I’ve just returned home from our U.S. National Championship Show in Tulsa — I have a few things I’d like to say.

First things first — The performance aspect of U.S. Nationals was absolutely unbelievable. The quality and calibre of our performance horses were nothing short of spectacular. The quality has gotten so high, in both the open and amateur divisions, that I really don’t know how some of the judges were able to adjudicate — all of the performance divisions were immaculate in turnout and high quality. The AEPA classes were amazing. Just overall, the performance aspect of the Arabian horse industry is humming along. Big congratulations to all the exhibitors!

I wish I could say the same about the halter division at Nationals… I’ve never seen so many National Champion roses & trophies awarded in a 4 hour period… National Champion Yearling, National Champion 2 Year Old, National Champion 3 Year Old, National Champion Futurity Filly and Colt — and it went on. What have we done to our Halter division? We’ve diluted our classes so much that the prestige of being named a Top Ten, let alone National Champion, has diminished to have no meaning. I’m not taking anything away from the beautiful horses that won in Tulsa, what I’m saying is we need to come back to the very point of having a United States National Championships Horse Show — to showcase and reward the VERY best of the Arabian horse breed. With that said — I think as owners, breeders, and trainers we really need to think long and hard about what we want out of a show that should represent only the very best of our breed.

We must go back to only having the Futurity Fillies, Colts & Geldings as well as the Senior Mares, Stallions, and Geldings at Nationals — imagine the prestige of vying for the title of National Champion, imagine the prestige that would be restored for a National Top Ten placing in these classes? A Top Ten would mean something in a class of 30 or 40… what is a halter Top Ten in a class of 3 – 3rd (last) place? Or a National Champion win with only two or three entries?

My second point is to ELIMINATE and do away with all 18 Regional Shows — turn them into GREAT Class A shows. We don’t need Regional Championships anymore, we really never did – it’s ruined our breed and industry. Let’s put our time and effort into making GREAT Class A Shows. With the qualification system the way it is, exhibitors can qualify with points for Nationals at Class A shows. Let’s revive the Buckeye Show and other great local Class A shows around North America that were once part of our yearly show calendar and where a win at one of these shows meant something!!

Thirdly — and I’m sure I’ll get some fire thrown at me — but we need to think long and hard as to what Transported Semen has done to our breed. People, let’s face it — our breed stability and economy is EXTREMELY fragile and on the verge of crashing down on us. Imagine how our breed could turn around if breeders and stallion owners decided to not offer transported (or FROZEN) semen to their stallions (I’m all for on farm AI!). Imagine we bred to stallions in our own areas. Imagine if we did away with frozen semen and perhaps embryo transfer as well? Look at the Thoroughbred industry — Transported & Frozen Semen along with ET is forbidden. Look how diluted their gene pool is, look how successful TB small breeders are (look at how many people were breeding Arabian horses before Transported Semen came along). Imagine if breeding stallions went back to standing at the breeders farm, where the stallion and mare owners could meet on a Sunday afternoon and build a relationship, have the chance to see first hand the offspring of the stallion, come back the following weekend with their mare ready to breed or perhaps with a trailer to buy a colt to be their next herd sire or a filly to be their next foundation mare. Imagine if breeders and owners had local Class A shows as an outlet to showcase (and perhaps sell) their stock where they in turn could then afford to send one or two of their horses to the LOCAL trainers to be shown at LOCAL shows, where the PUBLIC and fellow BREEDERS would be in attendance. I’m not talking $100,000 sales, I’m talking Five, Ten, Fifteen, maybe Twenty-Five Thousand dollar sales. If you think about some of the most successful breeding programs in North America, that are even still around today — they’ve developed and succeeded by utilizing the colts they bred that were sired by previous generations of their stock, of course sometimes outcrossing and fusing in other blood, but how it’s done is meticulous and to the betterment of their breeding program. Imagine being from the East Coast and going to the West Coast to buy a breeding colt that you could take back to the East and breed with, allowing other breeders to partake in utilizing that specific bloodline. Same could be said for those from the West traveling to the East who purchase a mare to take back West — imagine that mare having a son on the West Coast that could potentially be the next big stallion in the West! We’ve lost the camaraderie of fellow local breeders, we’ve lost the excitement of having a colt born on our farm, we’ve lost the level playing ground, and we’ve completely wiped out the local shows that was once an extremely important tool to marketing and selling horses, one of the key elements of the diminishing Arabian horse industry. We’ve lost the support of breeders, the ones who spend thankless hours foal watching, feeding, caring, studying, mucking, and the ones who are the foundation of this industry.

Fellow Arabian horse friends, we need serious change — and drastic measures need to be taken before it’s too late. The future of the Arabian horse industry in North America is literally on it’s way out if we don’t pull together and make some immediate changes very, very soon. Arabian horse breeders are what keeps this industry going (of course the trainers help!) but without breeders, trainers have no horses to train and no horses to sell to their clients.

When we have no more breeders breeding Arabian horses, what will happen to the aged show horses that are showing today? Where will you go to buy your next show horse? We can fluff up our shows by adding this class and that class, by decorating the arenas, by dividing the classes so everyone gets a piece and no feelings are hurt, age divisions, and this and that — but I’m afraid this is not the solution at this moment in time, only a band-aid. The crisis we face is much deeper rooted and it comes down to supporting the breeder. The one who invests the initial blood, sweat, and tears into creating an animal that will, hopefully, go on to providing 20+ years of joy, happiness and SUCCESS.

Written by Braden Davidson