For more than four decades, Manboy plodded through West Baltimore streets with his horses, including his favorite, Pearl, hustling goods such as fresh produce and firewood from multicolored carts.

"I started when I was 16. I used to sell wood and coal and ice back when I was coming up, when you really had to make a living doing this," said Manboy, an elder of the a-rab trade who prefers his nickname over his given one, Donald Savoy.

Manboy, 70, is retired and has passed the trade to his son and grandson. But he wonders whether anyone ever again will reach retirement carrying on this Baltimore tradition.

A proposed set of changes to regulations for a-rabbing has a-rabs again feeling singled out for extinction by a city that they say has grown indifferent to them. About 30 remain in business, and many of them, including Manboy's son and grandson, do it part time.

The Horse Regulation Review Committee, formed by the city Health Department, says it is trying to preserve the a-rab tradition by setting more stringent standards for horse care. Committee representatives note incidents in recent years in which horses have died or have been found neglected in backyard city stables.

"There are many times when horses are out" with a-rabs who do not have licenses required by the city, said committee member Beverly Raymond, a Maryland Horse Industry Board inspector. "I've heard of incidents with joyriding or racing. And by enforcing these rules, we hope it would somehow eliminate those issues from happening."

A-rabs and their supporters counter that the actions of a few should not taint the group. They speak of an undying love for their animals. Manboy's home in West Baltimore is decorated with horse pictures. More regulations, the a-rabs argue, might end the days of horse-drawn wagons selling fruits and vegetables in Baltimore.

"It's just another way for them to harass the a-rabs," said Steve Blake, president of the Arabber Preservation Society, which in 1998 filed a lawsuit against the city for implementing ordinances and closing a city stable - actions advocates said threatened to put an end a-rabbing altogether.

A-rabbing dates from the 1800s. Once, hundreds loaded their carts at markets and delivered the goods to neighborhood customers. As recently as the 1980s, there were about 100, according to the society.

Now most of them are gone, and the number of city stables is down to three from about a dozen during the 1980s, the group says.

Two local filmmakers who have been working on a feature film about a-rabs say it has become almost a race to capture a piece of history before it is gone.

"A lot of the guys we've interviewed have died and taken with them a lot of knowledge that is not being passed on," said Scott Kecken, a film and video instructor at Villa Julie College. Since 1997, he and his wife, Joy Lusco Kecken, have been working on the film We Are Arabbers.

"If they disappear, it will be another unique part of Baltimore that will be gone, that is being replaced by cookie-cutter restaurants ... you can go to any city to see," Scott Kecken said. "But you can't go to any other city in America and see a-rabs."

Restrictions

Manboy still drops by the old stable at Fremont Avenue and Pitcher Street once a week, usually Saturday mornings, to visit the horses and hang out with other a-rabs. It's like a ritual, part of the a-rab culture.

Since Manboy quit in 1992, the city has required a-rabs to obtain city permits and to register their horse-drawn carts.

The regulatory committee has proposed tightening weather-related rules that dictate when a-rabs can work their horses: in hot weather, from 92 degrees to 90 degrees and lower than 60 percent humidity; in cold weather, from 20 to 32 degrees. Other restrictions would apply when rainy or freezing-road conditions prevail.

The committee also wants to require a-rabs to take annual horse-driver training classes before they can renew their licenses. Such training would be under the auspices of the Bureau of Animal Control - an agency that has long been antagonistic to a-rabbing, a-rabs say.

Blake says he is suspicious of the motives of the chairman of the committee, Thomas V. Overton. Blake belongs to the 11-member panel, which includes representatives from the Humane Society, Maryland Horse Industry Board, city police and the City Council.

"We were asked to participate, to include our input, and, of course, none of it made it in the final cut," said Blake, who argued against the weather-related changes and training requirement, and suggested an alternative licensing fee system that would cost a-rabbers less over several years. "The folks there had their own ideas, and were definitely not in favor of having these guys around at all." Overton has submitted the committee's proposal to the Bureau of Animal Control and the Health Department, which together will draw up a final draft for the City Council to consider.

Changing times

Although Overton and others acknowledge that they want stricter rules and more enforcement of them, forcing a-rabs out of business is not their goal, says the chairman, a former director of the city Department of Recreation and Parks.

"I don't think it is something we want to see go away," Overton said. "No. 1 here is the safety and care of the horses, safety of citizens, and we hope the a-rabbers would use the horses correctly for their everyday livelihood."

Overton knows his committee has angered most a-rabs and their supporters. "Change is difficult," he said.