The Morab, different stages of development

Here is a progression of a Morab colt from weanling to two years of age, plus an older Morab for comparision. As you will see Morabs usually resemble the more refined look of an Arabian at young ages and develop more slowly than other breeds. More Morgan characteristics reveal themselves with age. The most common and easily recognized characteristic will be a thickening of the crest of the neck and the hind quarters will develop and begin to muscle. Of course every Morab develops differently depending apon it's breeding. This is meant just as an example of a typical individual from Egyptian/Spanish Arabian and Goverment/Lippitt Morgan breeding.

Morab Colt

Arabian mare with Morab colt (illustrated below), Morgan stallion, sire of the Morab colt.
. This foal is 4 months old and is very refined. I have seen Morab foals that are very muscled and big bodied at this age. Most of these Morabs have come from Morab to Morab or Morab to Arabian or Morgan breedings. It is not appearent yet if this is the norm with Morab to Morab breeding, as very few exist at present. Future generations will give us a better look at what traits Morab stallions and mares give their offspring in comparison to Arabian/ Morgan first generation breedings.
This colt is now one year old (11months, color change is due to sun bleaching) and you can see that he is still very refined. Length of neck is developing but he could still pass for an Arabian. Morabs mature well into their 5th and 6th year, and really should not be started under saddle until they are 3, preferably 4 if the Morab is immature.
This Morab colt is now two (28 months) You can see that his body is starting to mature and fill out, his basic form is still the same but there is a noticeable difference in his hind quarters and depth of body. His neck is just starting to crest up. If he is gelded his neck will probably stay relatively refined, but if he remains a stallion, his neck will continue to develop and crest up further.
This is an example of a mature Morab at around 5 or 6 years of age. This Morab is of similiar type as the colt above and a good reference of what this colt could look like at maturity if gelded.

If you have progressive pictures (birth thru age two and up) of your Morab, we would like to further this section with illustrations of Mares and geldings and other Morab colts, to illustrate Morab similarities. Please include approx. age at the time of each photo and the breeding of the Morab. We would like to draw comparisons between different Morgan and Arabian lines within the Morab breed.Please send all photos and information to: The Morab Gallery Web Site - P.O. Box 82 Caledonia, Illinois 61011

Morab Filly

Morab Sire and Arabian Dam of the following Morab filly

This is a Morab filly at one hour old. This filly is the product of a Morab stallion onto an Arabian mare. The Arabian mare is out of domestic bloodlines(Crabbet, Egyptian, Polish)The Morab stallion is of Government breeding(Morgan) and Crabbet(Arabian). One might think that a Morab that is 75% Arabian would favour the Arabian characteristics more. The more Morabs I see that are 75% Arabian, the more I believe that this gives a more equal percentage of Morgan and Arabian characteristics. The Morgan is very strong, genetically. Many Morabs that I have seen that are 50/50 develop very strong Morgan characteristics at maturity and are in some cases over powering the Arabian traits. As I said before, every Morab is different depending on it's breeding, but real similarities exist between Morabs between the 25%/75% standard. This is what makes the Morab a breed, instead of just a nice cross bred horse. Morab to Morab breedings are still what will define and solidify the Morab's true breed standard, and that is something that is still far off in the future of this fledgling breed.
Here is the same filly at four months. She is filling out and is really smoothing out in the body.Notice how the angles of the hip and shoulder stay the same but the croup muscles develop to level the top line. Some Morabs experience strange growth spirts and will look very butt high from ages one to four. Some like this filly seem to even oput their growth without experiencing many butt high periods.
Here is the filly at one year old. Notice the filling out of the body and a more balanced appearance. Ideally you should be able to separate a horse's body into three equal parts, the hip, barrel, and shoulder. This filly is very close and will be closer at maturity when her chest and shoulder develops further. This filly has a very strong hip of good length combined with a smooth body. Beautiful straight legs and expressive heads mark the well bred Morab. This filly is an excellent representative.
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