Arabian Horse Breeding Egypt


In the postwar era, nations such as Poland, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden and Germany developed or re-established many well-respected Arabian stud farms. The studs of Poland in particular were decimated by both the Nazis and the Soviets, but were able to reclaim some of their breeding stock and became particularly world-renowned for their quality Arabian horses, tested rigorously by racing and other performance standards.

Egypt
Meanwhile, the passion brought by the Blunts to saving the pure horse of the desert helped the Egyptians recognize the need to preserve the remnants of their own pure Arabian bloodstock that had been collected over the past century by Muhammad Ali Pasha, Abbas Pasha and Ali Pasha Sherif. Therefore, the government of Egypt formed the Royal Agricultural Society in 1908. Other than a group of horses purchased by Henry Babson for importation to the United States in the 1930s, and one other importation to the USA in 1947, relatively few Egyptian-bred Arabian horses were exported until the overthrow of King Farouk I in 1952. After that, as oil development brought more foreign investors to Egypt, some of whom were horse fanciers, Arabians were exported to Germany and the United States, as well as to the former Soviet Union, then an ally of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Following the death of Nasser in 1970 and the rise of a less Soviet-oriented government, even more Egyptian-bred Arabians were exported. Today, the designation "Straight Egyptian" is popular with some Arabian breeders, and the distinct "dry" look of the Egyptian-bred Arabian is an outcross used to add refinement in some breeding programs.

20th-century Warfare and Its Impact on European Studs
Following the end of World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the historic European stud farms that survived the war re-established their breeding operations and added to their studs with new imports of desert-bred Arabian horses from the Middle East. Notable among the survivors was the Janow Podlaski Stud of Poland, the Veragua Stud of Spain, and the newly-founded Tersk Stud of the then-Soviet Union.

The Spanish Civil War and World War II had a devastating impact on horse breeding throughout Europe. The Veragua stud was destroyed, though studs such as Crabbet Park, Tersk, and Janow Podlaski survived. Both the Soviet Union and the United States obtained valuable Arabian bloodlines as spoils of war, which they used to strengthen their breeding programs; the Soviets at Tersk, and the Americans at Kellogg U.S. Army Remount station, the former W.K. Kellogg Ranch in California.

In the postwar era, nations such as Poland, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden and Germany developed or re-established many well-respected Arabian stud farms. The studs of Poland in particular were decimated by both the Nazis and the Soviets, but were able to reclaim some of their breeding stock and became particularly world-renowned for their quality Arabian horses, tested rigorously by racing and other performance standards.

After the Cold War
While only a few Arabians were exported from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, those who did come to the west caught the eye of breeders worldwide. Improving relations between eastern Europe and the west led to major imports of Polish and Russian-bred Arabian horses to western Europe and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. The collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, greater political stability in Egypt, and the rise of the European Union all increased international trade in Arabian horses. Organizations such as the World Arabian Horse Association (WAHO) created consistent standards for transferring the registration of Arabian horses between different nations. Today, Arabian horses are traded all over the world.