Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq was keen to pass on his experience in raising horses to future generations, as he goes on to review important aspects of his experiences, saying: I found that no matter how good the father and mother are, there is no way to verify the creation of a good product, but rather it may not happen from a large herd. Of the good mares except on one or two excellent or perfect foals. As long as I was told that there are excellent horses in Yemen, I asked my friend, General Aziz Pasha, the governor of Yemen, to send me something from them. Unfortunately, she had the habit of urinating while riding, and the harm in that is not hidden, especially when riding in congregation, as the horse might scatter some urine with its tail on the riders, and this is a harm.
He added that: In breeding, I do not prefer a strong mare over a light structure. Rather, it is important that the mare is in complete health and in a good condition that enables her to conceive, give birth and nourish the newborn.
And the prince continued: I have bred Arabian horses for fifty-five years, and I – as an orientalist – and after reading what the Europeans wrote without examining the facts on the matter – see it as my duty to dictate what valuable information I have on this subject to horse lovers in the world.
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq’s advice to horse breeders
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq gave several tips for horse breeding enthusiasts; So that they can produce good horses that increase the beauty, strength and distinction of the purebred Arabian horse. He says: If you want to establish a breeding place, I think that you should have a large number of mares, and a spacious place in which there is a lot of green grass; to run into it; So that the expenses of its maintenance and breeding are as little as possible.
To ensure success, the number of mares must be at least 30, bearing in mind that it is not required that you obtain well-shaped foals, even if the mares and the “talented” horse are of the first degree in the beauty of nature as happens in humans, and you are surprised when you see ugly children From two beautiful parents.
But this does not mean that you should refuse a horse or a mare unless the third belly is also bad, and if you have 30 or 40 mares, you will undoubtedly have at least 10 or 15 beautiful foals.
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq continues with his advice, saying: You can choose first-class foals for riding, for riding, and for showing. As for the foals that are in the second degree, you can train them to race, and if they are not suitable for that, then they are more likely to be sold.
The mare must have a long neck and a wide belly, and this is a prerequisite for a production mare; Because such a mare gives birth to strong, healthy foals, and like her forefathers can produce beautiful foals.
The originality of the horse race at Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq emphasized that some horses have inherent features that always appear in their offspring, and that some people believe that mares are stronger in originality than darab horses. Because it is she who feeds the child in her womb and after his birth, and he followed by saying: But I personally believe that the reliance in this is on the strength of the originality of the sex, whether it is in the mother or the father.
He gave an example of this with the horse “Ibn Rabdan”, one of the horses of the Royal Agricultural Society. It often produces blond offspring from mothers of different colours, but if he is given a mare that is more original in color, for example, her son will be like her.
He emphasized that the Arabian horse is considered fully grown if it reaches the age of five, so it will be able to work until it reaches the age of twenty-eight.
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq added: I had a thirty-year-old horse, and a horse at this age should not molt more than one young mare annually.
He pointed out that the idea of acquiring a good thoroughbred horse is a delicious dream for a hobbyist who collected his information about horses from books, but often changes his mind and knows that he may have had a thoroughbred horse with some defects, so he gave him a flawless product, and the explanation for this is that the horse does not produce the same, Rather, he produces like his ancestors.
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq quotes Lady Blunt, the granddaughter of Lord Byron, who is fond of Arabian horses, whom she knows well due to her frequent visits to Arabia, as saying: The taluka horse did not win a prize in the exhibition because of the tenderness of its bones and joints, but to produce the offspring.
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq and the conditions of the stallion horse
Prince Muhammad Ali Tawfiq clarified the conditions that must be met by the striking horse (stallion); In order to produce distinguished horses, which is to be rooted in traits in its production and shape, the Talukh horse team must not rely on its merits and lineage, and see its production to ensure its authenticity. Arabs often sell a thoroughbred horse at a cheap price; Because his offspring did not fulfill what they thought of him, and a stud horse, whose good yield was not verified, may have bequeathed some hidden defects to his offspring instead of bequeathing him his merits.
And he continued: The breeder who chooses a horse (the stallion) must see his produce; To know whether his qualities are fixed in his offspring or not. Sometimes a horse is pure and beautiful, but his production is not good; Because some defects appeared in it, they were passed on to the produce from the ancestors of this beautiful horse, and vice versa. An expert breeder should not judge a thoroughbred horse as unfit for a simple defect that did not exist in his grandparents, since it is very likely that this defect does not appear in his product.
He concluded by saying: Therefore, the Arabs are more interested in selecting the Persians than in selecting the talaqah, so much so that they attribute the horses’ stockings to their mothers.
