By Bachir Bserani with Kellie Kolodziejczyk
The above photo is from video footage of a traditional wedding held in a small town north of Alexandria, Egypt, in 2004. This beautiful dancing horse was presented by groom's family at the celebration to honor the bride, her family and guests.
The Arabian desert played a fighting field to many Arabian tribes. To capture your imagination you must close your eyes and go back many centuries and imagine two powerful tribes declaring war on each other. Be it to recapture a lost honor or a payback for an unfortunate bad blood between them. Imagine a long line drawn in the sand and on either side a few feet away from each other were hundreds upon hundreds of horsemen riding the finest steeds in the land, all dressed with beautiful and colorful saddles, bridles and breastplates, all facing each other and ready for battle.
Visualize with me the many strains that formed these beautiful Bedouin armies. The Seglawi's with their breathtaking beauty, the Obeyan with their stocky and strong frame, the Kuhaylan with their beautiful and shiny mane and tail. Visualize with me and listen to the sound of battle, the cry of the riders, the zalgouta (shouting loudly with the rolling of the tongue) of the woman from a distance encouraging her fighter to be strong, and fight with courage and determination.
At the end of one line are several men with tablat (large drums) and mazzameer (flutes). On the other end of the line is the same set up of drums and flutes belonging to the opposite tribe. These musicians are beating the tablat and playing the mazzameer, creating music that is lively and very cadenced. The horses in line responding to the music and urging of their riders start prancing in place, swaying with the music, shaking their head up and down, collecting their body, and telling their rider they are ready to go. This is the Arabian dancing horse.
After the battle the winning tribe would celebrate. They showed off the many horses they acquired as a result of winning the battle and the festivity and the dances would begin. Into the crowd came those beautiful horses to perform their dance. The crowd exalted, the applaud was constant, the drums would beat steadily, and the flutes from a distance urged everybody, horses and human, to enjoy the moment for what they accomplished was beyond description.
This is the history of the Arabian dancing horse. It originated from the Gazou (raids) or Harb (battles). Following from this history there continues to be shown off the Arabian dancing horse in happy occasions like important guest appearances, competitions, weddings, or any festive celebration. The dancing horse could be from any strain. It is not typically of one strain or another. What is most important is that some horses will show from their early age a very keen ear to music. And the Bedouin who are good horsemen, and who have a keen knowledge of the horse and its structure will decide which horse will be trained from a tender age to be a dancing horse to perform in many happy occasions.
The outside world has admired, raised, and bred the Arabian horse. They have trained these horses to do almost anything from showing in a ring to endurance riding, to racing, to driving, to cutting, to dressage, to jumping and to every equitation or riding discipline that there is. The only thing that has not been successfully accomplished in this country and Europe and by those not from the Middle East is having trained an Arabian horse to dance. And this I believe, is because the art of training the Arabian dancing horse is a complicated and very skillful art that is not widely shared with the outside world. The delicate and masterful training of the dancing horse starts at the age of three and it takes one year plus for this talented young horse to learn the basic fundamentals of the movement. Much patience is needed during this process. And it should be noted that those horses, when they are selected to be a dancing horse, will be trained solely for that purpose.
We first teach those horses to salute by raising their front leg and bowing. Then we start teaching them to move in place to the beat of the drums. The horse must have an elastic back, be able to take instructions, and remember them day in and day out. The slightest sound, the slightest drum beat, the slightest noise, will make the Arabian dancing horse react. From a young age in Syria I was fascinated with the dancing horse. My first encounter with these magnificent performers was in a town called Hama which is approximately 150 kilometers north of Damascus. I was invited with my family to a big wedding. The father of the bride was an old acquaintance to my family.
Photo is of Arab men playing their tablat (large drums) and mazzameer (flutes) at a wedding celebration in Egypt.
Photo is taken from actual video footage.
When we arrived a few minutes late the tents were erected, the guests were all seated, the music was playing. The beat of the drums, coordinated with the flutes, was exalting the crowd to clap their hands and stomp their feet to the rhythm. We were received with zagaleet (many women making loud sound with their voice and tongue). And our places were secured near the bride's family. The bride and the groom all dressed up, were seated at the center at the other end of the tent. The belly dancers were encouraging the crowd to get involved with the music and festivity. The atmosphere was electrifying. Suddenly the announcer asked the crowd to keep their eyes on the entrance of the big tent. As the music raised its pitch, a beautiful pure white Arabian horse all dressed up in the finest Bedouins headset, breastplate, and a blue Arabian handmade saddle entered the tent prancing to the beat of the music. Not one person in the crowd was seated. All eyes were on this beautiful Arabian horse with his simply dressed rider making an entrance of a King with a steed that God gave beauty and arrogance beyond description. My heart stopped. My eyes were mesmerized on this Divine combination. My feet were moving to the rhythm that the horse and the music created. It was then I decided that I will seek knowledge from the best horsemen to learn the art of teaching Arabian horses how to dance.
After studying under a few Bedouin masters, watching them, listening to their instruction, I was able to train successfully my own Arabian. I trained my dancing Arabian horse in Damascus where I had my horses stabled. We participated in competitive performances that were held annually at Nadee al Feroussiah, the riding club. The dancing horses came from all over the Middle East. We performed under tents with many spectators enjoying the festivities.
Photo is of author Bachir Bserani with his horse, Dee, in the early stages of training to be an Arabian Dancing Horse.
In the United States I was lucky to own an Arabian horse that was sensitive to music. And from the time I purchased him when he was 3 years old I worked with him teaching him the fundamentals. And his intelligence, obedience and his natural head carriage made my job so much easier. He was a delight of the neighbors, and many who knew my Arabian horse, endearingly called "Dee", could not have enough of watching him perform to the music. Dee was featured in 1988 on a local television show as "The Dancing Horse from Pompey". Pompey is a suburb of Syracuse, NY.
The training of the Arabian Dancing Horse must be done by a Master. This is very important as the young horse could learn many bad habits that might be extremely difficult to correct later on. The training starts with the horse being at a tender age of three to four years old. For one year we teach him with patience how to carry himself with the utmost supple back, proper balance, and many, many hours under the saddle with suppling exercises. When the time arrives we start playing Arabic music with lively rhythm. We will watch our horse's ears and eyes. They will tell us the scope of his desire to move with the music.
Then after a year we take him in the box. This is set up with ground poles placed 24 feet apart, closed at all the corners, except one whereby to enter or exit. We will work him first on the ground. We settle our pupil, we play the Arabic music and with a light stick or whip we start tapping his front legs one at a time following the rhythm of the music. Once we get a positive result we stop, take him to his stall and reward him. We follow this procedure for a month with daily work, or as long as necessary. But usually before very long, we suddenly realize that this most talented horse is picking up his diagonal feet almost together. During the training we must hold him with the reins, keep his head set, and do not let the horse move forward or back to avoid work. With my late horse Don Diablo I reached a point that his head was set almost vertical to the ground and I could tap with my stick on the ground when I am beside him while moving my feet and he will follow his movement with the rhythm of the music being played. After a month or two depending on the horse, we then can proceed to the mounted exercise that will be explained in another article to follow.
As I mentioned before, the process of teaching an Arabian horse to dance is very difficult and demanding. It must be done only by a Master horseman. I am taking the liberty to share with the readers my own experience and knowledge about this fine art of riding and presenting your beautiful Arabian. Once you have witnessed the beauty and the elegance of a dancing horse not only will you be taken to a different level of performance, but you will realize, of course, why the Arabian horse is considered by many around the world as the most beautiful gift that God Almighty bestowed upon humankind.
© Al Moussami 2005-2008. All Rights Reserved.
A Collection of Arabic Names with Translations and Pronunciations,
Especially for the Arabian Horse Lover