Socotra Island

[Sarah Badr]

There is a little known Island in the Gulf of Aden named Socotra. A mysterious and beautiful place. Where unique plants and animals, found no where else in the world, grow and thrive. Right in the center of the cradle of life.

In a high mountain pasture in a secluded valley on the island, tucked away from the rest of the world, is a herd of beautiful, ethereal arabian horses. Also, on the adjacent island of Samhah, is a small group of western breeds as well. Used to selectively and stringently cross with the Arabian to produce strong, versatile and beautiful riding horses for the buyers in the souks and stables of the mainland cities of Aden and San'aa.

The Arabian people believed the Arabian horse was a gift from Allah (God) to our ancestor Ismail and his family.  They are equine perfection. They are unique among all the horses of the world. They have larger nasal cavities and a longer heart girth to allow for more oxygen to get to the vital organs, thus making them the ultimate war horse in ancient times and endurance horse in modern times. They have larger brains, bigger rounded hooves, denser, shorter and thicker cannon bones, and one less vertebre in their backs allowing them the ability to carry three times as much weight as other light breeds of similiar size and proportion.

The Arabian horses of Socotra are from various breeding lines. As the world learned of this ethereal breed they spread across the planet and became varied in type, size and ability. While the majority of the Socotra herd are considered Asil ("Pure") by the Arabian people, there are also lines that were reacquired from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia.

The island of Socotra offers gifts to their horses. These gifts have various powers and produce amazing results when used. Sap from the Arriyahib (or Dragon's Blood Tree), when eaten, will result in mares producing twins. Drinking the waters of Halah Cave, while gazing into the reflecting pool, grants the breeder's wish of colors. If a mare wears the feather from the Neophron (Egyptian Vulture) in her mane she will give birth to a colt. And if she wears the flower of the Dendrosicyos (Cucumber Tree of Socotra), she will give birth to a filly.


PUREBRED GROUPS will be;

Straight New Egyptian Stallion
Straight Babson Egyptian
Straight Egyptian
Egyptian-Related: Any purebred horse with a Straight Egyptian sire.
Davenport Al Khamsa
Blue Star Al Khamsa
Al Khamsa: Any purebred combination of Egyptian, Davenport and/or Blue Star (only).
Russian
Polish
Spanish
English
American Bred: Any combination of bloodlines of Purebred Arabians.

Purebred Markings; Sabino, Rabicano, Skunk Tail, Bloody Shoulder, Roan.

Purebred Colors; Black, Brown (Black-bay), Bay, Chestnut, Flaxen Chestnut, Golden Chestnut, Liver Chestnut, Dapple Grey, Fleabitten Grey, White Grey.


ARABIAN CROSS BREEDS will be: (the definations aren't set in stone, still deciding on some)


- ANGLO ARABIAN: any horse that is 50% Arabian or more crossed with Thoroughbred can produce an Anglo. Only solid colors, roan, sabino and rabicano.

- SHAGYA ARABIAN: must be 87.5% Shagya to be able to produce a Shagya. All solid colors, roan, sabino and rabicano.

- PINTABIAN:  Must be 99% Arabian with markings. Can be all tobiano, sabino, roan or rabicano.

- ARALOOSA: any horse that is at least 75% Arabian or more with appaloosa markings. Appaloosas come in all colors, as well as sabino and rabicano only.

- WELARA PONY: defination is any horse that is no less than 75% or more of Welsh blood can produce a Welara. Can be all solid colors, cremes, duns, roans, rabicano and overo (sabino, frame and splash).

-MORAB: any horse over 75% Arabian or Morgan blood can produce a Morab. Can be all solid colors, cremes, duns, roans, rabicano and sabino overo.

- NATIONAL SHOW HORSE: defination is any horse that is 75% Arabian or more crossed with an American Saddlebred. American Saddlebreds come in all colors except Appaloosa.

- BAROQUE ARAB: crossing Arabians with Andalusians is a Hispano Arab (cremes, duns, roan, sabino, rabicano), crossing Arabians with Lusitano is Alto Real (Creme, Roan, Dun, Sabino and Rabicano), and crossing Arabians with Friesians is Arabo-Friesian (roan, sabino and rabicano). Over 75% can produce a Baroque cross.

- HALF ARABIAN: any horse with a minimum of 50% Arabian blood and one purebred Arabian parent. All non-pure Arabs will be designated Half Arabian unless designated as another Arab-cross breed. You may interbreed Half Arabians of different non-Arab breeds but the resulting foals will always be designated only as Half Arabian.

- ARAB CROSS: any arab-cross horse that is less than 50% Arab and/or does not have a purebred Arab parent. All non-pure Arabs will be designated Arab Cross unless designated as another Arab-cross breed. You may interbreed Arab Crosses of different non-Arab breeds but the resulting foals will always be designated only as Arab Cross. (Example: breeding an Araloosa to a Welara will produce an Arab Cross)

- AMERICAN WARMBLOOD:  any horse with a minimum of 87.5% AW from breeding with any purebred or partbred Arabian breed. Can be all colors.

- TRAKEHNER: any horse with a minimum of 87.5% Trake from breeding with American Warmbloods that do not carry the appaloosa, overo (other than sabino), creme or dun genes). Can be all solid colors, roan, sabino, rabicano or tobiano.

- MULE: half horse and half donkey. Not sure if we will make Mules breedable as it is extremely rare to have a fertile mule in real life.

MYTHOLOGICAL BREED:

- THE AL-BURAQ: is the beast of arab mythology that the Arab people believe carried The Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) to Heaven. Described as a horse type creature smaller than a horse but larger than a donkey. With a long fine neck, legs and ears and wings coming from the hindquarters. Breedable...


To breed your Arab mares to non-Arab studs you will have to buy straws of semen, and to breed your stallions to non-Arab mares you will have to buy eggs and own (or lease) a donor mare.

There will be items that you can purchase for; twins, genders and color selection.

It will follow the rules and designations of the real life horses.

Please give me any feedback/ideas....breeding groups I'm not thinking of....

Straight New Egyptian Stallion
I know he still needs more work, but this is what I have so far...

The Arriyahib (or Dragon's Blood Tree), . Feeding the sap to your mare will produce twins.





The  Dendrosicyos (or Cucumber Tree of Socotra). If a mare wears this flower in her mane she will produce a filly.





The  Neophron (Egyptian Vulture). If a mare wears a feather of the Neophron in her mane she will produce a colt.





Drinking the waters of Halah Cave, while gazing into the reflecting pool grants the breeder's wish of colors







Donor Mares (I know my shading isn't right....grrrrrr.....I'm working on it!









Nora is the keeper and protector of the Socotra Arabians.





And Omar is the Master of Ceremony and presents all the horses for auction.





Guest tent at the Souk of Steeds
(Where guests relax out of the heat of the sun while attending the Souk of Steeds auction.)

[skysnolimit]

I am soooo excited for the potential for this to happen.  It would be cool to see Arabo-Friesians in the Half-Arab category.  Sign me up!  Also, Buraq/Al-Buraq would be another special to consider, though I don't know how much he actually had to do with Arabians XD;;;

I love your ideas already, though!

[Sarah Badr]

I know Friesians are Dutch....but would they kinda be under Hispano Arab? They are Arab crosses with Baroque breeds like Lusitanos, Andalusians, Paso Finos and so on....

[Sarah Badr]

Thank you Silv!

[Sarah Badr]

Also, Buraq/Al-Buraq would be another special to consider, though I don't know how much he actually had to do with Arabians

The Al-Buraq would have to be something extra special and rare....and uhhhhh I can't do people (human head) very well so that one might take some time!   **Just asked the hubby and he said that it doesn't have a human head....that is the Indian version...will have to do more research....you got me thinkin' now.....lol!

[SkySong]

I have to say I skimmed over it because I'm about to go to bed and most of the in-depth horse stuff flies right over my head, but I think this would be a great idea! The buying eggs thing had me pause for a second, but that was the only thing that made me hesitate a little. (Only because I've never seen it done before)

[Sarah Badr]

In real life they do artificially inseminate mares and harvest the embryos, so it would be like that....for people who may only have an Arab stud.

[Sarah Badr]

Straight New Egyptian Stallion

Straight New Egyptian Mare



I just can not get the shading and highlighting right. It looks okay on grey, but on other colors it doesn't look right....

[TheLeet]

Maybe you could post a non-grey example? Someone might be able to see what's wrong wit the shading and help you fix it.

I like the idea and your first example looks pretty nice. You obviously know about horse proportions and all that. I do feel that the lines are a little too thick, though.

[Sarah Badr]

Straight Babson Egyptian Stallion

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[Winged]

They look great, especially the Straight Babson Egyptian Stallion! I agree with Leet that the lines might be a little thick in the first one, and as for the shading i'd agree that it looks slightly off in the first one, but i'm not really sure why. In the latest one, i'd say it's very good though could perhaps do with more shadows, looks very light. Also, what are you saving them as? The image looks pixelated to me.
Overall they look fantastic and ilove the idea, especially the realistic detail. I don't know much about horse breeding and nothing about Arabians but i do know about cattle breeding and farming, so i think it'll be a really interesting adoptable!

[Sarah Badr]

Silv said PNG was the best way to save them. Tell me what's best guys.


Need....more....input.......JONNY 5!!!!!!!! 

[SkySong]

It looks like you are saving them as jpg. (I right clicked on the recent one, and clicked on 'view picture'. The end of the hyperlink said it was a jpg.)

Try uploading to tinypic, or photoshop, even devArt if you wanted to. I think where you are uploading the images might be converting them to jpg.

Art wise, I think they are great! I'm used to the lines being a bit smoother and thinner, but god knows when I started using my tablet my lines were not as nice as yours. I can't quite comment on shading until I see they are in png, because I think the jpg is screwing it up a little.

[Sarah Badr]

I save them as .png on my computer and then upload them to my facebook to show them on here.

Thanks, these are my FIRST time doing art on a tablet. I'm going to redo those first ones....make the lines thinner etc....

[Sarah Badr]

I have added more photos.

The more I time with my tablet, the more I will most likely redo all the horses.

[Bunraku]

I really love what you are doing with this adoptable, and how you are incorporating so much tradition that makes these horses as beautiful and magical as they are. As a lover of the Arabic horse and its mythology I am more than excited to see this happen <3

[Sarah Badr]

Thank you Bun. I'm really excited about it. I'm getting no sleep working on the  story line pics. Have a couple more to do then going to totally start from scratch on the horses. There are alot! I've added a couple breeds/crosses and need some feedback on one cross group. Oh and....lol.....what has long ears and says HeeeHawwww.....lmbo.

Okay, I have Hispano-Arab on my list. I've seen through the years this term used for arabs crossed with Friesians, Andies and/or Lusitanos (Baroque breeds), but my research on them shows that the actual "Hispano-Arab" is on Arab-Lusitano cross. "Arabo-Friesians" are Arab-Friesian cross and "Alto Real" is Arab-Andalusian cross. So, I was considering just having a group called "Baroque Arabians" and they can be any combination of those three crosses, where the breeder can choose to stay "pure" within the subgroup or inter-cross with the other two? Or, have each cross as individual groups?

[Sarah Badr]

Added my story line.

[Arty]

I save them as .png on my computer and then upload them to my facebook to show them on here.

Thanks, these are my FIRST time doing art on a tablet. I'm going to redo those first ones....make the lines thinner etc....

You'd be better off uploading them to photobucket or another image hosting site, because if I remember correctly, Facebook loves eating the quality of the picture.

[Pinkshadow]

The straight egyptian mare looks like it has really short legs to me.

And I kinda dislike that you used religion in The storyline (Allah). Religion is a private thing that should Be kept inside peoples own 4 walls.

[Sarah Badr]

And I kinda dislike that you used religion in The storyline (Allah). Religion is a private thing that should Be kept inside peoples own 4 walls.

Pinkshadow it is not adding religion mentioning "Allah". That is literally the arabic word for "God". And, these are true stories and myths associated with the origins of the breed. The Arabian horse is the oldest established breed in the world, and as the breed was founded by the Arab people and these are the Arab people's stories where the breed came from I think it is important (and interesting to know) the stories about their origins. Especially as I am basing my adoptable on real life and history, not making up some fantasy world, I feel the true stories should be a part of these adoptables.

What is the difference with me talking about Allah/God or other adoptables talking about Gods and Goddesses.....and people from other planets/space...i.e. the sky?

EDIT: I have modified my storyline a little.

[Pinkshadow]

Allah is muslims god, like god is Cristians. That is religion to me

Myths about goddesses and such are not religion in the same way

[Sarah Badr]

Allah is muslims god, like god is Cristians. That is religion to me

Myths about goddesses and such are not religion in the same way

That is incorrect. God is God. In Islam God is call Allah and in Christianity he is God. But, it is the same God.

As I said these stories are part of the Arabian horses history and my adoptable is based on real life.

[Sarah Badr]

Myths about goddesses and such are not religion in the same way

Also incorrect, Gods and Goddesses (i.e. Greek, Roman, Gaelic etc) are based on a religion. In fact they were worshipped as a religion before Christianity and Islam.

[Arty]

Pink, it is very rude to have conversations like this on public threads. If you don't like what's Sarah is doing, don't participate, it's as easy as that. She isn't going in depth into religion or mentioning it in any way so I don't see what your problem is. I personally like the fact that she's paying attention to the little details like that.

[Ryuukokoro]

I think what PinkShadow is trying to say is that including a real religion that is current in the world today might make some people uncomfortable, and might make them choose not to participate in your adoptable. For example, if I had an adoptable that was donkeys and the backstory was that they were all descendants of the donkey Jesus rode on in the Bible, that might make some non-Christians uncomfortable and might make them not go into my thread.

Of course it's your adoptable and you can choose to do whatever you want with the backstory, PinkShadow is just pointing out one issue that some people might have. Just so you might be aware of it. Religion can be a tricky thing to mention anywhere, especially online.

Edit: I didn't see Arty's response before I posted. I don't think Pink was being rude, and Sarah did ask for people's opinions.

I think these heated responses are a perfect example of how even mentioning real religion in passing can have people get upset.

[PonyMama]

I understand the concept, but will probably never participate.  The art is okay, not stellar, but not bad, but some story referrals make me uncomfortable

and Arty Sarah did ask for opinions, sadly Pink had one, whether you or her agree with them they are hers, and she was stating them as asked
now I do feel both could take their discussion to private to avoid anything nasty, but when you are asking for an opinion, not everything is "it's awesome and perfect"  sometimes there are some hard things to hear

[Sarah Badr]

I agree my horse art isn't "stellar", but I've only been working with a tablet for about 2 weeks. I think I'm getting better though. That is why I stated I'm redoing them all.

My storyline is based on the history of the breed, that's it...not a bases to mention a religion. I understand what Pink meant and I edited my storyline. Besides, I did run my storyline by Silv before I posted it, and she had no problems with it.

I can't please everyone....that's life.

And yes, I did ask for opinions and nothing is hard for me to hear. Pink stated her opinion of what I wrote and so I did likewise.

[Kadana Sorano]

Sarah I love this.  I know other equine adopts have the arabian breed, but.. an adoptable based solely on the arabians alone?  That's awesome.  And SEA's are my absolute favorite of any horse ever!  I love all the myths and stories about them, and the fact that you are using them in/for your storyline is wonderful and makes me absurdly happy.

[PonyMama]

the vulture and the camel with the guy are GORGEOUS
the rest is just kinda "Meh" for me

if you manage to get the quality to the rest that you did for those I think it will be really pretty as a whole

[Sarah Badr]

Getting the shading and highlights right on the horses is making me nuts!!!!!

[Bunraku]

I think Sarah's intent is being misunderstood.

She is presenting her adoptable with the mythologies that accompany these horses. She is not presenting us with the literal religion. These are the stories of the people who bred and raised these horses and made them what they were. It is no different than having an adoptable based on Greek mythology that mentions iconic figures like Zeus, who were worshiped as gods, or fox spirits who are worshiped in shrines in Japan. (I mention Japan because I fully intend to create an adoptable based on the mythologies of the Japanese people)

I am not saying people can't feel the way they feel about seeing another religion mentioned. You have that right, and I do not dispute it. We all have certain things that make us uncomfortable, and religion is a touchy subject at best. But I don't think Sarah's intent was to bring "religion" into it, but rather, to raise our awareness of the mythology behind the breed, the stories of a people and what they believed about these horses.

From a purely personal perspective (You do not have to agree with me) I feel it enriches the adoptable and creates a unique atmosphere which focuses on the things about the Arab, and about horses in general, which first captivated the peoples who saw them. Sarah, regardless of whether you continue to include Allah in the back story of your adoptable or not, I hope you will continue to derive the basis of your back story on the people who loved them.

[skysnolimit]

I am still loving this!  I never saw the original wording, but I think what it says now--"the Arabian people believed the Arabian horse was a gift from Allah"--is simply fact, since they really believed that.  I personally don't see how that could not be included, since Sarah's been fairly thorough in other aspects of the storyline and I don't see why she wouldn't be thorough there as well.

Some people believe that all of the monotheistic religions believe in the same entity and some people believe that they believe in different entities, so maybe, Sarah, refraining from writing "(God)" after the word Allah ... would be wise (and not inaccurate either) so that you don't rub people the wrong way, since this can be very very sensitive.

I love the fact that Sarah mentioned the belief about Allah, because then I got to mention the believe about Al-Buraq, who would be really cool to see in Secundi art.  I guess I'd be a bit bummed at this point to have to take this storyline further away from what people actually did believe and do with Arabians in history.  I love that I can learn from this storyline right now, and feel like I'm actually there!  I mean, who hasn't imagined roaming around with a black purebred firey Arabian stallian, alone in the Arabian desert, a long, long time ago?  XD;;;

[skysnolimit]

Sarah-->as for Al-Buraq, since his traits are so ambiguous, perhaps it would be easier just to let certain studs/mares breed with him or her and come out with little ankle wings or something, rather than actually drawing Al-Buraq.

[Sarah Badr]

come out with little ankle wings

Lol Adorable!

[Bunraku]

I mean, who hasn't imagined roaming around with a black purebred firey Arabian stallian, alone in the Arabian desert, a long, long time ago?  XD;;;

The story of my life, skys. XD This is how I basically spent my childhood >>; Then I grew up...and I still do it... XD

[Sarah Badr]

Then I grew up...and I still do it... XD

Hahahahahhaahaha I think this is a whole group of those!!!! 

[springacres]

I love the concept and how you are including the mythology associated with the Arabians in your backstory! :3  I used to have a T-shirt with the text of the Bedouin legend printed on it, plus I'm big into mythology anyway so seeing those references is just really cool for me and adds to the realism of the adoptable

[skysnolimit]

I wish I could go sit in that lovely tent right now

[Sunchaser]

Sarah your shading in my opinion looks good on the black horses have you though of lowering the occupancy of the shading layer for the lighter horses?

[Sarah Badr]

  I dun't know howwwwwww.........but I know I'll find it eventually.....FRIENDS....... flirt flirt. LOL.

[Sarah Badr]

I wish I could go sit in that lovely tent right now

I know....I wanna too.  I'm doing all my storyline pics and the donor mares first, before I start on the breeding stock. They can take the brunt of my mess ups.

Though SNL....you gotta know.....realistically it would be like 120+F right there in that tent!!!!!