At the Crossroads

The purebred, or pure-blood, Arabian horse was introduced to Tunisia by the Arabs starting in the 7th Century. It thereafter spread as far as to Spain and France .

According to the Emir Abdelkader, the direct descendants of Khatan, one of the ancestors of the Bedouins, was the author of his first introduction.

However, raising pure-blood Arabian horses for the purpose of racing only started in Tunisia in 1881, the date when four mares from the Pompadour stables were acquired by Sidi Thabet breeders.

The descendants of those two mares thereafter populated private breeding outfits such that of Dr. Lovy in Meknassy in 1908, and that owned by Pavillier in 1918, and later that of the Admiral Cordonnier at Sidi Bou Hadid.

The stallions were imported from the Middle East (particularly from Syria ), or bought in Tiaret , Algeria . These also were issue of Middle Eastern imports which, starting in 1897, were the result of regular missions sent by the Syrian and Egyptian Ministries of War into Algeria and Tunisia .

Among the great sires of the era can be cited Mechta, Ibech, Fellah, Aziz, Ghazi, Salamie, Hellal, Ibich, Boucq, Ibn Feida, and the latest to date, Bango, who died at the ripe age of thirty. Bango and his daughters Gafsa (out of Baraka) and Jezma (out of Treille) were imported from Tiaret. They were born before being brought to Sidi Thabet.

Another delegation traveled to Syria in 1945 to buy stallions. These breeders selected characteristics studied to preserve the most advantagous traits of the race.

In 1935, Tunisia also imported pure-blood Arabian stallions raised in southwestern France (Duc II, Ben Mouret, Nikital, Kriss II …), and also stables-full of fillies from the same area, destined for private breeders in this country.

Those horses turned out to be faster than animals born and raised locally, and consequently took the upper hand in various competitions.

Quite a discussion followed – some said that the horses were not truly pure-bloods, and that the favorable circumstances surrounding their birth and breeding had bestowed advantages upon them.

They were subsequently qualified as purebred “Western” and “Middle Eastern” stallions, a classification that was to create numerous subsequent problems at the level of breeding as well as at that of racing.

Not wanting to take sides, authorities at the time chose a compromise : they decreed there were three different « groupes », followed by a system of « class », both based on the zoological techniques of Maze Censier. This resulted in different complicated methods of classifying the animals, all of them lacking, and disappointing to certain individuals in one way or another.

It took a Beylical decree establishing a state monopoly in 1950 regulating the importation of pure-blood Arabian horseflesh before the national authorities undertood a radical reform concerning breeding of the race in Tunisia .

The stallions called « western » were thus disallowed, and the first list of recognized and allowed stallions included Souci, Elias, Loubieh, Kefil, Oramino, Titan, and Oukrif.

Loubieh, Kefil, Oramino, Titan, Oukrif, and the equally famous Cheikh El Ourbane and Ibn originated the great blood lines and sired the stallions Koraïch, Koufi, Raoui, Soufyan, Sibawaïh On this list was also found Beyrouth, maternal grandfather of Esmet Ali, a horse of great renown and importance for Tunisian breeders and lovers of horseflesh.

Very few Tunisian horses today cannot claim descendance from Esmet Ali. His blood can be found in the greatest champions and stallions such as OUbeid Omrane, Tayssir, and in particular, Dynamite III, a remarkable stallion and sire of many classical winners such as Tarek, Touwayssan, Akermi

Fillies were also selected based on very strict criteria, and an extremely rigorous system of control was instituted for breeding and foaling. These had to take place in licensed establishments recognized nationally.

In this context, homage should be paid to those who originated this practice, specifically Dr. Hosny Khaled, whose high standards and encouragements (breeding and foaling undertaken at practically no charge, benefits and bonuses, etc.) for small breeders

Radical reform

The radical reform involved a considerable reduction in the number of animals at first, but had the advantage of reinvigorating the stock. Since the principal or perhaps even the only use of these horses was for races, breeding criteria came to focus on their suitability for racing performances.

Today there are approximately 2,000 pure-blood Arabian horses in Tunisia , of which 600 are fillies or mares, fifty-odd are stallions, and 400, two years or older, are in training in Kassar-Said and Mekinassy.

Inbreeding among local bloodlines over several generations has resulted in a certain saturation as well as in a diminished standard, especially notable as far as weaknesses of structure and bone malformations are concerned.

In order to compensate for this problem, two importations of pure-blood Egyptian horses took place in 1970 and in 1980. Although they were dismissed by private breeders because of modest racing performances of their offspring, the Egyptian stallions brought new blood to the Tunisian lines.

No matter what one might think, this introduction has had globally positive results. The Tunisian purebred Arabian horse has the specificity of being at one and the same time quite noble in appearance and constitution, and also to have proven international racing capacities.

This is the principal reason Tunisian race horses enjoy international renown, particularly in France and Italy where Tunisian breed mares are particularly valued. Their breeding with European stallions has resulted in excellent offspring, as is witnessed by the auctions and sales of the past decade. In this context, it's important to note those held by the French agency Goff, whose auctions have resulted in several sales exceeding a million francs!...

Among many examples, one can note the excellent results obtained by Tarak (out of Kirala), international three-year-old champion at Chantilly ; Sarrabe (El Hidaya), winner of the UAE's President's Prize in Deauville ; Ezil (Thaya), UAE champion ; Hagnes de Faust (El Afia) ; Dormanor (EI warda) ; Maverick (Bint Tarek), champion of Qatar. tenus par Tarak (issue de Dirala) champion international des 3 ans a Chantilly , Sarrabe (EI Hidaya)

Blood Lines from Afar

Since our breeders were asking with some insistence to have access to stallions of western bloodlines, the national organizations (FNARC) bowed to those demands in 1999, and several French stallions were imported or rented as stud animals.

The question is, what will happen to the offspring of such couplings? The rules of the game have not yet been determined, and there is now talk of planning races where only this type of “hybrid” runs in order to select the best and allow them to compete internationally.

As far as their presence in the breeding pool is concerned, the question has yet to be answered. Will the “Westerners” remain a category of their own, or will be allowed to mix blood with the “Middle Eastern” strain, and if so, in what proportions? Answers have not yet been found.

The question is still open, and breeders are still debating the fate that awaits the « Franco-Tunisian » offspring. The rigorous selection that has been extant for over 50 years and that has earned our local horseflesh such admiration and esteem must not fall by the wayside. The specificity of the Tunisian pure-blood Arabian horse must not become a glory of the past.

We have in these horses a considerable wealth of genetic material, a stock, if you wil, of the « Middle Eastern Arabic Stallion » that must be preserved at all costs. Sooner or later, foreign breeders and horse owners, especially those in Europe , will be compelled to avail themselves of these pure Middle Eastern bloodlines in order to rediscover or recreate the original model of the race. The entire scenario, therefore, demands great thought and rigorous consideration.

Mondher ZOUITEN

(LA PRESSE MAGAZINE N°713 du 10 juin 2001)