The Australian Colonial Arabian Horse and Endurance Horsemanship
SportsThe Arabian horse type remained unchanged from around 1800 BC. C. until 1900 d. C. During the first three millennia of its existence, the Arab was a war horse, and this dictated the type. The Australian Colonial Arabian is descended from early imports where desert breeding was prevalent, often via Blunts (early Crabbets), with the notable addition of the famous endurance stallion Shahzada. Colonials were originally bred to early Australian stallions which they selected based on ability under the saddle.
It is therefore not surprising that the Colonial Arabian is best known for its success in the endurance arena and as a saddle horse in general.
One of the best endurance horses of all time, Shahzada, was a pure colonial. Shahzada was the winner of 100, 300 and 500 mile endurance trials in England, as well as flat races against Thoroughbreds, before being exported to Australia. Decades ago, pure colonial breeder Les Ellery of Cudgebar Stud (founded 1930) rode a Jedran mare (by Prince Nejd and Shahzada) to catch an unmanaged mare. They had to run the unmanaged mare until she was exhausted, and then immediately had to run over a thoroughbred until she was exhausted and laid down. In those days, when large estates in the Australian outback had numerous unmanaged horses, this was the only method of trapping a horse. The Jedran mare never had a whip or a spur. She was repeatedly used to drive crowds of horses to the Orange Sales from Blayney in western New South Wales. The 25-mile (40 km) distance was covered at a gallop, as the horses were unmanaged and came from various estates. The Ellery also raced Arabians against Thoroughbreds in picnic races, and at one point raced a granddaughter of Shahzada who was so fast that she had to agree to give a half-furlong start to the rest of the field before she was allowed to start.
Many Colonials carried the bloodlines of Belka, who defeated Shahzada over a 300 mile ride, and whose son Bendigo placed fifth in the 4 ½ mile Newmarket Town Plate, with 12 stone, against 8 Thoroughbreds. The Bendigo jockey commented that he would have won easily if they could have gone another lap.
The imported stallion Sala was used by early colonial breeders. His grandmother was the daughter of Rasim, a World War I warhorse and sire of race winners. Also featured in their pedigree were Mahruss, Crabbett’s sire, who won the US Amy Endurance 300-mile trial on concrete roads in just over 49 hours, and Nadir, Champion Polo Pony Sire at Tunbridge Wells, UK. ) in 1913 and in Islington. (UK) in 1911, 1913 and 1915. Sala’s close endurance descendants include Quilty winners, Quilty position winners and distance prize horses.
Sala’s grandson Arcadian was an incredible sire of endurance horses, including 1981 Quilty winner Robbie and the stallion Credit, who is the sire of Peter Toft’s Electra BPP Murdoch. Murdoch won the Quilty, then went on to place fourth in the 2003 Tevis Cup. From Australia’s official travel sheets from 1979 to 1989, Arcadian’s progeny and grand-get won 66 games in the Open/HW division , they ranked second 22 times, third 14 times, and successfully completed another 29 games.
Kataf (for desert-bred Outlaw) is another stallion that figured prominently in colonial bloodlines. Kataf’s most renowned descendant was Hestia, Aethon’s mother. Hestia is consistently in the pedigree of Australia’s best endurance horses and her lines are in high demand.
The pure colonial stallion Talisman Rose Bahri dominated the Western show classes from 1983-1987. He was Champion Western Horse at the National Stud Show in 1983 and Champion Bridle Path Hack in 1991, and at the Australian Championships he was a Top 10 Ridden Stallion in 1984, Champion Western Pleasure in 1985, Champion Bridle Path Hack of 115 entries in 1986, and Champion Western Pleasure in 1987.
The resistance results of the Colonials are remarkable considering that pure Colonials have been in short supply for a few decades. In 1991, only 86 pure colonials lived.
Of those, 10 were actively racing Endurance that year.
The pure colonial stallion Cuddlebar Rasuli was a fast Arabian racehorse, who won his first two races at Australian Jockey Club registered racecourses by wide margins. Rasuli had completed The Kikkuli Experiment (a replica of The Kikkuli Text, a 33-century-old horse training text) when he was a three-year-old colt.
Hyksos Sabok has proven to be the best performing pure colonial endurance horse today, being 1999 NSW Distance Horse, 3rd 1999 National Australian
Distance, and has racked up many miles. Sabok’s sire was the heavyweight endurance horse Cuddlebar Nur ed Dam, who also completed the Kikkuli Experiment and later became a successful heavyweight endurance horse. The pure colonial mare Cudgebar Mujeor was a Kikkuli Experiment horse at the age of three and developed into a high performance endurance horse, completing over 3000km and placing 20th in middleweight (open) in the Quilty , winning the award for the lowest heart rates. . She is a half sister to Carol Layton’s Leshal Ikon, a barefoot endurance stallion.
Another strong line of colonial resistance is that of Barada II. His crosses with Rakib* produced the mares Badoura, Baksheesh, Baz and the stallion Bahri. This line has produced, through Talisman Stud, numerous top-tier winning Australian endurance horses.