The practical usefulness of Raswan's
strain theory is dependent on the application to horse breeding
practice of a body of secondary principles of strain breeding
which derive from , or are implied by his major concepts on
the subject. In terms of logic, these could be termed "corollaries."
Raswan expressed them in various places: sometimes in articles,
often in letters, often in personal conversation. There is no
telling how many such principles he developed, the total number
must be great. Some of them are included here:
Corollary 1: The female side of a pedigree
is more important than the male side. In marking pedigrees of
specific horses, Raswan typically called special attention to
the occurrence of patterns on the female side of a pedigree.
Thus, for the present writer, the presence of Kuhaylan elements
on the female side of the pedigrees of Dharebah and Dharanah
were especially noted. In a letter dated February 12, 1952,
to Dr. J.L. Doyle, he wrote, "the important line is of the
Dam," In his "Key" to Arabian Pedigrees" he makes
references to the special importance of the influence of the
dam's side of the pedigree as applied to all three strain-breeding
groups. This, of course, is consistent with the Bedouin breeding
practice of tracing strain inheritance through the dam.
Corollary 2: Arabian type is influenced
by strains according to their proportional importance in a pedigree.
In evaluating a specific pedigree, Raswan typically calculated
the percentages of the major strains present. Individuality
of the horse was considered in large part to be represented
by the majority strain influence present. He made the point
that this might be different from the actual tail-female strain
of the pedigree, which technically determines an animal's strain
of registration. In this way, Farana, a registered Mu'niqi,
is shown to be predominantly Kuhaylan. Ronek was described as
"A registered Seqlawi, but by pedigree he proves to be 7/8
Kuhaylan and only 1/8 Saqlawi." (Western Horseman: "Undistinguished
Types of Arabian Horses"). As Arabian strains have developed
in complex modern pedigrees, the actual tail-female strain of
an Arabian horse seldom indicates the predominant strain in
its pedigree.
Corollary 3: After enough removal, the
strain of a given ancestor no longer contributes to individuality.
In his Western Horseman article "Breeding to Arabian Type."
Raswan writes, "When we come to five generations (or more)
removed from unrelated strains, we enter the domain of the perfect
Arabian horses. They are practically (and for many reasons)
as good as those who never carried a drop of unrelated blood."
As applied to modern breeding, this corollary effectively removes
concern which most breeders might have for Mu'niqi elements
in their horses' pedigree. The fact is that Mu'niqi influence
in most modern bloodlines traces to very remote pedigree elements
which have seldom concentrated in their descendents. They are
usually to far back to count for much, if anything. Some of
the best domestic American bloodlines are Mu'niqi in tail-female
and are therefore of that strain, as far as registration is
concerned. This is seldom the predominant strain in their pedigrees
and has little if any relationship to how they appear or how
they breed.
The same lack of concern is not necessarily
warranted for other "unrelated" pedigree elements.
Corollary 4: When animals of mixed strains
background but of the same strain are bred to each other, classic
type intensifies. This was the basis of "pure-in-strain" breeding,
which consisted of breeding animals of the same strain to each
other. Raswan maintained that "Orthodox Bedouins always bred
Arabians pure in the strain!" (Western Horseman "Pure
Strains of Arabians.") He felt that "plus points" accumulated
in working towards the reappearance of classic Arabian type
for each generation of breeding in a pedigree in which animals
of the same strains were bred to each other through the sixth
generation of breeding. ("'Key' to Arabian Pedigrees")
" 'Fanatics' aim at purity of strain...by faithful adherence
to the same strain. When that one particular strain has been
used throughout five generations, an Arabian horse of the original
type of the desert has been recreated." (From Western Horseman,
"Breeding to Arabian Type.")
Corollary 5: The Kuhaylan and Saqlawi
strains are related and their type characteristics are complementary.
Somewhat in contradiction to corollary 4 above, in personal
conversation as in some of his written work, Raswan maintained
that the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains were very much alike with
only minor differences and that they could be bred to each other
to produce an ideal Arabian." ... The mixing of the two classic-antique
types, (1) the Kuhaylan (including its substrains) and (2) the
Saqlawi (including its substrains), does no harm, as far as
Arabian characteristics, harmonious proportions, symmetrical
lines and the balance of the whole horse are concerned."
(Western Horseman "Related Strains of Arabians")
In personal conversation and in letters,
Raswan sometimes recommended this type of crossing as he did
to the present writer, to Dr. J.L. Doyle, and to Alice Payne.
It is the writer's impression that the cross between *Mirage
and *Raffles bloodlines initiated at the Selby farm in the 1930's
and subsequently followed at Never Die Farm and elsewhere, was
in part at least the result of Raswan's thought and/or recommendation.
He sometimes used *Mirage as an example of Saqlawi type and
*Raffles as an example of Kuhaylan type.
Corollary 6: Classic Arabian type emerges
as the percentage of Mu'niqi of unrelated ancestry diminishes.
"The most amazing improvements occur when Arabians are at
least four generations removed from any unrelated blood."
Western Horseman: "Breeding to Arabian Type"). In chart
form, Raswan's "'Key' to Arabian Pedigrees" establishes
a graduated system of points of evaluation in which points of
merit are subtracted according to how many Mu'niqi ancestors
appear in the first six generations and added according to the
number of generations the subject of a pedigree is removed from
Mu'niqi ancestry.
Corollary 7: Physical type of an individual
can be evidence of its strain background. This is illustrated
by a passage from manuscript in the Pritzlaff collection:
"Each strain with its families
is individually different... a Bedouin could without difficultly
place a blooded Arabian stallion or mare in his or her different
strain, because the distinctions of outward conformity are striking
to the accustomed eye. Likewise, the Arabian horse which comes
of a mixed strain can be judged outwardly according to its descent,
and a practiced eye can establish the various strains of the
sires and grandsires..."
In 1925, Raswan wrote a letter
to W.R. Brown, which is also included in the Pritzlaff Collection:
"If a Bedouin would come to your tent in the desert
and ask for a fast enduring horse to save his life from a well
mounted pursuer and you would offer him 3 mares to pick from:
a Saklawi, a Kuhailan, a Miniqi-he would pick the Kuhailan Mare
as sure as she would have to have 4 legs and he would not need
to ask you which one was the Kuhailan mare, as he would know
her from her looks and conformation!!"
Corollary 8: Strain breeding is not restricted
to the production of "classic" Arabian type. Raswan's theory
also was applicable to the production of "non-classic" types,
if the definition of "classic" is taken to be the picture-book
kind of pretty Arabian. From the Richard Pritzlaff collection,
in personal notation on the margin of pages torn out of Lady
Wentworth's The Authentic Arabian, he indicates that the Mu'niqi
mares *Ferda and *Farasin were included in his famous 1926 importation
from Crabbet to the Kellogg farm, because he "planned to
cross these Mu'niqiyah mares to a Mu'niqi stallion in America
(and could not get a pure Mu'niqiyah mare from Lady W. or anybody
else in England and had to take what would match the Mu'niqi
stallions in America." (Underlining Raswan's). Unfortunately,
such matings were not done, but at a later date he was successful
in carrying out or arranging breedings which
concentrated the Mu'niqi strain.
The writer has seen an example of the produce of this breeding,
and it was, sure enough, recognizably what Raswan had described
as Mu'niqi.
Raswan's theory as to the influence of Mu'niqi pedigree elements
is also useful in accounting for achieving certain desired results
in modern Arabian breeding which are apart from goals of strictly
"classic" breeding. Some of the features of Mu'niqi influence
are very attractive to modern breeders, especially in the show
context. Increased size, longer legs, longer necks, exaggeration
of tail carriage, racing rear leg structure, and extra elements
of "flash" are all components of individuality which can be
enhanced by a level of influence of Mu'niqi or certain other
blood that is unrelated to the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains.
Strain theory shows how such pedigree
elements can be used to furnish these features and at the same
time preserve some of the "classic" features of Arabian type,
such as a pretty head and general "Arab" character. The trick
is to have the sources of these elements close enough in a pedigree
to have the desired effect, but far enough back so that the
animal produced is attractive and balanced. A number of major
current breeding programs are successful in achieving this balance.
What has been presented in this article
is a version of elements of Raswan strain theory. Another writer
on the same subject might well come up with a somewhat different
account, but any person seriously attempting to represent Raswan's
work of record would at least have to give consideration to
the main points stated here.
Would Raswan have agreed with the present
article? Perhaps not. He was a man of extremely complicated
thought processes. Although he had the gift of appearing to
write very clearly, his work was by no means simple or easy
to understand. Probably no one completely understood Raswan
but Raswan.
It would be convenient if Raswan's strain
theory could be "proven." That is unlikely to ever happen in
any logical sense because of the difficulty of stating his thoughts
in empirically verifiable format. Furthermore, the objects from
which his theory was primarily derived, namely the Arabian horses
of tribal life in Arabia, no longer exist as Raswan wrote about
them. Current verification of the basic observation upon which
his theory is based is therefore unlikely.
Whether Raswan's strain theory can be
"proven" is really not of importance for most Arabian horse
breeders. The important thing is that it presents a way of breeding
and understanding Arabian horses which is effective in producing
good results for breeders. Many people over the years have used
it either knowingly or otherwise and been well rewarded. It
would be difficult for the theory to fail in application, because
it involves so many elements which are simply common sense,
practical applications of genetic principles, such as are used
by good breeders of many kinds of livestock.
An example of this is the emphasis on
the female side of a pedigree. Almost every cow-man know that
his best calves come from a certain few cows in his herd. That
is not considered strain theory: just a fact of life. Another
example of common sense in Raswan strain theory is the importance
given to the actual observable results of strain breeding. People
expect such results, and use them as a check on strain procedures.
It is also a matter of common sense as well as accepted genetic
expectation, that animals of fixed-type reproduce themselves
when bred to each other. Just about every breeder of purebred
livestock must be aware of this. Another almost universally
accepted basis of livestock breeding is that, as pedigree elements
become distant, they become less important.
In general, much of Raswan's application
of strain theory was based on simple, logical principles of
breeding. They were useful, and, if they were not technically
provable, they were not different in this from most other of
the "principles" of everyday living upon which we depend for
all kinds of guidance. Most of us don't know what makes the
car go, apples fall, medicine work, and the banks stay open.
Our lack of perfect knowledge does not keep us from making useful
decisions about such events, not does it prevent us from using
strain-breeding concepts as tools in the production of better
Arabian horses.
Raswan, C.R., The Arab and His Horse,
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 55-11083.
Raswan, C.R., The Raswan Index.
Published in several editions. References here are given by
topic rather than page number as a convenience to readers.
Raswan, C.R., A Collection of Articles
by Carl Raswan, a private republication by Alice L. Payne and
her son Robert of articles by Carl Raswan originally appearing
in Western Horseman magazine.
Raswan, C.R., "Key" to Arabian Pedigrees.
Originally copyrighted in 1956, this document was later incorporated
into The Raswan Index.
