Many people
have disputed these descriptions, and, if Arabian breeding can be reduced
to Mendelian genetics, it seems unlikely that they could exist as a permanent
feature of the Arabian or any other breed. This is because the random nature
of chromosome survival would instead seem to require that physical type
be an ephemeral feature of a breed of horses that would dissipate after
a few generations of non-systematic breeding. In fact, this is what seems
to have happened with Arabian horse breeding in America, which too often
regresses to horses of faintly discernable type, except that now and then
a jewel occurs which defies its pedigree.
Still people
cling to the mystery of ideal types of horses which fit into long-term
standards for the breed. In order for there to be validity to this way
of thinking, there has to be evidence that ideal types do exist and can
last over time.
In this
connection there was a fascinating exhibit of archaeological artifacts
in St. Louis in the spring of 1998. These artifacts were from ancient Thrace,
which was given as approximately the region of Bulgaria. The artifacts
dated from a few centuries BC to a few centuries AD—a long time ago.
The Thracian
culture was a horse culture. Among the items surviving were several that
bear on the permanence of equine type.
One of the
most spectacular of these (right) was a goblet from the fourth century
BC showing the sculptured forehand portion of a horse, from the withers
forward. The portrayal is of a convex-headed horse. It is similar enough
in type to idealized modern Lippizaners and Andalusians so that it could
serve as a model for pictures of them: ram-head, little ears, massive neck,
lean jowl, markedly flexed at the juncture of the head and neck. An interesting
feature of the sculpture is that there are wrinkles in the skin of the
neck where it joins the jowl. These ordinarily do not occur in a horse
unless it has been ridden a great deal with the neck flexed to the bridle.
Talk about
permanence of type! From this Lippizaner look-alike of the fourth century
BC to the present-day Lippizanners spans about 2400 years. Frankly, the
sculpture also has a similarity to certain modern Arabs....
In the same
exhibit there were several instances of a different type of horse, also
dating from the mid-fourth century BC. These were much more like what we
think of as Arabians in features of head, with big eyes, dished profiles,
relatively lean and arched necks, tails standing out from their bodies.
They were ridden horses, and from comparison of their sizes to the sizes
of their riders, they appear to have been almost of pony height.
These horses
were the opposite of “Lippizan” type. They have many counterparts in modern
Arabian horses and the art depicting them.
No statement
is being made here that these Thracian artifacts represented Arabian horses
or that they represented horses which are ancestors of Arabian horses.
They do, however, represent types of horses which are familiar to us and
which have obviously endured for over two millenia.
Is it therefore
unreasonable to assume that there are features of type for Arabian horses
which endure over centuries and are an essential part of the breed? How
such things could endure in the random process which is sexual reproduction
is a question that seems contrary to common sense and science. But, after
all, what do common sense and science have to do with art objects from
Thracian tombs of 2400 years ago or with real live horses of our time which
look a lot like them?
Enough of
horses: How about the pretty girls, also shown in Thracian gold? We see
something like them in our daily lives, and in small towns boys stand on
the corner watchin’ as the girls go by, same as young men did in the days
of Thrace. Flesh fades, but somehow ideals of beauty are a joy forever.
With horses,
too.
|
