Arabian Horse Trade Breed

Timeline

1. c. 500–1200Najd Plateau · NajdBedouin tribes of the Arabian Peninsula herded light horses along the edges of the Najd and the Rub' al Khali desert, managing bloodlines through oral pedigrees (rasan), producing a warhorse type of high endurance, narrow chest, and short back.
2. c. 700–1360Damascus · SyriaArabian horses were carried along Hejaz trade routes to Syria, Iraq, and Egypt to supply Islamic cavalry; by the 14th century they had become the core mount source for Mamluk heavy cavalry and light horse units.
3. 1360–1370Cairo · EgyptHorse markets in Cairo, Damascus, and Tabuk concentrated trade in Arabian stallions and warhorses, with Mamluk sultans, Anatolian beys, and Timurid envoys competing to buy at high prices; Ibn Khaldun recorded cavalry's dependence on Arabian horses at the time.
4. c. 1600London · United KingdomOttoman and North African channels introduced Arabian horses to European courts and stud farms; the foundation sires of 18th-century British Thoroughbred racing largely trace to Arabian bloodlines exported from Syria and Yemen, and modern racing breeding worldwide has been influenced by them.