
89 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 12:39:06 PM
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I am afraid my story is nothing fancy but abit mysterious anyway. I have always been drawn to horses and spend most of my time after school on a farm near by where they boarded horses, mucking and brushing and sometimes riding. No one in my family has been able to find out where this obsession came from but I think it has something to do with Davy Crocket and Zeb Macahan.
This obsession would not go away even through my teens and when I was twenty I was a certified ferrier. I met my first arab when I was 17, a very tall gelding, not so good looking but a terrific ride and from there on the Arab Horse has hold a special place in my heart. 11 years ago I bought my first arab horses, one mare and a stallion - The stallion is now a gelding and have moved on and the mare is still with me and is my favorite mount and a lovely broodmare.
10 years ago I became a National judge and the year after a International ECAHO judge and has been in several positions on the board on our National Arab Horse Organization.
By now I am 43 years of age, have a small farm with four horses - two of them lovely broodmares in foal for next year, five chickens, one cat and three Jack Russell Terriers. I guess you can say the arabitis has got to me and there is no cure!!
How it all started..........??- I do not have a clue!! |
Tommy Husebye
Tenaya Araber - Norway
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tracey_c
Gold Member
England
1009 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 2:31:40 PM
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| This is really interesting as everyone has a different story to tel. Keep em coming... Thanks Lynda |
********G4 ROCK********
*****BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THE ARABIAN!***** |
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Judi
Silver Member
England
494 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 3:48:32 PM
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I've had horses since I was 7 - totally non-horsey family. Was happy with any horse as long as it could jump until a) I went to a show and saw Carmargue, b) I went to work at Tollard Royal for a very short time (lovely cottage, lousy pay)!
Our first Arab arrived with a fractured shoulder, the second was wild, so we did the sensible thing and bought a weanling colt (as you do), then realised we needed decent mares as well. DOH.
Seem to be up to 9 now. How did that happen?
I am learning new things every day, and put about 1 to 2 hours in daily studying and making notes. There is just so much to learn that one lifetime would never be enough. I have 'mentors' in many countries now, something I never dreamed of a few years back! It is such a small world, and we all share the passion. |
Judi
judirhodes1@yahoo.co.uk |
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tracey_c
Gold Member
England
1009 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 4:20:17 PM
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| Judi, what do you mean by mentors? |
********G4 ROCK********
*****BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THE ARABIAN!***** |
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 5:30:36 PM
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| Tracey sweetie mentor's are best discibed as people who help teach and guide you, they are the best friends you can have as they share their knowledge unselfishly and always seem to be there when you need answers' |
www.dreamfield-arabians.com |
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georgiauk
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2605 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2005 : 11:18:39 PM
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I started riding age 6ish at a local riding school, my brothers went fishing us girls went horse riding as did Dad until his horse took off with him he sprained his ankle very badly when he eventually got off! The riding school stood an Arab stallion Rebel who's party piece was to laugh! He would roll his top lip and nod, very funny
Continued hacking out every weekend into my teens and had a few nasty scrapes, got a kick in the head from a nasty mare (probably the reason for my Arabitis?!)while trying to get on, she really was a little to large for me at that time
Was introduced to a lovely part bred gelding and rode him a couple of times then got to ride his Mum, half bred Arab who had the sweetest personality. I had set my heart on a chestnut gelding with lots of white but at the time they seemed a bit like hens teeth and I was getting desperate to own my own so went to look at Georgia an unbroken steel grey 3 year old mare 3/4 bred. She wasn't anything like I wanted but I bought her anywayin 1987. Georgia is the daughter and half sister of gelding and mare mentioned above so by the law of averages I reckoned her temp and personality should be good At 3 years old she was the proverbial 'Ugly Duckling' but very sweet and after a summer at grass she had blossomed, grown and filled out, my 14.2 had grown to 15hh eek. She didn't stop growing until she was around 6 years old and ended up 15.2 so much for my 14.2 hack lol Georgia was/is a great learning curve, I like to describe her as sensitive not nutty. She has managed to scare the s**t out of me on many occasion in particular the flat out gallop up the wrong side of a busy country lane, I'm soo glad they stopped the HGV's using it She also managed to "scrape me off" on a style, I ended up on my feet in front of her staring her in the face. I still can't work out how she did it or who was more surprised at the outcome. She's now 21 years young is still a horror to catch but will quite happily shove her arse in your face for a scratch, still gallops around her field like demon and occasionaly will strut her stuff with the others
I also discovered she is the grand daughter of Rebel(Razereb) the laughing Arab Bred a part bred foal from her in 1990 by a pure bred then her 2nd foal came in 1993 by another pure bred.
Got my 1st pure bred in 95, she was supposed to be a trailer and ended up keeping her a secret for almost a year Did some in hand shows with filly and my 2nd home bred part arab gelding and had some small succeses but things took a big change in 2001 after being out of the country and away from horses for a year I came home with a huge 'thirst'!!! Bought Baby a pure bred mare did a few local shows with her and thouroughly enjoyed myself, managed to get her in foal then bought another in foal mare, so we're now upto 6 neddies and I couldn't be happier My moto is ' If you don't ask you don't get' my OH can verify this LOLOL |
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suneanarab
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1818 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 10:06:28 AM
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i to come from a non horsey back ground, but have been lucky enough to be around them all my life.
our local horsey field always contained something that no-one else could/wanted to ride, got bored of or just neglected. so i always had something to ride. i had a great old cob to ride who tought me loads. he was 15h+ and i started riding him bareback when i was 9. i learnt how to relax and sit to the trot on him, which was a good job for when i got my 13.2h palomino gelding on loan. i used to ride him bareback everywhere, but he could bronk like a demon. i've been told by several instructors that i have great feel, well i think that came from riding tosca.i learnt to feel when he was about to blow or drop his shoulder or the many other ticks he had.
i went from him to a 16.2h tb mare that had come straight from the track. i was the only one, apart from the guy who owned her, who was allowed to ride her. he gave me the job of teaching her to jump.
in the mean time i met my first arab mare. she looked very much like our foundation mare, white marah. but she was a complete bagage, needless to say i adored her. she was difficult to catch, couldn't be shod at the back, was very ticklish and hated other horses with a passion. the first time i got to ride her i was smitten!! i had never felt anything so smooth and light to sit on. i personally never had any probs with her and she came to call for me, much to everyone else annoyance.
i then got a ruined arab gelding to ride, liver chestnut and just beautifull. that was that. i bought odin when i was 20 and one thing lead to another untill we had 16!! we are now down to 9 pures (2 of whom are out on loan) and 2 sports horse mares. our dixi x garnered mare has been scanned in foal to cas silver phoenix (steel grey in sig) for next year. so we are now expecting our first show hack. we had hoped to be expecting our first hispano, but marah would not show in season, so maybe next year.
i'm a bloodlines freak!! i love it and do loads of research for all our lot (plus any others i get asked to do) and have books coming out of my ears. i also try to gain as much knowledge as i can from those i am lucky enough to come across who are willing to share. |
suzanne walsh
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 10:40:42 AM
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| Suzanne it is interesting how many of us come from non horsesy backgrounds, my mum wouldnt have known the front from the back of one but could always find me hugging some dirty great carthorses legs when I was just three, our milk was delivered by horse and cart ( god that shows how old I am !!) she said I showed no fear and she had no idea where my love for them came from as we lived on a housing estate just after the war, but my love was so strong that my daydreams were filled with horses, and if I was ever unhappy I would go to sleep at night with beautiful white horses galloping through my mind and it would make me happy again, those dreams sustained me through a lot of heartache as a child, loosing my younger brother at the age of 7, my mother having a complete breakdown, and being sent to my grandmothers ( who I really didnt get on with) just after his death. they are still a source of solace when I am feeling down and I guess if there is no heaven for horses I will not be going!! |
www.dreamfield-arabians.com |
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gu-ku-vi
Gold Member
Denmark
744 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 3:06:45 PM
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Hej Lyndilou, you are not the only old timer here.
I also remember the milkman and his horse and my mother couldn´t understand why I always was so dirty in the bump, but the kind milkman let me sit on his horse while it goes step by step from house to house.
Later when we moved to Copenhagen the big milkcompany there have oldenburgs very pretty and very nasty. A little bunch of straw with the ears meant they bite and at the tail it meant that they kicked, most of them have both.
I loved the sound when they come trotting down the street, and the scient, makes me dream of horse who should be my best friend.
One day they stand with the food in a bag hanging around the ears( don´t know the name in english) and I feel safe enough to tuch one of them in the head and got kicked by the foreleg!!.
It was not commond in those days in Denmark that all people could have a horse, only the rich, so my horseadventure was when we visit our family who has a farm and we was alloud to sit on the horseback when they was taken home from work.
3 children and a divorce later a have my first horse ,an arab and what luck, half a year later number 2 for my daughter.We have them until they died of age. making a foal now and then.
We have to have arabians and we buy some new, but they was so different to what we was used with and we start to look up the old ones pedigrees and found that they was mostly crabbet.We surch and we found and we are now the lucky owners of 3 100% crabbet and 2 Crabbet/oldenglish, and we love them to bits.
Gunni.
By the way there are new pictures at our web-site.
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 4:52:07 PM
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hey Gunni, that is really interesting, you know, every now and then I get a certain smell of horses that transports me back to childhood! BLISS !the horse my mother found me hugging was obviously very friendly or I wouldnt be here today as she said I was clamped to his kneecap grinning from ear to ear !
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tamila
Platinum Member
England
2532 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 4:58:48 PM
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I used to ride a nutty arab in Germany when I was 11. My first arab was a mare I rescued but did not think she was a purebred and bred two fillies by an arab stallion. A well known breeder saw the photos of the second filly (Tamila) and said I should find the papers as she recognised the filly. After extensive searching I found the papers and discovered what she had recognised (Her foundation mare, Ziree el Wada was Millie's great grandmother). I had them all bloodtyped and then received new registration papers. I then had another foal and the mum died 5 hours after he was born (Rimarli). She, Evening Snowdrop, left me quite a legacy, for instance Ramak.
Fortunately I am now well and truly hooked and intend to breed in order to preserve the bloodlines I have. |
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Mike
Platinum Member
Eire
1872 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2005 : 6:20:00 PM
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There isn't much to tell really!
A non-horsey background, I learned to ride in my 20's after a nervous breakdown and becoming so paranoid that I wouldn't leave the house or answer the phone(I still hate making phone calls, involvement with horses got me sane again! I am still very self-conscious which is the main reason that I have never thought of being a judge!
I don't know about being an "expert", but I do read(extremely quickly) a a great deal, never forget anything that I find interesting, and have a good visual memory (but a lousy one for peoples names!)
Mike
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2005 : 10:25:13 AM
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| I am sure that is a very very shortened history Mike! what about telling us how you first discovered the SE's. I would never want to be a judge either but not for the same reason's you have ! |
www.dreamfield-arabians.com |
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suneanarab
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1818 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2005 : 10:36:18 AM
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hi lyndilou,
i find it very strange how we can have such a passion and devotion to creatures who are parents have no interest in. i started riding a very little hairy shetland who lived at the bottem of our garden. he was called buttons and i remember spending hours sat in roy's orchard with him.
horses have always been the constant in my life and i don't think i could live without them really. as with you and mike, they have kept me sane and here in times when i really didn't want to be.
as for that smell, i think that grass kept horses have one of the greatest smells in the world. i remember sitting in my room as a kid and getting a whiff from my clothes and just smiling. it doesn't change, i'm just the same now lol
our milk wasn't delivered by horse and cart but the scrap man had one. he had a great big suffolk punch who once stept back right over my foot. lucky for me that i was so small and his feet so big as there wasn't any pressure at all, but it scared the scrap man!!
my son has grown up with no fear at all of horses. at nearly three year old i found him with odin our seniour stallion. odin was laid down with jed sat between his legs feeding him carrots!! odin was only 5 at the time but rather enjoyed himself as he has a huge love for jed that he doesn't for anyone else but me. |
suzanne walsh
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Alchemist
Bronze Member
Australia
77 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2005 : 1:21:27 PM
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My mother wanted to ride, but wasn't allowed to. She was determined that I wouldn't suffer the same thing!
I was apparently offered my choice, I could ride, or do what ever I wanted. I wasn't allowed to start riding until I was 5 though. Apparently, I was telling them I'd ride at Melbourne royal long before I turned 5, and at 5 promptly quit ballet and went in search of a horse..... |
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost
J.R.R.Tolkein |
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Mike
Platinum Member
Eire
1872 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2005 : 02:50:29 AM
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Ahhh the SE's ....... Well, as you may have noticed I'm a bit of a pedigree freak(sad really!) and the main thing that I look for in a pedigree isn't a raft of "famous names" but consistencyThough I am getting a little ahead of myself the SE's of 15-20 years ago had by and large more consistent pedigree's and hence greater predictability than most,though this is in the main no longer true. This appealed to the logical side of my nature, since back then I was analysing studbooks and pedigrees in search of patterns and trends ...... some things never change!
Though we were breeding some quite nice foals, what I felt at the time was lacking, were much stronger hindquarters, some seriously good movement and a bit more type wouldn't do any harm either!Logically of course anyone seeking type and movement should look towards Russian or Polish bloodlines but (a) for me that didn't "feel right" and (b} I have an occasionally perverse nature and a tendency not to conform. One other idea that was floating around at the back of my mind as a result of the Golden Cross horses I had seen was that crossing two similar but unrelated(or distantly related)would be something worth trying.
The moment that brought everything together and convinced me that SE's were (for me at least) the way to go was seeing two horses. Namely Ansata El Salaam and Ibn Jamil. One had extreme type as well as movement and presence to burn, the other smoothness, balance, great quarters and simply looked so "right". I will leave you to guess which was which!!! "All" one need do was to combine the two to achieve something approaching perfection. A little research showed that Ansata Halim Shah had crossed very well with the distantly related German SE mares (Maysoun and El Thay Ibn Halim Shah for example were up and coming five year olds) and if American bred stallions worked well with German mares ..... why not the reverse which had the added attraction of bucking an established trend!!!!!!!!!!!
So there you have it; the logic made sense, my perverse nature was satisfied, and I was aesthetically very happy indeed. Some horses give you goosepimples whilst others (even with all the right bits in all the right places) leave you cold. Such is the relationship between horse and man(or woman)
SE's are now rather more popular in the UK than they were back then, and I am still very happily non-conformist
Mike
PS :- I did get the hindquarters, movement & type too!
PPS :- Anyone can do pretty heads .... the rest of the horse requires rather more thought and effort
PPPS :- Fame does not imply quality .... Eddie (The Eagle) Edwards was the worlds best known ski-jumper for a while, but he was quite some way from being the best or even from being half decent!
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2005 : 10:14:39 AM
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Wow! that was very informative Mike thanks, I love to know how other peolple strive towards their percieved idea's of perfection! it is a long and sometimes political subject to go into and while you have your dreams of the perfect horse I wonder how many of us achieve our dream we would all like to breed that once in a lifetime perfect horse, but in reality how many of us really get near?? I have a picture in my head of this desert horse, dry, strong, magnificent, not too tall, but perfectly formed, fine beautiful head, I can see it now it moves so light above the ground you can't hear it coming, it almost flies. in the fading light of day I look into its face and all I see is Charismma Sorry just couldn't resist that, he is MY ideal |
www.dreamfield-arabians.com |
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Mike
Platinum Member
Eire
1872 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2005 : 2:00:55 PM
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One thing, if the above explanation appears to be cold and lacking in passion it isn't, whilst I "live, eat and breath" horses, all the passion and emotion is tightly controlled. Those who know me well have eventually realised that when I am describing horses I don't use hyperbole or words like "stunning", "incredible", "amazing" or "fantastic" but rather uninspiring insipid phrases like "really quite decent" and "nice"This does have the unfortunate effect of giving the impression that I don't like the horse(s) I'm looking at so I do try to be more upbeat on-line where all there is to go on is the written word! So just to be absolutely clear this is "nice"
On the other hand as an SE sire, Maidan is quite simply the best there is Its just a pity that two bouts of pneumonia put an end to any thoughts of showing him, those of you "down south" don't know what you have been missing, but may well find out next year
Mike |
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LYNDILOU
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
13976 Posts |
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s.jade
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2401 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2005 : 7:58:56 PM
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It's amazing reading how we all got into arabs. I'm still very much a novice in the arab world, though am learning fast and love the learning and pedigree side of them almost as much as the actual horses I was born into horses - Mum had and still has them, so I've always loved them.
My passion for arabs started with a part bred gelding, who taught me tonnes, we had a brilliant first season together after a very shaky start and won everything going locally, showing, showjumping, dressage, games....
After finding out he was losing his remaining sight rapidly towards XMas 2003, we decided to semi retire him for his and my safety. On looking for a sensible 15.2hh-ish gelding to event, I came across an advert for a 13.1hh purebred stallion. 7 weeks later he was home, and that was it - from him, I now have 2 broodmares, a filly foal (my first!), another stallion, and 2 absolutely fantastic yearling fillies - one of whom I still have to pinch mysef to believe she's mine!
The best thing is looking out of my bedroom window and seeing 4 of my very own arabs all grazing together, absolute heaven
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