Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA – The Asil (purebred) Arabian horse is one of the oldest horse breeds in the world.
According to historical documents, the origins of Arabian horse date back to 7000 years ago as it is distinguished by the strong bones and pure blood according to the opinion of specialists.
Syria pays remarkable attention to Arabian horses and their breeds, where the Arabian Horse Office was established at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in 1994, according to assistant of Agricultural Minster, Ahmad Qadish.
He told SANA that one of the most important tasks of the office is to preserve this animal wealth and develop its breed through several procedures that have been implemented over the past years in Syria to preserve the Arabian horses and develop their breed. One of these procedures included issuance of “Genealogy Books” and Arabic and English passports.
Providing scientific and technical instructions, vaccines, veterinary medicines and feed supplements necessary for these horses and establishing stalls in many areas, were also among the measures adopted, according to Qadish.
He emphasized that the positive effects of this interest will appear more during the next stage, especially after the establishment of many modern farms to breed Arabian horses and the establishment of race tracks.
The horse stalls spread in most provinces such as: Deir Ezzor, Hasaka, Hama, Damascus and its countryside and Aleppo, therefore every breeder has halter classes of some type.
Halter classes are usually grouped by breed, sex, or age.
Purebred Arabian horses are a model in competence, beauty and stamina as they leave a great influence on their breeders and lovers due to their behavior and the attributes distinguishing them from other animals such as smartness, loyalty and the slender body.
Syria is the best place in the whole world to purchase true Arabian blood horses. The colors of horses existed in Syria are reddish-brown “al-Kumet”, blond, red, honey, gray, and white.
Qadish touched upon the importance of the purebred Arabian horse as a national resource and its benefits from the economic side and the necessity of increasing its numbers and preserving it from the risk of epidemics and deadly animal diseases.
He indicated that an annual periodic preventive programs is applied in addition to immunizing horses with preventive vaccines according to the approved programs and controlling internal and external parasites, securing feeds and providing clean water sources for drinking.
As for horse tattoo, it helps knowing the lineage of any purebred Arabian horse where it is tattooed with drawings on the top of the neck on the right side to distinguish it from the others, as Qadish mentioned.
According to statistics of the Agricultural Ministry, the number of the purebred Arabian horse registered in Syria reached to 7,000.
Syria has the genetic make-up of the Arabian horse, which played a major role in developing international horse breeds according to views of the specialists in the Office of the Horse.
Qadish pointed out that purebred Arabian horses are currently exported from Syria to Lebanon and Iraq only because of the unilateral coercive economic measures on Syria.
In 1989, Syria joined the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Syrian farms for breeding purebred Arabian horses are considered among the most famous in the world due to their famous breeds spread in many governorates. The market of Deir Ezzor, as described by the English traveler Lady “Anne Blunt”, is the most important market for purchasing purebred Arabian horses in all of the Asian continent.
Hybah Sleman /GH.A.Hassoun
