Origin of the Arabian Horse The origin of the Arabian horse remains a great zoological
mystery. Although this unique breed has had a distinctive national identity
for centuries, its history nevertheless is full of subtleties, complexities
and contradictions. It defies simple interpretation.  When
we first encounter the Arabian, or the prototype of what is known today
as the Arabian, he is somewhat smaller than his counterpart today. Otherwise
he has essentially remained unchanged throughout the centuries. Authorities are at odds about where the Arabian horse originated.
The subject is hazardous, for archaeologists' spades and shifting sands
of time are constantly unsettling previously established thinking. There
are certain arguments for the ancestral Arabian having been a wild horse
in northern Syria, southern Turkey and possibly the piedmont regions to
the east as well. The area along the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent
comprising part of Iraq and running along the Euphrates and west across
Sinai and along the coast to Egypt, offered a mild climate and enough
rain to provide an ideal environment for horses. Other historians suggest
this unique breed originated in the southwestern part of Arabia, offering
supporting evidence that the three great river beds in this area provided
natural wild pastures and were the centers in which Arabian horses appeared
as undomesticated creatures to the early inhabitants of southwestern Arabia. Because the interior of the Arabian peninsula has been dry
for approximately 10,000 years, it would have been difficult, if not impossible,
for horses to exist in that arid land without the aid of man. The domestication
of the camel in about 3500 B.C. provided the Bedouins (nomadic inhabitants
of the middle east desert regions) with means of transport and sustenance
needed to survive the perils of life in central Arabia, an area into which
they ventured about 2500 B.C. At that time they took with them the prototype
of the modern Arabian horse. There can be little dispute, however, that the Arabian horse
has proved to be, throughout recorded history, an original breed-which
remains to this very day. Neither sacred nor profane history tells us the country
where the horse was first domesticated, or whether he was first used for
work or riding. He probably was used for both purposes in very early times
and in various parts of the world. We know that by 1500 B.C. the people
of the east had obtained great mastery over their hot-blooded horses which
were the forerunners of the breed which eventually became known as "Arabian." About 3500 years ago the hot-blooded horse assumed the role
of king-maker in the east, including the valley of the Nile and beyond,
changing human history and the face of the world. Through him the Egyptians
were made aware of the vast world beyond their own borders. The Pharaohs
were able to extend the Egyptian empire by harnessing the horse to their
chariots and relying on his power and courage. With his help, societies
of such distant lands as the Indus Valley civilizations were united with
Mesopotamian cultures. The empires of the Hurrians, Hittites, Kassites,
Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and others rose and fell under his thundering
hooves. His strength made possible the initial concepts of a cooperative
universal society, such as the Roman empire. The Arabian "pony express"
shrank space, accelerated communications and linked empires together throughout
the eastern world.  This
awe-inspiring horse of the east appears on seal rings, stone pillars and
various monuments with regularity after the 16th century B.C. Egyptian
hieroglyphics proclaim his value; Old Testament writings are filled with
references to his might and strength. Other writings talk of the creation
of the Arabian, "thou shallst fly without wings and conquer without
swords." King Solomon some 900 years B.C. eulogized the beauty of
"a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots," while in 490 B.C.
the famous Greek horseman, Xinophon proclaimed: "A noble animal which
exhibits itself in all its beauty is something so lovely and wonderful
that it fascinates young and old alike." But whence came the "Arabian
horse?" We have seen this same horse for many centuries before the
word "Arab" was ever used or implied as a race of people or
species of horse.
The origin of the word "Arab" is still obscure.
A popular concept links the word with nomadism, connecting it with the
Hebrew "Arabha," dark land or steppe land, also with the Hebrew
"Erebh," mixed and hence organized as opposed to organized and
ordered life of the sedentary communities, or with the root "Abhar"-to
move or pass. "Arab" is a Semitic word meaning "desert"
or the inhabitant thereof, with no reference to nationality. In the Koran
a'rab is used for Bedouins (nomadic desert dwellers) and the first certain
instance of its Biblical use as a proper name occurs in Jer. 25:24: "Kings
of Arabia," Jeremiah having lived between 626 and 586 B.C. The Arabs
themselves seem to have used the word at an early date to distinguish
the Bedouin from the Arabic-speaking town dwellers. This hot blooded horse which had flourished under the Semitic
people of the east now reached its zenith of fame as the horse of the
"Arabas." The Bedouin horse breeders were fanatic about keeping
the blood of their desert steeds absolutely pure, and through line-breeding
and inbreeding, celebrated strains evolved which were particularly prized
for distinguishing characteristics and qualities. The mare evolved as
the Bedouin's most treasured possession. The harsh desert environment
ensured that only the strongest and keenest horse survived, and it was
responsible for many of the physical characteristics distinguishing the
breed to this day. Go to Horse of the Desert Bedouin
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