Grey Arab Stallion - suggestions please

maggiemoto

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We are thinking of breeding our TB mare next year to an Arab Stallion. If we decide to use an Arab, we have a preference for a grey stallion - please don't jump on the breeding for colour, not quality thread. Temperament, confirmation, etc and compatibility with our own mare are paramount but we would like to give ourselves the chance of a grey foal if there is a suitable stallion for our mare. Given that grey is a very common colour in Arabs we would like to think that there is a stallion out there. Any suggestions?
 
Well, you have plenty of choice that's for sure:) I'd love to go Arab 'shopping'

Arabian Lines (you could ask on their forum too) for a start has a list:
http://www.arabianlines.com/Stallions/default2.asp?tree=542&page=1

as will the AHS.

Are you looking for a particular type? As you know, they are like Tb's, big, small, chunky, dainty, depending on their lines. Extreme heads, straighter heads (many French lines look like Tb's) Where are you? Willing to travel? AI?

Personally, if I particularly wanted a grey, one of my favourites is Maysoun, so I'd go for one of his.

Good luck, enjoy looking.
 
Our mare is a French TB and has a very Araby head. From what we have seen, we are not to keen on the very accentuated head with the tiny muzzle and also the very short, flat croup which seems to be in certain strains. From my days of Arab breeding 30 years ago, the Polish and Crabbet lines seem to be more the type we are looking for but times have moved on and this may not be the case now. Size wise, we are looking ideally for a bigger stallion as we want a foal 16+ hh ideally. Our mare is 16 hh. We are looking to event/endurance the foal so stallion with that kind of breeding would be preferred.
 
Crabbets are less extreme as you say, my Ben Rabba grandson was 15.3 at 3 years (typical chestnut BR though) and had a good head, typey but not as dry as some. So I'd certainly go down the Crabbet route as one choice, I think the Polish are a bit more extreme nowadays.

I am a bit out of touch with the Britih arabian scene now. Tersk bred horses may be short on the ground nowadays, but when they started coming over to begin with they were tall and straight, some of them a bit plain though, I saw Tigre at the sales when he came over and he was 16h. Oh, and one I used to ride, he may still be around, Cordon, he is/was Russian, nice sensible, solid, straight chap AND grey!
 
What about Piatza? Owned by a friend of mine in Dorset. His results include:
1st and Champion RIHS 2009
Res British National Champion 2009
Res Supreme Champion BAC 2009
Supreme Champion NWAHO 2010
Champion New Forest and Hampshire County Show 2010

He is grey and has an amazing temprement too.
 
Ditto Piatza (his owner is my friend too... small world!)

his two daughters are exqistite and both grey.

Also, Calimeer may be worth a look, he has the most fantastic temperment and is rather more stocky than Piatza. He is grey too. Owned by another friend.
 
Echo the suggestion to look at Biddesden Stud. They are the stud who bred Tamarillo, probably one of the best eventers of all time. Their grey Arab stud has done well showing being national champion in hand and under saddle. He has also got offspring out there performing, one or two of them have qualified for the British Eventing 7yo championships this year.

I don't think there are many other Arabs who have such a strong performance record.
 
You might want to read up on Melanomas before breeding a grey, they can become problematic in later life and you should be aware of that.

There are some very nice performance Arabians around both racing and distance horses to choose from, they tend to be on the bigger side with a more traditional head. There is a stud in Wiltshire somewhere I visited once that stands about 10 racing and endurance stallions but the name escapes me, several of those standing when I visited with a friend a few years ago were grey.
 
Have a look for Cas Sabur - we had a little grey stallion years ago by this guy and was very pleased with him, not sure if Cas Sabur stands at stud, but the little guy we had was very nice natured, moved with a proper arab action not the pogo stick action sometimes seen and was compact and had a decent backend, he was a total clone of Cas Sabur - he was a bit slow to mature though but was worth it in the end!
 
I notice that their stalllion Sisy's sire is Dhruv, who to my mind was absolutely wonderful and probably my favourite Arab ever. I remember seeing him at shows many years ago. I also remember an Arab called Pure Silver being shown, but can't remember whether he was a stallion or a gelding. I don't think he was particularly well known as such but apologies if he is/was, but again I remember seeing him at shows and thought he was lovely. For both Dhruv and Pure Silver I must be going back to 1984 -91 when we lived in London and my daughter had a loan pony with some people in Theydon Bois and so we would have been around Essex and that way. Ah, happy days!
 
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