Why the Mares are so Important in Preservation Breeding
A historical overview including the fifteen principal Polish Arabian dam lines
Why mare families matter
In Polish Arabian breeding, the mare family is not a decorative pedigree label. It is the tail-female line: mother to daughter to granddaughter, carried forward through the dam without interruption. These lines are the enduring female foundations and should be important to all breeders of Polish Arabian horses.
This way of thinking is both practical and historical. It echoes the older desert understanding that the mare preserved identity and continuity, while also reflecting the very careful Polish habit of recording and protecting female families as distinct breeding resources.
Modern Polish breeding is still described through these lines. A 2023 historical review stated that fifteen dam lines are present in the Polish breeding program, and a foundational mtDNA study examined fifteen Polish dam lines that together represented nearly the entire registered broodmare population at the time of analysis.
A note on names, spellings, and branches
Some names appear in more than one spelling depending on the language of the source. For example, Szamrajówka may also appear without diacritics, and a few foreign imports are rendered differently in English and Polish transliteration.
It is also important not to confuse a mare family with a daughter branch or a celebrated individual mare. Forta belongs under Ukrainka. Zaira and Delfina belong under Milordka. Dziwa belongs under Sahara. The family is the older, foundational line; later branches may be historically significant, but they do not become new families simply because they became famous.
The fifteen principal Polish mare families
The list below follows the classic family structure reflected in historical Polish sources and in the well-known 2007 mtDNA study of Polish Arabian dam lines.
| Family | Historic source | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Szamrajówka | Biała Cerkiew | Old borderlands family; foundation of the famous P line. |
| Szweykowska | Sławuta | Historic Sławuta family retained in Polish breeding. |
| Wołoszka | Sławuta | Classic Sławuta female line preserved into modern breeding. |
| Ukrainka | Sławuta / Gumniska | Historic line later carried forward crucially through Forta. |
| Milordka | Sławuta | Old Polish family with important internal branches. |
| Gazella | Jarczowce | Desert-bred import of 1845; among the most influential Polish lines. |
| Mlecha | Jarczowce | Desert-bred import of 1845; one of the lasting classic families. |
| Sahara | Jarczowce | Desert-bred import of 1845; another foundational imported line. |
| Selma | Imported line | Added during interwar reconstruction. |
| Rodania | Imported line | A major outside family incorporated into Polish breeding. |
| Cherifa | Imported line | Separate family; not the same as Scherife. |
| Adjuze | Babolna | One of the Babolna-derived families preserved after the war. |
| Bent-El-Arab | Babolna | Recognized Babolna family retained in Polish breeding. |
| Scherife | Babolna | A distinct family name in the Polish record, separate from Cherifa. |
| Semrie | Babolna | Babolna-derived line that survived into the Polish mare-family structure. |
The oldest borderlands families
Szamrajówka
The old Biała Cerkiew line occupies a special place in Polish memory. It is the lone surviving family tied directly to that breeding tradition and later became internationally famous through the P line.
Sławuta families
Szweykowska, Wołoszka, Ukrainka, and Milordka are surviving heirs of the Sanguszko tradition at Sławuta. Together they represent the continuity of one of the great historic Polish Arabian breeding centers.
Ukrainka
Within this group, Ukrainka deserves special care in modern writing because Forta is so often mentioned. Forta was a decisive postwar continuator of the line, but the family itself remains Ukrainka.
The Jarczowce imports
Gazella, Mlecha, and Sahara
These three desert-bred mares, imported in 1845, are among the most storied female founders in all Polish Arabian history. Their names are not simply old pedigree references; they remain active family identities in the breed.
The Jarczowce families helped give Polish breeding some of its deepest prestige. In practical breeding history, they were not ornamental imports but mares whose descendants proved durable, useful, and internationally influential.
Later imported and reconstructed lines
Selma, Rodania, and Cherifa
After the destruction of earlier breeding centers, Poland rebuilt in part through carefully chosen imported female lines. Selma, Rodania, and Cherifa entered the breeding record during that reconstruction process.
Do not merge Cherifa with Scherife
The similarity of spelling can invite confusion, but Cherifa and Scherife are treated as separate lines in the classical Polish documentation and in the mtDNA study's table of dam lines.
The Babolna contribution
Adjuze, Bent-El-Arab, Scherife, and Semrie
Postwar Polish breeding also absorbed important blood through mares from Babolna. Not every Babolna family persisted equally strongly, but these four remained among the recognized classic lines.
Why smaller lines still matter
A smaller family is not an unimportant family. In conservation terms, rarity can make a line more valuable, not less, because once a true tail-female line disappears, it cannot be recreated.
Importance of families, branches and individual mares
This article on Polish mare families distinguishes between foundation families, daughter branches, and famous individual mares. That prevents accidental inflation of the number of families and keeps the history sound.
It is also useful to separate the question of prestige from the question of identity. Forta, Dziwa, Zaira, Fryga, and other memorable names may be central to the story of their lines, but they do not replace the older family names under which they belong.
Closing reflection
The Polish Arabian horse was not preserved by stallions alone, and not by auction glamour alone. It was preserved mare by mare, daughter by daughter, through lines that survived losses large enough to erase whole breeding worlds.
That is why the mare families matter. They are not just names from the past. They are the living female threads of the breed's memory.
Source note
This article is based primarily on the historical summary of Polish dam lines published on polskiearaby.com in 2023, the 2007 mtDNA study “A new view on dam lines in Polish Arabian horses based on mtDNA analysis,” and supporting Polish breeding articles discussing the Sławuta, Jarczowce, and Babolna contributions to modern Polish breeding.