Where’s the Fire by Carmel Rowley – Part 2
Adapted from an article written by Carmel Rowley for The Arabian Horse Express June – July 2004

Owning, riding or breeding Arabian horses is an ideal test of patience and it takes courage to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
Most are impatient for results but there’s an old saying, “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” and often hurried decisions can cause many to become side-tracked and confused. Often they wonder why they became involved in the first place.

In Judith Forbis’ book, “Authentic Arabian Bloodstock II” she states. “One must mate two individuals whose germ plasms will include the genes one chooses to perpetuate. If genes from another individual need to be introduced, then it is necessary to wait for another generation. Here is where patience and perseverance come into the picture.”

To hurry through each day, each week, each year, reduces life to just an existence. A sense of urgency arises to see the ‘fruit’ of breeding decisions in the first year instead of the third!

‘Generations’

by Willa Frayser – in a Private Collection www.willfrayserstudio.co

Let’s face it ever since man sat on the back of a horse and gave thought to breeding a stallion over a mare, no subject has been given more attention or attracted more controversy among the horse community.

The time spent learning the art of horsemanship is never more obvious than with the rider, years of effort goes into training a saddle horse for hacking, dressage or endurance. We are told over and over training a horse should never be hurried.

W.Museler wrote in his book “Riding Logic. One small piece of advice: be patient!
Patience should be written across your stable door, across the four walls of your riding school, across the pommel of your saddle. The end of all schooling and dressage is perfect harmony between man and mount. The horse must show that he feels comfortable and the rider must not betray how hard it is to do this.”

Is our horse community so insecure a rushed un-researched decision or blue ribbon victory is their idea of acceptance by their peers?
Unfortunately, show wins are not transmitted genetically.

Certain long standing questions keep arising with alarming regularity down through the decades.
Is it about financial rewards?
Is it about feeling superior to others?
Or, is it simply an inspiring exercise of love?
Take time to reflect and understand where you are today and plan where you want to be tomorrow. If you have patiently sorted out where you’re going, there is no doubt, one day you will arrive!

This is one of my favourite quotes and I used it on the weekend in my talk at the AGM. To quote the master breeder Daniel C. Gainey, “I have always tried to build as nearly as possible what I think is the ideal Arabian. I have not rushed to accept fads…..I have not hurried. In business I have counted time by decades. In breeding elegant Arabians for today and forever a little longer is necessary.”