| _Why We Founded the Asil Club |
As polite people, we have limited our previous documentations Asil Arabians, The Noble Arabian Horses, Vols. I-IV to a portrayal of the virtues of Asil Arabians, that is, we have decided not to mention the foreign blood of the Polish Arabian and avoided a clear statement to the effect that 98% of the horses recognized by the WAHO (World Arabian Horse Organization) have Polish or other foreign blood. The latter, therefore, do not fulfil requirements which we, like the Bedouins before us and until recently the breeders of pure-bred Arabians themselves, demand of the pedigree of these horses: all generations of ancestors must originate from the Bedouin breed of the Arabian Peninsula (see the definition of the Asil Club e.V. p. 656). We have omitted to mention that the remaining approx. 2% of authentic pure-bred Arabians were threatened with extinction and that it was this dramatic situation which prompted us to found the Asil Club. As in international usage the term “pure-bred” has been retained for all pure-bred Arabian horses, we have chosen the Arabian term “asil” in order to distinguish the remaining group of authentic pure-bred Arabians from the others. The task of portraying the real reasons was left to the publications by Guttmann/Klynstra1 and
Klynstra as well as Schiele, Uppenborn and to the articles and lectures by the
Chairman and, last but not least, to those by the president of the WAHO
himself.
The statements we made in the publications Asil Araber/Asil Arabians I-III were easy to grasp for experts in the field as well as for many of our Arabian
friends. However, in spite of our constant contact with the Equestrian Clubs on the Arabian Peninsula, one thing did not fail to
happen: individual breeders imported non-asil Arabian horses, believing that a pure-bred Arabian would automatically be
asil. Quite a number of people, who put their faith in the documents containing the detailed pedigrees for pure-bred Arabians and being issued by the national stud book in question and approved in turn by the
WAHO, were not successful in their attempts to be admitted with their horses into the Asil Club.
Understandably, those concerned are not withholding their criticism about those who are allegedly at fault.
Our Arabian friends translate the word “pure-bred” as “asil”, and, not
surprisingly, they are shocked when a pure-bred Arabian is not automatically recognized by the Asil Club as an Asil
Arabian. Our experience has been that, on race courses or at horse shows in the Gulf
States, pure-bred Arabians are presented in good faith as al-hail al-’arabia al-asila, i.e. as Asil
Arabians. Those suffering from this phenomenon include a growing number of Arabian personalities who years ago acquired our documentation Asil
Arabians.
Victor Adam, Alexander (Etalon), Cheval de la
Crimée |
The allegations to which we were
exposed, and which we have taken very seriously for the publication of Asil Arabians I-IV, culminate in the question as to why we have not clearly stated the original motive behind our activities in our documentation which is considered the “finest stud book of all time” (B.
Schirg).
After all, the critics say, we have quoted so many significant ethnologists and experts on the subject of horses in general and Arabians in particular and have illustrated and characterized the whole range of virtues shown by Arabian
horses. They appear to have understood that these virtues are mainly to be found in Asil
Arabians; but the fact that “…Asil Arabians are to the pure-bred Arabians of other blood lines what the flawless diamonds are to those with
inclusions…” (Abdullah Al Bassam) is something that, in their
opinion, we failed to mention.
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Why did we not give the main point of all – which is that Asil Arabians are “rare in the ocean of mixed
blood” (Wenzler) – the attention it deserves by means of a discussion and the appropriate
quotations?
Our critics state, the report by Erika Schiele is the best possible proof of the fact that in the opposite case – i.e. if the asil pure-bred Arabians formed the majority and the Polish Arabians were a clear minority – the latter would have been flatly refused the status of pure-bred
Arabian:
| “Upon subsequent
investigation, the responsible gentlemen of the German Arabian Association discovered a small flaw in Nigra-Zscheiplitz’s
pedigree, namely seven generations back through her sire, Mazud. With great courage and laudable
correctness, they eliminated the mare and all of her decendents from the pure-bred Arabian
registery, and declared them to be halfblood-Arabian, not
pure-bred. However admirable such a procedure may seem, it is regrettable that the gentlemen did not extend their worthwile investigations to other
Arabians, Nigra-Zscheiplitz would not have been alone in her expulsion from
paradise, but would have galloped across the threshold among a stately
herd.”
E. Schiele (in: Araber in Europa, München, 1967) |
After all, our critics say, even one of the most outstanding European horse experts, Landstallmeister and author of the standard work “Pferdezucht und Pferdehaltung”, has said the
following:
| „These pedigrees prove without a shadow of a doubt that it is on no account possible here to speak of an Arabian breed in the true sense of the
word, and that, at present, neither original Arabians nor European purebred stallions are being used in Poland. The breeders there use their own blood base
only.” Landstallmeister Dr. W. Uppenborn (in: Equipe 1970)
|
Finally, the charge was given an altogether more blunt expression by journalists, for example in GEO:
”As it turned out, Skowronek was not a pure-bred Arabian at all, but nothing but a half-blood from four different breeds with an Arabian part. The Potockis had claimed pure breeding although they knew
better.
Descendants of breeds from the most excellent of the pure bred desert
Arabians, to be found in America since the 18th century, were then crossed with this half-blood material.
If it wasn’t for Skowronek and the other … Arabians* from the East, which were smuggled into the ranks of the Asil
Arabians, there would be more of them.”
W. Schraps, (in: GEO Nr. 4, 1982)
*[not
quoted in its entirety here for reasons of civility]
|
We would like to apologize if we have failed to do justice to the whole range of arguments involved
here. We promise to better ourselves and begin by quoting the biologist Dr. F. B. Klynstra in the most important passages of his book ”Wüstenadel”, published in four
languages:
“Polish Arabian horse breeding before 1930 is the perfect example of such a
situation. In THE LINEAGE OF THE POLISH ARABIAN HORSES, the authors GUTTMANN and KLYNSTRA analyse Polish ‘pure
breds’ bloodlines back to the 12th generation. During the first decades of the 19 th
century, this strain was produced from native Polish horses and a considerable percentage of Arabian
blood. Aside from these two breeds, the pedigrees from this period also include English
Thoroughbred, Turkoman, and Persian horses, as well as many of unknown
origin. Although many Arabian desert-breds were used for
breeding, the fact remains that many part-bred Anglo-Arabs were crossed with each other in this ‘pure’
breeding. Thorough study of the pedigrees published in the above mentioned book should convince any
sceptic.
The well-known “pure-bred” Arabian stallion Dardziling (1903) is a fine example of how “pure-bred” Arabians were being produced at that time in Poland. This stallion had some 90% ascertainable Arabian
blood. Other “pure-bred” Arabians from that period with lesser percentage of ascertainable Arabian blood are
known, such as Arabella (1898), granddam of Adamas (1930) and of Arabeska (1931). Only 37,5% of this mare’s blood was actually traceable as being Arabian
(see GUTTMANN & KLYNSTRA , 1968, pedigree 3). On the other hand, some Polish Arabians were truly
asil, i.e. of 100% traceable Arabian blood, but they were the exceptions and unfortunately can no longer be found
today.
Crossing these various part-breds with each other occasioned widely varying breeding
results. The get included horses of extreme Arabian type as well as many throwbacks to the non-Arabian
ancestors. These crossbreds, however, were not eliminated in the Polish
environment; the desert horse population was not automatically purified of foreign
blood. Also lacking was any consistent re-breeding to the desert Arabians to displace the
throwbacks. Quite the contrary part-breds were even bred to
part-breds. (for details on hight at withers compare table Caliber Index, Asil Arabians IV, p. 709) |
Felix H.E. Philippoteaux, Arrival of the Sheikh |
Hence, when developing the articles and by-laws of the individual Arabian breed
associations, the definition of a purebred Arabian horse always required an uninterrupted line to desert-bred
ancestors.
The ARAB HORSE SOCIETY of the United Kingdom founded in 1919, states in the Memorandum and Articles of Association (1983) that “The term ‘Arab or Arabian
horse’ shall mean those horses in whose pedigrees there is none than pure Arab
blood.”
Based on this definition, one would expect that no Arabian with any traceable foreign blood would be registered as purebred in the English
studbook. The reality of the situation is quite different. When entering horses in the purebred
registry, purity of blood was apparently not taken too accurately in England. Right at the start, in 1919, the beautiful and later so famous grey Polish
stallion, Skowronek, was registered as purebred in the English
studbook, despite the fact that his dam, Jasolka, had foreign blood in her
pedigree, namely:
5
times English Thoroughbred
2 times Turkoman
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| 16
times native Polish mares: |
Kobyla (5mal)
Demianka (2mal)
Kwiata (3mal)
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Woloszka
Milordska
Sawicka |
Szejkowska
Anielka
Ilniecka |
(see GUTTMANN und KLYNSTRA, 1968, Pedigree II).
After this initial Polish importation, several other imported Arabians with traceable foreign blood
arrived. They, too, were registered without further ado as purebred
Arabians.”
Dr. F. B.
Klynstra (Wüstenadel) |
In Germany, too, foreign blood frequently found its way into the Arabian breed. The stallion Dardziling, for instance, stood at stud in Weil in 1913. As we have seen, only 89% of his blood was ascertainably Arabian. After World War II, quite a few Polish Arabians with foreign blood were used at stud in Germany. Therefore, in 1967, only a very few German Arabians conformed to the strict statutory rules of the Gesellschaft der Züchter und Freunde des Arabischen Pferdes e.V. (Society of Breeders and Friends of the Arabian Horse): ”In accordance with breeding goals, purebred Arabian horses are those which demonstrably trace back exclusively to desert-bred Arabians. Those horses will be registered which have incontestable proof of such
parentage.”
For 19 years, the Society issued pedigrees for pure-bred Arabians. After the Guttman-Klynstra book (1968) proved that the registrations for Polish Arabians were not valid, the Society altered the definition of purebred Arabians in September 1968 in such a way that everything could subsequently be
legitimized.
It later read: ”In accordance with breeding goals, purebred Arabian horses are those which are recognized as such in their country of origin (country of birth), and are, or were, registered in its studbook for purebred Arabians…”
Many more examples could be cited. So it is easy to understand why many horse breeders and experts feared that asil blood was dying out.
Pure blood cannot be preserved if there is no clear distinction between Asil Arabians and Arabians with foreign blood. The first step in the right direction was taken by an American, Mrs. Jane L. Ott. She published The Blue Arabian Horse Catalogue in two volumes. Volume I had already appeared in 1961, a work whose significance for the Arabian world cannot be overestimated. This catalogue contains all American Asil Arabians, as well as the asil imports to the USA. Considering that, through ignorance, asil mares were covered by non-asil stallions, by 1956, the number of asil foals in the American Arabian breeding stock was down to ten. Raswan and J. L. Ott deserve thanks for preserving asil breeding in the USA.
Peter Herwegen, Halt einer Karawane |
The Asil Club e.V. and Al Khamsa Inc., USA,
have, without hesitation adopted as their mission, what is to be the main target of any Arabian horse
breeding; to breed with the pure blood, to breed “asil”.
We owe recognition to the Pyramid Society of the USA for having bestowed due respect and esteem on the Egyptian Asil
Arabians, which had not been at all highly regarded in the Commonwealth and the USA.
The breeders and authors concerned decline with reference to asil breeding and remark that the individual foreign horses which Klynstra considers to be Polish country mares can themselves be partly of Arabian
blood. |
Klynstra on this subject:
“And even if they have as much Arabian blood as the English
Thoroughbred, what difference does it make? A few percent less foreign blood don’t make an Asil
Arabian, and even the use of repressive crossing – which they didn’t have in Poland – would not make it
zero…
Regardless of this, these lines are guaranteed the status of pure-bred
Arabians, and the majority situation in the individual breeding associations such as the WAHO lets no hopes or fears surface that this could change in any way.”
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Inevitably, since its foundation WAHO has faced the same problems as the other national Arabian horse breeding
associations. For details compare the subsequent chapter: Asil
Arabians: Diamonds without Inclusions – Are Pure-Bred Arabs Asil?
We would like to stress that the separate blood lines enjoying pure-bred
status, the Spanish, Polish and Russian lines etc., are the results of breeding with unknown or non-asil horses and are of great value for us. We would breed with these Arabians if we did not have the Asil
Arabians. But these authentic descendants of one of the first pure-bred races in the world
exist, and it is our duty to preserve them for posterity in proven quality so that they can again become a link to the breeders of Arabia, the descendants of the
Bedouins, the creators of Asil Arabian horses.
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(Olms Verlag 2000)