In the late 1980s the Public Authority for Agricultural and Fisheries Resources (PAAFR), which at that time was responsible for the Arabian Horse Center, decided to follow up on the breeding program with purebred Arabian horses for which proven pedigrees existed. They applied for membership with the worldwide Arabian horse community, the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO).
In 1996 the responsibility for the Arabian Horse Center was taken over by the Hunting and Equestrian Club and its Arabian horse committee, which together with the steadily growing number of private breeders supported the idea of WAHO membership. A proper registry was set up, which started to work on a studbook that would comply with all requirements of WAHO and would include all horses belonging to the Center and to the private breeders.Mr. Abdullah Nayef Albraihi, a great enthusiast of Arabian horses, worked together with some colleagues acting as board members of the Arabian horse committee and set up rules and regulations for the registration of Arabian horses in Kuwait. He acted first as the general secretary of the Arabian Horse Committee, later as a volunteer for the management of the Center, and then as the registrar—a position that he still holds.
When the first volume of The Arabian Horse Stud Book of Kuwait was completed in 1996, Kuwait became a full member of WAHO. This volume, which contains all the records up to 1995, mentions twenty-three imported purebred Arabians registered with WAHO as well as six purebred Arabian horses that were born in Kuwait before 1995, each of them tracing back to a registered sire or dam or both in the studbook of the State of Kuwait.
Among the abovementioned twenty-three imported purebred Arabian horses, only two stallions and one mare belonged to the first group of horses that was imported in 1988.
All the other imported horses were either stolen or killed during the Iraqi invasion, and since none of their offspring survived until the period when the first studbook was being prepared, these imported horses were not published in volume one except those who left traces.
In the meantime more studbooks have been published and accepted by WAHO. They contain the horse records until registration number 2550 in volume six. Volumes two through six of The Kuwait Arabian Horse Studbook are available for download under the “Studbooks” link on this site.
