RECLAIMING MEMORY:  An Oral History of the Desert Arabian Horse

Perpet­u­ating an Oral Tradition

The past has the power to inform, instruct, and inspire present and future generations.

The Desert Arabian horse is inex­tri­cably bound to the Bedouin peoples who devel­oped, nurtured, and valued its unique char­ac­ter­is­tics over several millennia and archived its history in their oral tradi­tions. The horse was a core element of tradi­tional Bedouin culture. The Bedouin way of life depended on camels and horses: Arabian horses were bred to be war horses with speed, endurance, sound­ness, and intel­li­gence. Because many raids required stealth, mares were preferred over stal­lions because they were quieter and would not give away the posi­tion of the fighters. A good dispo­si­tion was crit­ical; prized war mares were often brought inside family tents to prevent theft and for protec­tion from weather and preda­tors. Although appear­ance was not neces­sarily a survival factor, the Bedouin bred for refine­ment and beauty in their horses as well as for more prac­tical features. In story and song and poem, accounts of famous horses, their feats and the breeding prac­tices of their masters were passed from gener­a­tion to generation.

From its orig­inal desert home, the Arabian horse has trav­eled to the studs of kings and commoners around the world, no longer the central focus of a living semi-​​nomadic culture but an adjunct element in post-​​industrial soci­eties. The lineage of these horses—maintained for gener­a­tions in memory and trans­mitted orally throughout the Middle East—has been reduced to written form for Western eyes. The Bedouin-​​bred Arabian horse was used to create and improve breeds in the West. Only since the late 1800s, however, has the Arabian horse been bred for its own intrinsic value outside of the breed’s “cradle” coun­tries in the Middle East and North Africa.

During the first half of the 20^th century, the Arabian was a rare breed in the West. The nascent Arabian Horse Club in the U.S. recorded fewer than 250 imports and 7,000 foals born by 1950. The Arabian horse was used mainly as a saddle mount or working ranch horse. By the mid-​​point of the century, the world was still recov­ering from the disrup­tion of two world wars. The Bedouin culture was forever changed: Less nomadic, increas­ingly seden­tary. Tradi­tional horse-​​breeding retreated to the back country and deep desert areas of the Middle East. Colo­nialism teetered on the brink of disso­lu­tion. Polit­ical inde­pen­dence came to char­ac­terize much of the Middle East, and the economies of many devel­oped nations exploded. Saudi Arabia’s oil riches attracted Amer­ican investors, and some who went to the Arabian Penin­sula returned with magnif­i­cent horses. A few of these horses found their way into isolated breeding programs intent on the preser­va­tion of a tradi­tion of desert breeding. In 1952, Egypt under­went a polit­ical revo­lu­tion and estab­lished a populist govern­ment. The Royal Agri­cul­tural Society of Cairo (RAS) was reor­ga­nized into the Egyptian Agri­cul­tural Orga­ni­za­tion (EAO). The Arabian horse-​​breeding program at the EAO changed direc­tion. Horses formerly unob­tain­able were avail­able for export, creating a bold scenario for Arabian horse breeding in the U.S. The 1950s-​​1980s were the heyday of the Arabian horse industry. More than 2,700 horses were imported, and regis­tra­tions reached almost 30,000 annually.

Concur­rently, a resur­gence of interest emerged in the orig­inal Desert Arabian horse (the asil or “pure” horse of the Bedouin) and the phys­i­o­logic, tempera­mental, and genetic qual­i­ties devel­oped by its orig­inal custo­dians. This increased interest led to formal and informal efforts to perpet­uate what remained of the asil Arabian horse in the West. The United States became the world’s largest repos­i­tory of the asil Arabian horse, and concerted, coor­di­nated preser­va­tion efforts on behalf of the Desert Arabian horse were initi­ated. Many of the breeders involved were drawn by the allure of Bedouin culture and the char­ac­ter­is­tics that had been bred into the horse over millennia. Given its people-​​oriented dispo­si­tion and its athletic prowess, the Arabian horse was well-​​positioned to make a tran­si­tion from Bedouin war-​​horse to sporting animal. It quickly took its place as a versa­tile competitor against new breeds devel­oped for special­ized disci­plines in the emerging, highly orga­nized, and compart­mental world of equine competition.

However, times have changed. The contem­po­rary period from the 1990s through the first decade of the 21^st century has seen a substan­tial decline in general Arabian breeding, with annual regis­tra­tions in the U.S. aver­aging fewer than 8,000 since 2000. Although there has been a concur­rent overall increase of interest in the Arabian horse else­where, espe­cially in the area of its origin, in the West the popu­la­tion of horses of uniquely “desert” origin has shown a sharply down­ward trend.

Further­more, our collec­tive, public memory is limited.

There was a time when breeders of Arabian horses scoured the country for people of common interest and expe­ri­ence, but those days are gone. To be sure, some written records from the first half of the 20^th century are avail­able, but the breeders who estab­lished the Arabian horse in the U.S. are no longer among us. Such written mate­rials as do exist for the period 1950–1990 are largely un-​​cataloged and un-​​indexed. Despite some limited efforts to chron­icle the expe­ri­ence of those who played key roles in perpet­u­ating the Desert Arabian and popu­lar­izing its use in the West, much factual and contex­tual infor­ma­tion has been lost. Many of the men and women who were involved with the breed during this period have crit­ical knowl­edge that has never been recorded. Neither the char­acter of signif­i­cant horses nor the passion of their breeders is well-​​captured in print or other durable media.

There­fore, to supple­ment the written history of the Desert Arabian horse in the West, to record the passions and recol­lec­tions of its breeders and other custo­dians, and to capture the now fast-​​fading memo­ries of days gone by, the  Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian Horse has initi­ated an oral history program. In under­taking a schol­arly and adven­ture­some recla­ma­tion of memory, the Insti­tute seeks to preserve the stories of indi­vid­uals who helped create the fabric of our shared expe­ri­ence with the Desert Arabian Horse and whose lives, in turn, were shaped by the people, places, events, and ideas of their day.

Program Descrip­tion

Objec­tive:

Reclaiming Memory aims to extend the oral tradi­tion of the Bedouin by making recol­lec­tions of Western breeders, trainers, and other indi­vid­uals asso­ci­ated with the Desert Arabian horse avail­able to the public, researchers, histo­rians, and future custo­dians of the breed. These recol­lec­tions will be collected through sound-​​recorded inter­views and archived as part of the Institute’s perma­nent collec­tion. On comple­tion of signif­i­cant inter­views, the Insti­tute will create both text and video prod­ucts to be deliv­ered to the Arabian breeding commu­nity and the public in multiple modes (peri­od­i­cals, mono­graphs, stand-​​alone video, and text+video via the World Wide Web.)

Scope:

Reclaiming Memory will focus initially on the crucial period of the 1950’s-1980’s and on those indi­vid­uals whose length, breadth, and depth of knowl­edge of the Desert Arabian horse can best inform future breeders, custo­dians, and others captured by the magic of the Desert Arabian horse. Early inter­views will capture recol­lec­tions of this dynamic period, docu­menting breeding prac­tices and deci­sion processes of master breeders who produced signif­i­cant Desert Arabian horses and recording first-​​hand memo­ries about key horses–characteristics not apparent from written records of awards, compe­ti­tions, and the success of progeny–and events. Subor­di­nate projects will develop that may cover various blood­line tradi­tions, subse­quent histor­ical periods, inno­v­a­tive breeding and conser­va­tion prac­tices, and other related themes.

Prin­cipal Investigator:

M. Kent Mayfield, MA, M.Div, Ph.D, L.H.D., will serve the project as Prin­cipal Inves­ti­gator. The founding Chair of the Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian Horse, Dr. Mayfield was long the pres­i­dent of Al Khamsa, Inc., an orga­ni­za­tion of breeders of Desert Arabian horses in North America, and serves on the Board of Direc­tors of The Pyramid Society, an inter­na­tional orga­ni­za­tion dedi­cated to the preser­va­tion and promo­tion of Egyptian Arabian horses. Widely respected for his educa­tional program­ming in the Arabian breeding commu­nity, Dr. Mayfield has been an advo­cate for histor­ical and scien­tific research.

Advi­sors:

Consis­tent with the Institute’s repu­ta­tion for high schol­arly stan­dards, a panel of advi­sors has been iden­ti­fied for Reclaiming Memory, including both those with knowl­edge of the horses and people that are the focus of the effort and those with exper­tise in the profes­sional prac­tices of oral history. The role of the Advi­sory Committee is to hear high-​​level project reports and offer advice and feed­back on areas of prin­ciple interest to the project.

The Advi­sory Committee will also be asked to:

• Iden­tify indi­vid­uals and orga­ni­za­tions that could assist in acquiring needed infor­ma­tion;
• Provide tech­nical advice and assis­tance to inter­viewers and project admin­is­tra­tion;
• Support liaison with and networking among orga­ni­za­tions of shared interest in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East  to facil­i­tate coop­er­a­tive efforts;
• Recom­mend specific strate­gies and prod­ucts of impor­tance to a variety of audi­ences, as well as activ­i­ties that could raise public aware­ness about the project and its find­ings;
• Help iden­tify and make contact with sources of finan­cial support for the project;
• Focus atten­tion on under-​​documented topics and issues related to the project; and
• Assure the cultural and schol­arly appro­pri­ate­ness of project efforts.

The Advi­sory Committee includes:

Robert Arndt – Editor, “Saudi Aramco World,” Mr. Arndt has used his posi­tion to broaden knowl­edge of the cultures, history, and geog­raphy of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connec­tions with the West.

Joe Ferriss – Equine histo­rian and author, Mr. Ferriss is widely acknowl­edged as an author­i­ta­tive source of infor­ma­tion on the asil Desert Arabian horse.

Peter Harrigan – Histo­rian and author, Mr. Harrigan has chron­i­cled the miove­ment of the Arabian horse from its Arabian “cradle” into Europe and North America.

Lisa Lacy – Scholar and researcher with degrees from the Univer­sity of Texas and Baylor Univer­sity, Ms. Lacy is the daughter of Jarrell McCracken, pioneer breeder of Egyptian Arabian horses.

Nasr Marei – Marei is the son of Dr. Sayed Marei who held together the EAO horses in the early 1960s after the abdi­ca­tion of the King. The Marei family (led by Mr. Marei’s grand­fa­ther) founded El Badeia stud in 1935.

Mohammed Jassim Al-​​Marzouk – Passionate breeder of Arabian horses from Kuwait, Marzouk has written widely about Bedouin horse-​​breeding traditions.

Hans Joachim Nagel – Pres­i­dent of the World Arabian Horse Orga­ni­za­tion, Dr. Nagel is a preem­i­nent breeder of Egyptian Arabian horses and owner of the world-​​famous Kathari­nenhof Stud in Germany.

Geo. Walter Olms – Pres­i­dent of the Asil Club, a major inter­na­tional conser­va­tion effort based in Europe, Dr. Olms has been an advo­cate for the asil Arabian horse for more than thirty-​​five years.

Mary Jane Parkinson – Long an editor with Arabian Horse World maga­zine, Ms. Parkinson has an envi­able acquain­tance with the history of the Arabian horse and its stew­ards in the U.S. and Europe.

Coop­er­a­tive relationships:

To assure access for Reclaiming Memory to the highest levels of tech­nical exper­tise and under­standing of the cultural signif­i­cance of histor­ical research, the Insti­tute has entered into a working agree­ment with the Insti­tute for Oral History. Located in Central Texas, U.S., the Insti­tute for Oral History is a free­standing research depart­ment within Baylor University’s Divi­sion of Acad­emic Affairs. Its oral history memoirs assist scholars whose research covers such special­ized areas as reli­gion and culture, rural life, music and theater, historic preser­va­tion, civil rights, and women’s studies, as well as selected topics in economics, law, educa­tion, and politics.

The Insti­tute may enter into coop­er­a­tive agree­ments with other orga­ni­za­tions that have an interest in Reclaiming Memory and can help further its real­iza­tion and completion.

Inter­views:

Reclaiming Memory will be based on approx­i­mately two hundred (200) hours of inter­views (80–100 inter­views of one to five hours each, conducted over a four– to five-​​year period commencing in later 2010. A sound recording will be made of the inter­views, followed by tran­scrip­tion, web mounting, and archiving. In some cases, a video record may be made.

Foun­da­tional inter­views will be held with those whose efforts during the period 1950–1990 advanced the goal of perpet­u­ating the orig­inal horse of the Bedouin in the West. From such inter­views, the Insti­tute will estab­lish sub-​​projects, each with its own roster of inter­vie­wees to ensure that the broadest range of memory will be captured.  Addi­tion­ally, nomi­na­tions of indi­vid­uals to be included on inter­view rosters will be solicited from breeders and others currently involved with the Desert Arabian horse.

Cate­gories of Inquiry, as well as an Inter­view Guide, have been estab­lished for Reclaiming Memory. Inter­viewers will be expected to conduct prepara­tory research and to adapt a general list of possible ques­tions for specific use in each inter­view based on that research. Such research will become an inte­gral part of the program archives.

Inter­views will gener­ally be conducted by volunteer-​​interviewers with some subject-​​matter knowl­edge.  All will have received training in an inter­view protocol estab­lished for this program in coop­er­a­tion with the Insti­tute for Oral History at Baylor University.

Inter­views will be conducted according to profes­sional stan­dards. They will be as complete, veri­fi­able, and usable as possible, with due regard for the ethical protec­tion of the subjects and respect for the proper uses of history.

Prior Inter­views:

Some rele­vant informal inter­views are known to exist. Inter­view subjects or their fami­lies may offer such mate­rials (audio tape or video record­ings) for inclu­sion in the archives of the Insti­tute. Accep­tance for use in this program will be in accor­dance with the stan­dards estab­lished by the Insti­tute for inclu­sion in its archives.

Ancil­lary Mate­rial Collection:

Through oral history inter­views, researchers often iden­tify useful back­ground mate­rials. The inter­view subjects may also offer printed mate­rials, photographs, video, videos of horses, and other ephemera that supple­ment the mate­rial covered in the inter­view. The Insti­tute welcomes the contri­bu­tion of such mate­rial to its archive, subject to the stan­dards and proto­cols for accepting mate­rial for that archive.

Archive:

All mate­rials, including copy­right releases, dona­tion forms, contributed print mate­rials, inter­viewer notes, the audio/​video record­ings, and any tran­scrip­tions related to the Program will be main­tained in the Insti­tute archives in accor­dance with best profes­sional practices.

Public Access, Use, and Dissemination:

All mate­rials will be for the non-​​profit purposes described in the Institute’s mission state­ment. The Insti­tute will retain all rights, while making the mate­rials avail­able to researchers and other inter­ested parties.

A robust program of public infor­ma­tion is planned. The Insti­tute main­tains a high profile in the Arabian horse commu­nity. It spon­sors annual symposia that target issues of scien­tific and historic signif­i­cance to breeders and enthu­si­asts of the breed and regu­larly partic­i­pates in a anumber of events at which Reclaiming Memory will be widely publicized.

On comple­tion of signif­i­cant inter­views, the Insti­tute antic­i­pates creating both text and video prod­ucts to be deliv­ered to the Arabian breeding commu­nity and the public in multiple modes (peri­od­i­cals, mono­graphs, stand-​​alone video, and text+video via the Web). The Advi­sory Committee will provide recom­men­da­tions on specific strate­gies and prod­ucts of impor­tance to a variety of public audiences.

The Insti­tute will main­tain a page within its Web site (www.desertarabian.org) describing Reclaiming Memory, its ratio­nale, objec­tives, and approach, as well as the names and roles of indi­vid­uals serving the project.  Mate­rials obtained through this program, including a list of the inter­views that have been completed and tran­scribed and descrip­tions of ancil­lary mate­rials, if any, will be regu­larly updated. Program poli­cies, agree­ment guide­lines and forms, and sample release and deed of gift forms will also be posted.

Projected Cost:

Cost for the five-​​year program is expected not to exceed $250,000.

Budget:

Equip­ment	$   3,000
Inter­views (16–20 per year for the program duration)	$120,000
Inter­view processing and produc­tion (including transfer and transcription, editing and final produc­tion file)	$  70,000
Program management	$   17,500
Public Dissemination	$  25,000
Archiving – contracted services	$   7,000

Funding:

Initial funding for equip­ment will be through desig­nated dona­tions to the Insti­tute. Travel expenses for the Foun­da­tional inter­views will be paid by contri­bu­tion of the inter­viewer or by funds donated to the Insti­tute. Addi­tional funding for sub-​​projects and for the devel­op­ment of text and video prod­ucts will be sought through grants, dona­tions, or support from coop­er­ating organizations.

Contact

For further infor­ma­tion, contact prin­cipal inves­ti­gator M. Kent Mayfield