Purity Questions

One set of hot debates within the Arabian industry are about bloodlines. In particular, breeders argue about the genetic "purity" of various pedigrees, discussing whether some horses descend from "impure" animals that cannot be traced to the desert Bedouin. The major factions are as follows:

• The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) states, "The origin of the purebred Arabian horse was the Arabian desert, and all Arabians ultimately trace their lineage to this source." In essence, all horses accepted for registration in the United States are deemed to be "purebred" Arabians by AHA.
• The World Arabian Horse Association (WAHO) has the broadest definition of a purebred Arabian. WAHO states, "A Purebred Arabian horse is one which appears in any purebred Arabian Stud Book or Register listed by WAHO as acceptable." By this definition, over 95% of the known purebred Arabian horses in the world are registered in stud books acceptable to WAHO. WAHO also researched the purity question in general, and its findings are on its web site, describing both the research and the political issues surrounding Arabian horse bloodlines, particularly in America.
• At the other end of the spectrum, the Al Khamsa organization takes the position that "The horses of primary interest to Al Khamsa, which are called "Al Khamsa Arabian Horses," are those horses in North America that can reasonably be assumed to descend entirely from bedouin Arabian horses bred by horse-breeding bedouin tribes of the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula without admixture from sources unacceptable to Al Khamsa." By this rigorous definition, only about 2% of all registered Arabian horses qualify as "Al Khamsa Arabian Horses."
• "Blue Star" designation is the most rigid, accepting only horses who qualify as Al Khamsa, but also as having no lines to the "Mu'niqi" strain, which some claim was "contaminated" by crossbreeding with Turkoman Horses about 300 years ago. Horses who otherwise meet this standard except for Mu'niqi blood are sometimes referred to as "Blue List."
• There are also a number of breeders who specialize in preservation breeding of various bloodlines. However, these breeders generally do not assert that their horses are the only "pure" Arabians.
• Ironically, some pure-blooded desert-bred Arabians in Syria had enormous difficulties being accepted as registerable purebred Arabians because many of the Bedouin who owned them saw no need to obtain a piece of paper to verify the purity of their horses. However, eventually the Syrians developed a stud book for their animals that was finally accepted by the World Arabian Horse Association (WAHO) in 2007.