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Save the Desert Arabian Horse

LEARN ABOUT AND ENROLL IN THE “DRINKERS OF THE WIND” PERFORMANCE AWARD PROGRAM HERE

 

READ THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE ABOUT THE CONTINUING DECLINE IN THE US.

(down­load PDF)

Without imme­diate inter­ven­tion, we could lose the Desert Arabian horse within the next generation

  • The Desert Arabian horse is one of the oldest of breeds, devel­oped by the Bedouin who bred them pure for thou­sands of years.
  • The Desert Arabian horse provided the foun­da­tion stock to create almost all other light breeds of horse.
  • Fewer than 8 percent of the 400,000 modern Arabian horses regis­tered world­wide descend exclu­sively from the orig­inal Bedouin horse: these are the last Desert Arabian horses.
  • New births of Desert Arabian horses have declined over 60 percent in the past decade; fewer than 800 fillies were born world­wide in 2010 – to mares that average 18 years of age.

Once lost, this precious genetic pool can never be restored.  Only imme­diate inter­ven­tion can save this breeding popu­la­tion for the next generation.

You can help.

Read more about the Desert Arabian horse - how it is unique, and its endan­gered status - then Get Involved!

TRACK THE NUMBERS:

 
Total US Purebred registrations: 
2012: 3653 (through December; down 7% from 2011)
2011: 3939
2010: 4912
2009: 5544
 
Total US registered Desert Arabian foals born in: 
2011: 493
2010: 644
2009: 741
Numbers for all years are updated as additional horses are registered.
The Insti­tute esti­mates that fewer than 1500 Desert Arabians are foaled world­wide each year. Most are born in North America, Egypt, Germany, Syria, and the Gulf states.