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PART 5 - SOME OBSERVATIONS
In the overview and judging only from the few hundred Arabians I saw this year in only two Australian states, it appears that:
1) Australian Arabians generally have better bone, joints, and feet than the general population of American Arabians. The Crabbet stock, particularly, is likely to have excellent bone, joints, and feet. One might see a few more off-set cannons than one sees in America, but definitely fewer other foreleg misalignments, and in Australia one sees far fewer animals with light bone and small, defective feet. It seemed quite obvious to me that the excellent bone, joints, and feet are coming from the Crabbet bloodlines - and that care must be taken to preserve these traits so that breeders of all bloodlines may in future tap into them. Otherwise, they will eventually be lost. When one compares the excellence of such bone, joints, and feet with what is usually seen in America these days, the difference is forcefully apparent and makes it appear that America has already gone too far in the direction of losing these extremely valuable traits.
2) It appeared to me that more Australian Arabians of Crabbet lineage have beautiful heads with finely cut, sharp, small ears than are usually found in modern American Arabians with Crabbet lines. In fact, the Crabbet lineaged horses of Australia have some very, very beautiful heads, indeed, and they are characteristic to Crabbet and sharply distinctive from the beautiful heads of other bloodlines; they are their own Crabbet form of Arabian beauty.
3) Conversely, one sees more poor hindquarters in Australia than one sees in America. This is true not only among the Crabbet lineaged animals, but also among other bloodlines. The faults are multiple and may appear in various combinations or even all in one individual. Because some people do not understand what I mean, I think it is necessary to elaborate to make myself clear.
The flaws I saw were:
a) Hindquarters standing too high in relation to forehand, making the individual appear quite unbalanced in the literal sense of the word (riding such a horse is uncomfortable and seems to be downhill all the way), and sometimes (but not always) contributes to a somewhat low back.
b) Slack loins, sometimes contributing to varying degrees of lowness of back, particularly as the animal ages.
c) Rough, too prominent, coupling which is jarring to the eye and and takes away the appearance of flowing smoothness, symmetry, and strength, although it may not actually affect strength.
d) Dropped off croup, which is jarring to the eye and may or may not adversely affect performance (there is controversy about this), but certainly negatively affects breed characteristic evaluation because one of the traits of an Arabian is a level croup (not meaning "table-top croup" which is a serious conformation fault I did not observe in Australia among the animals I saw, although it is sometimes seen in America in some bloodlines, almost never Crabbet).
d) Shortness in length of croup and/or length from point of hip to point of buttock, all of which is in discord, creates a lack of balance in the symmetry of the horse, and may (probably does) contribute to a lack of power of hindquarters.
d) From the rear view a triangular appearance in structure, often in America called "rafter hips," rather than a square pelvic structure; the triangular appearance looks, and may actually be, weak, quite aside from the fact that it is seriously incorrect and jarring to see, and contrary to the premise that in order to be a good Arabian an Arabian must first be a basically correct horse. However, most Crabbet lineaged Arabians I saw in Australia, even if they had some or all of the other hindquarter flaws, usually (but not always) had correct square pelvic structures when viewed from behind.
4) Judging from photographs, these hindquarter faults, as well as hind legs sometimes too far behind plumb and some occasional low-back problems, were apparent in some Crabbet Arabians during the lifetime of Lady Wentworth, particularly toward the end of her life. It appears that she may have concentrated on the valuable traits of beautiful forehands, lovely heads, good bone, joints, feet, and hocks close to the ground, not sufficiently heeding hindquarters. I believe that people everywhere in the world, where specific "national faults" exist, and/or faults within their own breeding programs, get so accustomed to seeing them that they come to view them as "normal," as I know many Americans no longer see the bone, joint, and feet problems in too many (but certainly not all) American Arabians.
5) Regarding the serious flaw of low backs - one seldom sees them in America, but I did see a few in Australia, although they are certainly not common there either. In America they have historically been so strongly discriminated against in the gene pool that they have all but disappeared.
Thus, it appears to me that extremely valuable national strengths of Australian Arabians are excellence of bone, joints, and feet (qualities steadily disappearing in the general world population of the Arabian breed), and beauty of heads, with old-fashioned, small, sharply cut ears (such characteristic Arabian ears are also steadily disappearing in too many gene pools). I simply cannot state strongly enough the value of the bone, joints, and feet of Australian Crabbet lineaged Arabians. I firmly believe that American breeders should tap into these extremely valuable resources to improve what might be considered national lacks in America.
Conversely, it appears to me that a sort of national fault of Australian Arabians may be hindquarters and that Australian breeders might find improving genetic material from American lines featuring excellence of hindquarters (specifically particular Crabbet/American lines); good hindquarters seem to be found more often in American Arabians than in Australian Arabians.
For both American and Australian breeders it would be a challenge to juggle the good features of both groups in the attempt to combine the good of both while eliminating the flaws. After all, that is what breeding is about - always striving to produce elusive perfection.
It should be said, however, that breeders of 100% Crabbets in every place where such animals are bred will have to attempt to maintain excellence of hindquarters from within the 100% Crabbet gene pool. This can be done because there are still plenty of good hindquarters in the 100% Crabbets, but it will take longer and will require patience and determination, with definite standards as the goal.
The end results would be almost like a super-Arabian which could serve the future of the Arabian breed for generations to come. I think that breeders everywhere should seriously consider these points.
When I was in Australia in 1991 I was extremely pleased to find that horse foot care in Australia adhered to the proven old traditional standards and methods which resulted in superb good health of feet and legs. In 1991 these old traditional standards were almost forgotten in California where I lived; in 1991 1 did not know how far these artificial modern practices had spread elsewhere in the United States. Anyway, I wrote about this in my series of Crabbet influence articles about my 1991 Australian visit.
Now I wondered when I returned to Australia in 2000 if I would see any changes in foot care. I was extremely happy to find that the Australians are still keeping to the old traditional, time-proven methods of trimming, dressing, and shoeing. I am much relieved because now, in 2000, 1 know that the American artificial tampering of feet (going under guise of modern technology and improvements), changing them from the natural into most oddlooking aberrations, has for sure spread in the United States well beyond California and even has some new twists ("innovations") added since 1991.
Because most modern horse owners in America are too young or too new to horses to have ever seen the old, traditional ways and results, they simply do not know any better. They get accustomed to seeing the abnormal results and believe they are normal. I know that some American farrier schools even teach these modern artificial things, qualifying their graduates to do all the "sophisticated" expensive and sometimes actually negative things. Most of such farriers do not themselves know what used to be and they do not understand when one tries to talk to them about it. The results are that in America one sees many botched and butchered feet changed from natural to strange looking and artificial. These feet are unhealthy and alter natural function of tendons, bones, etc., etc. They also alter the natural gaits of the horse, most noticeably the trot; this changing of the natural gaits is actually a primary goal. The most commonly seen artificial altering consists of blocking up forefeet heels higher than is normal (just short of making them into club feet) and snubbing off forefeet toes (different from cutting down toes). This makes a strange looking foot (somewhat like one sees on stuffed toy horses for children) with abnormal function primarily affecting gait and tendons.
When I talk to American horse owners about this they simply do not understand. They are too accustomed to seeing the bad and being told it is sophisticated and good. Most Australian Arabian owners fully understand. Australian Arabian horse people and farriers know a normal and good foot from a bad foot, and they know good foot care from bad. They know. They believe in keeping feet as nature intended and thus keeping them healthy. of course, I am discussing the vast majority of feet in Australia, not the few with special problems that might need special treatment. Such rare feet do receive required special treatment in Australia - but normal feet are left normal and natural with superb results.
It was extremely refreshing to see in Australia in 2000 all the healthy, sound feet with normal heels and toes, and thus healthy tendons and legs, of course due partly from their good genetic influences, but also in large part due to the excellence of the old, traditional farrier care. I wonder if Australia may (?) be one of the last places where such proven, successful, and healthy foot care my still be seen and learned?
The feet and foot care one sees in Australia is nothing short of beautiful - and encouraging. It is acutely depressing to know what, in this field, we have lost much and terribly in America. I can only wish and hope that more Americans will go to Australia to see for themselves - and learn.
Carol Mulder is available for presentations of the Fenwick video, her 2000 Australian Crabbet Convention talk, and/or her personal video of the old Kellogg Ranch stallions (1925-1960). Each presentation lasts approximately one hour. There is no speaking fee, but travel expenses are required. Contact Mrs. Mulder at: 10056 Oglethorpe Way, Elk Grove, California, 95624-1352, or at (916) 686-4679.
Mrs. Mulder can be written to at carolmulder@crabbet.com
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