SIRE LINE–SEANDERICH DB
BESIDES POLAND, BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND GERMANY, SPAIN IS THE FIFTH EUROPEAN COUNTRY THAT DEVELOPED ITS OWN SIRE LINES WITHIN THE ARABIAN BREED. OF THE ORIGINAL SPANISH DESERTBRED LINES, TWO HAVE SURVIVED, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT BEING THAT OF SEANDERICH
Spain established a registry for purebred Arabians as early as 1847, making it the oldest official Arabian studbook. The Stud Book Español, kept by the military, also registered native Spanish horses, Thoroughbreds, and Anglo-Arabians. Vol. 1 listed no less than 30 imported desertbred stallions and 12 desertbred mares in the Arabian section.
Of these original imports, nothing has survived, or at least not in Arabian breeding. As nearly everywhere else at the time, Arabians were mainly used for upgrading local horse breeds or for breeding crosses, in this case the Hispano-Arab, a blend of Arabian and Andalusian lines, and the Hispano Anglo-Arab. Spanish Arabian breeding today is based
on horses imported by the Spanish state (military) stud, the Yeguada Militar, and a group of mostly Crabbet horses later imported by the Duke of Veragua. The chief purpose of the Yeguada Militar, which was founded in 1893, was the breeding of Andalusian horses and, like any other state stud, to provide stallions for the use of small breeders throughout the country. The Arabian breeding program was begun in 1905, when the first horses were imported from Syria and from Slawuta Stud in Poland. The majority of the foundation horses were imported between 1908 and 1912; according to Joanna Maxwell in “ Spanish Arabian Horse Families 1898 – 1978,” they were 43 stallions (15 from Egypt, 11 from the Desert, and 17 from Poland), and 31 mares (2 from Egypt, 9 from
