Janow Podlaski Between The Wars, A Road Map for Beginners

Copyright 1990 by R.J.CADRANELL from Arabian Visions Feb ’90
Used by permission of RJCadranell

Although the Polish state stud, Janow Podlaski, dates its history back to 1817, the Arabian breeding program for which it is famous began more than a century later. From the arrival of the first broodmares in 1919 until the day in September of 1939 when the Russian army walked away with most of Janow’s horses, the state stud bred some of Poland’s most important Arabians. They are the core of modern Polish breeding.

After World War I, Poland found itself an independent state, no longer part of the Russian Empire. The new government sought to refound the state stud for the breeding of horses at Janow Podlaski, where the stables had been empty since the removal of horses to Russia in 1915. One of the categories of stock was to be a herd of Arabians. Finding Arabian horses after the devastation and disruption of World War I was not easy, but the animals collected were worth the efforts expended to acquire them.

Janow gave all foals born in the same year names beginning with the same letter. The “A” year was 1919, “B” followed in 1920, “C” in 1921, and so on. Knowing this, one can determine the year of birth of all Janow Podlaski foals in the charts below. (Skip Q, U, V, X, and Y to end with W in 1938 and Z in 1939).

After twenty years, the Arabian breeding program at Janow Podlaski was flourishing when the Nazis invaded Poland in September of 1939. The decision was made to begin moving the horses east toward Rumania. After several days, losing animals to exhaustion and injury and leaving some behind as they traveled, word came that Russian troops were coming toward them from the east. The party returned to Janow. The Russians soon appeared there, and when they departed they look with them hundreds of horses, including nearly all the Arabians. They left behind Najada after she injured one of their soldiers, and her son Ali Said was born in 1940. The Janow Arabians greatly broadened the genetic base of Russia’s Tersk stud, and many of the bloodlines have returned to Poland in recent decades through horses sent from Tersk.

Following are charts listing most of the more important Arabians bred or owned at Janow Podlaski between the wars, arranged according to foundation mare. Two 1939 fillies have names deviating from the alphabetical system. The Russians named Mammona. Ofirka was lost as a foal during the evacuation of Janow Podlaski and found two years later on a farm in Volyhnia. Apparently the recovery of an Ofir daughter was more important than that she had been born during the “Z” year. (Note that Ali Said in 1940 started another cycle with “A,” continuing through G in 1946.)

Janow’s first Arabian mares were bred at the Austrian state stud of Radautz and arrived in 1919:

282 SIGLAVY BAGDADY 1908 (Siglavy Bagdady OA x 15 Malta). Her sire was part of Babolna’s 1902 importation from the desert. Her dam, Malta, was bred in Poland at Chrestowka and traced to the Slawuta taproot mare Milordka. In the tradition of the Austrian military studs, broodmares bred at Radautz bore the names of their sires and were distinguished from their sisters by a prefixed broodmare number. Polish pedigrees often omit the Radautz broodmare numbers.

  • Bajka (Amurath III 1910)
    • Jaga II (Koheilan I)
      • Saga (Hardy)
      • Wyrwidab (Ofir) named “Wind” in Germany
    • Oda (Kuhailan Haifi)
  • Fetysz (Bakszysz)
  • Haszysz (Ganges I)

ANIELKA 1919 (Amurath 1881 x 346 Belgja). Belgja was another mare bred at Chrestowka from the Milordka family.

  • Arabja (Koheilan IV)
  • Ceclja (Bakszysz)
    • Lirnik (Farys II)

HEDBA 1913 (Hermit OA x Amurath). Hebda’s dam was bred at Radautz, a daughter of Amurath (1881) out of 96 Odysseja, bred at Chrestowka from the Milordka family.

  • Kaszmir (Farys II)
  • Malaga (Mazepa II)

KOALICJA 1918 (Koheilan IV x 238 Amurath) Her dam, bred at Radautz, was out of 15 Malta. Her sire was bred at Babolna.

  • Enwer Bey (Abu Mlech)
  • Federacja (Burgas)
    • Narada (Hardy)
      • Walna (Lowelas)
    • *Witez II (Ofir)
  • Konfederacja (Farys II)
  • Miecznik (Fetysz)
  • Niezgoda (Fetysz)

An even more solid foundation for Janow Podlaski were mares bred at Count Dzieduszycki’s Jezupol stud, acquired via another stud in 1920. These mares, together with the stallions Farys II and Abu Mlech, represented the breeding of the Dzieduszycki family, founded on the desert bred mares Gazella, Mlecha, and Sahara, all imported to Poland from Arabia in 1845.

POMPONIA 1902 (Zagloba x Kadisza). Pomponia’s fifth dam was Sahara.

  • Bona (Mazepa I)
  • Dora (Bakszysz)
    • Krucica (Farys II)
      • Wojski (Lowelas)
      • Mammona 1939 (Ofir)
  • *Nora (Hardy)
  • Omar II (Hardy)

ZULEJMA 1914 (Kohejlan OA x Pomponia). Count Dzieduszycki imported her sire from India in 1910, along with the stallion Hermit, later sold to Radautz.

  • Dziwa (Abu Mlech)
    • Limba (Bakszysz)
      • *Tarnina (Lowelas)
    • Mokka (Flisak)
    • Ofir (Kuhailan Haifi OA)
    • Taki Pan (Kaszmir)
    • Wrozba (Lowelas)
  • Ferja (Bakszysz)
    • Kasyda (Farys II)
    • Magja (Koheilan I)
    • Norma (Hardy)
  • Kahira (Farys II)
    • Trypolis (Enwer Bey)
  • *Lassa (Koheilan I)

GAZELLA II 1914 (Kohejlan OA x Abra). Through Witraz and Wielki Szlem alone this mare’s family has been a major force in shaping the breeding of Polish Arabians. But more of Poland’s key sires came from this line: Wilga is the second dam of Comet, and Taraszcza produced Negatiw in Russia. Gazella II herself, at age 25, was one of the horses marched to Russia.

  • Czapla (Bakszysz)
  • Elegantka (Bakszysz)
    • Jaszmak (Koheilan I)
    • Kamea (Farys II)
      • Rozeta (Almanzor)
      • *Wierna (Ofir)
    • Lowelas (Koheilan I)
    • Mulatka (Koheilan I)
    • Opal (Koheilan I)
    • Wielki Szlem (Ofir)
  • Fryga II (Bakszysz)
    • Maskota (Koheilan I)
      • Zalotna (Ofir)
    • Ofirka 1939 (Ofir)
  • Hardy (Ganges I)
  • Jaskolka II (Koheilan I)
    • *Przepiorka (Almanzor)
    • *Rybitwa (Almanzor)
    • Wilga (Ofir)
  • Makata (Fetysz)
    • Witraz (Ofir)
  • Najada (Fetysz)
    • Ali Said (Kuhailan Said)
  • Taraszcza (Enwer Bey)

Two other mares acquired in 1920 had been bred at the Antoniny stud. Their sire, Ibrahim, also got Skowronek. Their dam, Lezginka, bred at Antoniny, was a daughter of the stallion Euclid (also known as Obejan Szarak), a horse Count Potocki had imported from India in 1890. Lezginka was out of Zalotna, a mare of the Szwejkowska family.

KALINA, 1909 (Ibrahim OA x Lezginka)

  • Dziewanna (Bakszysz)
    • *Kostrzewa (Koheilan I)
    • Piolun (Koheilan I)
    • Rozmaryn (Almanzor)
    • Skrzyp (Lowelas)
  • Floks (Bakszysz)
  • Halina (Abu Mlech)
    • Paproc (Koheilan I)
    • Sokora (Hardy)
  • Jagoda (Koheilan I)

ELSTERA 1913 (Ibrahim OA x Lezginka). This is the family of *Naborr, as Obra produced his dam, Lagodna.

  • Drweca (Bakszysz)
  • Flisak (Bakszysz)
  • Ikwa (Koheilan I)
    • Obra (Hardy)

In 1921 the state purchased from Prince Roman Sanguszko’s Gumniska stud:

BIALOGRADKA 1910 (Orjent x Pojata). Her daughter, *Kasztelanka, is the dam of Fadjur’s sire, Fadheilan. Halef is the grandsire of *Sanacht, a Plum Grove Farm foundation mare.

  • Gaweda (Burgas OA)
    • Plotka (Koheilan I)
  • *Kasztelanka (Koheilan I)
    • Towarzysz Pancerny (Enwer Bey) [named “Halef” in Germany]

KEWA 1923 (Siglavy Bagdady-11 x Kalga) was a later addition, bred in Yugoslavia at the Inocenzdvor stud and imported to Poland. Her sire was bred at Babolna from desert bred parents. Her dam, Kalga (Amurath Dukatan x Hadrja), was also bred at Poland’s Uzin stud. Kewa and daughters went to Russia in 1939, but the line became important again in Poland when Wlodarka’s Tersk-bred daughters, Prowierka and Piewica, returned it. *Prowizja (U.S. National Champion Park Horse) and *Penicylina (1987 U.S. National Champion Mare) are from this family.

  • Oaza (Kuhailan Haifi OA)
  • Troska (Enwer Bey)
  • Wlodarka (Ofir)

The Stallions

The other half of the story of Janow Podlaski between the wars is its foundation sires:

BAKSZYSZ 1901 (Ilderim OA x Parada). Bred at Slawuta, and purchased in 1920. His sons Flisak (out of Elstera) and Fetysz (out of 282 Siglavy Bagdady) were also sires at Janow. In 1936, Fetysz was sold to Trakehnen in Germany, where he was head sire until 1944. Fetysz disappeared before the end of the war, but is still found in Trakehner pedigrees.

GANGES I 1901 (Hindostan II x Lezginka). Bred at Antoniny. His son Hardy (out of Gazella II) was also a sire at Janow.

ABU MLECH 1902 (Mlech I x Lania). Bred by Count Dzieduszycki at Jezupol, and purchased in 1920. His son Enwer Bey (out of Koalicja) succeeded him at Janow.

FARYS II 1905 (Mlech I x Sahara IV). Bred at Jablanow. His son Kaszmir (out of Hebda) sired Taki Pan.

ALMANZOR 1909 (Athos x Mlecha III). Bred by Prince Czartoryski at Pelkinie. Almanzor’s sire, bred at Antoniny, carried two lines to Pharaoh, a desert bred stallion the Blunts used at Crabbet before selling to Poland.

MAZEPA II 1910 (Mazepa x Hajduszka).

BURGAS OA 1907 (an Abeyan Sherrak x a Seglawieh Jedranieh). Imported to France in 1914. The French government sent this desert bred stallion to Poland as a present in 1923.

KUHAILAN HAIFI OA 1923 (a Kuhailan Kharas x a Kuhaila Haifi). Bred by the Ruala tribe. Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan imported this horse to Poland in 1931 for Prince Roman Sanguszko’s Gumniska stud. Kuhailan Haifi covered several of the Janow mares, getting among others the important sire Ofir.

KOHEILAN I 1922 (Koheilan IV x 10 Gazal). Bred at Babolna in Hungary. Imported in 1924, and returned to Babolna in 1937 in exchange for two sons of Kuhaylan Zaid OA. One of them, Kuhailan Said, was a 1934 colt known at Babolna as Kuhaylan Zaid-7. His dam was 204 Kemir, a mare of Weil and Babolna lines. Koheilan I’s son Lowelas (out of Elegantka) was also a Janow sire.

Among the Arabians that went to Russia in 1939 were the stallions Kuhailan Said, Enwer Bey, Hardy, Ofir, Piolun, Skrzyp, and Taki Pan. The mares included Gazella II, Kewa, Bajka, Dziwa, Elegantka, Fryga II, Hanina, Ikwa, Kahira, Kamea, Konfederacja, Krucica, Limba, Mulatka, Narada. Niezgoda, Oaza, Plotka, Taraszcza, Wlodarka, Wrozba, Walna, and Mammona.

Breeding at Janow Podlaski did not stop in 1939. Janow was able to gather horses from private studs and track down a few lost during the evacuation. A limited program continued under the management of the occupying Nazi forces. However, it was never quite the same, and the war forced another evacuation in 1944. When peace returned and the Poles started over with three state studs, Janow was not one of them, due to the damage the place had sustained toward the end of the war. Janow Podlaski’s history begins again in 1960, when it was restocked with horses from state stud Nowy Dwor. Horses from state stud Albigowa followed in 1961, and the breeding program continues uninterrupted to the present.

Featured photo of Janow Podlaski by dzikusiak