Washington’s Best Saddle Horse

By BEN HUR (Western Horseman Jan/Feb ’46)

Yankee ingenuity and frugality gave General George Washington his best and most illustrious saddle horse during the trying days of the Revolutionary war — a beautiful, half-bred Arabian stallion.

George Washington was fundamentally a man of the soil, a country squire and Virginia gentleman who loved his country home, his dogs and blooded livestock. The great necessity for protection of his and his neighbors’ estates and their way of life in the colonies was the only thing that drove him from his role as an agriculturist and breeder of horses and livestock to that of military leader of the revolutionists and, later, to become first president of the newly formed republic. He was a great admirer of fine horses and loved speed contests. Before the Revolution he went regularly to the races at Annapolis, attended the theatre and the balls given on those occasions, and was entertained by the social leaders of the town.

Prior to the Revolution there was in Connecticut a noted imported horse called Ranger, later known as Lindsay’s Arabian, that was brought to the colony in 1766, when four years old. He is described as a light grey or white horse, of the most perfect form and symmetry, above 15 hands high, possessing high and gallant temper, which gave him a lofty and commanding carriage and appearance.

The history of this horse is interesting. He was presented by the Emperor of Morocco to the commander of a British frigate for some important service rendered by the latter to the son of the emperor, whose stables contained some of the finest blooded horses from the Bedouin tribes of the Arabian desert. The horse was shipped on board the frigate with the expectation of obtaining a great price for him if safely landed in England. For some reason the vessel crossed to the West Indies on the way home, where, being obligated to remain for some time, the captain in sympathy for the horse allowed him to range for exercise in a large but enclosed lumber yard. In a spirit of playfulness the horse ascended one of the piles of lumber and fell, breaking three of his legs.

Veterinary science and surgery was not perfected to any extent at that time and even today it is almost the universal practice to put to death a horse that has the misfortune to break one leg, much less three. In the same harbor, however, at the time there happened to be an old acquaintance of the British captain from New England to whom the horse was offered as an animal of inestimable value, if he could be cured. The Yankee captain’s boyhood training in economy and frugality would not permit him to see the horse destroyed without an attempt to save his life. He accepted the gift of the horse and brought him on board his New England vessel. He had him secured in canvas belt slings and very carefully set and bound his broken legs. The horse was finally landed in Connecticut, his young bones having knitted satisfactorily during the slow voyage northward on the sailing vessel.

General George Washington had his attention attracted to the superiority of the horses ridden by the Connecticut cavalry when he took command of the Continental Army at Boston, 1777-1778. Calling General Harry Lee (Light Horse Harry Lee) of the American cavalry into conference, he found that these horses were the sons and the daughters of Ranger. Captain Lindsay was thereupon sent to Connecticut to purchase Ranger, and the horse which survived three broken legs was taken to Virginia where he was afterward known as the Lindsay Arabian. General Washington, in the meantime, obtained one of the stallion’s fine sons for his personal mount.

The horse that General Israel Putnam rode when he galloped down a hundred steps at Greenwich, Conn., to escape the British, was a full brother to Washington’s charger. The artist’s conception of Putnam’s daring exploit is found to this day in most school histories of the founding of the United States.

As Washington was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed more than two hundred pounds it is evident that the famous charger, (half Arabian), son of Ranger (Lindsay’s Arabian), must have been a weight-carrier. After the revolution, General Washington directed that the services of Lindsay’s Arabian be extensively used on his blooded mares at Mount Vernon. The four famous grey stallions that drew Martha Washington’s coach to Philadelphia, the first capital, when congress convened, were bred on the Washington plantation and were half-bred Arabian sons of Lindsay’s Arabian.

Type in the Arab

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman March 1951)

IS THE ARABIAN horse a gift of nature, a natural , primary type like the wild beast of the fields and forests? Or is it a modified and developed type, created under man’s influence?

Type is that distinctive, familiar shape which immediately identifies a horse and classifies it with its breed. Type makes the breed. The type of your favorite breed is as familiar to you as the type-faces and typography of your favorite newspaper and magazine which you can identify at sight at a distance long before you are near enough to read the print.

Zobeyni, Seglawi strain, desert bred Arabian stallion, imported to Egypt about 1840 by Abbas Pasha I, founder of the most successful and dominant Arabian male line.

Aabab No. 741, Kehilan strain (1945), sired by Hanad, he by *Deyr, most successful sire of the Davenport importation. Aabab bears a striking similarity to Zobeyni.

What is Arabian type and what is its origin? You know it when you see it, but there are so many variations in the type. What is the explanation? Which is the most desirable?

Most Arabians fall within two type classifications:

1) the larger, longer, coarser and more masculine type;

2) the smaller, shorter, finer formed, “strength and beauty” type.

The larger, coarser type was used mainly as foundation for our present day light breeds. The smaller, finer type has been largely the foundation of the Arabians as a breed, bred in their purity during the past century in Egypt, Poland, England and later in the United States. This type, known as the elite in Egypt, as the classic in America, when highly bred, it that of a horse of transcendent beauty. It is more than that. It is the beauty of an ancient Grecian statue come to life. It is not sheer beauty alone, at one extreme, or sheer brute strength at the other. The ideal represents a blending of animated strength and beauty, a degree of perfection not achieved in any other domestic animal.

Gulastra No. 521, Seglawi strain; dam, Gulnare; sire, *Astraled by Mesaoud, great grandson of Zobeyni. Gulastra has proven a highly important sire.

The ideal Arabian type is recognizable at sight to the experienced horseman and novice alike. It falls short of the ideal if it reminds one of another horse or breed. It falls short of the ideal if it is so plain and uncertain of type as to require a sign: “This is an Arabian horse.” It falls short of the ideal if it is so coarse and masculine as to remind one of a small Percheron, at one extreme, or so highly animated and elf-like as to remind one of a gazelle at the other extreme. The ideal type stands out alone. You know it immediately when you see it.

Because of its beauty and perfection, the most common error is the assumption that Arabian type is a natural gift of nature, a type that is as fixed as that of the bison, squirrels or bob cats. With that erroneous assumption as a premise, the new admirer of the Arabian dreams of the day he could visit the desert, make friends and barter for a few Arabian horses. From then on, with his horses safely back home, all that would be necessary, with a little feed, time and care, would be the multiplication and addition of the offspring. It would be as simple as starting with a pair of guinea pigs or white rabbits. Like would beget like and soon there would be many more of these wonderful Arabians. The idea still persists today, in spite of the history of the development of the breed and evidence all about of the bloodlines and skill required to produce the desired type.

On scores of occasions, elaborate and adequately equipped trips have been made to the desert (in some instances years and fortunes have been spent) in an attempt to bring back several of the “dream horses.” The results have been disheartening at best. The horses dreamed about could not be found, or an occasional one found was not for sale. After these many attempts, it is generally conceded that Abbas Pasha I of Egypt all but stripped the desert of the best horses a century ago and that the overwhelming majority of Arabians of the much preferred type desired today are of these bloodlines combined with and developed by the Blunts and later their daughter, Lady Wentworth.

There are three familiar proofs we may cite that Arabian type is not a gift of nature, a natural, primary fixed type:

1) the horses of Cortez and De Soto, of Spanish origin, were of the same root stock as the early Arabians. Left to run wild on the plains of the southwest, they grew smaller, lost most of the early type and good dispositions and became, in fact, untractable, rough ponies.

2) The Thoroughbred in England, on the other hand, under proper care, skill and environment, was moulded and developed from about the same root stock, about the same time as the reversion in type was making the wild mustang in America. Taking advantage of the variations in type found from time to time, and with selection and care, a new type, the thoroughbred, was created.

3) As further proof that the Arabian horse, as found in the desert, was moulded and pliable, a highly developed creature from the remote early type, we may cite that there was no universal, fixed type.

Travelers visiting the desert, from earliest recorded accounts, found variations in the distinctive, over-all type. They found some six or more main strains among as many main Bedouin tribes, and numerous sub-strains of each main strain, each further specialized to the liking of the families among the tribes breeding them. The five main strains were the Kehilan, Seglawi, Abeyan, Hamdani and Hadban, all more or less closely related, and many maintained that from the Kehilan the others were offshoots.

Azkar No. 1109, Kehilan (Seglawi) strain; sire, Rahas by Gulastra; dam, imported *Aziza, Egypt, out of Negma, finest recent representative of the Jellibiet Feysul mare line. (Today this line has been shown through mtDNA analysis to be Seglawi-Jedran)

These five strains were of the finer, elite or classic type. The sixth strain, the larger, coarser, was the Maneghi, seldom, if ever, crossed with the other strains. Breeding and identifying type followed the mare through these strain and sub-strain names. Stallions from one strain of the first five were often used on the other closely related strains, but his strain name was dropped in his offspring, which carried the strain of its dam. Pedigrees in the modern sense were unknown among the Bedouins.

Of the many horses imported from the desert to Egypt, England, Poland and the United States, early pedigrees and stud books reveal that many desert-bred horses had sires and dams of different closely related strains. The practice of continuing the identifying strain names in present day stud books, to give an idea of type origin, has continued in England, Poland and Egypt. In many instances in the United States, after 30 years of indiscriminate inter-mixing of strains from so many different sources, without regard to type or family origin, the resulting offspring was “neither fish nor fowl,” had so many different strains in the pedigree as to belie claim to any one of them in particular. So strain names were dropped in our stud books. There are, however, in this country important bloodlines that have been continued along the same early system of family line breeding and have a concentration of the blood of the type foundation sires and dams.

A study of importations of Arabians to this country for the past 50 years reveals many interesting facts relating to present-day type trends and influences. In no other country has thee been so much enthusiasm for imported Arabians. More than 200 have been accepted for registry from the desert, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Turkey, Spain, France, Germany, Russia, Poland, South America and England. Many of these have the same type root origin and are not as unrelated at the mere name of sire an dam would indicate. Some imported from Egypt credit sire and dam as “desert bred,” when in fact they are of Abbas Pasha and Blunt origin in Egypt with highly significant pedigrees. Numerous importations from various isolated sources from which high hope was held when the importation was made have left issue of little or no value. It is astonishing to note the toll that time has taken of some lines and how others more dominant have been preferred and have gone on and on.

The Maneghi strain or courser type Arabian was preferred for several centuries by those who thought of the Arabian as the best original seed-stock with which to improve and make new breeds. This strain was the foundation for the Thoroughbred and accounts for his type today.

The “strength and beauty” or elite type, later called the classic type, was first highly esteemed and collected from the desert with great fervor by Abbas Pasha I of Egypt (1803 – 1858), who used his knowledge of the desert and horses ,his immense fortune and his friendship with the Bedouins to make his vast collection of horses. He had as many as 600 head at one time. It is doubtful if the Bedouins ever again had the horses they had before he carried on, over a period of years, his systematic combing of the desert for the finest classic type Arabians, regardless of price, which he boasted he collected for their perfection of beauty like others in Europe and elsewhere collected priceless paintings.

Three of the Arabians of Abbas Pasha are among the most highly esteemed foundation of present day bloodlines, here and abroad. Zobeyni (see illustration), a grey Seglawi stallion, bred in the desert, used by him with great success, is founder of the male line that has been the most successful in England and the United States.

*Rifala No. 815, Kehilan strain, imported from England; sire, Skowronek, grandson of Mahruss, Zobeyni line. Rifala is of the Rodania female line, and dam of *Raffles by Skowronek.

Aarah No. 1184, Kehilan, and foal Aarafa. She is representative of the female lines of Ghazieh, Rodania and Jellibiet Feysul.

The line has been of preponderant importance in contributing to other lines in other countries, notably Egypt and Poland. Zobeyni’s most celebrated son was Wazir, which has by some been considered the best stallion secured in Egypt by Wilfred and Lady Ann Blunt. Wazir was sire of many important mares for the Blunts at their Crabbet Stud; also the stallion Shahwan, famed for his beauty and perfection, imported to this country in 1895 by J.P.Ramsdell. Thus in this country was obtained some of the early Zobeyni blood. Zobeyni was also sire of Mahruss, sire of Ibn Mahruss No. 22. Mahruss was sire of Heijer, grandsire of Skowronek (Poland)(1), whose blood has been the largest contributing factor to modern classic type in England and the United States. Zobeyni was great grandsire of Jamil El Achkar, highly important foundation sire in Egypt; also Mesaoud, taken to England by the Blunts and the most successful sire at Crabbet Stud before the coming of Skowronek. Thus it will be seen that the United States shares richly in the early blood sources of the most important progenitor of Arabians in the modern world.

Abbas Pasha brought from the desert two mares that are tap root dams of the most important female lines. They are Jellibiet Feysul, a Kehilan, for which a fortune was paid, and Ghazieh, a Seglawi, as important possibly as the former. She is great granddam of Bint Helwa, dam of Ghazala, brought to the country by Spencer Borden. Through her daughters, Guemura and Gulnare, many Arabians share in this line.

The Bunts devoted their resources and many years of their lives bringing Arabians from the desert to England and Egypt and to world acclaim and favor. Through their daughter, the bloodlines have been further extended. Of all the many important sires they have owned, Mesaoud, great grandson of Zobeyni, bred in Egypt, and Skowronek(1), bred in Poland, both of the Zobeyni line, have contributed more than any others to the high esteem in which the classic type Arabian is held the world over at the present time.

The mares Rodania and Dajania, both Kehilan, obtained in the desert by the Blunts, have proven tap root foundation mares comparable to Ghazieh and Jellibiet Feysul. Their blood, too, is found generously in many pedigrees in this country.

Nejdme No. 1, of Chicago World’s Fair 1893 fame, has established an important female line here not found in other countries.

Of the Arabians imported by Homer Davenport from the desert, one stallion and two mares have contributed new lines that are increasing in popularity. Deyr, an Abeyan, bred in the desert, is founder of the male line. Sire of Hanad, his most illustrious son, and Tabab, and grandsire of Antez and Aabab (see illustration) and others of note, the line is noted for its vitality, personality and robust type. It blends well with and compliments the Zobeyni line. The most important of the Davenport mares were Wadduda (the war mare) and Urfah, both of the Seglawi strain. They have established female lines not found in other countries.

It will be seen that the type preference for the classic type had its beginning with the selections made by Abbas Pasha early in the 19th century, which were later augmented and supported by the desert selections of the Blunts and their development of the type and breed at their Sheik Obeyd Stud in Egypt and Crabbet Stud in England. The spark that kindled the enthusiasm and preference for this same type was the occasion of the (1893) World’s Fair. Numerous small, highly significant importations of the Abbas Pasha and Blunt bloodlines were made from England in the succeeding years. More than 20 years later, Wm. R. Brown made large importations from England of this same type and blood source and added them to his stud of Borden and other importations which he had painstakingly collected and saved for posterity. He did more than any other person to put the Arabian horse on a firm, consistent type breeding foundation by specializing in the production of the classic type and publicizing the type qualifications and standards. Ten years later, through the importations from England by W.K.Kellogg and Roger Selby of considerable numbers of horses of the same important bloodlines, the foundation for this type was broadened and strengthened vastly and to a degree which assured the future of the breed in the U.S. A few years later, Henry Babson and Wm. R. Brown made highly significant importations from Egypt of closely related bloodlines, selected particularly for the type they most esteemed. These important additions gave the breeders in this country the same type sources and foundation blood as those of Egypt, England and Poland.

There are in the United States more living registered Arabians than in England, Egypt and Poland combined as proof of the popularity and acceptance of the breed here, although this number is infinitely small, and no doubt always will be, compared to the total horse population of the country. There are among the registered Arabians in this country a substantial number bred true to the preferred type and from the bloodlines which are of the same origin and loosely related to the same families abroad. Because of the ravages of war and the difficulties under which horses have been bred in these other countries in recent years, it is now apparent from their stud books that we have here a larger number and wider selection of the type sources which originated in these countries than they now have. It is doubtful, after a study of their latest stud books, that they now have anything that would materially aid in further extending our type base of bloodlines.

Conclusions:

In a study of type influences and origin in the Arabian horse we must conclude that:

1) there is no natural, fixed, primary type.

2) There are numerous type variations from the over-all, general type.

3) These variations can be divided ito two main classes.

4) The type generally preferred and held in highest esteem has its origin in one breed foundation desert bred sire of a century ago.

5) Four desert bred mares of the same period and type have had a tremendous influence in sustaining and propagating the type.

6) This type, through these bloodlines, has an inter-family relationship among Arabian horses n the United States, England, Poland and Egypt.

7) This international one type ideal and relationship has been carried on from generation to generation through the skill of breeders that comes from years of study and experience with the breed.

8) The United States has had important additions to this type influence by bloodlines of desert bred horses not directly related to the previous group.

9) The type is produced and sustained by following the same family or strain plan of breeding followed for centuries in the desert, more commonly known as line breeding where pedigree breeding is in practice.

10) A study of all the importations from the desert entering into our present day bloodlines clearly indicates there have been no Arabians from this source equal in influence and importance with the stallion Zobeyni, the mares jellibiet Feysul, Ghazieh, Rodania and Dajania.

((1) Today Ibrahim is accepted as a desert-bred stallion. For more information see:

Lady Wentworth’s THE AUTHENTIC ARABIAN HORSE

Schile,Erika THE ARAB HORSE IN EUROPE

Potocki, Count Joseph (son of Skowronek’s breeder) “Skowronek’s Pedigree and the Antoniny Stud” The Arabian Horse News, Feb. ’58.

Blunt, Lady Anne JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE 1878-1917

Guttmann, Ursula: THE LINEAGE OF THE POLISH ARABIAN HORSES

Dickenson, J.M. A CATALOG OF TRAVELERS REST ARABIAN HORSES

Seward’s Arabians

Seward’s Arabians By Ben Hur (Western Horseman Sept/Oct ’45)

Maanake Hedroge

Abraham Lincoln, as a youth, may have been too poor to own a horse. Historians invariably picture him as walking long distances through southern Indiana and central Illinois. Lincoln has been sculptured more often possibly than any other American, but never astride a horse as so many of the other immortals. Do you recall a single statue of Lincoln where he is astride or beside a horse?

Lincoln, as president of the United States, aided, although indirectly, in the importation of purebred Arabian horses. He selected as a member of his cabinet a very able and well known New York lawyer, William H. Seward, whom he sent shortly after to Syria to adjust some difficulties between the two countries. The matter was finally settled amicably, and os satisfactorily adjusted that the Syrian government, to show its appreciation of Mr. Seward’s diplomacy, asked him to express some wish. Mr. Seward, always interested in the agricultural needs of his country, especially his own New York state, replied that if the Syrian government would help him procure some pureblooded Arabian horses to send home, they could not only confer upon him a personal favor, but would benefit the United States immeasurably.

Siklauy-Gidran

Ayoub Bey Trabulsky, assistant of the Criminal Court of the Ayalet of Sayda was delegated to act on behalf of the Syrian government. He selected a blood-bay stallion, eight years old, of the Maneghi strain or family, and a chestnut colt, two years old, of the Seglawi-Jedran strain; also a grey mare, which unfortunately died on the way. Shipped from Beryout, the two stallions arrived in New York in 1860, expenses of their journey amounting to ten thousand dollars.

Mr. Seward offered them as a gift to the New York State Agricultural Society, if the society would pay the expenses of their importation. It was a poor return for Mr. Seward’s generosity — even when excused by the great excitement attendant upon the breaking out of civil war — that the society refused to comply with his proposal. In this emergency, Mr. Seward presented the two-year-old colt to Mr. Ezra Cornell of Ithaca, New York and the older stallion to the Hon. John E. Van Etten, of Kingston, New York. Standing 15 hands high the latter was noted for depth of chest and shoulders and “withers as strong as that of a bull,” quoting from a description shortly after his arrival in this country. He was known to be the sire of only two foals. One was a grey filly, bred by Judge Westbrook of Kingston, and the other a colt, bred by a nephew of Judge Sackett of Auburn, New York.

The younger stallion stood 15 hands high when two years 10 months old. He was described as “a noble specimen of the Arabian horse. Beautiful as a statue, fiery as the sun that tints his native sands, he awakens in the mind of the beholder a sense of admiration and wonder; while a glance at his graceful head and neck is sufficient to confirm all that we have heard or read of the superior beauty of the Arabian horse.” He was shown as a three-year-old at the state fair held at Rochester, and won a special gold medal for being the handsomest horse on the grounds. Subsequently he was sold to a breeder at Canton, Ohio, where he died, leaving only two fillies. The chestnut stallion died from neglect. The war was causing such absorption of all men’s thoughts that all else seemed of little importance.

At that time many of our best and most noted trotters were always spoken of with pride as coming from Arabian ancestry. No doubt the blood of the two half-blood Arabian fillies bred from the chestnut stallion and the grey filly and horse colt sired by the bay stallion flows in the veins of many well known American harness and saddle horses today.

Justin Morgan was undoubtedly an Anglo-Arabian. The dam of Dolly Spanker was an inbred Morgan mare. Sherman Morgan and Buckshot were doubly inbred to Morgan. Gano was by American Eclipse, also of Arabian strain. Thus it was that the Arabian blood was spread throughout the United States from many different sources before the civil war. Arabian blood was not only known and most highly valued by intelligent breeders, but was considered absolutely essential to the making of a perfect horse. It should be noted that the early importations were invariably stallions, and the pure blood of the Arabian was in each instance lost upon the death of the imported stallions. Had the grey mare lived which Mr. Seward attempted to import she, rather than Naomi, might have had the distinction of being the first Arabian mare in this country as progenitor of pureblood Arabians bred in the United States.

The portraits of the Seward Arabians were drawings made by the well known artist of his day, mr. T.C.Carpendale, and are pen sketches highly embellished in Oriental fashion as if the horses were being shown upon a stage and the curtain drawn to one side. The drawings were then engraved in wood, which also required the services of a skilled artist, as those wood blocks were used by Harper’s Weekly in full page illustrations in their issue of January 12, 1861, before photography made it possible to record more lifelike pictures and reproduce them by the modern halftone method. Artist Carpendale may have been a noted artist of his day, but his drawings fell short of his word descriptions of these two horses quoted above, for his drawings are rather stilted and fail to portray the beauty he saw in the horses before him. Worthy of interest is the euphonious spelling of the strain or family names of the horses appearing below the pictures. The young stallion is a “Siklauy-Gidran,” more properly and correctly spelled today Seglawi-Jedran, while the older stallion is called a “Maanake-Hedroge,” which to the modern student of Arabic is known as a Maneghi-Hedruj.

Polish Arabians May Have Been Saved

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman Mar/Apr’44)

Raffles, by champion Skowronek, out of champion Rifala.

Friends and students of Arabian horses will be deeply interested in the report that the castle and estate of Count Potocki in war-harassed Poland have been saved from destruction. A deep American interest in the Arabian horses of Poland arises from the fact that during the past ten years or so the bloodlines of some of the best Polish bred Arabian horses have proven extremely popular in this country. There was a time when very little, if any, contact was had with Arabian breeders of Poland, and little was known of their methods of breeding and the quality of their horses.

It will be recalled that Wilfred S. Blunt and his wife, Lady Anne Blunt, established the Crabbet Arabian Stud about 1880 with horses they imported from the desert and, later, others from Egypt. They became the most extensive breeders of Arabians in the British empire, and Arabians bred there were exported to the far corners of the world. Many importations have been made by breeders of the United States.

Commenting on the later work of Lady Wentworth and her Crabbet Arabian Stud, William R. Brown, former president of the Arabian Horse Club of America, said in his book, The Horse of the Desert (1936): “In recent years, a white stallion, Skowronek, bred at the stud of Count Potocki in Poland, has been introduced in order to freshen the blood.”

Skowronek, a few days after he was brought to the U.S. [sic] from Poland. The famous stallion later turned white.

Through the fact that Lady Wentworth deemed it necessary or expedient to freshen the blood of Crabbet Arabians by the importation of Skowronek from Poland shortly after the first world war, a deep interest in Polish Arabians was created in breeders in America. Arabian horses have been bred intensively in their desert purity in Poland for several hundred years. It has been the practice there of certain breeders to obtain a new desert bred stallion every five or ten years and this rule has been followed for many generations. The sire of Skowronek is Ibrahim, desert bred, and his dam is Jaskolka, on her dam’s side from a long line of Polish bred Arabians.

Skowronek’s blood has been disseminated to two continents. Several of his get were imported to the United States — the first possibly being the grey stallion, Raseyn No. 597, and the grey mare, Rossana No. 598, imported in 1926 by W. K. Kellogg. The grey mare Rifala No. 815, by Skowronek, was imported in 1928 by Roger Selby, followed by a double son, Champion Raffles No. 952, imported by Mr. Selby in 1932.

It is significant that the mare, Rifala, was bred back to her sire, Skowronek, and foaled Raffles while still in England. Raffles then is the in-bred son, the son and grand-son of Skowronek, and three quarters of the blood of his sire rather than the usual one-half.

Rifala and foal. Her blood is potent in passing on extremely desirable qualities to her offspring.

Possibly for this reason the blood of Raffles has been found unusually potent in passing on the extremely desirable qualities, from the Arabian breeders’ point of view, to the offspring. From these two sons and two daughters of Skowronek in the United States, in the relatively short period of about ten years, the get and bloodlines have gone to a surprisingly large number of Arabian breeders from coast to coast.

After the importations of the two sons and daughters of Skowronek from England to the United States, the interest in Arabian horses from Poland grew. J. M. Dickinson imported seven Arabians direct from Poland to the United States in 1937, the most prized mare possibly being Przepiorka No. 1309, her dam being Jaskolka II (no doubt a daughter of Jaskolka). In 1938 Mr. Dickinson imported eight more Arabians from Poland, while Henry Babson made a visit to Poland and personally selected five which he imported into the United States. Mr. Dickinson then imported still another in 1939 and Mr. Babson two more.

Dickinson had the honor and distinction of exporting in the meantime to Poland the American bred Arabian, Antez No. 448, a stallion representing some of the best blood lines of the Homer Davenport (1906) importation from the desert to this country. Later, Antez had the distinction of being imported back to the United States from Poland after being used successfully as a stud there.

These importations from Poland were from a number of different estates and breeders as well as the Polish State Stud. With the invasion of Poland by Germany early in World War II, most of these estates and studs were liquidated, the horses confiscated, some being taken to Germany and added to breeding establishments there. So it has been with deep sorrow that many breeders of Arabians in America have followed the ebb and flow of the war across Poland, realizing that the breeding of several hundred years had been wiped out.

Recently, however, more welcome news has come from Polish Vice Consul Jozef Staniewicz in Chicago who reports that despite the terrific destruction in Poland there is one estate which stands untouched, Lancut, the historic castle of the Potockis, fifty miles from Cracow. The ancient house, the only one in Europe remaining intact as it was in the Middle Ages, stands in the center of 150,000 acres of fields and forests.

At the time of the German invasion in 1939, members of the German general staff lost no time in getting to Lancut and making themselves comfortable under Count Potocki’s roof. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop and Reichs-marshal Herman Goering have engaged in boar hunting on the estate. The upshot of it was the famous castle and its historic properties and collections remained intact under the German high command. Other castles and country houses, universities and churches were sacked, but Lancut was saved.

This information from the Polish vice consul gives added assurance that the Arabian horses owned by Count Potocki were also saved and can be used as a nucleus for re-establishing the studs for which Poland has long been famous.

Pedigree Breeding

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman Mar/Apr’45)

Nadirat No. 619, chestnut Arabian mare owned by Ben Hur Farms, whose pedigree is presented on this page, is a striking example of the result of many generations of pedigree, line-breeding. It will be noted that nine names appear more than once in her pedigree. Nine (marked with asterisks) of the 16 ancestors in the 5th generation have as a common ancestor the famous tap-root Arabian stallion Zobeyni (desert and Egypt) thus further concentrating this line of breeding.

Pedigreed, pure-blooded, Thoroughbred, registered — what do they mean to you with reference to a horse? All too often they are used interchangeably and only add to confusion in an attempt to describe a horse.

If you own one or more mares, and contemplate raising colts, then you are interested in the possibility of improvement in the offspring. Improvement can be made by the intelligent choice of a sire. You are interested not only in the horse himself, but for an intelligent understanding of the sire, you are interested in his pedigree and the kind of registration papers belonging to him.

If you are interested in the purchase of a horse or colt for saddle or breeding purposes or both, then you are interested not only in the type and conformation of the individual you are considering, but you are also interested in his background, what he came from. To understand these things, it is necessary to study pedigrees. From these you will get a better idea what you can expect in disposition, performance, endurance and off-spring.

A pedigree is the family lineage of an animal extended for several generations in an accurate, chronological, genealogical form. In addition to the names and registration numbers, other information of value may be added.

You may have a cetificate of registry for your horse, dog or other livestock, but it is of little value to you from a breeding standpoint unless you can draft or obtain an accurate pedigree. Even then a pedigree with names and number only is worth little more than the paper it is written on unless you are personally familiar with pedigrees and have seen or have pictures and accurate descriptions of the animals listed in the pedigree form. The simple pedigree form is like a surveyor’s plot to a lot or farm — without the abstract or detailed description it is practically meaningless. For this reason many people who have given serious thought to pedigree breeding hopelessly throw up their hands in despair before they ever get started, for it seems an impossible job to get started right.

The various registry associations seldom have the time or inclination to furnish extended pedigrees covering the animals they have registered. The registration books they issue covering the animals registered from the Number 1 animal, on down, offer the means whereby anyone may draft their own pedigrees for any animal desired. It becomes a matter of methodical study and research and requires patience and time.

If you have a horse that is registered and you are giving serious consideration to breeding this horse to a registered horse of the opposite sex, it is then that pedigrees are of real value in the hands of students of breeding and the skilled and experienced breeder alike. It is then that membership in the registry club or association and possession of registry books become a valuable asset, for they are the key that unlocks the door to all the hitherto hidden past of the ancestry of your horse. Even these registry books fall far short of giving all the information you will eventually want to know about each and every individual in the pedigree of your horse. You may spend months and years accumulating all the information you desire on each of the animals in the pedigree and what is more important, that of extending the pedigree to the sixth, eighth or tenth generation.

A typical six generation Arabian pedigree:

NADIRAT no. 619 Chestnut Arabian mare	Sire: *Rizvan No. 381	Ibn Yashmak	Feysul	Ibn Nura*	Sottam
					Bint Nura
				El Argaa	(Egypt)
					Bint Jellabiet Feysul
			Yashmak	Shahwan*	Wazir
					Aziz
				Yemama	(Egypt)
					(Egypt)
		Rijma	Rijm	Mahruss II*	Mahruss
					Bint Bint Nura
				Rose of Sharon	Hadban
					Rodania
			Risala	Mesaoud*	Aziz
					Yemameh
				Ridaa*	Merzuk
					Rose of Sharon
	Dam: Nusara No. 371	Abu Zeyd	Mesaoud	Aziz*	Harkan
					Aziza
				Yemameh	(Egypt)
					(Egypt)
			Rose Diamond	Azrek	(Egypt)
					(Egypt)
				Rose of Jericho	Kars
					Rodania
		Noam	Rijm	Mahruss II*	Mahruss
					Bint Bint Nura
				Rose of Sharon	Hadban
					Rodania
			Narda II	Rejeb*	Mesaoud
					Rosemary
				Narghileh*	Mesaoud
					Nefisa

The ancestors of this American-bred American mare, as shown in the above pedigree, originated in the United States, England, Egypt and the desert. Note that nine names appear two or more times in the pedigree. The characteristics of these horses are thus multiplied and intensified.

What is the value of an extended pedigree? The extended pedigree, data and knowledge of each and every animal in the fifth, sixth and seventh generation may open the pages to “skeletons in the closet” of which you little dreamed, and may enable you to fortify your breeding program against glaring defects which would spring out to plague you in offspring yet unborn.

On the other hand you may find many “diamonds” in the extended pedigree, noted animals which you did not know were ancestors of your horse. As you carefully work out each generation you may find the same noted horse, or several of them, appearing again and again in the pedigree as the common ancestor of horses in the more immediate pedigree, and which you did not know were directly related. Thus you will be able to carefully weigh the proportionate strength and weakness of the horses that appear two, three or more times in the pedigree and get valuable, accurate insight into what the offspring will be like.

Khaleb No. 1168, grey Arabian stallion owned by Ben Hur Farms, is an example of combining the bloodlines of a number of important Arabians from different sources, originating from widely different importations from the desert. No name in Khaleb’s pedigree appears more than once, in contrast to Nadirat, who has nine ancestors appearing more than once. Khaleb is pure-blooded without being line or inbred.

Have you ever considered how many ancestors you and your horse have? Not until you take a piece of paper and pencil and make you your own diagram and do your own figuring will you begin to realize from what ancestors you and your horse came and how many there really were. It is overwhelming and appalling when you figure up the unknown ancestors and how little you know about the known ancestors in some pedigrees (especially your own.) In each generation there are double the number of ancestors there were in the preceding one. Thus:

Generation	2d	3d	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Number of Ancestors	2	4	8	16	32	64	128	256

Half of the above, of course, are males, half females, and regardless of how you may feel about it, you and your horse both have exactly the same number of ancestors. Fortunately, possible, the curtain has been drawn down on knowledge or information available about most of the ancestors in your own pedigree further than the fourth generation. Not one in one hundred of our readers, I dare say, can give the names of all his ancestors in the fourth generation. but it is not much of a horse, or rather not much of a pedigree of a horse, which does not give accurate information including at least the fourth generation.

“Why all this fuss and bother about all those distant ancestors in the fifth generation on?” you may ask. Because in the pedigree of livestock, horses and dogs, a sound breeding program can be founded on the information revealed in generations as far distant as the eighth and ninth.

Let us challenge that statement. If there are 64 ancestors in the seventh generation, what does it matter how one of them looked or was like — he or she would be only 1/64 and so infinitesimal in the sum total that it would not matter anyway, you might answer. In your own personal pedigree suppose one of the 64 in the seventh generation was a native of central Africa or the bush country of Australia? How would you feel about it and don’t you suppose characteristics peculiar to their race and foreign to your race would come to the surface ever so often in you or your offspring? You have the answer, then, why breeding certain kinds of horses and livestock still results in offspring entirely foreign to what you had expected.

A typical five generation Arabian pedigree:

Sire: *Nuri Pasha No. 517	Nureddin II	Rijm	Mahruss II
			Rose of Sharon
		Nargileh	Mesaoud
			Nefisa
	Ruth Kesia	Ben Azrek	Azrek
			Shemse
		Borak	Boanerges
			Kesia II
Dam: Dawn No. 135	Nejdran Jr	Nejdran	(desert)
			(desert)
		Sheba	Mannaky Jr
			Galfia
	Rhua	*Haleb	(desert)
			(desert)
		*Urfah	(desert)
			(desert)

The ancestors of this American-bred Arabian stallion originated in the United States, England, Egypt and the desert. The pedigree differs from that of the mare Nadirat on the opposite page in that the sire’s ancestors for a number of generations have been bred in England and Egypt, while the dam’s ancestors go directly to the desert. All but two in the 5th generation are desert-bred; the sire and dam of these two are desert-bred. These desert-bred ancestors represent three importations by Homer Davenport of the United States, Capt. Gainesford of England, Hadje Memmed of Damascus.

The word “pedigree” is all too often indiscriminately used as a synonym for “pure-breed,” “Thoroughbred,” or “registered.” Such is not the case and a thorough understanding of what each means is highly important to the owner and purchaser of a horse. For example, an accurate pedigree can always be furnished with a pureblooded or Thoroughbred horse, but a pedigree worthy of the name cannot be furnished with many present day “registered” horses. Many present day registered horses have few, if any, ancestors of pureblood or Thoroughbred origin. The ancestors in the third and fourth generation are seldom known, and if so may be known as simply Tom, Dick and Nellie — but from where, what or when remains a secret of the past.

A pedigree worthy of study and use in the improvement of offspring should show sire or dam, preferably both, with at least four or five generations of known ancestry of the same breed. This may seem simple and easy, but let us see.

A breed is generally considered as consisting of animals of a given kind which reproduce their kind with uniformity. The sire and dam have a background of many generations of definite similar breeding. This is about as broad and liberal a definition as can be given.

A PUREBLOOD is among the rarest of our domestic animals. It is a term, however, that is often incorrectly used. Most of our breeds of domestic animals today have at most one or two hundred years of known breeding behind them. In the distant past they were “bred-up” from ancient diminutive, primitive types. Few if any, can lay claim to being pure in the blood of any one species. The Arabian horse, recognized by registration, is the only pureblood species of a horse today. The fat-tailed, black, Karakul sheep, also from the desert, is the only other pure species of domestic animal that we can recall at the moment, that has not undergone vast changes through the introduction of the blood of other types and species. The sacred or Brahma cattle of India are no doubt a distinct species but not domestic animals under our flag.

Not all horses of the Arabian desert are accepted as pure-blood but those that are have some two thousand years of unbroken breeding for purity of blood and type behind them. Scientists have shown that the Arabian horse has one less lumbar vertebra, two less in the tail, than other horses and they agree it is a true sub-species.

The THOROUGHBRED horse is the English version of a running racehorse. He is not a pure-blooded horse. Back in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries gradual improvement was made in the running ability of the horses owned by royalty by the importation and use of stallions from the Orient, mostly Arabians.

Until the time of King Charles II (1660-1685) racehorses in England had been bred to a type or a distinct breed. Richard Blome, author of “The Gentleman’s Recreation,”1686) advised those who desired to breed race horses, hunter and road-horses to “choose a Turk, Barb or Spaniard (all horses of Eastern blood) as the stallion, and to select the mare according to her shape and make, with an eye for the work the foal might be intended.” King Charles imported Arab mares into England and they were bred to the stallion known as the Byerly Turk, having been imported in 1689 by Captain Byerly, who used him as a charge in his campaigns in the east.

The Darley Arabian, imported 1706, and the Godolphin Arabian, imported 1730, were exclusively used on the Arab mares which were directly descended from the Royal Mares and the Byerly Turk. Maj. Roger D. Upton in his book “Newmarket and Arabia,” published in London (1873) proves beyond doubt by his carefully compiled pedigrees, that the race horses on the turf of England descend from these three Arab sires and the Royal Mares. The last of these sires, the Godolphin Arabian, died in 1753, aged 29 years.

Breeders of Thoroughbreds in England, developed the running race-horse upon the above foundation. By their system of breeding, selection and racing they made a different type from the early Arabian ancestry and raised the height 1 inch every 25 years from a 14 hands horse on the average in 1700 to a 15 1/2 hands horse in 1900. It will be noted that British breeders of Thoroughbreds have never referred to their horses as “pure-blooded,” although they possibly could justify it if they chose to do so.

Thoroughbreds were, of course, exported to the United States from colonial days to the present time. But the breeders of Thoroughbreds in the United States were not, in the early days, quite so zealous of the purity of their horses. As a result their horses of largely American ancestry trace back in their pedigrees to out-cross, horses of unknown breeding. For this reason Thoroughbreds of American origin are not acceptable for registration in England.

The MORGAN, the American-made horse tracing to a single common ancestor owes its existence to the horse, Justin Morgan. It is quite generally agreed that his blood was largely Arabian. The early Morgan blood went into the formation of the trotting and pacing, harness race-horse. And the blood of the original Morgan horses might lay claim to being 50 per cent of the blood of the original Justin Morgan horse, at best, as no great effort was made to intensify the strain by inbreeding and line inbreeding until it was almost too late. Breeders of Morgans today, however, study their pedigrees very closely and they are making an effort to reclaim as much of the original blood as possible. Some are able to claim as much as 10 per cent or a trifle more of the original Justin blood in some of their hoses. Since Justin was not a pureblood to start with, and so many outcrosses have been made since, away from the original blood-lines, the Morgan cannot be referred to as a “pure-blooded” horse, although many of them have pedigrees back five or more generations in some branches of the family tree.

The AMERICAN SADDLE horse is a later creation, a combination of the blood of early day Thoroughbreds, Arabians and plantation ancestry. A study of a few pedigrees of these horses will quickly reveal that some branches of the family tree in the pedigrees ran into the factor of the unknown ancestor quite frequently. Thus the American Saddle horse is not a Thoroughbred nor a pureblood horse. The study of pedigrees has resulted in inbreeding and line-breeding to intensify the characteristics an and qualities of some of the more illustrious forebears. In time, this will bring about more uniformity of type and characteristics.

Registration certificates are issued by associations for the Arabian, the Thoroughbred, and the Morgan by associations devoted to their propagation. The Arabian, the only pureblood, is represented in this country by The Arabian Horse Club of America. The Arabian of primary unchangeable type, is bred from the same bloodlines (originating in the desert), in England, Poland, France, Spain, Egypt, Australia and a number of South American countries. Each of the registry associations in these various countries demands unqualified proof of absolute purity of blood back to the horses imported from the desert and authenticate by the oath and seal of the Sheiks of the desert. The Arabian of pureblood, registered in one country, is related to Arab horses in other countries and the horses and their certificate of breeding or registry are interchangeable and acceptable among the various countries and associations. The Arabian is alone in this distinction and honor. The rule of absolute purity of blood has made this possible.

The Thoroughbred of English origin is acceptable for registration in the General Stud Book of England, popularly called “Weatherby’s” after its founder, James Weatherby, when the applicant shows proof of registration of the sire and dam of the foal. About 150 years ago James Weatherby collected the pedigrees of English race-horses, purely as a study and personal enterprise. Breeders of Thoroughbreds were first to make use of the modern form of the pedigree and from this collection of pedigrees the plan developed into registration, officially recognized in England and the foundation of the General Stud Book or Weatherby’s. They have maintained a section for the registration of certain Arabians with the idea that after sufficient development of the pure stock in England it might be of assistance and form a “valuable new line of blood” for the future in revitalizing any strains of Thoroughbreds which might weaken and require revitalizing. It is not designed to improve racing stock, but to preserve it when threatened with decay. So zealously have the English guarded against any possibility of bringing in any new blood for their Thoroughbreds of the original royal mares and three Arabian stallions, other than the Arabians just referred to in the special section for them in Weatherby’s, that they will not accept Thoroughbreds for registry bred in the United States of American origin. When of American origin they are all not entirely of Thoroughbred ancestry, which gives you a practical example of some of the fine distinctions among successful breeders, who, without exception study and know pedigrees of their breed, as a preacher knows his bible.

THOROUGHBREDS in the United States are registered in The American Stud Book, owned by The Jockey Club (New York). Registered Thoroughbreds from England or Europe are acceptable for registration here but as noted, Thoroughbreds of American origin are not acceptable for registration in England because of the unknown breeding back in their pedigrees.

The HACKNEY, originally an English saddle horse, tracing largely to early English Thoroughbreds and Arabians, deserves to be mentioned here in passing, but today is considered a harness show horse. They are intensely line-bred and inbred and to this day are frequently fortified by importations from England.

Associations for the registrations of a number of other types and colors of horses have been formed in recent years. Among them are the PALOMINOS, TENNESSEE WALKING HORSES, PINTO, ALBINO, APPALOOSA, QUARTER HORSE, MOROCCO SPOTTED horse and others.

The PALOMINO is not a breed, but a color of horse only, and until recently color was the primary (if not sole) qualification. In his article in the October 28, 1944 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, “Horse of a Different Color,” Theodore Kesting states, “there is no certain way of reproducing them (Palominos) and quoting him further he states that “Pirate Gold — a magnificent stallion, whose ancestry is 25 per cent Arab, is so prepotent that he has produced Palominos out of a black mare.

It is significant that the most prepotent Palominos have as sire or grand-sire a chestnut Arabian or Thoroughbred stallion. A certificate of registration for a Palomino such as Pirate Gold or others of equal fame does not signify purity of blood or a breed, but a certificate originally based on color, regardless of the breeding origin of the various ancestors.

More recently, a group of breeders of American Saddle horses have formed the American Saddle Bred Palomino association, and will attempt to breed Palominos only from horses registered with the American Saddle Horse Breeders association. The American Saddle horse is so new, as breeds in their making go, and with so many different early horses of unknown breeding origin, that breeders are finding it possible by selection, to produce Palomino colors from the registered American Saddle horse. Thus a Palomino from ASHBA registered sire and dam would mean something entirely different than the certificate from the older Palomino association. American Saddle horse breeders of Palominos, from their registered stock in the ASHBA, can register and sell the offspring that are not Palomino, in the usual manner in which they sell American Saddle horses. Thus, they reason, they will have no off-colored or reject foals from their breeding operations, and the Palomino colored horses with this registration and line of breeding will have more uniform type, action and resulting prestige than Palominos of unknown origin.

The ALBINO is acceptable for registration because of his absence of color and pick skin — not on long authenticated bloodlines.

The QUARTER HORSE bears much the same relationship to the early history of the United States as does the Morgan. The Quarter Hose, so named because he was developed and used to run a quarter mile, was developed from early importations from England — Thoroughbreds and Arabians and possibility some Barb blood from North Africa and Spain. The quarter mile race first became popular in Virginia and the colonies on the seaboard to the south. He represents a very definite, distinct type which breeders today are intensifying and perpetuating by careful study of the bloodlines and pedigrees of their best horses. The Quarter Horse in its inception is as old or possibly older than the Thoroughbred or Morgan in this country and pedigrees in the male line run back many years. Due to the fact that there was no official registry association until quite recently many of the early pedigrees have been lost.

The TENNESSEE WALKING horse and the association devoted to its interests have had as a qualification for registration the way of going and gaits peculiar to this type of horse, most of which claim kinship to the Allan line of breeding. Developments of the gaits have been largely a matter of expert training rather than bloodlines. In the hands of experts, Arabians an successfully competed in the shows with Walking horses of the original Allan lines. Qualifications for registration have been changed from time to time and a certificate of registration does not have the significance of uniformity of type and breeding that it does with the older breeds.

The PINTO and APPALOOSA each have associations devoted to their interest and registration is based largely on color pattern. Some of their breeders have freely advocated the use of Thoroughbred and Arabian stallions to bette type and conformation. In time real progress should be the reward.

The MOROCCO SPOTTED horse is yet another, and the association formed in 1936 was “for the purpose of building up and developing the spotted general purpose horse, suitable for either saddle or harness, a farmer’s horse an and stock horse.” The key horses of the Morocco Spotted were Dessel Day and Stuntney Benedict. Dessel Day was a definitely marked piebald, foaled in 1887 in France, imported to the United States. Stuntney Benedict, a piebald Hackney, was foaled in England, 1900, and imported in 1907. Some of the Moroccos today are intensely linebred in these two key stallions, so we have here another breed in the making with pedigrees forming a more and more important part in the development.

General Ulysses S. Grant’s Arabians

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman May/Jun ’47)

General U. S. Grant of Civil War (U.S. 1861-65) fame and twice elected president of the United States, did not live to know that an Arabian stallion presented to him by Sultan of Turkey became many years later, the earliest Arabian stallion to be registered in the stud book of The Arabian Horse Club of America. It was one of those queer quirks of fate by which this stallion was the sire of one pure Arabian son whose blood will be found in many present day Arabians in this country.

As invariably happens after every war, a hero emerges who captures popular acclaim. As a result, Grant was elected and re-elected president. His fame, in fact, was worldwide. He made a trip to Europe and the Orient. He visited Constantinople as the guest of Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, and a great admirer of Grant, in March 1878. The Sultan personally escorted the General through his stables, noted for their many fine Arabian and Oriental horses.

Leopard No. 233, Arabian stallion also presented by the Sultan of Turkey to Gen. U. s. Grant. He was the earliest imported (1879) Arabian registered with The Arabian Horse Club of America. Of the Seglawi-Jedran family, he was 14.3 hands high.

Grant had campaigned through the entire Civil War on horseback and was a superb rider and judge of horses. He expressed great admiration for a young dapple-grey Arabian stallion and the Sultan promptly presented the General with this very fine stallion, foaled in 1873, named Leopard. The Sultan, not to be outdone as a judge of horses thereupon selected another which he, (the Sultan) admired and presented it also to the General. This stallion, also a dapple grey, a year younger, was named Linden Tree.

Historians will recall that Turkey was a major power on the Mediterranean whose authority was accepted as supreme throughout most of Asia Minor and most of the Arabian tribes in and around the Arabian desert. These tribes, ever on the move, often at war with one another and often revolting against the Turks, were a constant source of annoyance to the military authorities of Turkey. The shotgun was passing out as a weapon of warfare among civilized nations and the spear and long lance were passing out as weapons among the Arabian tribes.

There was more than admiration and generosity behind the gift of the two Arabian stallions to General Grant by the Sultan, as can be interpreted by the fact they arrived in the United States aboard the steamer Norman Monarch, at New Haven, Conn., May 31, 1879, which was chartered to bring back to Turkey rifles, cartridges and ammunition from the famous Winchester Arms Company of that city. The Sultan was killing two birds with one stone!

The two stallions were taken by boat to New York, then to Philadelphia, where they were shown at Suffolk Park, then at fairs at Dover, Del., Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Va., Cumberland, W. Va., and Doylestown Pa. They were then delivered to Gen. E. F. Beale at his place near Washington, where they were permanently stabled.

General Grant was too busy, it seems, to give any personal attention to his gift horses and it remained for the renowned horseman of his day, Randolph Huntington of Long Island, New York, to become the champion admirer and mentor for the Grant Arabians. Mr. Huntington was a breeder of harness horses of note and specialized in the Clay family, (close up in Arabian breeding) with a theory that a breed of horses should be developed in the United States adapted to the needs of the country. His observations and theory of arriving at a suitable American-made horse included the use of the blood of the Arabian largely and to accomplish this he advocated and followed the old breeders’ rule of “out-cross once and breed back by three closely related sources.”

Huntington lost no time in sending some of his choice virgin Clay mares to the stables of General Beale in the spring of 1880 to be bred to General Grant’s stallions. His breeding program proved sound over the next few years and he was about to realize his ambition to produce an American-made breed of horses patterned somewhat after the horses of Count Orloff of Russia, which had been proven so valuable that they were taken over by the Russian government and sponsored as a national breed.

Mr. Huntington had spent a lifetime and a fortune developing and proving his theory of horse breeding when his trusted secretary absconded with nearly $100,000. As a result he was compelled to hold a public auction and dispose of the major portion of his life’s work. The fact that these horses brought high prices in part vindicated his theories of breeding, but the American-made breed was dissipated to the four winds.

During this time, after the importation of the Grant Arabians, Mr. Huntington made an intense search and study of what had become of earlier importations of Arabians in this country, especially those presented to Secretary Seward of Lincoln’s cabinet, President James K. Polk, A. Keene Richards and others. He found that within 15 years or less this Arabian blood had been so dissipated that little authentic breeding evidence was available. He thereupon determined to import one or more Arabian mares and begin where A. Keene Richards had been compelled to leave off because of the Civil War. He imported from England in 1888 the Arabian mare, Naomi, whose sire Yataghan and dam, Haidee, had both been brought from the desert in 1875 to England by Major Roger D. Upton. Naomi was bred to Leopard (1889) and foaled the chestnut stallion, Anazeh, at Mr. Huntington’s place at Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1890. This lone pure Arabian son of Leopard was the sire of eight pure Arabian foals, four of which — Naarah, Nazlina, Naaman and Narkeesa — went on to produced and are in many pedigrees today.

The Arabian Horse Club of America was founded in 1908. Other Arabians were registered earlier, but to Randolph Huntington belongs the credit and honor of sponsoring Leopard, for proving him up for registration and for having imported the earliest Arabian mare to find her way into the stud book.

So great was the admiration of Mr. Huntington for General Grant’s Arabians and so certain was he of their historical importance that he commissioned the young artist, H. S. Kittredge, to make drawings of the two stallions during 1880. He had him make pictures of various others of his Henry Clay family of horses. This was before the day of the modern camera and present day methods of reproduction on paper. The pictures made by Mr. Kittredge, while very definite in detail, lack animation and are impersonal, reminding one of the large wooden horses formerly found in every harness shop on which to display their harness and saddles.

Linden Tree No. 234, a stallion presented by Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, to Gen. U. S. Grant. Registered as an Arabian of “unknown” family, he was declared by Randolph Huntington and Maj. C. A. Benton “to be a Barb.” He left no registered foals.

Nevertheless, Mr. Huntington was so enthusiastic about the General Grant Arabians and their pictures that he wrote a book entitled General Grant’s Arabian Horses, published in 1885, in which he expounded at length his theories of breeding and pedigrees of his American made horses. One of these rare books is in possession of the writer, inscribed “Presented by the Author, Randolph Huntington.” Under the picture of Leopard in Mr. Huntington’s handwriting is written: “Proved a Seglawi-Jedran.” Under the picture of Linden Tree is written “Proved a pure Barb.” Fortunately for the future of Arabians in the United States, Linden Tree, registered in the Arabian stud book was never bred to a pure Arabian mare in this country.

How Linden Tree could have been a Barb and yet presented by the Sultan to General Grant as a pure Arabian was related to us prior to 1930 by the late Major C. A. Benton, Civil War veteran, who devoted his life to horses related to military action. Major Benton was personally familiar with each and every Arabian in this country in the formative period of the stud book and club. A few years after the Grant importation he was sent on a military mission which took him to Constantinople, among other foreign ports. The Major related to us on several occasions how he sought out the keeper of the Sultan’s stables and questioned him about the Grant stallions. It developed that on the day before the horses were to be loaded on shipboard the stallion selected by the Sultan as a gift to General Grant had sprained a leg and was lame. Rather than report the accident to the Sultan and possibly lose his position, he selected another horse in the stable as near like him as possible. The horse was a Barb. We have, then, from two early authorities that Linden Tree was a Barb. It is significant that in all the early editions of the stud book when family names were given to all registered, the word “Unknown” is given after the word “Family” in Linden Tree’s registration.

It is a singular coincidence that at the time General Grant was in Turkey receiving the gift of the two stallions from the Sultan, the Blunts, Sir Wilfrid and Lady Ann, from England, were making their first journey among the northern Arabian tribes and acquiring their first Arabian horses. Events were transpiring to transplant the breeding of pure Arabian horses on two continents at the same time. Arabian horses had been brought from the desert to England and America for more than a hundred years by way of India, Turkey and Egypt, but almost invariably stallions, always with the thought of crossing them on native stock; in England to make and improve the Thoroughbred, in America to make the Quarter horse, American Saddle-bred and improve the Thoroughbred.

When Grant’s stallions arrived in America the Blunts were on their second journey to the desert, this time by the southern route. They were seeing Arabian horses on these journeys with the eyes of Englishmen trained to Thoroughbreds, but they were being fast won over to the idea of breeding Arabians in their purity.

England already had the Major Upton Arabians. With the Blunt importations, Arabians were now available in England for a real start. In America events for a real start were not so propitious. Randolph Huntington’s imagination and ambition were fired anew when he saw the Grant stallions, but he saw them through the eyes of one trained to Clay fast harness horses. He was so enthused he wrote a book about them and his theories of making a new breed. Lady Anne’s books of their journeys — Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates and Pilgrimage to Nejd, published 1879-80 — came to the attention of Mr. Huntington. He too, became a convert to the idea of breeding pure Arabian horses in America. He imported from England the filly, Naomi, from the original Major Upton desert-bred pair imported to England in 1875 to mate with Leopard.

Thus, English and American-bred pure Arabians had almost the same start at almost the same time. Many other importations from England since have strengthened the tie of almost common, if not identical, parentage of an ever increasing large number of Arabians on both continents.

Arabs At Chicago, 1893

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman May 1950)

Chicago’s World Fair, 1893, officially known as the World’s Columbian Exposition, was the focal point from which interest in the Arabian horse was created, which eventually culminated in the formation of the Arabian Horse Club of America, 1908. From the importation of 1893 for the exposition, a mare, *Nejdme, and a

Hadji Hassan, renowned expert on Arabian horses, with *Nejdme. Employed by the Hippodrome Co., at the demand of the Turkish government, he went to the desert and purchased the 11 pure Arabians of the World’s Fair importation.

stallion, *Obeyran, became the No. 1 and 2 Arabians of the official registry stud book. Two other mares and a stallion, several years later, were registered as having come from this importation, although the fact is generally over-looked. They were the mares *Galfia 255 and *Pride 321 and the stallion *Mannaky 294. Offspring of all these have been registered, and they in turn have had offspring until today there is scarcely a breeder who has not had one or more Arabian horses with one of these as ancestor. This tap root, foundation blood, is an important part of the Arabian horses in the United States.

The circumstances under which this importation was made and the many things that happened to it after arrival in this country have remained obscured and unknown to owners of registered Arabians 50 years later. The profound effect and influence which the importation of 1893 had upon certain individuals who obtained some of these horses, imported others and later formed the registry club, is a fascinating story. The story, with the simple trust of the Bedouins, the deception, greed and duplicity of its promoters, avarice of the quick acting Chicago loan sharks, dire want and hunger, fires, theft, abandonment and final breakdown of the entire enterprise and the sale at auction of the remaining horses, would make a movie scenario for today of triple A rating.

This account will raise a doubt in the minds of many of the the correctness of the foaling dates of *Nejdme and *Obeyran in the

*Obeyran No. 2, grey stallion, came into the possession of Homer Davenport, who took this picture and under it, in his booklet, 1908, titled him “The best horse in America at 28 years old.” Was Davenport mistaken about his age?

stud book and to which of the mares the name Pride (apparently a stable name) really belonged, since this account and the auction sale listed no such mare named Pride. As in a modern mystery story, the reader may draw on his powers of deduction, but arrive at two entirely plausible, conclusions, and in the end the purity of breeding of none, regardless of names, has been challenged, although the original desert family strain may remain in doubt.

The Arabian registry stud book lists the foaling date of *Nejdme No. 1 as 1881 (in the desert), of *Obeyran No.2 as 1879 (in the desert). The same stud book credits *Nejdme with 13 foals registered, the last foaled in 1913, Seriha No. 320, when she would have been 32 years old, if the stud book foaling date is correct, a most unusual, late date for a mare to give birth to a foal. The Turkish member of the World’s Fair commission, who is authority for this account, lists *Nejdme as having been foaled in 1887, a more plausible date, but he contradicts this date. What are the facts?

Invitations had been sent to every country on the globe to participate in the exposition, to build a building and show products from their country. The coming fair was the topic of conversation everywhere. A Syrian in the employ of the ministry of agriculture of Turkey conceived the idea and, through the influence of the first chamberlain to the Sultan, received a concession from the Turkish government to take a troupe of Bedouin horsemen to Chicago. (Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, the Holy Land, were all protectorates of Turkey.) The request was at first refused, but the Sultan was made to believe that the proposed enterprise was intended more as an exhibition of pure bred horses than as a show, and on this belief the concession was ordered granted under strict conditions:

None but the purest bred, pedigreed horses should be taken;
All the horses to be returned back to the desert;
The riders to be the best horsemen from the several friendly Bedouin tribes;
Two cavalry officers to accompany the troupe to supervise everything and see that the contract, which contained 52 such conditions as the above four, was complied with.

The granting of the concession made a great sensation in Constantinople, and in less than two days the money asked for—25,000 Turkish liras ($112,000)—to carry on the enterprise was subscribed exclusively by Syrian capitalists in Constantinople, Beirut, Paris and Egypt. Raji Effendi, promoter and holder of the contact, was offered $15,000 spot cash, a free trip to Chicago and back, all his personal expenses for six months, which he indignantly refused. He remained in the company and, in the end, penniless, the Turkish government paid his passage back home.

The company was made up of men who might have been shrewd business men in dealing with the simple and confiding Bedouins of the desert, but who had no idea of American business methods, much less Chicago methods at the time of the fair. They thought 25,000 liras ample. They chartered a Cunard steamer and with 120 men, women and boys, 45 horses, 12 camels, donkeys, fat-tailed sheep, Oriental cracked wheat, oil, butter, cheese, flour, an immense quantity of barley, half a ton of horseshoes and boxes containing 1 1/2 million $1 admission tickets, set sail for America. Among the men were all the stockholders, each having one or more servants, riders, donkey boys, camel riders, seven cooks, five horseshoers, 15 clerks and ticket sellers—everybody who begged to be taken over was put on board.

They arrived in Chicago penniless. They had hardly settled and pitched their tents at the baseball grounds before one Chicago load shark loaned them money at an exorbitant rate of interest and took a mortgage on all they had, horses, donkeys, camels, tents and wearing apparel. Another individual had himself hired as manager of the show at an enormous salary with an iron-clad contract. Still another made a contract to become attorney of the corporation at $600 a month salary. All this happened within the short space of 30 hours after their arrival.

They moved to Garfield Park: Chicago creditors were upon them like hungry vultures. A fire, certainly of incendiary origin, drove them back to 35th street. In this fire they lost seven horses, some of the camels and 15 trunks of clothing. Finally they moved to the Midway at the fair and gave their first performance on the Fourth of July, 1893. The show was widely advertised as the $3 million Hamidieh Hippodrome Co., named after the Sultan of Turkey.

To the fair came people from all parts of the world. The Bedouin show with the beautiful horses attracted wide attention. From England came Rev. F. Vidal, Arabian breeder and authority, in company with Randolph Huntington, Oyster Bay, L.I., N. Y., who had purchased and imported *Garaveen, bred by Rev. Vidal, and later *Kismet, sire of *Garaveen.

Also to the fair came J.A.P. Ramsdell, Newburgh, N.Y., who later succeeded in obtaining *Nejdme. Peter Bradley, Bostonian industrialist, Hingham, Mass., was another deeply interested visitor to the Midway Bedouin show, who from that time on began his attempts to acquire Arabian horses. Probably the most far-reaching effect of the Chicago World’s Fair importation, however, was made on a newspaper cartoonist, who stood on State Street, Chicago, and saw the Bedouins and their steeds parade by. From then on, it became a life ambition for the newspaper cartoonist, Homer Davenport, to go to the desert and bring back Arabian horses. He achieved his ambition with the financial assistance of Peter Bradley as a partner with his importation of 1906.

During the fair it was hinted by informed observers of the horses that a number of them did not show the true characteristics of the pure Arabian horse. A cloud of uncertainty and mystery gathered about the hoses with the passing days. Finally in 1897, after the remaining horses and effects had been sold at auction and the last deluded, miserable Bedouin had been sent home, a member of the Turkish World’s Fair commission was prevailed upon to make a written, public report on the entire enterprise. A copy of this report was printed in The Horsemen, Chicago, June 15 and 22, 1897, and a copy was sent to Peter Bradley.

More than 30 years later, in a visit with him, he recalled the report and gave the copy and other data to the writer. In the report, the author, A. G. Asdikian, wrote:

I came in daily contact with these men, fed them at the expense of the commission when they were hungry, helped them who were now and then driven out of the camp for fighting, a frequent occurrence. I knew every man, woman and boy by name, and there was no question that they would not answer for me as to the origin and history of the horses.

Among them was Hadji Hassan, pure Anazeh Bedouin, who all his life had been a horse dealer among the desert tribes. He was at several times employed by the Turkish government to purchase cavalry horses. From Aleppo to Egypt and Yemen he was known as the best judge of Arab horses in the country. The Hippodrome Co. hired him at the demand of the governor of Beirut in order that the horses purchased should be of purest blood. The company sent him among the Anazeh tribes, and 11 horses of the 45 brought to Chicago, were all that Hadji Hassan bought. These 11 had the customary written pedigrees, which I saw, read and took note of. I will say that these 11 horses were among the purest bred Arabs that ever went out of the desert.

When the troop landed in New York the U. S. Customs authorities levied a duty of $30 on each horse, the supposition being that the horses did not belong to any of the five pure, desert families, as stipulated and exempted in the McKinley tariff law. After their arrival in Chicago I learned of the 11 horses with pedigrees and suggested to the commissioner general to make application for refund. They could not be persuaded to forward the pedigrees to Washington without security.

Advice being to no avail, we threatened to sue them and secure the pedigrees. They promised to deliver them the next day. I went to Garfield Park to get the documents as agreed, and to my surprise could find none of the directors in the camp, but knowing the Bedouin in whose care the papers were left, I demanded them. The poor old man, with tears in his eyes, begged me not to take them from him, as the directors had told him they would turn him out of the camp if he ever parted with his trust. In order not to embarrass him, I promised not to take them from him if he would show them to me. He produced a batch of 10 pedigrees from his trunk, and I read every one of them by the assistance of one of the clerks who could speak Turkish, and wrote down as much of them as would enable me to prepare an application to be forwarded to Washington. When I had finished this work, I had this man and Hadji Hassan show me the pedigreed horses. From this time on I knew which of the horses were pure Arabs. I never again saw these documents, the claim being made that they were destroyed in the fire together with 34 other pedigrees which I did not see, as they did not exist. Against the accusation of the commission that they did not live up to their contract, these shrewd Syrians claimed that the documents were lost in the fire, an absolutely false claim, which we were powerless to contradict.

To make themselves more secure they showed us a voluminous document signed by the governor of Beirut, who certified that the men had been faithful to the conditions of their contract. Of course we knew how this certificate was procured—by bribery and trickery. The trick was this: It appears that at the start they brought from the desert to Beirut these 11 horses, some camels, donkeys, fattailed sheep and Syrian goats. They represented they were going to make a livestock exhibit at Chicago. The pedigrees of the horses were submitted to the governor to convince the authorities that the troupe would be organized in compliance with all the conditions of the concession. After securing the governor’s signature they purchased such mongrel horses as would the best answer the purposes of the proposed show. The horses were finally sold at auction at the Chicago Tattersalls, January 4, 1894. I prepared this descriptive list from a notebook which I kept for the special purpose of writing down all I learned and heard about the horses.

At the Chicago Tattersalls sale, 28 remaining horses were numbered, listed and catalogued by number. (From this list of 28 in the Asdikian report we omit all but the pure Arabian.) There were 7 pure Arabian, as follows:

No.1 Nejdme, grey mare; 14 3/4 hands, foaled 1887; breed Kehilan-Ajuz

2. Kibaby, grey stallion; 14 3/4 hands, foaled 1885, Seglawi-Sheyfi

7. Obeyran, iron grey; 14 1/2 hands, foaled 1889, Seglawi-Obeyran

13. Halool, bay stallion; 15 1/4 hands, foaled 1886, Kehilan-Ras Fedawi

24. Hassna, dark bay mare; 14 3/4 hands, foaled 1889, Managhi-Hedrij.

26. Galfea, sorrel mare; 14 1/2 hands, foaled 1887, Hamdani-Simri

28. Manakey, sorrel stallion; 14 3/4 hands, foaled 1888, Managhi-Slaji

I can say that the choicest of the lot in this sale went to Boston, purchased by H. A. Souther, who was commissioned by a Boston gentleman to buy some of the horses at any price. By purchasing the stallions 7, 13; 28, this gentleman (Mr. Bradley) secured the plums of the lot, except the magnificent stallion, Kibaby, No. 2.

Among the mares the grey Nejdme took the palm. For a long time her pedigree was kept by Hassan, and after the old man left Chicago it passed into the hands of one of the clerks, who refused to return it until his wages were paid. Scores of times I saw this document and read it. She was “a pure Kehilan of the purest and belonged to the Ajuz sub-strain.” For many months it was a puzzle to me why this magnificent pure bred mare was ever sold to go out of the desert. Was she stolen? Hassan said “No,” because he got her from her owner at 900 Turkish liras ($4,200). Whenever I asked this question Hassan was as mute as a clam. “If you people know anything about horses, watch and find out,” was all he would say. I did watch day and evening for over six months but could see nothing wrong with her. She was as sound as a “new milled dollar.” About three weeks after the fair, while the men were still lingering around. I noticed that Nejdme was in heat. I called my old friend Hassan and asked if I was correct. He said, “Yes, that mare has been coming in heat for five years.” It was plain now. When three years old she had one colt but she could not be settled in foal again. At that time she was eight years old. This was the reason Nejdme was sold to be taken to this country. The first offer for her was $3,500 but the directors refused to sell. The mare had attracted so much attention that the price put on her was $10,000. The second offer made in late October was $2,700, which was also turned down. Finally I purchased the mare for a New York gentleman (Mr. Ramsdell), paying $450 down, but before I could take possession she passed into the hands of the sheriff and I was out $450, as I could neither find the men to whom I paid the money nor could I get the mare. At the auction she was purchased by the receiver, who sold her afterwards for $800 to the same gentleman for whom I had bought her previously. After being told the mare could not be settled in foal I still bought her for my friend because I believed that she could be settled if intelligent methods were used and the mare properly cared for, That she had foals since shows that I was not mistaken in my judgement.

The registry of 13 foals out of *Nejdme in the stud book here, amply supported the judgment of Mr. Asdikian, that with intelligent methods and proper care she would raise foals. His notes and the Tattersalls sales list her as foaled 1887. Yet he states she was eight years old at the time of the fair, 1893, a discrepancy of two years. It would be easy to mistake an old-fashioned 7 for 1 and vice-versa. All the evidence would indicate 1887 the correct date rather than 1881 as her foaling year. Her last foal in 1913 would be at the age of 26, rather than 32.

Dahura No. 90, important and prolific early Arabian mare, granddaughter of *Nejdme. Dahura raised her 19th foal at Ben Hur farms when 25 years old, died at 29.

It will be noted that the name Pride did not appear in the notebook kept by Mr. Asdikian nor does he report the name in the Tattersall sales. Where did the name originate and to what mare of the importation did it belong (as a stable name). All will agree this English word was not the original name of one of the desert-bred, 1893 importation. The original application for registry gives little light on the subject. Date of foaling of Pride 321 and Galfia 255 are listed in the stud book as “unknown.” The 1918 volume of the stud book records Homer Davenport as owner of both Galfia and Pride. He had died in 1912, which may account for the meager registry data on these mares which should have been recorded among the first in 1908 with Nejdme and Obeyran. Mr. Asdikian describes Galfia as a “sorrel mare, one fore and both hind feet white; Hamdani-Simri,” Pride is also recorded as a chestnut or sorrel), but a Managhi-Slaji. If she was a chestnut, then Galfia and Pride were one and the same mare. If she was a Managhi and a dark bay she could have been the No. 24 mare Hassna noted in the sales list as a Managhi-Hedrij. The conclusion would be obvious that it would be harder to mistake identity between a chestnut and bay than it would be to become confused and mistaken with desert strain names. Thus, owners of Arabians can form their own conclusions of the correctness and value of some of the early strain names in some of their present day Arabians.

The Tattersalls sale list, as reported by Mr. Asdikian, gives the foaling date of *Obeyran as 1889, while the stud book lists him as foaled 1879. By what authority was Davenport led to believe him 28 when he took the picture? Or was he really 10 years younger? Finally, would Hadji Hassan, the expert on Arabian horses, buy for this strenuous trip and exhibition a 14-year-old stallion or a four-year-old; a 12-year-old mare or a six-year-old?

Arabian Blood (The Keene Richards Importation)

by Ben Hur (Western Horseman Jul/Aug ’46)
additional pictures added

One of five Arabian stallions imported by A.Keene Richards direct from the desert between 1852 and 1857. The picture is a reproduction of a painting made in 1867, owned by H.P.Crane, St. Charles, Illinois. Left, in the picture, is Gen. Richard Taylor; center, Capt Cuthbert Slocomb; right, Mr. Richard’s groom.

The American Thoroughbred running horse today might have more bottom, more long distance staying power–and the blue-grass section of Kentucky might have been the cradle for the pureblood Arabian horse in the western hemisphere–had not the Civil War (1860-64) crippled, if not all but destroyed, the efforts of one of the leading horse breeders of his day.

A. Keene Richards, Georgetown, Ky., lifelong student of horse breeding and pedigrees and noted breeder of Thoroughbreds, was convinced that the American thoroughbred of pre-Civil War days had lost some of the stamina and staying power of the earlier English Thoroughbred obtained from the foundation sires, the Byerly Turk, imported into England in 1689, the Darley Arabian imported in 1706, and the Godolphin Arabian imported in 1730. His studies of horses and pedigrees convinced him that all of England’s greatest achievements in horse breeding were traceable to the Arabian and the Barb, and so he determined to go to the Arabian desert and personally select horses which he could bring back to the United States to intensify the original foundation blood and improve the American Thoroughbred.

“MOKHLADI” gr. s. foaled 1844 14 1/2 hands imp. by A. Keene Richards in 1853 with A. Keene Richards In Arab Costume. “The portraits are photographed by Elrod of Lexington, Ky., from sketches by that eminent artist, Edward Troye.” (Thornton Chard)

Mr. Richards made two trips to the desert, his first in 1851-53 and the second in 1855-56. He was the first citizen of the United States to go to the desert, personally select and import Arabians direct to his native country. On his second trip he was backed by the New Orleans Jockey Club and accompanied by Mr. E. Troye, the animal painter, who was to assist him in making selections. The convictions which Mr. Richards had on the Thoroughbred of his day were summed up by him at that time:

“That the English horse of the present day is inferior to what he was in the days of Eclipse, no one will doubt who examines the performances of that day. The present race of horses are fleet, and many can carry their weights, but how few remain on the turf; one hard race of four miles would injure the best horse in England.”

“Some English writers contend,” wrote Mr. Richards, “that a degeneracy is taking place, and that the best Arab blood must be resorted to. In crossing the Arabs upon our stock, we must not expect the first cross to equal such pedigrees as ‘Lexington’ and ‘Bonnie Lassie,’ but this cross will not deteriorate, and fine bone with vigorous constitution, free from hereditary defects, will be the result. I have confidence in the result as to the improvement of our fine stock for the turf, for harness and saddle.”

His own account of his trips to the desert follows:

Photo of the Arab horse “Muscat”. Race winner in India. Exp. to England

“I determined to import the best Arabs that could be found in the East and cross them with our best mares. I made myself acquainted with the modern importations by going to England, France, and Spain, and examining the best Arabs belonging to these governments, visiting Morocco, and going through the interior of Algeria. I went to Tunis, thence to Egypt, and from Egypt through Arabian Petra and the desert east of Damascus as far as Palmyra. During this tour I selected Mokhladi, Massaoud and a grey mare [Sadah], the first mentioned bred by the Tarabine tribe in Arabia Petra, and the two latter by the Anayza tribe.

“They arrived safely, and I immediately made arrangements to select some of our best mares to breed to them. The result was quite equal to my expectations, and I commenced preparing to make another trip to the East, determining to spare no trouble or expense in procuring the best blood, as well as the finest formed horses in the desert.

Massoud ch. s. foaled 1844 15 hands imp. by A. Keene Richards in 1853

“For two years I made this subject my study, consulting the best authors as to where the purest blood was to be found, and comparing their views with my own experiences. I found that most authors who have written on the subject, differ materially as to facts; and that those who have seen the Arab on his native soil know more about the idle legends of the country than about the fine points of a horse.

“Layard surely has claims to be the best authority among the English writers. Although prejudiced in favor of the English horse, he says: ‘I doubt whether any Arab of the best blood has ever been brought to England. The difficulty of obtaining them is so great, that they are scarcely ever seen beyond the limits of the desert.’

“After two years spent in close investigation as to the best means of obtaining the purest blood in the desert, I matured my plans and started again for the East, accompanied by Mr. E. Troye, the artist, my cousin M. H. Keene, and a Syrian who had been with me since my first journey to the East. This man knew more about the horses of the desert than any one I had met in the East. Soon after our arrival in Syria, he died very suddenly, and Mr. Keene had to commence the study of the Arabic language, as we could find no one to trust in interpreting, to carry out our plans among the Bedouins. He was in Damascus seven months, studying the language and informing himself as to the best way of getting to that tribe of Bedouins in Arabia which had the type of horse we were seeking.

Sacklowie
bay s. foaled 1851 15 hands
imp. by A. Keene Richards in 1856
Photograph from a crayon drawing by Guy F. Monroe and copied from a painting unfortunately destroyed by fire.

“The first horse selected was a stallion from Beni-Zahr. This was a horse of superior form and blood, purchased from one of the Sheikhs of the tribe. Determined to have the best, this horse was afterwards exchanged for the bay horse ‘Sacklowie’ (seglawi) by giving considerable boot. This last importation consisted of the bay ‘Sacklowie,’ a chestnut ‘Faysul,’ supposed to be the best young horse in the Anayza tribe, a grey colt two years old, a mare and two dromedaries.

Lulie gr. m. imp. 1853 by A. Keene Richards

Feysul and Lulie Feysul ch. s foaled 1852. 14 3/4 hands imp. 1856 by A. Keene Richards

“In making both of these importations I determined not to offer the services of any of the stallions to the public until they had shown some evidence of their merits. The colts of two of them having borne off the prizes last fall (1856) over the best Thoroughbred stock in Kentucky, I was induced by some friends not to wait longer, but to give the breeders of Kentucky an opportunity to try the cross with some of our fine mares.”

Hamdan
gr.s. 1854 imp. 1856 by A. Keene Richards

About the time Mr. Richards was nicely on the way to success with his importations of Arabian stallions and mares direct from the desert, the Civil War came, with all of its devastation over his native and other southern states. Mr. Richards’ noble horse breeding work was lost, as was much of the splendid Clays and Messenger combinations, along with the Bashaws, Andrew Jacksons, Morgans, Golddusts and countless other lines and strains of the Arabian and Barb bred horses which were at that time to be found on every hand. History shows that America possessed at that time trotting bred horses which could not have been equalled on the face of the earth in point of blood and individuality as well as general utility, the equal of which we possibly have never since possessed.

Abdel Kadir (Known as the Faris Arabian)
(Mokhladdi x Sadah )
gr. s. foaled 1856
bred by A. Keene Richards

Keene Richards’ labors were in great measure lost, except such of the scattered fragments and some few specimens which remained that were half the blood of Mr. Richards’ Arabians, which are, in a great degree, responsible for the present excellent race of saddle horses which originally came from Kentucky, a shown by the Denmark saddle horse stud books, now the American Bred Saddle horse. The tail carriage, reliable dispositions, good necks and general excellence, as well as their power to transmit a fixed type, can be traced to no other source.

Spencer Borden, in his book, “The Arab Horse” (1906) gives a thrilling account of a Civil War experience which centered about A. Keene Richards.

“It is told,” wrote Borden, “that after the battle of Pittsburgh Landing (Shiloh) the Confederate General, Breckenridge, went to Georgetown, Ky., to Mr. Richards, begging conveyance to Virginia as quickly as possible, as the Federal troops were pursuing him. Richards had nothing to offer but a pair of three-year-old half-bred Arab fillies. These he hitched to a buckboard and started. The Federals pursued on Thoroughbred horses, but though they gained for awhile, their bolt was soon shot and they had to draw rein. The Arab fillies never stopped until they had Breckenridge safely within the Confederate lines.”

That the importation of Arabians to America prior to the time of Mr. Richards’ importations proved of great value in establishing some of the finest light harness and saddle horses of the early day and were successfully used to cross on the Thoroughbred is related by Mr. Richards:

“Some of the Arabs in this country have produced trotters of note. The grandsire of Pacolet, on the dam’s side, was the Lindsay Arabian. The granddam of Sidi Hamet, the sire of Bethune, was an Arab mare, got by an Arabian horse sent to President Jefferson, and out of the Arab mare that came with him. Rhoderic Dhu, a good race horse up to four miles, was out of a Bagdad mare, and many others could be cited. Recent investigations show that the renowned Flora Temple goes back with a few crosses to the Arab, while in Pennsylvania we have that superb race of trotters, the Bashaws, descended from an imported Arabian or Barb of that name imported in 1826.”

“When credit is given to Kentucky,” wrote the eminent horseman Randolph Huntington in 1885, “for superior blood in her brood mares over any other state, and that superiority is credited to her through Thoroughbred running horse blood, which in an earlier day was the only type of horses that she bred, we are inclined to look for a more direct cause. In so doing we find that for forty years their dams had been under the influence of Arabian blood, no less than five different Arabian stallions (Richards’) having been imported directly into Kentucky since 1850.”

Calif of Cairo, from the famed stud of Abbas Pasha of Egypt, imported to the United States prior to 1860.

Another importation of an Arabian of superb breeding and matchless beauty was that of the young stallion, Calif of Cairo, presented when a colt, to the United States Consul for Egypt by Abbas Pasha, a one of the best specimens of of the Arabian horse in his world famous stud. He was a beautiful silver-grey, with silky mane and tail, legs and feet of remarkable delicacy of outline. He was about 15 hands high, “kind as a dove and immensely fast.” Calif was shipped to New York, prior to 1860, shown at the Eclipse Fair, Centerville Course, Long Island, where the drawing shown with this article was made from life. Calif later was purchased by Judge Jones and moved to his stables in Philadelphia.

It will be of historical interest to Arabian breeders in the United States where the blood of Abbas Pasha Arabians is eagerly sought after and appreciated today to learn that this fine specimen of his breeding was imported at this early date. Unfortunately the blood of this and many other Arabians of priceless breeding and beauty among the early importations were scattered to the four winds and lost to present-day breeders who are zealously guarding and breeding Arabians in all their original purity in this country today.

Additional articles on A. Keene Richards:

Keene Richards’ Arabian Importations By Thornton Chard from The Horse Nov/Dec 1934

ARABIAN BLOOD FOR STAMINA Keene Richards’ Own Account of His Two Desert Expeditions and His Arabian Importations. Edited by Thornton Chard with illustrations and notes collected by him from The Horse Nov/Dec ’35

Antez (448)

THE VERSATILE ARABIAN

Harara X Moliah (foaled 1921)

Author not Given
from “The Horse Lover” Apr/May ’51

A brief history of the progenitor of the Antez line; his sons and daughters are carrying on their great sire’s reputation in the show ring, on the track.

The above photo of Antez was taken in Poland and is reproduced through the courtesy of Count Alexander Dzieduszyeki, President of the Arabian Horse Breeding Society of Poland. Antez was foaled in California in 1921 from stock tracing entirely to the horses brought from the Arabian desert by Homer Davenport in 1906. His sire HARARA and his dam Moliah had been bred at the Hingham Stock Farm in Massachusetts by Mr. Peter B. Bradley.

Later Antez was acquired by Mr. W.K.Kellogg [1925 – Antez was 4] at whose Pomona California Ranch the horse was featured as one of the “tops”of that famous “Romance of Pomona” ranch and for several years he was many times a champion at shows on the West coast in halter classes as well as being first on several occasions at five gaits under saddle.

In 1933 at age of 12 years he was purchased by General J. M. Dickinson of Tenn.

He was used at Dickinson’s Travelers Rest Arabian Stud Farm for breeding purposes and in the 1933 National Arabian show he stood 3rd in the Mature Stallion championships and his daughter Fayadan won the championship over about a dozen other fine weanlings. Since then his sons and daughters have gone on to win many honors in the show rings of America.

Antez today stands undisputed as one of best sires in America as to passing on his strong breed character to his get and they in turn are passing it on to their produce.

In Tennessee he was used as a saddle mount by the 13-year-old Miss Peggy Dickinson and he made an ideal young girl’s mount, lamb-like in gentleness, yet full of life and beautiful enough to fit any horseman’s dream.

He was used and shown considerably in the driving or vehicle classes where he moved out brilliantly in the harness.

At Travelers Rest he was ridden 12 hours a day for five consecutive days in an endurance test carrying full weights where he finished perfectly sound, normal temperature and pulse — still looking for more distance to conquer.

Though featured on the Pacific Coast where he won wide popularity, Antez’s ability to race was unnoticed and the same held true for some years after his coming to Tennessee though he gave the seemingly blind folks with whom he had been associated all his life, evidence and opportunity to see what his heart must have yearned for and so it was almost by an accident he was given his chance — and this isn’t the first accident in horse history as witness the story of the Godolphin. Antez’ chance came in the spring of 1933 when as a sporting gesture Mr. Dickinson decided to run an Arabian in the flat mile race for Thoroughbreds on Overton Downs and the logical candidate was the game, hardy, handsome little chestnut, Antez, he unhesitatingly selected, though little dreaming of the startling results that would develop.

His first speed test came on his twelfth birthday, May 1, 1933, when he ran a respectable race against track trained Thoroughbreds at Overton Downs, coming in a good third behind horses that stood six and seven inches taller, weighed in racing condition two hundred pounds more — and carrying the identical weight of 150 pounds.

After showing this speed at Overton Downs, Mr. Dickinson decided to try him for a record, which was arranged by courtesy of the late John Early, southwestern governor of the national Trotting Association, and after public advertisement and on fixed days, regardless of weather, Antez made official records at fourth, half and three-quarter mile and the short European race distance of 1200 meters. He equalled the known Arabian records for the quarter and half mile, 14 1/2 and 51 seconds (though there is a tradition that a horse travelled the quarter one-half second faster over ninety years ago); equalled an eighty-year-old Arabian record for the half mile, and ran the quarter, half and six furlongs faster than any American-bred Arab on record. Quite a performance for a twelve-year-old stallion that had never been run until his twelfth year!

Shortly after his speed records General Dickinson sold and exported Antez to Poland and during the stud season of 1935 he stood at the Count Potocki Stud — and in 1936 at the Count Rostwordwski Stud.

Later an Arizona breeder of Arabians bought Antez from the Arabian Horse Breeding Society in Poland at a fabulous price and brought him back to America. [’37 or ’38]

Still later, Mr. Kellogg acquired him from Arizona [1942] and put him in the hands of the capable Mr. H.A.Reese where he spent the balance of his illustrious life.

Thus after travelling over half the earth he lies buried only a few miles from his birthplace.

To Antez, who (notice the pronoun) made such a fine record to exemplify the versatility of the Arabian — the horse lovers of America pay homage to you.

ANTEZ traces in every line to the horses brought from the Arabian desert by Homer Davenport in 1906. His pedigree is shown below:

*Denotes imported into the United States.

Homer Davenport writes interestingly about his trip to the deserts of Arabia and how he secured these horses and others in his book “My Quest of the Arab Horse.”

ANKAR, a son of Antez, prize winning Arabian stallion owned by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Mekeel of Whittier, Calif. While still a young stallion, his first four colts have also been prizewinners. The strong Antez blood shows marked influence in the offspring and many breeders proudly boast of horses of the Antez line.

POTIF, grandson of Antez and grandson of Ronek. The sire of Potif is *Latif, a son of Antez. Here again the blood of Antez breeds on, carrying Antez versatility and quality. Potif is owned by Dr. and Mrs. Palmer of Portland Ore. This horse has made some notable wins in the show rings of the Northwest. Observers feel that the blood of Skowronek through Ronek complements the Antez line of horses.

Sartez, son of Antez, reputed world’s fastest Arabian.

SARTEZ’S ARABIAN WORLD RUNNING RECORDS

Distance

Sartez’s time 1948

Jockey

Previous Record

Horse

Place

Date

1/8 Mile 240 Yards 1/4 Mile 3/8 Mile 1/2 Mile 4 1/2 Fulongs 5 Furlongs 1200 Meters 6 Furlongs 1400 Meters 7 Furlongs 1600 Meters 1 Mile 1800 Meters 1 1/8 Mile 1 1/4 Mile 1 3/8 Mile 2100 Meters 2400 Meters 11.7″ 12.75″ 23.15″ 36.2 ” 49.7″ 56.2″ 1:2.8″ 1:17.8″ 1:17″ 1:32.6″ 1:31.6″ 1:45.5″ 1:46.2 ” 1:59.3″ 2:00″ 2:17.1″ 2:32.8″ 2:23.8″ 2:46.5″ Onnelee Shook Onnelee Shook Buck Griffin Onnelee Shook Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin Buck Griffin 15″ 24″ 51″ 51″ 50.1″ 59.4″ 1:3.8″ 1:21″ 1:18.6″ 1:37″ 1:32″ 1:47.5″ 1:46″ 2:3.5″ 2:3.6″ 2:20″ 2:34″ 2:30″ 2:49″ Samnite Absentee Sir Hugh Antez Sartez Sharki Mahouza Kaszmir Nasr Kaszmir Taj Atiyah Kaszmir Kowkab Hadjar Balance Nasr King John Mabrucha Sart Madras India Singapore Nashville Albuquerque Egypt Iraq Poland Egypt Poland Iraq Poland Iraq Poland Egypt Egypt Egypt Poland Poland 1838 1844 1844 1933 1947 1933 1925 1932 1923 1932 1928 1934 2924 1936 1933 1924 1929 1932 1937

Alamo Downs Arabian Farm

presents

SARTEZ

“It is our intention to share some of our colts from our select breeding program and allow conscientious breeders to bring mares to Sartez for service.”

Alamo Downs Arabian Farm J.E.Mlowinckle, Owner B.W.Shook, Manager RR, 4, Box 85C San Antonio, Texas.

(The Horse Lover Magazine Dec/Jan ’49)

AT STUD – TEZEYN A.H.C. #3375 Bay Son of ANTEZ, A.H.C. #448 Out of ARABRAB #2518 Ht. 14.2 Wt 950

WM. M. BRIGGS Pioneer Bldg, Ashland, Oregon (The Horse Lover Apr./May ’51)

BARQ AHC 4138 (Photo by John Williamson) (Abu Farwa X Antana) foaled May 1, 1947 fFirst Annual All-Arabian Spring Show Palm Springs, March 24-25 Winner Class 17, Hackamore Horses, Joe Towle, President of Arabian Horse Assn. of So. Calif., Presenting the Trophy. Trained, Fitted and Shown by Ora C. Rhodes, Artesia Stock Farm.

Highland Farms :: Arabian Horses Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Cameron, Owners Phone: San Bernardino 5-3200 Rt. 2, Highland Del Rosa, California (The Horse Lover Apr./May ’51)

Some Additional Notes:

From The Journal of The Arab Horse Society 1935 – 1938

The Arab Horse in California

“Mr. R. Riddlesbarger had brought the great Antez 448 back from Poland especially to cross on Palomino mares in an effort to increase the quality and keep the golden color.”

Notes from Mary Jane Parkinson’s

The Kellogg Arabian Ranch, the First Fifty Years.

p. 164

Soon after Reese left on the inspection trip, L.V.Roberson wrote to Mr. Kellogg that he had received a wire from Reese from Nashville, Tennessee where he had just called on General Dickenson of Travelers Rest Stud and had sold him ANTEZ for $5,000. Mr. Robertson commented, “I suppose it is a very good business deal, but all of us at the ranch do hate to see him leave.”

ANTEZ was sent off to Travelors Rest early in November. Margaret Dickinson Fleming (General Dickinson’s daughter (who still operates Travelers Rest at Columbia, Tennessee, has described ANTEZ’ trip:

Antez was supplied with hay, it being too dangerous to furnish grain as someone might have overfed him. I don’t think he lost over 175 pounds, but that was a lot for him when you consider that he never weighed over 925 soaking wet! Daddy let me have him for my personal mount and he was truly a delight, a real eye-catcher.

Chapter 1942: p. 259

But there was some good news, the return of an old and dear friend. Late in July, Rufus Riddlesbarger of the Lanteen Arabian Foundation advised Mr. Kellogg that ANTEZ [at 21] was available for purchase. It cost the Foundation a little over $1500 to secure ANTEZ [at 16 or 17 years of age] and return him from Poland ( where he had been exported by Travelors Rest in 1934), but ANTEZ’s book value was now $400, and he was offered to Mr. Kellogg for that amount.

Kellogg quickly sought the advice of his former ranch manager, H. H. Reese, who expressed a desire to have ANTEZ on his California ranch. Mr. Reese had been working with Mr. Riddles- barger in disposing of his stock, was planning to send a truck to bring more horses for sale, and offered to bring ANTEZ along on the next trip. So Mr. Kellogg immediately sent a $50 deposit to Mr. Riddlesbarger who responded with a brief description of ANTEZ:

On August 5 he weighed 889 pounds. He is just as virile and on high spirited as a youngster, sound, and in good condition. Though I hate to part with this lovable fellow, I am entirely satisfied and happy to have him in your hands, as I am sure that you must love him the same as we do.

On August 11, Mr. Kellogg wrote to Albert W. Harris, rejoicing in his repurchase of ANTEZ: he recalled that ANTEZ had saved his life on one occasion and said that he wanted to be assured that ANTEZ “will have a good home for the rest of his life.” ANTEZ was to be Mr. Kellogg’s gift to W.H.Vanderploeg, the President of the Kellogg Company. On August 31, H.H.Reese wired Mr. Kellogg that ANTEZ had arrived at the Reese ranch in good condition, but later Mr. Reese felt ANTEZ could probably not stand a trip to Michigan, so Mr. Vanderploeg gave him up, and Kellogg presented the old stallion to Mr. Reese.

p. 461

ANTEZ 448

ANTEZ lived out his years on H.H.Reese’s ranch in Covina. See Chapter 1942. He died in 1944. [23 year of age] He has 53 registered foals in the American stud book.

Ankar

Our Cover

ANKAR No 3063 — Registered Arabian Stallion The Horse Lover Aug/Sept ’49

Here you are privileged to see unmistakable Arabian character of the finest type.

This young stallion has a deep body of desirable width — The shoulders, chest, barrel and hind quarters are of special merit.

Ankar is well ribbed up, compact and his tail carried in an arch. His head is of unforgettable beauty and with it all his delicate thorn like ears, large eyes and magnificent expression is thrilling to behold. Ankar stands 14.2 hands — a copper chestnut and his weight 1050 lbs. Age 5 years.

In seeing Ankar and carefully going over him in the course of a prolonged visit a horseman might summarize his qualities as follows:

(a) Very symmetrical and classically beautiful.
(b) His head is like a masterpiece of fine carving.
(c) Full bodied throughout, good back and loins and well developed hind quarters are much in evidence.
(d) His legs well muscled, ample bone below the knee and hock — good feet — large clean joints. Disposition and manners good.

Antez, the sire of Ankar, proved his worth as a racer, driving horse, show horse in hand and under saddle, as well a being a champion sire. There can be no question that he also had great endurance. In a private test conducted by General Dickinson in 1932, Antez, carrying a moderate weight of 225 pounds was ridden steadily twelve hours a day for five days over fields, country roads, and hillside trails. According to General Dickinson, at the end of the test Antez was in perfect condition and apparently ready and willing to go the distance again immediately.

Rehasafa, the dam of Ankar, was sired by Rehal who was bred by W.R.Brown and later owned by W.R.Hearst. The dam Ferdasafa is by the twice champion at the Los Angeles National Horse Show, Ferdin. The granddam, Rasafa, was bred by the Crabbet Park Stud in England. Her dam, Rasima, was closely related to the noted Abu Zeyd. This mare traces in all lines to the Crabbet Park Stud and represents some of the best of their blood.

The Mekeel breeding program started in 1939, and for the past ten years they have improved their broodmare band with the purchase of outstanding mares whenever possible. They now have thirty-one Arabians headed by their stallion Ankar. They have recently purchased a young stallion from Mr. Henry Babson of Chicago. This stallion is by Fadl and out of Bint Bint Sabbah. They have great hopes for him.

Ankar has only been shown twice. The first time at the Westminster Horse Show where he won first in the mature stallion class, and the second time at the Los Angeles Country Spring Fair where he also won the mature stallion class as well as being made champion stallion.

His sire was Antez whose blood is probably as highly regarded today by some Arabian breeders as any horse of our generation. It is a rare blending — of blood lines indeed to be able to get so many desirable points to culminate in one individual.

Lack of space prohibits a detailed description of each of his four notable grandparents. One of them, however, may shed some light as to why beauty and strength may be combined to such a high degree.

GRANDSIRE – HARARA — an Abeyan Sherrak, for years a leading sire in Porto Rico and until his death in 1933 owned by the Central Aguirre Sugar Company. Harara’s dam was *Haffia, an Abeyah Sherrakieh by a Hamdani Simri stallion that was held in such high esteem by the Anazeh tribe in Arabia that they refused to set a price on him for the Italian Government. Her dam, *Abeyah, was considered by Hashem Bey, the Sheykh of all the Anazeh, to have the most rarely beautiful head in the desert. She was distinguished for speed, and, though small, was a marvel of stamina and weight-carrying ability. She was reported to have carried 300 pounds a distance of 35 miles over rough ground in four hours with the sun registering 135. *Haffia was bred by the Shammar tribe in the desert and imported by Homer Davenport to America in 1905.

Ankar is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Leland E. Mekeel, 815 West Washington Blve., Whittier, California.

CMK Arabian Horses

The Arabians of written record