Known as the Quarab, the quarter Arab horse is an American breed with three-part bred lines of the Arabian horses, the American quarter horse, and the American Paint horse. Crossbreeding documentation of this horse started as early as the 1950s conducted by the Ameri
can Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). After evaluating the differences between the Arabian horse and the American quarter horse, it becomes clearer why it was desirable to create this breed. The table below highlights the features of each type.
Types of Quarter Arab Horse
There are mainly three types of quarter Arab horses: the Foundation, Stock, or Pleasure, with individual characteristics based on the ratio of Arabian horse to stock horses. The Arabian types tend to have longer necks and barrels, and level croups, compared with the more muscular legs and rounded croups of the stock horse types.
· Straight or Foundation: As the name suggests, this is the standard by which the Quarab breed is measured. It has an almost equal ratio of Arabian and quarter horses. It is by far, the most desired breed.
· Stock: Stock type quarabs are bred with a higher ratio of either the paint or the American quarter horse, and is desired mostly by ranchers and western riding breeders.
· Pleasure: This type of quarter Arab horse is bred with a higher ratio of Arabian horse traits than stock horses, and is favored by endurance riders.
History of Quarter Arab Horse
The quarter arab horse has been carefully bred to maintain stock or quarter horse bloodlines. An example was the quarter horse, The Cotton Girl, sired by Arabian indraft in the 1950s. The horse was brought to the US by Roger Selby and it was later awarded a Performance Registry of Merit by the AQHA.
By 1984 an association, the United Quarab Registry (UQR), was established to monitor and evaluate the breeding of quarter arab horses. A few years later, in 1989, another association, The Painted Quarab Index, was added to the registry to observe the breeding of American Paint horses.
The quarab breeding has transformed performance, endurance, and beauty in the quarter horse breeds.
I have never heard of the breed “The Quarter Arab Horse” before. The name itself is very interesting and the horse looks very different from normal horses. Is this breed available only in the US? Is the breed used in racing?