The Arabian Derivative has been an essential component of the Arabian horse in Australia since the 1940’s, when the Anglo-Arabian registry was created to provide support for one of the world’s most celebrated combination of breeds: the crossing of the ancient noble Arabian horse with the aristocratic Thoroughbred. Since that time, seven more Arabian Derivatives registries and one performance register have been created domestically to encourage the breeding and wide-spread use of Arabian related equine athletes across a broad range of demanding endeavours and highly skilled disciplines.

The Arabian Derivative is, by definition, a horse that is “derived” from Arabian parentage. Celebrated for millennia as the ultimate versatile equine, the Arabian horse has inspired horseman for generations with the essential attributes unique to its breed type: superb balance and harmony of proportion, exceptional refinement and quality of skin and hair coat, strong solid dense bone and hooves, an instinctive alertness, curiosity and intelligence, uncompromising tenacity and stamina, as well as the ability to travel long distances at extreme temperatures with limited food & water. All of these traits have been incorporated into nearly every light horse breed in existence today, including several pony breeds and even a few draft horse breeds. It is this foundation – equines inspired and influenced by essential Arabian characteristics – that has led to the success of the Arabian Derivative in Australia.

While the current definition for nearly all the Arabian Derivative breeds requires a minimum  of 12.5% Arabian blood and/or both parents already registered in an AHSA-regulated stud book, each of the eight Arabian Derivative breeds does have its own individual breed standard, allowing each to stand-alone as a unique breed with its own recognizable type and breed-specific utility. The most recent additions to Arabian Derivative sphere of influence are the Half-Arabian Registry and the Arabian Performance Index Register. As implied by its name, the Half-Arabian Registry is open to all Arabian Derivatives with at least one registered purebred parent. The new Arabian Performance Index Register allows for the inclusion of horses with any verifiable Arabian ancestry, specifically targeting the Open Hack style horse of Arabian origin.

The newly expanded programme at the Arabian Derivative Championships includes in-hand and under saddle classes for all recognized Arabian Derivative breeds and registers, including:

• Half-Arabians
• Partbred Arabians
• Anglo-Arabians
• Arabian Warmbloods
• Arabian Ponies
• Arabian Riding Ponies
• Quarabs
• Arabian Stockhorses
• Arabian Performance Index registered horses

Like the purebred Arabian, the Arabian Derivatives will compete in the disciplines of Led In-Hand/Breeding, Ridden Hack, Show Hunter, Bridle Path Hack, In Harness, Western Pleasure, Australian Pleasure, Working Stock Horse, Dressage & Native/Show Costume.

Join us in celebrating the unsurpassed heritage of the Arabian horse at the always inspiring Arabian Derivative Championships. No other country anywhere in the world celebrates the influence of the Arabian horse in more Arabian Derivative breeds than does Australia. We invite you to discover for yourself wonder and inherent talent of the Arabian Derivative breeds.  Click here to  download the AHSA Derivative Standard