16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent intro to the origins of the Arabian horse, April 8, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Classic Arabian Horse (Hardcover)
This book presents the basics of the historical background of the modern arabian horse. It is slanted a bit towards the Egyptian Arabian but that is ok, as it does mention other sources. It has some excellent photos and is a stepping stone to hte next Forbis book, Authentic Arabian Bloodstock.
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32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected..., October 2, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Classic Arabian Horse (Hardcover)
I was very dissapointed in this book. When I ordered it, I was expecting a well-informed and objective discussion of the arabian breed in general. What came in the mail was a vindictive, biased, insulting diatribe that could be called "The Gospel of Judith Forbis".
If you are a straight egyptian enthusiast, this may be an enjoyable book, because the author is extremely prejudiced towards this group of bloodlines. There is an implicit, haughty assumption throughout the book that the only "true" arabian horse is a straight egyptian, and a considerable amount of time is spent bashing people who throughout modern history have deviated from this idea. For example, it seems that the author virtually worships Anne Blunt, and makes assertions such as that Lady Wentworth whored out her mother's stud by buying and using Skowronek, who was "impure" because he came from polish bloodlines (an assumption she contradicts at a later point). She also suggests that Lady Wentworth destroyed the Crabbet Stud by not becoming a preservation breeder of Ali Pasha Sherif bloodlines and was ill-informed about the breed or outright lied to say that true arabian greatness was no longer procurable in Egypt as it once had been.
Okay, let me see. Horses descending from Skowronek and other non-egyptian lines have formed the foundation of Al-Marah, Varian Arabians, and etc., etc, etc. It is hard to see how one can respect this idea. For example: Bay El Bey, Witez II, Raffles, Indraff, Xenophonn, Khemosabi, GS Khocise, Magnum, Sanacht, and so on ad infinitum. Egyptians are not the only horses out there.
Judith Forbis also makes predictions such as that all arabian breeders are rushing to recreate the original bedouin horse and that we are on the threshold of seeing straight egyptians dominating every aspect of show and performance at every level. 27 years later, what has come of these prognostications? There are very good straight egyptians, but who could say that they are totally, or even mostly dominating the arabian horse world?
Some other problems: Why is Nazeer so much more valuable than virtually every other modern sire? Was it ony because he was a direct progrenitor of Ansata Ibn Halima, Ansata Bint Mabrouka, and so on? Why are Lady Wentworths ideas so wrong? is it because if they are taken in a certain way, it means that the Ansata horses are not what Mrs. Forbis wants them to be?
The strength of this book lies in that it is good historically regarding the development of the breed and that its author does have some valid ideas about correct conformation. But even this aspect is dissapointing because Mrs. Forbis is not a very good writer, and the words are overblown, sickly, and purplish prose. And once she gets to the period of the 18 century on, when the breed begins to diversify in earnest, the book is so narrow in scope and consideration of other ideas that it becomes effectually worthless.
I would not reccomend this, as it is not represented in very good context. I have nothing against straight egyptians, but I think it also important to give fair consideration to other bloodlines and ideas. This cannot be considered to be what ist is represented as, which is a comprehensive history and discourse on the purebred arabian horse.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book on the Arabian and Ansata's breeding, November 10, 1998
This review is from: The Classic Arabian Horse (Hardcover)
This book contains a rich background on the imports brought to America by Ansata Arabians. Wonderful pictures of desert-bred horses and their progeny in the United States. Very informative, I enjoyed reading it, and especially studying the pictures and pedigrees of past generations of Arabians.
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