BRAVE NEW WORLD
“The Arabian horse itself, while in no danger of dying out, is in the process of changing beyond recognition.”
History teaches us that progress is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Since the early nineteenth century, progress in all spheres of human life has steadily accelerated, and is still doing so, but not all results have been an improvement. True, industrialization and mechanization have made life easier in many respects. But they also introduced a whole new set of problems that continue to affect us. When machines take over more and more of the work, this means that more and more people are out of work. Craft has been transformed into industry. Everything today is an industry, even healthcare.
This is also true of Arabian horse breeding, which is now referred to, even among breeders, as “the industry.” But what does this actually mean? In every industry, those who benefit the most are those who have created it and, by acting according to its dictates, keep it going. At the same time, those who refuse to conform to its rules quietly drop by the roadside, since the market functions strictly according to the demands of the industry. You might call this survival of the fittest in the context of a capitalist world. It’s a fact of life, but the implications for the survival of the Arabian breed are dire.
This statement may raise a few eyebrows. After all, the Arabian appears to be thriving. Arabian horses are being bred, owned, and shown in more countries around the world than ever before. And speaking of shows, never before have point scores reached such dizzying heights as they do today. Never before have the champions been so radiantly beautiful. Surely, we must be living in a golden age? From a certain perspective, it may well appear so, but we should not confuse the business and the product. The industry may be thriving; but the Arabian horse itself, while in no danger of dying out, is in the process of changing beyond recognition.
“You might call this survival of the fittest in the context of a capitalist world. It’s a fact of life, but the implications for the survival of the Arabian breed are dire.”
To explain why this is so, we need to take a step back in time and take a look at the beginning and the subsequent development that led us to where we stand today. Coincidentally (or not), Arabian horse breeding in Europe began around the same time as industrialization, during
