Carl Raswan

Carl Reinhard Raswan (7 March 1893 – 14 October 1966), born Carl Reinhard Schmidt, was one of the greatest connoisseurs and patrons of the asil Arabian horse. He authored numerous books on Arabian horses and the Bedouin people who raised them. A scholar of Arabian bloodlines, he also published the Raswan Index, an extensive compilation of Arabian horse pedigree and strain information. He advocated tolerance and understanding of Bedouin ways of life and culture in Arabia.

Early years

Carl Raswan was born Carl Reinhard Schmidt in Dresden, Laubegast-Tolkewitz, in 1893, the son of Martin Schmidt and a Hungarian mother. At the age of five, Carl Raswan received a pony named "Philie" as a gift from his father. When his father purchased property in 1898, Carl took long excursions on his pony in the Dresden area, without the need to cross the Elbe river. Carl spent his school holidays with riding, often in the company of his uncle Bernhard Schmidt, a forester. During one of those holidays, Raswan observed the young Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony, who was riding a Shagya Arabian. Raswan noticed the horse appeared to recognize its own reflection in the water and played with it. This experience, suggesting a high degree of animal intelligence for a horse, awakened his interest in the Arabian horse; he later described it as a key event in his life.