What is a Hallmark?

"HALLMARK" can mean different things, depending on the use of the word within a sentence. However, the "common ground" between all the definitions is another word: "distinguishing". Used in conjunction with our breed, "HALLMARK" are those distinguishing characteristics that identify a horse as "ARABIAN", as compared to other breeds of horses. What are the hallmarks of the Arabian breed?

Last week or rather, in the last blog I posted concerning the stallion, Nile, I mentioned this book:

This is the Standard of Excellence, published by The Pyramid Society in 2012. If you don't own the book, I encourage you to purchase it. It's excellent. While focused on Egyptian Arabian horses, I feel that much of what is written in this book applies to all Arabian horses, whether straight Egyptian or not.

The Pyramid Society, on page 7, identifies 5 hallmarks of type:

• Head
• Arched neck
• Short back
• Comparatively level croup
• High, natural tail carriage

While Arabian horse type can encompass a wide diversity of body types and breed attributes, including characteristics which are familial; the 5 hallmarks presented above are unique to the Arabian breed as a whole (again, not just Egyptian bred Arabians) and therefore, each hallmark, to some degree, need to be visibly present in an Arabian horse. That's my understanding of the presentation made by The Pyramid Society.

A long time ago, the late Hansi Heck-Melnyk (Serenity Arabian Farms) explained how movement enhanced the level of breed type to an extraordinary level, as compared to an Arabian horse at rest. I never forgot her words because they were brilliant. She had given a voice to a phenomenon that I had seen happen many times but never described with words, as accurately as she had managed to do. 

A few days ago, when I came across Judith's photo of the stallion, *Padron (Patron x *Odessa), who was 25% Egyptian and an incredibly photogenic horse; Hansi's words came alive once more but also, in a very dramatic way, the hallmarks of breed type, as presented by The Pyramid Society, could not be made any clearer. One could say that *Padron continues to inspire us and remind us of  WHY we love this most beautiful breed of horse so much.