Temperament & Colours


For centuries, Arabian horses lived in the desert in close association with humans. Prized war mares were sometimes kept in the family tent, along with children.

Only horses with a naturally good disposition were allowed to breed on. Arabians today are one of the few breeds where the Equestrian Federation allows children to exhibit stallions in show ring classes limited to riders under 18.

On the other hand, the Arabian is also classified as a "hot-blooded" breed, a category that includes other refined, spirited horses bred for speed, such as the Thoroughbred and the Barb. Like other hot-bloods, Arabians' sensitivity and intelligence enable quick learning and greater communication with their riders. However, their intelligence also allows them to learn bad habits as quickly as good ones. They also can quickly lose trust in a poor rider and do not tolerate inept or abusive training practices.

The Arabian Horse Association recognizes purebred horses with the coat colors bay, gray, chestnut, black, and roan. All Arabians, no matter the coat color, have black skin, except under white markings. Black skin provided natural protection from the hot desert sun.

Although many Arabians appear "white," this is the natural action of the gray gene. Gray horses are born bay, black or chestnut, then get progressively lighter as they age, until their hair coat eventually turns pure white or becomes "flea-bitten." Their skin is black and remains so throughout their life. Therefore, all "white" Arabians are actually grays.

Black Arabians are somewhat rare. One reason is that the black gene is genetically suppressed by the more dominant Agouti gene that creates the black points of a bay horse. Some breeding farms now use DNA testing to breed black Arabians.

People sometimes cross Arabians with other breeds to produce half-Arabians with additional colors. This is because purebred Arabians never carry dilution genes such as the dun gene, nor the cream gene that produces cremello and perlino. Because they do not carry any dilution genes, purebred Arabians also cannot be palomino or buckskin. Purebred Arabians also do not possess genes for spotting patterns, such as pinto or appaloosa. Some Arabians carry a form of the sabino gene (or gene-complex), which produces "high white" leg markings, body spots and occasional roaning, but the particular Sabino gene in Arabians has never been seen "maximally expressed" to produce a completely white horse with pink skin. Arabians also never carry the proposed "dominant white (W) gene that produces a true white horse. However, though the purebred Arabian produces a limited range of potential colors, there is also a positive result: because they never carry white or frame overo genes, they never produce foals with lethal albino or lethal white syndrome.

The Bedouin had assorted beliefs about color. Some areas considered black Arabians to be a bad omen, in other areas they were a valued treasure. It is also said that a particular type of heavily flea-bitten gray, known as a "bloody-shouldered" horse, was prized as a superior animal, particularly if a mare.

Most breeders agree with the adage, "a good horse is never a bad color," but white spotting patterns were once thought by some to be a sign of "impure" blood. Until the development of DNA testing to verify parentage, an Arabian foal with blatant body spots or excessive white markings could not be registered. It is now known that the sabino color pattern does exist in purebred Arabians.

There is scientific debate over whether roan Arabians actually exist. There are very few Arabians registered as "roan," and fewer, if any, have been DNA tested for the roan gene. Some geneticists suggest that roaning patterns on purebred Arabians are actually the action of the sabino or the rabicano genes. Also, some people confuse a young grey horse with a roan because of the intermixed hair colors common to both. However, a roan does not change color with age, while a gray does.