The Shagya-Arabian is not an Arabian, but is its own separate breed of Arabian-bred horse developed over 200 years ago on the military stud farms of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy such as Radautz in Romania and Bábolna in Hungary.
The official name “Shagya” was not adopted until 1978 when the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) officially recognized the Shagya as a separate Arabian breed and accepted the International Shagya-Araber Gesellschaft (“ISG”) as a member. The ISG is an international body that supports the breeding and preservation of the Shagya breed.
Prior to this the Shagya had been known in Europe as Part-bred Arabian or Arabian race, “Hungarian-bred Arabians”, “Bábolna Arabians” and “Part-bred”. This breed was based on breeding stock that for over a century or more was continuously mated with Arabian pureblood horses or with part-bred Arabians, but strains of Hungarian, Transylvanian, Spanish, Lipizzaner and English Thoroughbred breeds can be seen in very old Shagya pedigrees.
The breed’s name “Shagya” is in honor of one of the most influential horses in the creation of the breed, the stallion “Shagya or. ar.” (1810), imported from Syria to Bábolna in 1836. Records indicate that he was a remarkably strong and tall stallion, standing shy of 16 hands, of the Koheil Siglavy strain. Other foundation stallions were the original Arabians Gazlan-Gazal, Koheilan, Mersuch, Dahoman, Siglavy, Siglavy-Bagdady, O’Bajan, Amurath and Kemir. Other Shagya lines include El Sbaa and Nedjari. Purebred Shagyas must have pedigrees that can be traced in both their sire and dam’s sides to the studbooks of Radautz (Romania) and Bábolna (Hungary) and to purebred Arabians, and must have been bred according to the system of Bábolna.
The State Studs of Europe kept strict breeding principles and records. They used carefully planned line breeding, coupled with judicious and regular out-crossing to purebred desert Arabian horses, and maintained a rigorous set of performance tests for mares and stallions before they could be used for breeding. Shagya Studbooks have been closed to all breeds except for Purebred Arabian for over a century.
Current ISG guidelines require that there are no more than 9 purebred Arabians in the fourth generation of a purebred Shagya (the “9/16 Rule”). The official brand for Shagya is a sun circling the abbreviation “Sh”.
The breeding goal for the purebred Shagya is to produce hardy, sound and versatile horses with Arabian beauty and friendly, people-orientated temperaments, of Arabian type but with more bone and mass than the pureblood Arabians. Shagyas should have the Arabian qualities of toughness, refinement, and endurance along with a dependable temperament and taller height, larger frame and bigger bone. For a horse to be “officially” considered a “Shagya” it must registered with an ISG member registry.
Today, the rules and regulations for Shagya breeding have been established by the ISG in their RZBO Guidelines. RZBO rules allow for purebred Arabian mares and stallions to be approved for Shagya breeding upon their inspections and approval for breeding. It is important to note that these approved purebred Arabians do not become “Shagyas”, rather their eligible foals can be registered as Shagyas in the applicable Shagya studbook or Appendix. This is similar to the ATA in that they approve purebred Arabians, Throughbreds and Shagyas for Trakehner breeding but these horses are not registered as Trakehners.
The Shagyas’ versatility makes it an ideal horse for riding (dressage, show jumping, cross-country, western disciplines, driving, and endurance) and driving. They are physically and mentally capable of being top level competition horses also make wonderful pleasure and family horses.