Calling ALL Hispano-Arabe's
Do you Own or Breed a Hispano-Arabe ?
Are you interested in the protection and promotion
of this rare/minority breed?
I am in the process of working with the BAPSH
to provide a registrar and liaison
for the independent representation
of the Pure Raza Hispano-Arabe in Britain.
Doma Vaquera
the traditional work of the Hispano-Arabe'
Copywrite of
Cathy Spearing
the traditional work of the Hispano-Arabe'
Copywrite of
Cathy Spearing
www.equinart.blogspot.com
Closure to Move Forward!
Before venturing down the road to unite the Hispano-Arabe fraternity to work for the good of the breed there are many issues festering in the background, and while it is not appropriate or constructive to catalogue them it is perhaps important that the existence of grievances be acknowledged in order for the past to be laid to rest.
As its title states the British Association for the Pure Bred Spanish Horse was set up in the early 1980's for the Pure Bred Spanish Horse. The members who struggled and worked to forge the links with Spanish and British officialdom in order to bring about the organisation that exists today were doing so for the breed of horse they felt passionately about.
They were not in those early days expecting to have another breed of Spanish horse quite literally thrust into their midst. When I came onto the scene in 1985 with Piyayo a Hispano-Arabe stallion from Spain, the fledgling society did not know what he was. Other than defining him as 'just another part-bred' they had no reason to believe that the Hispano-Arabe would become another equine requiring as much commitment from them as their own much loved PRE.
They were not in those early days expecting to have another breed of Spanish horse quite literally thrust into their midst. When I came onto the scene in 1985 with Piyayo a Hispano-Arabe stallion from Spain, the fledgling society did not know what he was. Other than defining him as 'just another part-bred' they had no reason to believe that the Hispano-Arabe would become another equine requiring as much commitment from them as their own much loved PRE.
Unbeknown to them, Spain was in the very process of taking action to officially set in motion its own agenda for the protection and promotion of the Hispano-Arabe. The Spanish Government Ministry of Environment for Rural and Marine Affairs registered the Hispano-Arabe in its official records of livestock in the group of National Breeds in Danger of Extinction.
In the USA where the Hispano-Arabe has for generations been in working use as a cattle stock horse, the plea for help in protecting the breed was headed and wholeheartedly responded to with the establishment of PRHa' Association to meet the requirements of the Cria.
In 1986 the BAPSH rose to the occasion of trying to take under its wing the Hispano-Arabe and all the added demands of juggling extra paperwork and officialdom that came as part of the trappings of handling a foreign breed. Sadly from the outset whether by failure of understanding and communication problems it was never truly grasped by the association committee of that time that the Hispano-Arabe was in fact a breed in its own right with special breeding concessions being put in place as part of a bigger National programme to save the breed. Any search of the inter-net will show the repeated misconception by both PRE and Ha' studs here that this is nothing more than a cross-bred or part bred of the PRE.
That error and perhaps a shadow of discontent at the demands for assistance from the Hispano-Arabe members has as much as anything over the years been a constant knife of disharmony and it is, unfortunately, the horse or more specifically the breed protection and recovery programme that has suffered.
Over the years I have received many phone calls from Hispano-Arabe owners frustrated at perceived and/or actual slights to their breed or failures by the society to 'do what it says on the bottle'! The fact is the society has fulfilled its obligations to the breed for which it was founded; the PRE, and gone beyond that in stretching itself albeit with the wrong conception to provide for what it has believed was simply a cross breed aspiring to new status as a breed.
For their part the Hispano-Arabe members even when misinformed about what exactly they were breeding (ie it is a breed in its own right and not a part-bred/cross-bred) needed to have the sense to understand the Hispano-Arabe is not in any way a PRE, it has a totally different commercial and financial value and should be trained and bred and sold with consideration for what the Hispano-Arabe can do and not as in so many cases be produced with a belief that it will train and 'retail' in the high end market on a par with the PRE.
In short, yes, there has been horrendous unnecessary problems all around in the management and representation of the Hispano-Arabe in this country. I point this fact out simply so that we can move forward without bitterness or recrimination.
The BAPSH has grown significantly since its beginnings and the members that work to maintain this society do so rightly for the PRE. Apart from the successful promotion and expansion of these horses here, changes in Spain regarding the registration and management of the PRE have already resulted in added work for the committee. The impact to the Hispano-Arabe owners is the question of future assessment and grading now that the society has had to transfer its links to new organisations in Spain for the PRE.
However at this point in time the Cria is still very much involved in continuing the conservation Plan they have committed themselves to, which means in the interest of the breed they will endeavour to continue assessing and grading our horses and the BAPSH will work to assist in facilitating this requirement despite it being a logistic burden impacting on their commitment to the PRE members. But, are we, the Hispano-Arabe owners/breeders for our part prepared to seriously work for the preservation and expansion of the breed through a concerted effort to co-operate in constructively promoting and expanding the breed.
Taking account of the fact that management of the two breeds for registration and grading in Spain has now more than ever before diversified into very different 'camps', it is only to be expected that the logistics for the society has reached a point where it must seriously consider the viability of continuing to tie the two breeds in one association.
For now I am looking at working with and within the BAPSH structure to provide an independent registrar and liaison for the Hispano-Arabe horses. If there is a serious interest from the Hispano-Arabe members to now join Spain fully in its commitment to preserve and promote the breed and to promote its breeding and use in the present day to ensure the long term health of the breed, we can with the the guidance and experience of the BAPSH take the steady steps to establish our own association for the Hispano-Arabe.
Over the next months I will be producing articles aimed at facilitating a better understanding of the Hispano-Arabe as a Breed in order to help potential breeders and owners. In some cases these will be derived from translations of articles produced in Spain in their official promotion for the protection and expansion of the Hispano-Arabe breed.
Over the next months I will be producing articles aimed at facilitating a better understanding of the Hispano-Arabe as a Breed in order to help potential breeders and owners. In some cases these will be derived from translations of articles produced in Spain in their official promotion for the protection and expansion of the Hispano-Arabe breed.
As I go to 'press' with the opening of this blog changes I suspected to happen, have. The Cria Caballar no longer manages the Hispano-Arabe Stud Book. This breed has now been designated as a Sports Horse under the rules of ANCADES the Spanish Sports Horse Association and the Stud Book handed to the custody of UEGHa' The Spanish Union of Cattle Dealers of PRHa'.
www.eponahispano-arabe.co.uk
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