Already by the end of the XVIII century, when the English thoroughbred was established, the idea was harbored if it would be practical/possible to combine the skeletal mechanics and the speed of the thoroughbred with the endurance and undemanding qualities of the better tempered Arabian. With this, in reality reversed crossbreeding, began to experiment the German stud farm in Zweibrücken in the year 1892. Almost simultaneously this kind of crossbreeding was practiced on much greater scale by the French, who reached the best accomplishments in breeding of the Angloarabs, especially in southern France on the state stud farm in Pompadour.
The French hippologist Gayot (1888) recommended to crossbreed the English thoroughbred with the Arabian, the fullblooded offspring breed again to the English Thoroughbred and then the 3/4blooded progeny crossbreed again with the Arabian that was born in Europe. The breeding of the Anglo-Arabs received a great attention in Pompadour. With careful selections, inbreeding, nutritional adjustments and training, a particular type of the Anglo-Arabs was to a certain point stabilized/established, which is actually a difficult task, hence there were experiments done with various percentages of the English blood. Similar experiments were practiced in the entire French state-breeding program and were greatly supported by the government, because the Anglo-Arab was considered to be the best military riding horse. According to the percentage of the admixed English blood there were recognized Anglo-Arabs 75%, 50% and 25%; for example, if the 50% Angloarabian mare is covered by the English Thoroughbred, the progeny of this pairing has 75% of the English blood and 25% of the Arabian. Only the portion of the English blood is counted.
English Thoroughbred – fullblood.
The progeny of a paring of an Arabian pureblooded mare with the English thoroughbred or vice versa, was by the Frenchmen called/named the Anglo-Arabian fullblood/pureblood. The products of other pairing of the English Thoroughbred and the Arabian were/are called Anglo-Arabian halfbloods; hence only one parent was a fullblood/purebred.
The biggest impediment/difficulty in the breeding of the Anglo-Arabs was in reaching certain uniformity among the fullblooded Anglo-Arabians, even when using inbreeding. It would be false to presume, that the latter mentioned progeny of the given percentage of the Arabian blood would show in exterior and naturally in the physiological characteristics of these horses; every horse has it’s own individuality and greater or smaller grace/appeal, but every horse is different. The most unbalanced, un-uniformed individuals are the products of two fullblooded Anglo-Arabians.
Anglo-Arabian
The best and most suitable are direct crossbreeds, hence 50% Anglo-Arabs, which is due to innate heterosis and all physiological and genetic advantages that derive from it.
All in all, it could be said, that the Anglo-Arabians are taller and more massive than the Orientals, they grow in average to about 15’3 hands, have shorter Arabian heads with all it’s appeals; on longer, lower set neck have always well developed withers, shorter elbow and loins than the English Thoroughbred, but they are longer and angular/edgy, have more or less slanted hindquarters/pelvis, also longer and more slant shoulder blade. The Angloar-Abians are excellent riding horses that combine in themselves the pleasant temperament and the endurance of the Arabian with the speed in movement of the English Thoroughbred. They have shorter gallop, higher and bolder trot than the English thoroughbred, but relatively flatter gaits than the Arabian. When correctly trained they are also good racehorses, jumping well and endure over longer distances under a heavier rider. As remounts they were very much thought out in many countries for the use in military. In some places were preferred the more English types, while elsewhere the Arabian types.
The Anglo-Arab is easier to get on the bit than the Arabian and is easier kept off the forehand than the English TB or the warmbloods.
In the case of pairing 50% Anglo-Arabians there was a common censure that the products were slower than their parents. The best quality riding horses of greater endurance proved to be the Anglo-Arabians with 25% of the Arabian blood even though they often showed some unpleasant characteristics of the English Thoroughbred, mainly more difficult temperament, but they displayed greater endurance than the English thoroughbred and were able to handle the northern humid climate better than the Anglo-Arab that had higher percentage of the Arabian blood. The achievements/output of the Anglo-Arabian horses excelled in the Olympic Games in 1936, where the French dressage team placed in the second place and had out of three horses two Anglo-Arabians, which were also by many considered as the most beautiful horses of the 1936 Olympic Games. The third placed in the jumping competition was the Portuguese team, also with Anglo-Arabian fullbloods and halfbloods. The Rumanian stallion, which was declared the best jumper of the Olympiad, was also Angloarab. The already long ago known abilities of the Anglo-Arabians were the cause why so many stud farms were selling/trading riding horses crossbred with the Arabian and English Thoroughbred or directly bred by the Anglo-Arabians. In the state Prussian stud farm in Trakehnen was active French Anglo-Arab Nana Sahib, whose descendants proved themselves in difficult hurdle races (steeple-chase). The stud farm in Weil/Würtenbergen, which raised the halfblooded lines of Amurath and Bairaktar, also bred the Angloarabians.
Furioso
In the Hungarian Mezöhegyesh during the establishment of the Furioso line, the first Furiosos were crossbred with Arabian mares from the line El Bedavi, Abugress Gidran, Fedhan and others; also the Mezöhegyesh stallions and later Furiosos had Arabian mothers. (About the warmblooded Angloarabian line of Gidran you can read here>)
In Mezöhegyesh they also “Englanized” the Arabian horses of the Aburgess line, to make them faster and more massive. The affections for the Anglo-Arabs were always big by the Hungarians, because the goal of the agricultural horse was a riding horse that was equally light and fast as well as an ideal light pull/draft/carriage horse. The great distances from the cities to individual settlements required fast, light and durable horses known as “Yukrs”, hence also Anglo-Arabians.
Gidran
In the Austria-Hungarian stud farm in Radovec the Anglonormania raged only in the second decade of the twentieth century. On the order of general Merhal, who was in charge of breeding horses in Austria, the Arabian broodmares on the stud farm were partially bred to the English halfblooded line Star of Hannover, which was raised in Radovec and managed to survive till today. This Radovec Angloarabian line Star of Hannover was established in Radovec by the English thoroughbred Star of Hannover born in 1897 and imported from England. This stallion paired with Radovec mare 280 Dahoman XII produced the Angloarabian stallion Star of Hannover born 1912.
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