Q: Is there really a crisis in the status of the Arabian horse?

A: Total regis­tra­tion of Arabian horses has declined more than 75 percent in North America during the past two decades. The Arabian Horse Asso­ci­a­tion esti­mates that half of the pure­bred popu­la­tion is over 20 years of age and almost a quarter is aged 16–20 years. Breeding on other conti­nents has grown, but not enough to offset the North Amer­ican decline.

The number of Desert Arabians, always a small percentage of the total popu­la­tion, has also declined to alarming levels. The average age of the remaining breeding herd is more than 15 years, with fewer replace­ment foals being born each year. Despite advances in commu­ni­ca­tion and information-​​sharing, herds of Arabian horses throughout the world remain isolated and frac­tured. Remnants of indige­nous Bedouin-​​bred Desert Arabian stock across West Asia and North Africa are under-​​documented, and are in danger of being lost alto­gether as the current gener­a­tion of care­takers passes and cultural iden­ti­ties merge and fluctuate.

Q: Why form The Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian Horse?

A: In 2004 the founders of the Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian Horse, all long-​​time advo­cates of Desert Arabian horses, recog­nized that the plight of the Desert Arabian horse was reaching points of crisis all over the world. Most preser­va­tion efforts focused on specific popu­la­tions, constrained by geograph­ical or chrono­log­ical para­me­ters, with minimal mutual contact or coop­er­a­tion. The Insti­tute stands as a response to the complex prob­lems facing the Desert Arabian in terms of popu­la­tion, repu­ta­tion, educa­tion, docu­men­ta­tion, and communication.

Q: How is the Insti­tute structured?

A: Incor­po­rated in July 2004 as a tax-​​exempt public charity under United States Internal Revenue Service Code 501(c)(3) in the State of Delaware, the Insti­tute is governed by a Board of Direc­tors with advice and logis­tical support from a Council of Advi­sors. The Direc­tors and Offi­cers serve without compen­sa­tion and pay all of their own expenses. As a tax-​​exempt public charity, the Insti­tute is struc­tured to accept tax-​​deductible mone­tary and mate­rial dona­tions and bequests.

Q: Why do we need another conser­va­tion organization?

A: The prob­lems facing the Desert Arabian are numerous and complex, requiring both imme­diate and long-​​term actions to ensure that these animals and their unique legacy will continue to exist. Existing orga­ni­za­tions and conser­va­tion efforts can benefit from the Institute’s global perspec­tive and network of contacts throughout the Arabian horse commu­nity, as well as its ability to collect and preserve archival and cultural mate­rials and to encourage collec­tive action. The Insti­tute offers the conser­va­tion commu­nity new oppor­tu­ni­ties for coalition-​​building and collab­o­ra­tive projects that go beyond current blood­line, geograph­ical, and cultural para­me­ters. What we have done in the past and are contin­uing to do as isolated, insular orga­ni­za­tions and conser­va­tion efforts is neces­sary but not suffi­cient; it does not address the decline in overall popu­la­tions and in quality.  What we need, then, is an orga­ni­za­tion to provide a context and a strategy that goes beyond those models with which we are familiar. We do not need to think alike, but we do need to think and act together.

Q: Does the Insti­tute iden­tify and main­tain a roster of horses that qualify for its protection?

A: No. The Insti­tute is struc­tured as a tax-​​exempt public charity dedi­cated to protecting and conserving the cultural legacy and genetic integrity of the Bedouin-​​bred Desert Arabian horse regard­less of indi­vidual partic­i­pants’ defi­n­i­tions as to what consti­tutes their partic­ular group of interest.

Q: Which horses are included in the para­me­ters of the Institute’s interest?

A: Ances­tors and descen­dants of authentic Bedouin-​​bred blood­stock world­wide consti­tute the horses of primary interest to the Insti­tute. To that end we recog­nize conser­va­tion efforts with similar purposes and seek to estab­lish collab­o­ra­tive rela­tion­ships and activ­i­ties with other orga­ni­za­tions and breed asso­ci­a­tions whose inter­ests coin­cide with ours.

Q: Given the horses of primary interest to the Insti­tute as described above, how does the pres­ence of the Insti­tute affect other orga­ni­za­tions’ future deci­sions and guide­lines deter­mining admis­sible bloodstock?

A: We honor, value, and recog­nize the rosters of indi­vidual conser­va­tion efforts and breed asso­ci­a­tions. The Insti­tute does not inter­fere or compete with any other orga­ni­za­tion or informal alliance of breeders in the selec­tion of admis­sible blood­stock to any roster main­tained by that orga­ni­za­tion or conser­va­tion effort. Rather, the Insti­tute func­tions as a repos­i­tory for archival mate­rials, as a vehicle for educa­tion, and as a sponsor of confor­ma­tion and perfor­mance eval­u­a­tion and of histor­ical and scien­tific research.

Q: What is unique about the Institute?

A: The Insti­tute offers the possi­bility of model-building—describing and piloting illus­tra­tive models for conser­va­tion other than those that are now widely used. Spon­soring a Babson Influ­ence collec­tion of arti­cles or an in-​​depth study of an indi­vidual blood­line such as Heir­loom has published would be prime exam­ples. Performance-​​referenced confor­ma­tion stan­dards might be devel­oped. Some efforts could be larger than any single specific orga­ni­za­tion would care to under­take on its own—for example, herd analysis in Middle East, spon­sor­ship of scien­tific studies on closed-​​herd genetics, data­base devel­op­ment and main­te­nance, and archive/​library devel­op­ment. The Insti­tute is orga­ni­za­tion­ally and finan­cially struc­tured to under­take such large-​​scale projects to compli­ment and comple­ment the good work of existing orga­ni­za­tions and preser­va­tion efforts.

Q: Talk is cheap. What has the Insti­tute accom­plished so far?

- Held six Symposia on educa­tional topics ranging from confor­ma­tion assess­ment to genetic disorders.

- Launched Reclaiming Memory, an Oral History Project to capture the memo­ries of those who set the foun­da­tion for breeding the Desert Arabian horse in the West.

- Funds genetics research to resolve historic ques­tions in the herd and to guide breeders on issues of genetic disorders.

- Main­tains a mare-​​donation program (DARE) and semen-​​bank (AEGIS) to aid conser­va­tion breeding and research.

- Completed the 504-​​page mono­graph, The Babson Influ­ence: A Retro­spec­tive.

- Presents annual awards for outstanding perfor­mance horses through the Drinkers of the Wind program, which also recog­nizes partic­i­pa­tion in local shows.

- Estab­lished a visual archive project to convert historic photos and video to digital form for an on-​​line, publicly acces­sible library.

- Published five issues of Al Khaima (the Tent), embedded in Arabian Horse World.

- Distrib­utes the on-​​line newletter Al Majlis News via the website.

- Spon­sors clinics on endurance riding, showing for begin­ners, and confor­ma­tional assessment.

Q: What can the Insti­tute do for me?

A: The Insti­tute can raise aware­ness on the crit­ical issues facing the world­wide preser­va­tion commu­nity. The Insti­tute can foster educa­tion through arti­cles in Al Khaima and Al Majlis News, and by publishing orig­inal manu­scripts and spon­soring the re-​​printing of essen­tial primary sources to enhance histor­ical research. The Insti­tute can sponsor genetic research to help breeders make sound deci­sions to conserve this crit­ical gene pool. The Insti­tute can facil­i­tate commu­ni­ca­tion and coop­er­a­tion among indi­vid­uals and orga­ni­za­tions, creating an inter­na­tional network of those concerned with the survival of the Desert Arabian horse. The Insti­tute can be a strong advo­cate and a voice for these precious horses to safe­guard their cultural and genetic legacy.

On a more prac­tical level, the Insti­tute can provide much needed mech­a­nisms for donating tax-​​deductible funds and making bequests and endow­ments; for main­taining prop­erty, mate­rials, and images with histor­ical, cultural, and archival value; and for estab­lishing collec­tions of frozen semen and other biolog­ical materials.

The future awaits us. We can continue to strive in isola­tion toward preser­va­tion goals, or we can meet the chal­lenges facing us by embracing creative and inno­v­a­tive models of coop­er­a­tion and collab­o­ra­tion. The Insti­tute provides a frame­work for meeting those chal­lenges today and tomorrow.

Q: To save the Desert Arabian for posterity, imme­diate and concerted action is needed. Will you help the Insti­tute achieve these goals?

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