Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I believe that the Arabian horse must show Arabian type and beauty, and that the ideal Arabian horse is a versatile, well-balanced athlete. It was 1971 when I acquired my first horse, a seven-month-old, three-quarter Arabian colt, Ravenwood Kyhill (Ky). In spite of my then inexperienced eye for selecting a good quality Arabian, Ky matured into a gorgeous gelding. He also became my very best friend, a friendship which lasted for nearly 33 years. I will always miss him.

In 1996, I left breeding endurance horses and purchased several Straight Egyptian Arabian mares—a dream come true for me. My mares are daughters of Ibn Morafic, Amaal, Ibn Moniet Nefous, Rasmoniet RSI, Simeon Shai plus other wonderful bloodlines chosen because they produce beautiful intelligent foals with good conformations, sweet dispositions, and great bloodlines. In my opinion, good conformation is the culmination of correct legs with strong dense bone, a well-set neck, good withers, strong back, and strong hindquarters. A sweet disposition is equally important to having an Arabian that is willing to please you. The disposition is genetic as well as environmental, so it is necessary to have this important trait in your breeding mares and stallions as well. Last, but certainly not least, it is important to know your horses' bloodlines when breeding for an outstanding foal. The foal with good parentage will excel as a pleasure horse for the family, a show horse in the show ring, an endurance horse, a dressage horse, a cow horse.

There is no doubt that beauty, intelligence, good conformation, sweet disposition, and great bloodlines result in beautiful Arabians. At Kyobi Arabians, we accept no less than these traits in our breeding program.