The Shagya Arabian is a horse breed which was developed in the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

during the 19th century at the

Bábolna Bábolna is a town in Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary. Bábolna houses a riding schoolPettko-Szandtner Tibor Lovas Szakiskola es Kollegium and a stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding ...

Mezőhegyes Mezőhegyes is a town in Békés county, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. It is home to the Hungarian State Stud (), founded in 1784 and famous for its Nonius, Furioso-North Star and Gidran breeds of horse. Geography ...

, Radautz,

Piber The Piber Federal Stud (''Bundesgestüt Piber'') is a stud farm dedicated to the breeding of Lipizzan horses, located at the village of Piber, near the town of Köflach in western Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1798, began breeding Lipizza ...

, and Topolcianky studs. Today it is most often seen in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

n countries,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, but has been exported to other nations and is bred around the world. A

purebred Purebreds are cultivars of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type, which means the progeny of l ...

Shagya Arabian today has bloodlines that can be traced in all lines to the stud books of

Rădăuți Rădăuți (; ; ; ; , ''Radivtsi''; ''Radevits''; ) is a town in Suceava County, north-eastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Bukovina. According to the 2021 census, Rădăuți is the second largest urban settlement in the ...

, Babolna, and Topolcianky. The breed is considered by some to be a subtype of

Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( , DIN 31635, DMG ''al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easi ...

, but due to the presence of a small amount of non-Arabian breeding others consider it to be an

Anglo-Arabian The Anglo-Arabian, also known as the Anglo-Arab, is a horse breed that originated in France by cross-breeding a Thoroughbred with an Arabian. The Anglo-Arabian has origins tracing back to the Limousin Horse. It was officially recognized by Empe ...

or a partbred Arabian.

Origin

The breed is named for the major foundation

sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" an ...

Shagya, a

gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

"The Other Arabian Horse" ''Arabian Horse World,'' April, 1983.
scanned article a

/ref> Stallion (horse), stallion with some ancestors of the Kehilan and Siglavy (Seglawi) strains. Born in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in 1810, he was taller than the average Arabian of the time, standing at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

. His weight was 530 kg. He was mostly used for

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

at Babolna, bred few pure-blooded or ''asil'' Arabian mares, and thus has no pure Arabian descendants today.http://www.shagya-araber.info/shagya-line.htm "Pure Bred Shagya-Araber Society International" Many of the Arabian stallions standing at Babolna and other studs were

crossbred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

with mares who already possessed a great deal of Arabian influence due to the long Turkish occupation of Eastern Europe. Some

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

s and

Lipizzan The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner (, , , , , , ) is a European horse breed, breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque horse, Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coa ...

s were also used. In all cases, meticulous

pedigree Breeding * Pedigree chart, a document to record ancestry, used by genealogists in study of human family lines, and in selective breeding of other animals ** Pedigree, a human genealogy (ancestry chart) ** Pedigree (animal), a breed registry *** ...

records were kept. Originally, these horses were referred to by the

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

term ''Araberrasse'' (Arab "race" or breed, indicating predominantly Arabian ancestry) but this was changed after the second World War to Shagya by hippologist Dr. Gramazky because he was worried the non-purebred descendants of Shagya would be confused with the purebred Arabian horses that were also produced in Hungary. At the time, this name was chosen since Shagya was in virtually every pedigree as an ancestor, though many other Arabian bloodlines are also a part of the Shagya breed.

Bloodlines

While Shagyas are not considered "pure" or asil Arabians, they have a

closed stud book Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, ...

and have special status within the

World Arabian Horse Organization The World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) is the world organization for the preservation, improvement and preservation of Arabian horses. WAHO grants membership to nations after examination of national breeding stud book A breed registry, als ...

(WAHO). In 1978, WAHO stated that Shagya Arabians that have been bred pure after the system of Babolna and Topolcianky may be termed "purebred Shagya Arabians", and the Shagya breeders' organisation is under WAHO patronage as associate members, allowed to use the WAHO emblem. However, WAHO also was clear that "purebred" in this case means that the horses have been bred pure among themselves and are not to be confused with the term "purebred Arabian". Some aficionados note that the meticulous recordkeeping of the Hungarian studs actually has produced horses with longer and more complete pedigrees than some horses accepted as purebred Arabians by mainstream registries. However, despite this argument, Shagyas remain a distinct bloodline group and are generally not accepted as pure-blooded Arabians. Kroni 01

Traits

The Shagya Arabian exhibits traits similar to the asil or purebred Arabian horse, with high carried tail, sound bone and excellent endurance. However, due to the small influx of non-Arabian breeding and the breeding goals of the Hungarian studs, Shagyas tend to be taller, less refined, and bigger-boned than purebred Arabians; the modern Shagya is usually at least 15

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...

tall and commonly 16 hands, whereas the breed standard for the Arabian ranges from 14.1 to 15.1 hands, with some individuals over and under that height. Etalon-Shagya-CSO-3

Uses

This breed is recognized as a riding horse, and is also driven in

harness A harness is a looped restraint or support. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types: * Bondage harness * Child harness * Climbing harness * Dog harness * Five-point harness, a type of seatbelt * Horse harness * Pet harnes ...

. It was a hardy

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

horse and is now popular in sport horse disciplines such as

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

and

endurance riding Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide. Endurance rides can be any distance, though they are rar ...

. The 2006 FEI Endurance World Champion was a Shagya gelding bred at Babolna."Le Shagya, champion du monde!"
. ''CEER de France Comte''. Referenced May 21, 2008.

References

External links

* http://www.performanceshagyaregistry.org - Performance Shagya-Arabian Registry *http://www.Shagyas.com - Shagya breed information portal *http://www.shagya-araber.info/indexe.htm - International Shagya Society *http://www.shagyaregistry.com - American Shagya Arabian Verband *http://www.shagya.net - North American Shagya Arabian Society *https://web.archive.org/web/20080509123714/http://www.horsequest.com/bredshow/shagya/shagya.htm Shagya Horse Breed Spotlight {{Authority control Horse breeds Part-Arabian breeds of horses and ponies

Origin

Bloodlines

Traits

Uses

See also

References

External links