The year was 1789! The Austro-Hungarian monarchy
needed a superior horse as a cavalry mount. This ideal horse had
to be pre-potent for its type, and thus could be used to improve
other native breeds. Crossing quality mares with imported purebred
Arabians, mainly from Syria, created this new warhorse. And what
a success! The so-called Araberrasse or Arab Fajta Horse is now
known as the Shagya Arabian.
The desired agility, hardiness, stamina, and frugality of the
Bedouin horse, as well as its Arabian type, beauty, and amiable
character was kept. The Shagya has improved sport horse qualities:
increased bone, a longer and more sloping pelvis, prominent withers,
improved coupling, and a better overall top line. Shagyas are
not just large Arabians, nor are they elegant imitation warm bloods;
they are performance horses. The Shagya must be seen to appreciate
their proud, yet steady, down-to-earth, and workmanlike temperament.
They have lots of charisma and animation, but are very calm. They
are so eager to learn that it is a challenge to train them. They
will always attempt whatever they are asked to do.
The commanders of the State Stud Farms were able to select breeding
stock from superior mares and stallions. These prospects were
subjected to rigid testing. Mares and stallions were ridden hundreds
of miles across plains, forests, and mountains. Most stallions
sired at least 90 foals for evaluation before they were selected
to be Chief Stallions at the State Stud Farm. Others were sent
to Stallion Depots to serve the local farm horses. The Army took
the the rest of the horses for the re-mount.
Eventually farms, such as the Babolna State Stud Farm, defined
the Shagya’s sport horse qualities and genetic strength
through effective testing. During the 1930’s, the Hungarians
bred as many as 3000 Shagyas a year, allowing for rigorous culling
that assured use of only the finest specimens as breeding stock.
Judicious line breeding and out crossing to purebred Arabians
once every four generations assured genetic predictability. This
selection, coupled with the progeny testing, produced a classic
genetic prepotency that is still holding true to this day. The
studbooks have survived for 200 years!
The breed was severely depleted during WWII and is only now beginning
to come back. Even with an approximate 2000 worldwide population,
the breed has a good record in competitive events, including the
rigorous 100-day stallion tests in Europe and the U.S. In 1982,
the Shagya stallion, Koyano, by Neron, won the 100-day-test in
Germany. The German import, *Oman, passed the U.S. 100-day-test
in 1997. The Trakehner mare "White Girl", by Shagya
stallion Bajar and out of Wiga V by Marengo, was voted Trakehner-of-the-Year
(1993) and is the only German horse listed in the top ten international
three-day horses compiled by L’ Annee Hippique.
The competition records of the Shagya and Shagya-bred sport horse
are immense. The bloodlines are found in the majority of the top
performance horses encompassing all of the major Warmblood breeds.
This was taken from the page of Lilly Creek Ranch, a Shagya
breeder in the USA, visit also their Website - www.shagya-arabian.com