Tag Archives: Wentworth

The Ever Expanding Crabbet Universe

The Ever Expanding Crabbet Universe

Copyright 1991 by R.J.CADRANELL

from Arabian Visions March 1991

Used by permission of RJ Cadranell

 

Words are defined in one of two ways: the first is by long-standing and widely accepted dictionary definitions. The second is according to how a word is actually used in the living language. As a word’s new meaning gains wider and wider acceptance in first the spoken and finally the written language, dictionary writers must acknowledge at last what is happening in the real world, and amend their volumes. The meaning of many words has changed over time, reflecting changes in society at large.

For example, the word “access” has traditionally been a noun. We speak of the access to a highway or building, or of gaining access to information. The advent of computers has changed this word into a verb: “Will you hold please while I try to access that for you?” is something one hears over the phone these days, when calling to make inquiries. An “access” is no longer just something we can see or acquire; accessing is now a thing we can do.

There’s nothing new about words changing their meanings. The Old English word “dysig,” meant foolish or ignorant. Its modern descendant, “dizzy,” means unsteady or light-headed. To call a person “dizzy” and mean “scatterbrained” is a slang expression, ironically close to the word’s original meaning.

If there were a dictionary of words used in conjunction with Arabian horse breeding and showing, adding a new definition to the word “Crabbet” is something its writers would have to consider seriously. The way the word is used today in conversation, advertisements, and magazine articles tells us that its meaning has changed dramatically.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, Crabbet was the name of an English estate in Sussex. When Sarah Gale married Samuel Blunt in 1750, the Blunt family acquired from her several estates, including Crabbet Park. Samuel Blunt’s son, William, was the father of Francis Blunt, who was the father of two boys. The elder brother died in 1872, at which time the younger brother, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, became the owner of the Crabbet estate. Wilfrid Blunt was then age 31. Nearly three years before he had married Lady Anne Isabella Noel King-Noel. In November of 1877, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt set out for Syria to buy a horse of the same blood from which the Darley Arabian had come. Before the year was out, they had hatched a plan to transplant specimens of the Arab breed to England and breed them there.

The first Arabians arrived at Crabbet Park in July of 1878. The spring of 1879 saw the first breeding season, and the first foal crop arrived in 1880. The official name of the horse breeding venture was “The Crabbet Arabian Stud.” In less formal parlance, the Blunts spoke of “the Crabbet Stud,” and among themselves of “the Stud.” Over the years they bred hundreds of Arabians at Crabbet, adding new bloodlines until approximately 1904.

Although for years catalogs had been issued with the name of the Crabbet Arabian Stud on the cover, it wasn’t until 1909 that the General Stud Book (GSB), the registration authority in England which handled the Blunt stock, published a stud book crediting foals to the “Crabbet Stud” as breeder. Prior to that time, they had been attributed either to “Mr. W.S. Blunt” or “Lady Anne Blunt.”

Lady Anne Blunt’s death in 1917 touched off a legal battle over the horses, fought between her husband and daughter, Lady Wentworth. In 1920, Lady Wentworth gained possession of the horses. She added new bloodlines, most notably the stallion Skowronek, and continued the operation of the stud until her death in 1957.

In 1924, Lady Wentworth issued a catalog under the name “Crabbet Arabian Stud.” Later she preferred to call her operation the “Crabbet Park Stud.” Breeder credits in the GSB reflect this change. Beginning with the 1949 edition, the credits read somewhat grandiosely, “The Wentworth, Crabbet Park and Burton Studs.” (Burton Park was the name of a Thoroughbred stud Lady Wentworth had bought during World War II.)

After Lady Wentworth’s death the horses passed to her stud manager, Cecil Covey. The horses he bred are credited in the GSB to the “Crabbet Arabian Stud.” He didn’t stable them at Crabbet itself, but rather at nearby Caxtons and Frogshole Farm. More than 1600 acres of the Crabbet estate, including Frogshole, was sold at auction in 1916. Lady Wentworth bought back Frogshole about 1929, and it was left to Mr. Covey, along with the horses. He also inherited Caxtons, a property “on the southern side of Crabbet Park, about half a mile from the house,” to quote Mrs. Archer in The Crabbet Arabian Stud, Its History and Influence. Mr. Covey’s breeding program was far smaller than that of the Blunts or Lady Wentworth. Highway construction forced the final dispersal of the stud in 1971.

Today, hardly a horse is now alive that was bred by the Crabbet Stud. If a “Crabbet Arabian” is one that was bred by the Crabbet Stud, there can be at best only a handful still living.

But Crabbet means much more than an Arabian horse bred by the Blunts, Lady Wentworth, or Cecil Covey. The name “Crabbet” has come to apply to an entire bloodline within the Arabian breed. Today some people specialize in breeding Arabians of ancestry tracing in every line back to the horses of the Crabbet Stud. A few people have horses bred only from the stock of the Blunts. Others choose to breed equally Crabbet horses making use of one or more of Lady Wentworth’s additions of foundation stock to the herd: Skowronek, Dafina, and/or *Mirage. Some expand their pool of Crabbet blood to include the descendants of Dargee, a horse with a pedigree showing only part of the Crabbet herd.

Horses from Crabbet were known as “Crabbet Arabians,” both to give credit to their breeder (and to acquire some of Crabbet’s luster), and to distinguish their bloodlines from those of other Arabians. The gene pool the Blunts assembled was unique. It is impossible to prove relationships between Blunt desert bred horses and anyone else’s desert bred horses. The Blunt stock is a distinct and self-contained part of the foundation of modern Arabian breeding. The horses the Blunts acquired in Egypt might have close pedigree ties to the horses of the various princes, but again exact relationships are for the most part impossible to prove. In this way, “Crabbet” is used as a handy term to identify a distinct group of bloodlines. (Skowronek’s pedigree does show that he was related to other Polish lines. Admirers of Crabbet and Poland will probably never resolve the question of to whom he really belongs.)

Miss Dillon and the Rev. F.F. Vidal were among the first Arabian breeders to make use of Arabians from Crabbet, for crossing with Arabians obtained from other sources. The horses from these crosses continued to be interbred with horses from Crabbet Park, sometimes for ten or more generations. This raises a sticky question: when, if ever, should a horse resulting from such crossing earn the title of “Crabbet Arabian”?

Many people have answered this question for themselves, by referring to any and every horse from the English Arabian breeding tradition as a “Crabbet horse.” British studs founded largely but not entirely on Crabbet blood (like Hanstead and Courthouse) produced an Arabian closely allied to those bred at Crabbet, but yet not exactly the same. For many, there is no reason not to blur the distinction.

North America has and always has had a particularly rich and diverse Arabian gene pool. Almost from the beginning, horses bred at Crabbet have been a part of it. *Raffles, *Raseyn, *Serafix, and *Rissletta are among the most famous of the many to have made significant contributions to American Arabian breeding. The Crabbet imports (and part-Crabbet imports) were combined with virtually everything else in our stud book. At one time the distinction between what had come from Crabbet and what had not was fairly easy to make. But time passed and these horses receded into the back lines of pedigrees, and finally dropped off entirely. What seems a subtle distinction is made less and less frequently. “Crabbet” has started to become a generic term to describe all of the older American breeding, much of which actually derives from the Crabbet Stud.

However, many of the older American lines of Arabian breeding have little or nothing to do with the Crabbet Stud. The Davenport and Hamidie imports, Huntington’s breeding, the lines to Mameluke, El Emir, Ishtar, and/or Kesia II behind some of the Borden imports and *Nuri Pasha, Maynesboro’s French mares, the Rihani horses, and individual animals like *Nejdran, *Lisa, and *Malouma are among the older American pedigree elements. When examined on a case by case basis, all of these are emphatically non-Crabbet. But when eight, ten or twelve generations back in a pedigree filled with significant Crabbet horses, it is temptingly convenient to blanket the whole thing with the label “Crabbet.” And in practice, many people do.

There is a further complication. Horses tracing back in all lines to Crabbet Park are today relatively scarce. In contrast, there is an abundance of predominantly Crabbet horses exhibiting many of the most admired traits traditionally associated with Crabbet stock. The World Symposium on Crabbet Breeding, held several years ago in Denver, issued a reference book containing pictures and pedigrees of some 180 horses owned by interested parties. Of these, fewer than 25 had pedigrees going back to Crabbet Park in all lines. Nevertheless, all 180 merit the label “Crabbet bred,” as the Symposium applied it to them.

“Crabbet,” as a term to describe the bloodlines from the Crabbet Stud, is not falling into disuse. Instead, the word is taking on an added meaning.

  Web cmkarabians.com

The Crabbet Lawsuit (part II)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series The Crabbet Lawsuit

221b Baker Street: The Crabbet Lawsuit (part II)

As reported in The London Times

ANNOTATED BY R.J.CADRANELL

Copyright 1991 by R.J.CADRANELL

from Arabian Visions July 1991

Used by permission of RJCadranell

 

Last month this column presented the first three articles the London Times printed about the Crabbet Stud lawsuit. Those anxious to read the rest of the articles are invited to skip ahead and begin. Readers who missed last month’s “Baker Street” column might need some background information. Mr. Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt founded the Crabbet Stud in 1878 with horses they imported to England that year. In 1906, due to personal differences, the Blunts divided the 126 Crabbet horses into two herds and wrote a formal partition agreement. The agreement stated that on the death of one of the parties the survivor was to inherit all of the horses. Lady Anne Blunt died in 1917. Her will left her Arabian horses in trust for her teenage granddaughters. Blunt claimed all the horses as his on the basis of the partition agreement. Lady Wentworth, the daughter of the Blunts, claimed about fifteen horses for herself on the basis of exchange, purchase, and gift from her mother.

On February 14:

The Sale of Arab Horses.

Lady Wentworth’s Claim.

Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, continued the hearing of the claims by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee to the ownership of a part of the Crabbet Park Arab Stud. The defendant is Mr. Wilfred Secawen[sic] Blunt, who carried on the stud for many years with his wife, Lady Anne Blunt.

Lady Wentworth, resuming her evidence, said that she was largely basing her claim to the “greys” on her mother’s entry in the catalogues: “To go to Judith on my death.”

Mr. Hughes, K.C. — Have you the slightest doubt that in the face of that Lady Anne Blunt intended to keep them herself during her lifetime?

The witness said that she had, but she would prefer the Official Referee to decide.

Are you sure that your father told you that he had transferred the management of the stud, and not the ownership?–Quite sure. You have it in my diary.

There is a letter from Mr. Blunt to your mother in which he said: “I have no desire other than to hand over to you the entire ownership and management of the stud, retiring altogether myself.” Are you clear that he used the word ownership to you?–Quite clear.

Lady Wentworth said the sale by her of portions of the Crabbet Estate was due to the burden of the mortgage of 15,000 on it when it was settled on her by her father. She sold the land very reluctantly, and she told her father at the time that it was his fault for burdening the estate.

As to the “assault” incident, Lady Wentworth said that she did not wish it to be thought she had been indifferent to the injury suffered by Holman, the stud groom, on the occasion of the encounter at the stables. She was sorry to hear that he had been hurt, and when he resisted the attempt to removed the horses she told him, no doubt, it was his duty to Mr. Blunt to protest, but she did “not think he need have been so violent about it.”

Mr. Hughes, opening the case for Mr. Blunt, said that it seemed to be clear that the object of the deed of 1906 was to maintain that there was really one stud in two halves, and if either party died his or her half was to go to the survivor. There were negotiations in 1915 for the preparation of a new agreement in accordance with the proposals made between Lady Anne Blunt and Mr. Blunt, but the agreement was never executed. Lady Anne Blunt wrote from Egypt that she was much amused at the squire’s having detected a flaw in it, and she added: “Meanwhile I suppose the old agreement holds and would save trouble in case of my death.”

In one of Lady Anne Blunt’s letters, which was quoted by Counsel, she spoke of “my exaggeratedly great age.” Lady Anne Blunt, said Counsel, was getting on for 80, and he had been told that she played polo until the age of 75. A letter of Mr. Blunt’s to his wife referred to “the latest of Judith’s mad letters,” and contained the remark: “It would be fatal to leave the stud to Judith.”

The hearing was again adjourned.

 

And on February 20:

The Crabbet Stud Dispute.

Lady Wentworth’s Claim.

Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, continued the hearing of the claims by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee to certain horses in the Crabbet Park Stud.

Mr. Arthur C. Caffyn [sic], who was stud manager for Lady Anne Blunt, when she was in England, said she was practically her own stud manager.

Mr. Storry Deans (who appears for Lady Wentworth).–Lady Anne was a very estimable lady, wasn’t she?–Quite. If she had a fault it was that she was inclined to be too generous.

Was she the sort of person who was likely to conspire to defraud anyone of his property?–I should not have thought so.

Counsel read a letter from Lady Anne Blunt to Lady Wentworth, written in August, 1917, from Egypt. It said:–

My mind is so exhausted that I cannot say more to-day, though there are hundreds of things to be said which come into my head whenever I am able to put them down. One, however, which is a great relief to me is that I have succeeded in making the last preparations for death. About this I have been very anxious. It seems so near, always almost within my grasp, and you can imagine the joy of feeling ready. Please pray for me. …By the way, I have been reading again the book on miracles which I had lent to others and have only just got back.–Ever your devoted mother.

The witness said that Mr. Blunt never suggested to him that he would like to get rid of his half of the stud, and he was not surprised when Mr. Blunt’s horses came over to be kept by Lady Anne Blunt, because it had been talked of for months before they came over.

Counsel.–Wasn’t it a fact that after 1916 they were always spoken of as her ladyship’s horses?–They were always spoken of as “the stud.” There was no mention of a name.

James Holman, Mr. Blunt’s stud groom, said that he had been in the service of Mr. Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt for 40 years, and after the partition of the stud in 1906 he attended to the Crabbet half.

Counsel quoted a statement by Lady Wentworth, and he asked whether the witness had been bewildered when she spoke to him.

The witness.–No, I wasn’t any more bewildered than I am now. I was never much frightened at Lady Wentworth.

The witness then described the incident of April 4, 1918, when Lady Wentworth and her party went to the “Squire’s” stables and removed a mare [Riyala] and her foal.

Lady Wentworth, said counsel, called that a very humorous incident.

The witness.–Yes, I know about that. I was urged to take it to Court, but I did not like to. I had known them [referring to Lady Wentworth’s three children, and possibly Lady Wentworth herself] from babies and loved them.

The hearing was adjourned.

 

And on February 21:

The Arab Stud Dispute.

Mr. Pollock, Official Referee, continued the hearing yesterday of the claims by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee to a part of the Crabbet Park Arab Stud, which Mr. W. Blunt and his wife, the late Lady Anne Blunt, founded many years ago. The plaintiffs allege that Mr. Blunt transferred his share to Lady Anne Blunt in 1916, and that from that time the whole stud became her property.

James Holman, the stud groom, again went into the witness-box, and was cross-examined by Mr. Storry Deans, who appears for Lady Wentworth.

Mr. Deans.–Yours was rather a good job?–I can’t say that I disliked it, Sir. I always tried to do my duty.

I want to ask you about the horse Rasim. Rasim was tested to stand noise, wasn’t he?–Yes.

Rasim was subjected to the test of the Crawley Town Band?–Yes.

So he would not have minded the noise of cannon? (Laughter.)–I don’t know about that, Sir.

How was it that Rasim came to be removed by you from Lady Wentworth’s stables at 6 o’clock on a morning in January?–I was merely obeying orders.

Hadn’t Lady Wentworth given you direct orders not to move any horses from her stables?–She might have done. I carried out my orders, and that is all you will get from me.

Whom were the orders from?–I do not know.

Holman, continuing his evidence, adhered to his statement that Lady Wentworth held him by the throat when he resisted her attempts to remove the horse Riyala.

Counsel.–I suggest that you made a mistake about that in the scuffle that took place?–No, Sir: there was no mistake about it. They came up there on purpose for the business. They had all got their orders from their mother.

You really say that Lady Wentworth took you by the throat?–So she did, the second time. She held me when I was finished and I was very nearly dead.

The hearing was adjourned.

 

And on February 24:

The Crabbet Park Stud.

Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, resumed the hearing of the claims by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee to a number of horses in the Crabbet Park Stud from Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, who, with his wife, the late Lady Anne Blunt, founded the stud.

Mr. Storry Deans, for Lady Wentworth, said that she did not intend to sell the horses if she established her claim to them, nor did she intend to let them go to America. Her object was to keep up the stud and so preserve the life work of her mother.

Mr. Grant, K.C., for the Public Trustee, who represents Lady Wentworth’s two daughters, said that he claimed damages against Mr. Blunt for conversion of certain horses which he had destroyed or had sold to America. Mr. Blunt had given evasive evidence. Where the versions of Lady Anne Blunt and of Mr. Blunt disagreed, the evidence of Lady Anne Blunt should be accepted.

Judgment was reserved.

 

The Arab Stud Case.

Judgment in the dispute about the ownership of the Crabbet Park Arab Stud which was claimed by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee, who sued Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, was given by Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, in the High Court yesterday.

The Official Referee said that it was clear that after the deed of 1906 Mr. Blunt became very anxious to get rid of the responsibilities of his half of the stud. Over and over again, according to Lady Wentworth, who had kept a record of the conversations in her diary, he spoke of his desire to be rid of his animals, as the expense was too great for him and worried him very much. In 1916 Mr. Blunt wrote to his wife a letter in which he said he had no wish but to retire altogether from the stud. That letter showed that he desired to make over not only the management but the ownership as well. Both the conduct of Lady Anne Blunt and the letters of Mr. Blunt showed that Lady Anne Blunt regarded the stud as entirely hers, and Mr. Blunt’s attitude was that of a person who merely gives advice on it, not of one who had a controlling interest. He (the Official Referee) therefore found that Lady Anne Blunt quite rightly held the stud to be wholly hers, and therefore the action of the Public Trustee, who was the trustee under her will, must succeed.

Lady Wentworth claimed the greys as a gift from her mother, but he found that they were never made over to her, and as her claim to them fell to the ground. There remained the question of damages.

Mr. Storry Deans (for Lady Wentworth), said that he did not want damages for trespass if she got the horses.

The Official Referee.–Do you want an injunction?

Mr. Deans.–I do, to prevent Mr. Blunt from interfering with these horses. If he were an ordinary litigant I should not ask for it, but he is not.

The Official Referee.–Very well.

It was agreed that the question of damages for horses which had been destroyed should be mentioned to the Court at a later date.

(So ended one of the livelier accounts of the Crabbet lawsuit. The horses Mr. Blunt had brought to his property, Newbuildings, were returned to Crabbet. Lady Wentworth bought the horses from the trustees and, with a few carefully selected outcrosses, built a world famous breeding program which she maintained until her death in 1957 at the age of 84.)

The Crabbet Lawsuit (part I)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series The Crabbet Lawsuit

221b Baker Street: The Crabbet Lawsuit

As reported in The London Times

ANNOTATED BY R.J.CADRANELL

Copyright 1991 by R.J.CADRANELL

from Arabian Visions June 1991

Used by permission of RJCadranell

 

Most books and articles about the Crabbet Stud mention the famous lawsuit fought over the horses after Lady Anne Blunt died. Her husband and daughter each had claims to the horses. The material written in recent decades has the benefit of hindsight in assessing the situation.

The London Times covered the Crabbet lawsuit as events were taking place. Although newspapers are rarely the best source of information about long ago happenings, and although one suspects the paper of choosing for publication the most sensational aspects of the case, the account has an immediacy lacking in more staid historical works.

The first article appeared in the issue of February 11, 1920, on page 4:

The Ownership of Arab Horses

The case in which Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee are claiming horses of the Crabbet Arab Stud from Mr. Wilfred [sic] Scawen Blunt, the breeder of Arab horses, came before Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, in the High Court yesterday.

The stud was started many years ago as the outcome of the travels in Egypt[1] of Mr. Blunt and his wife. In 1906, by a deed of partition between Lady Anne Blunt and her husband, each took a half share in the stud, and this arrangement was continued down to 1916, when the Public Trustee, who represents beneficiaries[2] under Lady Anne Blunt’s will, alleged that Mr. Blunt transferred his half to his wife.

Mr. Storry Deans said that Mr. Blunt wrote to his wife in September, 1915, “I have no wish other than to make over to you the whole of the ownership and management of the stud, retiring altogether from it.” In 1916 Lady Anne Blunt appeared likely to be leaving Crabbet Park.[3] and he (counsel) suggested that if all that Lady Anne Blunt took over in 1915 was the management of the defendant’s half of the stud, it was incredible that Lady Anne Blunt should write to Mr. Blunt proposing to rent stabling from him in which to keep horses which she was only managing for him. After she had gone to Egypt she wrote to Holman, the stud groom, proposing to get rid of a considerable number not only of her own horses, but of those which Mr. Blunt now said belonged to him. Lady Wentworth’s case did not depend upon that of the Public Trustee at all, and assuming that the deed of partition between Mr. Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt in 1906 were held to be still in existence at the time of Lady Anne Blunt’s death, Lady Wentworth’s case rested upon the three heads of purchase, exchange, and gift.

Lady Wentworth, in the witness-box, said that she succeeded to the title[4] on the death of her mother, Lady Anne Blunt. Her mother used to find the money for the stud, and when her father paid anything he got it back again from her mother.

Lady Wentworth said: –Since this case has begun I have received an anonymous letter saying that if I mentioned a certain name some very startling revelations would come out. I want to say they can come out with their startling revelations. The person who wrote that anonymous letter can come on. I don’t mind.

Mr. Hughes, K.C. (for Mr. Blunt). –As far as I can see the letter has about as much to do with the case as the binomial theorem.

The hearing was adjourned.

 

The next installment appeared on February 12:

The Ownership of Arab Horses.

Lady Wentworth’s Claim

The hearing was continued before Mr. Pollock, the Official Referee, yesterday of the claims by Lady Wentworth and by the Public Trustee to Arab horses which were bred by Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at the Crabbet Park Stud.

Lady Wentworth was again in the witness-box. She produced a diary kept by her, and read the following extract from an entry which was made after a visit to her father in December, 1915:–“The mares are looking rather wretched now. H.F. (her father)[5] told me he had resigned the stud to M. (Lady Anne Blunt) and that the silly partition is finally scrapped. R.I.P. Good riddance of bad rubbish.”

Mr. Hughes, K.C. (for the defendant).–I don’t know whether the lady means that as a reference to Mr. Blunt, or whether it is merely a general comment.

Mr. Storry Deans (for Lady Wentworth). –We will take it as a general comment.

Counsel mentioned a letter written to Mr. Blunt by Lady Wentworth on April 28, 1916, and said that owing to the nature of its contents he proposed to hand it in without reading it aloud.

Lady Wentworth. –I have no objection if you want to read it.

Mr. Houghes. –What this lady wrote to her father, offensive as it was, does not seem to have any importance in the case. It is a very offensive letter for a lady to write to her father.

Mr. Deans.–I think that it has some bearing on the case. There is an expression which I propose to read. What she said was never contradicted.

Mr. Grant, K.C. (for the Public Trustee). –This is an unfortunate family quarrel and the less said about it the better.

Mr. Hughes formally objected to the reading of the letter, and the Official Referee upheld the objection.

Lady Wentworth then said that her father had declared that the quarrel between Lady Anne Blunt and himself was entirely about the estate, whereas the letter would show that that was not the case. In 1916 [?] she heard a rumor that her father intended to [original damaged] the horses, and she therefore instructed Holman, the stud groom, not to let them go. Holman replied that he daren’t disobey “the Squire.” She found afterwards that all the horses had been removed from her stables. Some were taken at night, and they were always removed when she was not on the spot. First of all they were shifted about, and when she asked where a particular horse was she was told that it was in another box. Holman explained that it was “the Squire’s orders.” When she found where the horses had been sent, she went with her son, Anthony, to get them back. The groom seized her by the neck to prevent her, and her son “went for” the groom. She did not think that the groom was much the worse, and she regarded it as merely a “comic encounter.” Her father had sold some of the stud horses at absurdly low prices. He told her that he would rather shoot them than let her have them.

A number of letters written by Lady Wentworth about the stud were read by Mr. Deans. In February, 1914, Lady Wentworth was in a liner approaching New York, and she wrote that she had been too wretched on board to talk about stud affairs. In another letter there was a passage about Philadelphia, which, in the present state of public feeling, he (counsel) would forbear to read.

Mr. Deans said the horses comprising the stud were catalogued, and against some of the names there appeared an asterisk, and at the bottom the words in Lady Anne Blunt’s handwriting, “To go to Judith (Lady Wentworth) at my death.”

One of the catalogues was handed to the witness, who identified the writing as her mother’s.

The witness said that among the greys which she was claiming was one of five which Mr. Blunt, in 1913, threatened to shoot if her mother did not take them. She explained that the partition deed provided that an animal before being destroyed by either of the parties should be offered to the other.

In reply to Mr. Grant, K.C., Lady Wentworth denied the suggestion which counsel said Mr. Blunt had made that she and her mother had been given of conspiracy in withholding information on stud matters from him.

The hearing was adjourned.

 

The next installment appeared on February 13:

The Sale of Arab horses.

Mr. Pollack, Official Referee, resumed yesterday the hearing of the actions by Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee.

Lady Wentworth and the Public Trustee, the latter representing beneficiaries under the will of Lady Anne Blunt, are claiming from Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt a number of horses from the Crabbet Park Arab Stud.

Lady Wentworth was cross-examined by Mr. Hughes, K.C.

Learned counsel asked her what her attitude had been towards Mr. Caffin, who held a responsible position at the stud, and she denied that she had tried to get her mother to discharge him.

A letter written to Mr. Caffin by Lady Anne Blunt, in May, 1917, ran:–

“Don’t let yourself be interviewed or accosted as it were by accident which I am inclined to think might be attempted with the intention of drawing you to reply so that what you say might be twisted as something supposed to be an insult to those by whom eight pages of invective have been sent.”

Mr. Hughes.–Were those eight pages of invective a letter of yours?–Certainly not.

Perhaps you quarrel with the word invective. Did you write a long letter to your mother about Mr. Caffin?–If it was invective I should think that it was from him.

Mr. Hughes read a further letter written by Lady Anne Blunt to Mr. Caffin November, 1915. She referred to an agreement which she promised to read “with the greatest care and in quieter surroundings than I did the old agreement, which, I suppose, holds meanwhile.”

Mr. Hughes. — That is the old partition agreement?–I suppose so.

Mr. Hughes.– Were there differences of opinion between yourself and Lady Anne Blunt over the stud at one time? You treated it rather as a hobby, and she regarded it as a national duty?

Lady Wentworth agreed that that was her mother’s view of the stud, at any rate.

Counsel read the following letter by Mr. Blunt to his wife in Egypt shortly before her death–

“Now that there seems so little chance of the war being over this year and of your being able to return to England, I feel something ought to be done about the future of the stud. Though yours is probably the better life than mine, in spite of my advantage of two years, it might be that I should have to take over the stud as your survivor, and as things are I should be very much at a loss how to find a suitable way of continuing it.”

The letter, Counsel added, mentioned the necessity that something should be done then instead of the stud’s being left “for heirs to quarrel about.”

Lady Wentworth. — Rather prophetic, wasn’t it? It shows how he was trying to prevent her from leaving the stud to me.

Counsel.–I should not be surprised if he was.

Mr. Hughes then asked whether Lady Wentworth really adhered to her statement that her father removed the horses by night.

Lady Wentworth.–I said some of them. I am not in the habit of telling lies.

Counsel read a letter written by Mr. Blunt’s solicitors complaining of an alleged assault by Lady Wentworth and her party on Holman, the stud groom, when Lady Wentworth removed some of the animals from his custody.

Lady Wentworth.–I did not assault Holman. He assaulted me.

The hearing was again adjourned.

To be Continued in July…

  1. [1]James H. Skene, H.B.M. Consul in Aleppo, was responsible for giving the Blunts the idea for the Crabbet Stud, and the first horses acquired were either bought through Skene or were the outcome of the Blunts’ travels in the desert regions near Aleppo. More than a decade after the arrival at Crabbet of the initial stock, the Blunts began to import horses representing the breeding program of Ali Pasha Sherif of Egypt. This perhaps accounts for the newspaper writer’s confusion.↩
  2. [2]2. The beneficiaries mentioned were Lady Anne Blunt’s granddaughters, Anne and Winifrid Lytton, ages 18 and 15. Lady Anne Blunt’s will had left most of her estate, including her Arabian horses, in trust for her granddaughters. Lady Wentworth, daughter of the Blunts and the mother of Anne and Winifrid, claimed for herself about fifteen horses. Some she said were gifts from her mother. Others she claimed to have purchased from her. The Trustees recognized Lady Wentworth’s claim, but claimed all the rest of the horses for the beneficiaries. Mr. Blunt maintained that he had never transferred his horses, known as “the Newbuildings Half” of the stud, to his wife. Blunt claimed not only the Newbuildings half but also Lady Anne’s “Crabbet Half” since he alleged the 1906 partition agreement was still in effect. This agreement had stated that on the death of one of the Blunts, the deceased party’s horses were to become the property of the survivor.↩
  3. [3]Lady Anne Blunt habitually spent her winters in Egypt, at her property near Cairo known as Sheykh Obeyd Garden. She left England for the last time in October of 1915, not 1916. Unable to return due to wartime activity, she spent the rest of her life in Egypt and died December 15, 1917.↩
  4. [4]Six months before she died, Lady Anne Blunt had inherited the title of Baroness Wentworth, becoming the 15th holder since the barony was granted in 1529. At her death the title passed to her daughter, Judith. Blunt commented that this would make Judith “more arrogant than ever.”↩
  5. [5]Wilfrid Blunt was known as H.F., “Head of the Family”.↩

Thoughts on the Evaluation of Historical Material

by R.J. Cadranell

copyright 1995 from “Scholar’s Corner” in CMK Record, XI/3: page 8 & 24

(Preface: This paper [originally written to be read at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Arabian Horse Historians Association] is confined to commentary on Western writers, since this author is not familiar enough with Eastern writers to include them.)

One problem facing writers interested in Arabian horse history — and I seldom hear it mentioned — is how to evaluate a source. Much of the time a source is simply taken at face value, but historical writers nearly all had motives of one kind or another, and not all of them were benevolent motives. There might even have been a few crackpots at the turn of the century.

Nearly all of the writers whose work we read had Arabian horses for sale, and if they didn’t, their friends did. When someone sent a letter to the editor of the Rider and Driver criticising the Arabian horse, and Spencer Borden and Homer Davenport rushed to the breed’s defense, it was partly because their feelings were hurt and the Arabian was being treated unfairly. How fortunate that their own horses — among others — could provide examples of the virtue of Arabians. To use Borden and Davenport again as examples, when Davenport produced a detailed catalogue of his stock, and Spencer Borden wrote a couple of books, it was only partly to record photographs and information for posterity. Lady Wentworth in her Authentic Arabian Horse dismisses Davenport’s book [My Quest of the Arabian Horse] as an “advertising stunt.” Undoubtedly that was one reason for the book, but My Quest was far more than just that, as you all know. And let us not forget that Authentic Arabians includes a whole chapter on the Crabbet Stud as it existed at publication time, with a long list of champions bred.

Both Borden and Davenport had a flair for publicity. Two very different flairs, to be sure, but they each had one, and I am glad they did. We would know far less about these men and their horses if they, like Peter Bradley of Hingham Stock Farm, had been the type to stay out of the public eye. We must keep in mind that the books, newspaper and magazine items, catalogues and letters were not written entirely for our benefit and enjoyment. Multiple motives were involved, and the items were aimed at multiple audiences. Entertaining a group of horse history buffs 90 years later was probably not the primary motive. This use of their material is often simply a byproduct of the intended use — a byproduct of which the writers may have been aware, but a byproduct all the same.

Other categories of writers provide their own set of problems. When a writer claims to know all about someone else’s horse, how much credibility is he or she to be given? Perhaps none. Perhaps full credibility. Or somewhere in between? Then there are the writers who left pages of invective. Dismissing it as the ravings of lunatics may be extreme, but personalities and motives must be taken into account in evaluating any of this material. If taken at face value, there is potential for it to do great harm.

Although it becomes less true as more examples of diaries, herd books and correspondence of early breeders become available, frequently what we are left to evaluate is only what was designed for public presentation. Slick catalogues, carefully written books, ads in periodicals and letters to the editor put a veneer on a historical person or program. All that material has its place — without it we might be hard put to understand how the breeders wanted their horses or themselves to be perceived. But it frequently leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what was happening on the inside.

Using published stud books is essential, but I have to credit Charles Craver for saying that to understand a breeding program fully, one must know what was attempted and failed as well as what succeeded. And knowing what happened to every foal is important. Was an animal sold as a youngster, or kicked at three months and subsequently put down? It makes a difference.

I will take a few examples from the breeding program of Alice Payne at the Asil Arabian Ranch. AFARA was an Asil Ranch foundation mare and dam of the important broodmares CELESTE, TRITY, DESTYNEE and ASIL LYRA. AFARA’s last three registered foals were all by RAFFERTY, in 1958, ’59 and ’61. Yet she was still at the Asil Ranch when Alice Payne died in 1969. Was she retired from breeding, did her foals die, or did she become a problem breeder as an older mare? If she was bred, did she go to RAFFERTY or to another stallion? Asil Ranch records show that AFARA aborted a colt in 1962 and was treated for infection off and on over the next several years, during which she was bred not to RAFFERTY but to his sons SYZYGY and ASIL ECLIPTIC.

Another question. From 1962 to 1969, were there any stallions used who have no foals registered to them, or does the stud book record accurately reflect the full extent of the Asil stallion battery? The answer is yes, it does, with the exception that ASIL HARB did cover one mare before he left for Connecticut.

Another crucial perspective is the context of when something was written and what was happening at the time. If Lady Wentworth or Musgrave Clark writes a letter to the editor regarding the height of Arabian horses, particularly in the show ring, perhaps a divine muse suddenly inspired them to expound on the subject, and we have an opportunity to learn from their selflessly expressed knowledge and opinions. Or maybe the letter dates from the period when a violent debate on the subject was taking place within the Arab Horse Society. Clark may have felt that his drive to limit the height of Arabian horses in the show ring served some lofty purpose — but might it also bar from the ring many successful show horses owned by his competition, even some owned by Lady Wentworth? Undoubtedly.

Aiding in the evaluation of a writer is intimate knowledge of the biography and personality. I will go out on a limb and say that to understand the motives behind, and properly evaluate, any written material, one cannot know too much about the writer. This knowledge is gained by reading — and re-reading — everything he or she ever wrote, reading everything written about them by people who knew them, by a study of what they did, and by reading scholarly biographies if available. Newspaper and magazine accounts also help. If the person in question was also a breeder of Arabian horses, much can be learned from published stud books.

Take nothing at face value, and evaluate it only in the context of everything else known about the person.

Basilisk Defended

by R.J. Cadranell II
from The CMK Record Spring 1992 X/I, Copyright 1992

BUSHRA (Azrek x Bozra), the eldest of BASILISK's three granddaughters still represented in pedigrees. (Note that the background of this photo is Randolph Huntington's front porch.)
BUSHRA (Azrek x Bozra), the eldest of BASILISK’s three granddaughters still represented in pedigrees. (Note that the background of this photo is Randolph Huntington’s front porch.)
BUKRA (Ahmar x Bozra), a personal favorite of Lady Wentworth, and dam of *BERK and *BATTLA.
BUKRA (Ahmar x Bozra), a personal favorite of Lady Wentworth, and dam of *BERK and *BATTLA.
BEREYDA (Ahmar x Bozra), shown as an old mare, was the most prolific of the BOZRA daughters; it is her branch of the BASILISK family which persists in England, and also in North America in the Maynesboro lines of BAZRAH and *BARAZA.
BEREYDA (Ahmar x Bozra), shown as an old mare, was the most prolific of the BOZRA daughters; it is her branch of the BASILISK family which persists in England, and also in North America in the Maynesboro lines of BAZRAH and *BARAZA.

Photos courtesy AHOF and the late Lady Anne Lytton [BEREYDA]; captions by the editor.

Ever since the beginning of modern Arabian horse breeding in the English speaking world, it has been customary to question the origins of other people’s stock. Among the foundation horses of the Blunts, probably the one attracting the most attention over the last thirty or forty years is a fine-boned little mare named BASILISK.

BASILISK was a grey mare, foaled in 1876 according to Crabbet records, although the GSB states 1875. H.B.M. Consul at Aleppo, James Skene, purchased her for the Blunts at Deyr in February of 1878. He bought her from Abd el Jadir, a resident of that town, for £75. BASILISK’s history prior to this has been the subject of much commentary over the years. The story is told in brief in her entry in the General Stud Book, and with a little more detail in the reference pedigree section of the second volume of the stud book of the Arab Horse Society. The Crabbet herdbook, which has a more complete account than either published stud book, says that her dam was a white mare

“stolen by Faris Assaat from the desert. Neddi ibn ed Derri had sold the mare on shares to an Abadat (Sebaa Anazeh) and it was from him that she was stolen. Sire said to be a bay Seglawi of same strain. Faris Assaat sold the dam to Abd el Jadir of Deyr on the Euphrates in whose possession Basilisk was foaled.”

Since neither published stud book mentioned her sire, and since BASILISK was born in a town rather than with the Bedouin, for years BASILISK’s provenance lacked enough information that some people in America connected to “purist” breeding movements regarded her with suspicion. Animals acceptable for “purist” breeding often traced to foundation animals with backgrounds more murky than BASILISK’s. Some dismissed these with the explanation that the lines had passed through the hands of breeders known (or believed) to have insisted on verifiable stock.

That the Blunts also fell into this category escaped them. Ever since the appearance of Borden’s The Arab Horse in 1906, American breeders have known that Lady Anne Blunt wrote that it was

“a fundamental principle at the Crabbet Arabian Stud that no stallion, however individually excellent, [was] eligible for service if there [was] any doubt or lack of information as to a true Arabian descent…”

Lady Anne Blunt’s use of *BERK as a sire should have been enough to validate the BASILISK line.

The year 1978 saw the publication of Archer, Pearson, and Covey’s The Crabbet Arabian Stud, Its History and Influence. Lady Anne Blunt was quoted on the subject,

In one instance, that of Basilisk whose dam had been stolen from Ibn ed Derri by one of the Abadat tribe [sic], authentication was not obtained for three years not until we visited Ibn ed Derri in the desert—if we had not succeeded her descendants would not have counted as pure-bred, and no stallion of her or of her posterity could have been used as a sire.

Excerpts from Lady Anne Blunt’s journals were published in 1986. According to the journals, the visit to Neddi ibn ed Derri was in April of 1881:

We have enquired about Basilisk. Neddi says that eight years ago a white mare, of his Seglawyehs, was stolen by people from Aleppo, from a Sebaa one of the Abadat to whom Neddi had sold her in shares, and there seems no doubt that Basilisk is her daughter.

The exact date of BASILISK’s arrival in England is difficult to fix. Crabbet herdbook records quoted by Archer, Pearson and Covey, and by Peter Upton in Desert Heritage, give 1878. This seems to be incorrect. The first Arabians arrived at Crabbet in two batches during the summer of 1878. Archer et al. list the animals included in both batches. BASILISK was not one.

In December of 1878 the Blunts sent for a number of horses Skene was keeping for them in Aleppo. In explanation, footnote 24 in the published version of Lady Anne’s journals reads,

“The previous April, the Blunts had left with Skene the mares Pharaoh and Queen of Sheba as well.”

In October Skene had purchased PHARAOH for the Blunts. He notified the Blunts “late in the autumn” that he had acquired QUEEN OF SHEBA on their behalf. Lady Anne Blunt wrote in Crabbet records that since QUEEN OF SHEBA “could not be safely left in Aleppo we had her sent (with Pharaoh, Francolin and Basilisk) to Egypt for the winter.” According to the GSB, FRANCOLIN’s 1879 colt FARIS (by Kars) was foaled in Egypt. GSB volume XIV lists PHAROAH, QUEEN OF SHEBA, BASILISK and FRANCOLIN as imported in 1879. When the 1879 imports arrived at Crabbet, the Blunts were on the trip which included their pilgrimage to Nejd and “nightmare journey,” as well as a visit to India. In August of 1879 they saw the horses at Crabbet again.

As of August, the three or four year old BASILISK was already under saddle. One day that month, six year old Judith Blunt was put on her back. This was likely the first Arabian she ever rode. By the time Judith was eleven, the mare was such a favorite of hers that Judith could “bring tears into her eyes for Basilisk at any moment.”

PHAROAH, QUEEN OF SHEBA, FRANCOLIN, and BASILISK apparently arrived late enough in 1879 that they all missed the breeding season, Crabbet’s first. BASILISK’s first foal at Crabbet was the 1881 filly BOZRA. BOZRA has the distinction of being Crabbet’s earliest foal to have influence in the long term breeding program.

BASILISK’s complete production record at Crabbet, extracted from GSB, is as follows:

  • 1881 gr f BOZRA, by Pharoah
  • 1882 no produce
  • 1883 gr f BALSAM, by Kars
  • 1884 gr f BUSTARD, by Kars

In August of 1884 the Blunts sold BASILISK to the Duke of Westminster. She left Crabbet Park on the first of September, after her foal was weaned. Her subsequent production follows:

  • 1885 c by Kars
  • 1886 ch f by Bend Or (TB)
  • 1887 b c by Newton (TB)
  • 1888 ch f by Golden Cross (h.-b.)
  • 1889 barren
  • 1890 gr f by Downpatrick (TB)
  • 1891 barren and shot

Crabbet records as published in Desert Heritage state that BASILISK died of liver disease.

The writer does not know whether BASILISK blood is found in modern Thoroughbreds. Lady Wentworth wrote in Thoroughbred Racing Stock that BASILISK’s 1886 filly was the dam of ALFRAGAN, and that “Alfragan in 1894 won the Dee Stakes and also the Drayton Handicap at Goodwood by six lengths” (2nd ed. p. 303).

Although BUSTARD did produce two foals at Crabbet, BOZRA became BASILISK’s link to modern Arabian breeding. This was through BOZRA’S three daughters to live to maturity. The first of these, *BUSHRA (by Azrek), is important to American breeding through her son *IBN MAHRUSS and daughter SIRA. At Crabbet the line was to develop through *BUSHRA’s younger three-quarter sisters, BUKRA and BEREYDA (both by Azrek’s son Ahmar).

Wilfrid Blunt’s famous 1897 memorandum ranked the breeding influence of the foundation mares imported from the desert. It treated the BASILISK line well:

“the strains which have hithero proved themselves the best are 1. Rodania’s 2. Dajania’s through Nefisa 3. and 4. Meshura’s and Basilisk’s…”

The Blunts seem to have regarded MESHURA and BASILISK as of the same line, since they were both of the Seglawieh Jedranieh strain of Ibn ed Derri.

The 1917 Crabbet catalogue, prepared about a year before Lady Anne Blunt’s death, lists the mares BUKRA and BEREYDA with their daughters *BATTLA and *BARAZA as representing the BASILISK family. At that time BUKRA’s son *BERK was one of Lady Anne Blunt’s senior sires, and the 1917 catalog lists eleven of his get, including *RAMIM, SAFARJAL and RYTHMA. Among the 1917 foals was to be RISSLA, the most famous of all the *BERK daughters.

BASILISK was a small mare, standing 14.1 hands. Lady Anne Blunt described her as having “wiry legs… not large below the knee”and a “good head and small muzzle.” Lady Anne Blunt commented that BASILISK had “something of the compact wiriness of a wild animal.” BASILISK was likely fine-skinned; through her coat were visible some patches of pink skin. Grey horses with fine skin frequently exhibit some loss of pigment. Small as she was, Michael Bowling has noted that BASILISK “seems to have bred still smaller, since BOZRA and BUSHRA were both noted as standing 14 hands even” (see CMK Record V/3). In its early generations, the BASILISK family seems to have produced an abundance of pretty, delicate-looking “deserty” little grey mares which very often turned flea-bitten as they aged. According to notes on the back of a Maynesboro photo of *BATTLA (Razaz x Bukra), published in the October 1972 Arabian Horse News, at the age of five years she stood 14.2 and weighed only 850 lbs.

Two people, both of whom have attracted not insignificant followings, have presented alternate views of BASILISK. Carl Raswan printed a photo of BASILISK on p. 80 of his book, The Arab and his Horse. He describes BASILISK as a coarse mare with an ugly head, and states that she had Syrian blood. He seems to have based his description on the photograph alone. A far clearer reproduction of the same photograph appears between pages 104 and 105 of Archer et al. In the photograph, BASILISK exhibits the fine bone and small muzzle Lady Anne Blunt described.

The entry in the Raswan Index for BAHRAM, a horse with two crosses to BASILISK (one in tail-female), touts him as “[one of] the last true and outstanding CLASSIC TYPE Arabians of the old Lady Anne Blunt, ‘ALI PASHA SHARIF and DESERT ARABIAN breeding.” However, BASILISK’s own entry in the Index says that she, like TAMARISK and PURPLE STOCK, was “another one of the early SYRIAN BLUNT importations (which were improved in later years with the incomparable ‘ALI PASHA SHARIF blood).” Among these Ali Pasha horses was WAZIR, sire of MAKBULA GSB, MERZUK, *SHAHWAN, and SOBHA. WAZIR’s head, wrote Lady Anne Blunt, “in shape reminded me of… Basilisk.”

Jane Ott has written that BASILISK possessed and handed on “extra bone and substance,” that “Basilisk type” horses are “robust” and “larger, bigger boned, and more substantial” than some other lines of Arabian breeding. No one can deny that Crabbet bloodlines have on occasion produced animals matching Miss Ott’s description. That someone should trace the origin of these characteristics to the fine boned 14 and 14.1 hand BASILISK mares is rather startling. Crabbet’s “enormous Rijm” topped 15.3 hands and would have towered over “little Bozra” and her compact, wiry dam. The NEFISA family bred a series of horses in excess of 15 hands. Hanstead’s RIFFAL (Naufal x Razina), of pure Blunt breeding, grew to stand over 16 hands without a drop of BASILISK blood.

Miss Ott states that *BERK “in spite of his too-slender legs and body… transmitted [the] extra bone and substance of his third dam as faithfully as any of her other progeny.” A Maynesboro photo of *BERK’s daughter *RAMIM (published with that of *BATTLA) had notes on the back stating *RAMIM’s height at age five years to be 14.1 hands and her weight 825 lbs, not a large horse by anyone’s standards. Mr. Covey writing in Archer et al. described *BERK’s daughter RISSLA as having “a lovely head and refined body,” and in his booklet Crabbet Arabians:

“Beautiful head with fine muzzle…a rather delicate mare and had to be brought in earlier than the other mares in the autumn.”

Photographs of RISSLA show a fine boned mare with the appearance of fine skin as well. If some lines of Blunt breeding are capable of producing “larger, bigger boned, and more substantial” Arabians it is far more likely due to the influence of horses like RIJM and NEFISA than BASILISK and BOZRA.

The “Mares at Grass:” A Photo of *Raseyn’s Second Dam

Copyright 1990 by MICHAEL BOWLING

used by permission of Michael Bowling

published in Arabian Visions Oct 1990

(left to right) RIADA, ROSE OF HIND, KIBLA, RISALA and KASIDA at Crabbet in 1913. (Photo from the Brown collection, courtesy Arabian Horse Owners’ Foundation.)

Those of us who study the historical Arabians are always looking to expand the range of knowledge: for foundation stock there’s documentation of origin to pursue; one always hopes they and their progeny might have been the subject of a contemporary photograph or written comment which has been preserved. Some of us particularly value photos as an aid to making the old horses more “real,” even though we are well aware that interpreting such photos may be fraught with danger. As frustrating a situation as we can find ourselves in, is having an old photo of Arabian horses in which individuals are not identified. Fortunately, when a photo’s provenance is clearly established, there are sources of information with which to compare its images.

There are many such photos to work with, within the Crabbet canon alone; this discussion will center on one which Lady Wentworth used on page 27 of her 1924 Crabbet Stud Catalogue, and captioned, “Mares at Grass.” As luck would have it, there is an original Rouch print of this photo in the Brown collection at the Arabian Horse Owner’s Foundation, presumably one of the items W.R. Brown recieved from Spencer Borden when he bought out Borden’s Interlachen Stud. The Brown print is labeled “Arab mares at Crabbet – 1913” in what appears to be Lady Anne Blunt’s handwriting: Spencer Borden corresponded extensively with Lady Anne. This original print is of course much clearer and sharper than the reproduction in the Catalogue. The photo, which accompanies this article, shows five mares without foals; one group of four is in the foreground, two of them facing the camera and two looking away; a fifth is some distance behind them to the right.

One obvious resource for identifying horses in old photos, is to ask someone who might have been there at the time. I had the good fortune to be present nearly 13 years ago, when the late Lady Anne Lytton identified the foreground mares as Riada, Rose of Hind, Kibla and Risala. Either Lady Anne did not identify the mare on the right, or I did not remember the identification long enough to make a note of it.

The mares are in slick coat and at least four of them are in high condition; they are swishing flies, the trees are in full leaf and the pasture fairly short, all suggesting mid to late summer as the time the photo was taken. The foreground mares all appear to be in the prime of life, while the mare at the right is down in the back, has a big left knee and, under magnification, shows possible scars on her left cheek and point of hip. The mark on the cheek is ambiguous and may be a flaw in the negative, though it seems a lot to ask that such a flaw should accidentally fall in this position.

This photo clearly seems to show a group of dry mares on pasture in the summer of 1913; none of the mares named by Lady Anne Lytton has a 1913 foal in The General Stud Book (GSB). Known photos of Rose of Hind and Risala are consistent with the markings visible on the two mares facing away from the camera, and this pose of head and neck seems to be characteristic of Risala in other pictures. It is more difficult to be certain about a grey mare; Balis, Belkis and Bukra all were Crabbet (as opposed to Newbuildings) mares of the appropriate vintage, and all were barren in 1913. As a first approximation, I see no reason not to think Lady Anne had it right, and a photo of Kibla as a yearling seems consistent with this judgement, in terms of the general shape of her face and the distinctive cut of her nostrils.

The most interesting identification, from a historical standpoint, is that of the mare on the left as Riada. That 1904 brown daughter of Mesaoud and Rosemary had been Lady Anne Lytton’s favorite riding horse as a girl at Crabbet; the mare died of twisted gut in 1920 at age 16, and bred on into modern pedigrees through just one offspring, but that was Rayya by Rustem. Riada, in other words, was second dam of the internationally influential Kellogg sire *Raseyn, and this is her only known photo. Lady Anne certainly should have been able to recognize her favorite mare; if any confirmation be needed, Riada’s markings as recorded in Lady Anne Blunt’s manuscript studbook are, “near fore foot, narrow blaze like prolonged star, & spot between nostrils.” That fits this dark mare to a “T.”

That leaves the mare in the background. Comparing the original print with the version in the Catalogue suggests that, for publication, Lady Wentworth retouched the scarred cheek to show a white marking running up from under the mare’s chin. This apparent marking confuses the issue, as it calls to mind the distinctive face marking of Amida, and suggests that this mare might have been her dam Ajramieh, described by Lady Anne Blunt as having a “blaze all over muzzle.” Ajramieh would have been at Newbuildings in 1913 (this was during the partition phase of the Crabbet story), and furthermore possessed leg markings which should have been visible here. Peter Upton recently published a photo of Ajramieh (Arab Horse Society News. Winter 1989), which shows a different mare from this one, and confirms her leg markings.

I listed the Crabbet Stud’s producing mares in GSB between 1906-1916, just to get a base to start from; GSB does not distinguish between Crabbet and Newbuildings, but one can judge which half a mare was in by the sires to which she was bred. One way and another (the other candidates died, were sold, or disappeared from GSB before 1913; or their known markings don’t fit), the choices narrowed down to Abla, Betina, Kantara, Kasida, and Rahma. Abla, Kantara and Kasida all qualify on markings; the other two I can’t find markings on. All but one of these were producing to Newbuildings sires around this time, so were unlikely to have been photographed at Crabbet. Betina and Rahma were a generation or so younger than the rest of our group; Kantara and Abla would have been 12 and 14 in 1913, which would have made them roughly the same age as Kibla and Risala, while our subject is clearly an older mare. Further, Kantara has a 1913 foal in GSB, so would not have been running out with the dry mares even if she had been at Crabbet.

Kasida was definitely a Crabbet mare, and in fact was one of Lady Anne Blunt’s personal favorites. She would have been 20 when photographed here, and according to Peter Upton (The Arab Horse, p. 147) “aged before her time… was shot September 12, 1913.” There is a look of other Kasida photos in this mare, about the eyes and in the awkward conformation. I sent an enlarged copy photo to the Baker Street Irregular, R. J. Cadranell, who pointed out the “pale mane” referred to in Kasida’s published description and visible in her other photos. Based on this and other resemblances to known Kasida photos, and on his reconstruction of Crabbet history, he wrote “I’ve convinced myself that the mare in the photo you sent could not be other then Kasida.”

Thus it is possible, by combining sources, to go from “Mares at Grass” to a photographic record of Riada (Mesaoud x Rosemary), age 9; Rose of Hind (Rejeb x Rose Diamond), age 11; Kibla (Mesaoud x Makbula II) and Risala (Mesaoud x Ridaa), both 13; and Kasida (Nasr I x Makbula II), age 20. All five of these mares are widely represented in modern pedigrees and their photo should be of great interest to many students of the breed.

Sources:

  1. Crabbet Stud Catalogue, 1924.
  2. W.R.Brown photo collection, in possession of the Arabian Horse Owners’ Foundation
  3. Personal communication from Lady Anne Lytton, daughter of Lady Wentworth, and granddaughter of Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt.
  4. Notes from Lady Anne Blunt’s manuscript studbook.
  5. Breeding records published in The General Stud Book (GSB)
  6. “‘Worth a King’s Ransom’ — Queen of Sheba,” by Peter Upton (Arab Horse Society News No. 73, Winter 1989).
  7. The Arab Horse, by Peter Upton (Crowood Press 1989).

From the Desert, From the Green: The Imported Arabians of Lewis Payne

From the Desert, From the Green: The Imported Arabians of Lewis Payne

Copyright by R.J.CADRANELL

from Arabian Visions March 1992

Used by permission of RJ Cadranell

Of the Americans who imported Arabians from Crabbet, the name of Payne may not be as familiar as Brown, Kellogg, Selby, or Tankersley. Yet Lewis Payne probably spent more time making his selections, and became better acquainted with the horses and breeders in England, than did practically any other American buyer. In February of 1992 when I visited Lewis Payne in Stillwater, Oklahoma, I found him still at the same address listed for him in the 1966 stud book of the British Arab Horse Society. Also visiting that weekend was his daughter Penny Albright.

Mr. Payne’s first trip to Crabbet was in 1959. At that time Cecil Covey owned the Crabbet Stud. Lady Wentworth had died in 1957, leaving her horses to her former stud manager and tennis coach, Geoffrey Covey. As he had died a short time before she did, the horses passed to his son Cecil.

Mr. Covey was suddenly faced with owning a herd of approximately 75 head, on which he had to pay enormous death duties. Further, the Crabbet property itself had to be vacated; Lady Wentworth had left it to her youngest daughter, Lady Winifrid Tryon. Mr. Covey placed the stallions at Caxtons and the mares at Frogshole Farm, two properties he had inherited along with the horses, but it was imperative he reduce the herd to a manageable size. By the time of Lewis Payne’s 1959 visit, the dust was beginning to settle: large numbers of horses had been sold, and with a pared down herd Mr. Covey was continuing to breed.

Crabbet owned an impressive group of stallions in 1959. Although still photographs were not allowed, Lewis Payne was able to capture on movie film Oran and his sons Grand Royal and *Silver Vanity, as well as Indian Magic, Bright Shadow, and Dargee. Mr. Payne remembers that Indian Magic was considered probably the best ever bred at Crabbet. *Silver Vanity was also thought to be one of the best.

“There are many people who think that Dargee was probably the finest horse that ever walked at Crabbet Stud… he was just a picture horse.” he says. Dargee was bred by George Ruxton from mostly Crabbet lines. Lady Wentworth purchased Dargee as a yearling.

Lewis Payne did not buy any Crabbet horses in 1959. At that time he was still working for Aramco, the Arabian American Oil Company, and living on the east coast of Saudi Arabia at Dhahran. He had been living in Saudi Arabia since 1952. But it was several years after that when he and his daughter Penny began to participate in the equine activities at The Corral, originally known as The Hobby Farm, where a number of Aramco families kept horses and participated in the drill team or the gymkhana events, or simply enjoyed riding in the open desert. Lewis Payne bought his first horse in 1957, a bay stallion belonging to the Minister of Oil affairs. The mare he later imported from Saudi Arabia, “Johara,” was acquired in 1958 or 59. By approximately 1960, there were more than one hundred horses stabled at The Corral.

In 1961 some restructuring occurred within the company and Lewis Payne decided it was time to go back to America. Johara was shipped from Saudi Arabia in May of 1961. The trip took two months. In this country she was registered as *Hamra Johara, meaning “red jewel.” In America she produced nine foals, the last born in 1973.

Bringing horses back from Saudi Arabia was not difficult for Aramco employees. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Saudi Arabia imported goods, but had nothing to export on the cargo ships; oil left the country in tankers. Importing goods was expensive, because the ship’s return trip also had to be paid, in effect. Sending things back to America was therefore cheap. It cost about $350 to bring a horse home. Furthermore, the company covered the cost of building shipping crates and loading the horses on trucks and finally on ship, just as it did for furniture and other personal property an employee wanted to bring back to the States.

The year 1961 was also the year of Lewis Payne’s second trip to England. He had decided to breed Arabian horses, and after reading a magazine article had initiated a correspondence with Lady Anne Lytton, Lady Wentworth’s oldest daughter, about buying a young horse named El Meluk. Lady Anne replied that someone else had first refusal on El Meluk, but that she had a mare she would consider selling. Lady Anne invited him to spend a weekend with her at her home, Newbuildings, in Sussex.

Newbuildings lay about sixteen miles from Crabbet, and had been the final home of Lady Anne’s grandfather, Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. Together with her grandmother, Lady Anne Blunt, he had founded the Crabbet Stud in 1878. Mr. Blunt had died in 1922, leaving Newbuildings to his adopted niece, Dorothy Carleton. When she died in the early 1950s, the house became Lady Anne’s.

Lewis Payne’s weekend stay at Newbuildings expanded to last three months. The mare Lady Anne offered him he bought and imported to the United States. She was *Mellawieh. Her dam Mifaria had been a gift from Lady Wentworth to her daughter on the occasion of one of their reconciliations. In 1951 Mifaria produced for Lady Anne *Mellawieh, by Lady Wentworth’s stallion Indian Magic.

Lewis Payne and Lady Anne Lytton would drive to studs in England so he could look at horses for sale. He visited Patricia Lindsay, where he was able to see some of the first Arabian horses to leave Poland since the end of World War II. He particularly admired the mare Karramba (Witraz x Karmen II) and the colt *Grojec (Comet x Gastronomia), a horse Lady Anne Lytton later bought and used for breeding. Another Polish mare Lewis Payne admired was H.V.M. Clark’s Celina (Witraz x Elza, by Rasim Pierwszy). He filmed Celina as she won her class at Kempton Park.

Mrs. Bomford showed him the old bay stallion Manasseh, sire of Dargee. She also had Dargee’s full brother, the bay My Man. At Mrs. Linney’s he saw the thirteen-year-old grey stallion Sahran (Rangoon x Sahmana, by Manak), the last grandson of Skowronek in England. She also had the Rissalix son Mikeno, who had inherited a full dose of the famous *Berk trotting action through *Berk’s daughter Rissla, dam of Rissalix. From Mrs. Linney he bought a two-year-old Mikeno daughter named *Micah Bint Mikeno, out of Myoletta, full sister to Dargee. Lewis Payne took movies at each of these studs.

Once he and Lady Anne went to a riding school to look at *Astran, a stallion belonging to a Miss Silberstein. Lewis Payne bought him and brought him to Newbuildings, where he was stabling his horses later exported to America.

In 1961 Lewis Payne also made a return visit to the Crabbet Stud at Frogshole Farm. At Crabbet, Lewis Payne bought one of the 1961 foals. He named her *Qasumah, after a pump station in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Covey congratulated Lewis Payne on being one of the few American buyers to spend time getting to know the English breeders and horses. In his experience, American buyers would look at the horses for sale, indicate which ones they wanted, write a check, and never be seen again.

*Mellawieh had produced one foal for Lady Anne Lytton, a 1957 filly by H.V.M. Clark’s stallion Champurrado. She was named Sahirah of the Storm, having been born during one. At the time of *Mellawieh’s importation to America, she was in foal to her half brother, Lady Anne’s stallion Manto. Manto was a chestnut born in 1956 by Blue Domino (Rissalix x Niseyra). The in-utero import was a 1962 chestnut filly, *Qatifah.

During the stay at Newbuildings, Lady Anne Lytton told Lewis Payne stories of growing up at Crabbet. She talked of the time she had spent living with her grandmother at Sheykh Obeyd Garden in Egypt, referring to it as one of the happiest periods of her life. She also told how Wilfrid Blunt used to drive a team of Arabs at a full gallop around a sharp turn and through a gate. When she was still quite young he tried to teach her to do this; she negotiated the turn at a full gallop, but crashed the carriage into one of the gate posts.

In America, Lewis Payne quietly went about his breeding program, utilizing the bloodlines he had obtained in England along with the Saudi mare *Hamra Johara. Today he has approximately nineteen horses. In addition to his own imported stock, the herd also carries the blood of *Ansata Ibn Halima. A few of the older mares are straight English or English/Saudi crosses, but all of the young stock and stallions carry lines to *Ansata Ibn Halima. Lewis Payne liked the horse and the way he moved. The blood of *Micah Bint Mikeno is not represented due to her death at the time she had her first foal, which was also lost.

An impressive horse is Qarlo, probably the only stallion in the world with Oran and *Ansata Ibn Halima as grandsires. Qarlo is out of *Qasumah and by Qartume, a son of *Ansata Ibn Halima and Qate (*Astran x *Mellawieh). Lewis Payne has built a unique herd combining some of the best horses ever to leave England with *Hamra Johara and *Ansata Ibn Halima.

In the following transcript, we are pleased to present an audience with Lewis Payne.

SAUDI ARABIA

I first got acquainted with Arabians in Saudi Arabia. Somebody said. “We have some horses out here, would you like to take a ride?” I went and looked and thought, “Those scrawny, hungry looking things!” They didn’t mean much to me. So I got on [one] and I was absolutely astounded they did not have to be coaxed to go. The minute you got on them, they moved… So I finally bought a horse from the Minister of Oil Affairs. He was a poor hungry old horse, and I bought him out of sympathy as much as anything else, to fatten him up. He was a stallion, a bay…

In 1951, this may sound hard to believe, but the Arabs were pretty hard up… They had all these horses over at Khafs Dugra, which was near an irrigated place called Al-Kharj…. the king would send a head herdsman [saying], “Give one of my good horses to Prince Ali.” So he just marked down in a book, “One horse to Prince Ali.” Well Prince Ali wasn’t interested in horses, he was interested in Cadillacs… He would never come see the horse, didn’t even want it, so they continued to feed it, and one day Prince Feysul, who later became king, who was also Minister of Economics, he was pretty level-headed, he decided that people should feed their own horses. That was practically unheard of.

Some of the company representatives found out we could get horses. We made arrangements so we could go over and pick twenty horses out of the whole herd. There were seven or eight hundred there, I don’t know exactly. We all put up $200 and we had a committee go over. They picked out several horses, and [*Hamra Johara was] the one they gave me. She was seven years old and had never been broken. She had never grazed in her life… When I brought her over and we put grain in the feed box it was there a week before she found out it was good to eat. She wouldn’t eat out of your hand. An apple or a sugar lump meant nothing to her. She would eat this grass they would give her and some alfalfa. All that herd was being fed on grass, and occasionally alfalfa, just thrown over to them. Apparently she must have lived her first year of life with the Bedouins, because she was crazy about Arab women. She’d see Arab women walking in the distance — they looked like little black tents moving along — she’d always nicker, or want to go over to them. And little Arab children, she was crazy about them, she’d run over to see them… so we know she must have had her nose in a tent, at least the first year she was alive.

She was absolutely crazy about little kids, and people in general. She finally learned to eat apples, which were a rarity [in Saudi Arabia], we had to ship them in, and sugar. I could take a small cube of sugar and hold it between my two fingers. She’d reach over and very gently bite it in two, and never touch my fingers. She didn’t drink much water there… Even when I’d ride her out in the desert when it was terribly hot, I’d bring her in and give her a bath and put her in her stall, she never went to water. I’d catch her drinking water in the middle of the day sometimes, but she’d just barely sip it… When she came to this country she drank more water than she ever did over there, and she put on more weight. And she learned to graze. I would go down into this irrigated place and take her with me with a scythe and a basket. She’d stand there knee deep in this grass and watch me cut a basket full. Then I’d take it back and dump it in her box and she’d eat it.

How did the horses get to Al-Kharj? Ibn Saud just gradually collected horses, and they were put there because it was an irrigated area, and they could raise grass… None of them ever got to full build or promise, because they just didn’t have [the feed]… All the horses I had here were bigger than those there. A horse at Crabbet at a year old was bigger than a two year old desert horse, and it was feed, pure and simple…

The Arabs fed dates. One time we thought at the farm that dates were the thing to feed the horses, until it dawned on us the only reason they fed dates was because it was that or nothing.

…Horses at Khafs Dugra just accumulated. At that time all the ruling people lost interest in the horses because they got automobiles. The head herdsman had a book in which he’d write things down, I don’t know how accurate, I won’t make any promises on that. He pointed out the sire of my horse, a big red stallion, I don’t know his name, so we just called him “Big Red,” or Kabir Ahmar, big red horse. [Ed. note: this is not the same horse owned at the Corral and referred to there as “Big Red.”] What his breeding was, nobody knows. That man may have known, but it’s lost… My mare, I just list her as “D.B.” and consider her a foundation horse. She was accepted by the way for our registry, and I had her with these Crabbet horses, and when [Thompson] came [from the registry] to look [he] fell in love with her. She had a lot of good qualities, temperament more than anything else. Least head shy horse I ever saw; you could do anything with her.

RJC: Was any breeding done at Khafs Dugra, or was it just a place where they kept horses?

Lewis Payne: I don’t think they bred too much because they had all the horses they needed, and more.

Penny Albright: Feed was at a premium, too.

Lewis Payne: That’s not to say it wasn’t done, because it was. I know we got one quite young one, I think less than two years old, maybe two. Also we had a stallion from over there that had been chained to a stake and stood in one spot for five years. That’s why they didn’t breed any more. They didn’t know what to do with them. They had more than they could use, and nobody was interested in them.

BUYING HORSES IN ENGLAND

I was in Saudi Arabia from 1952. I spent nine years there…[then] there was a reduction in force… so I thought well, I’ll go home. But I stopped off in England to pick up horses. Of course Lady Anne Lytton was kind enough to invite me to stay at her place, and I spent some three months there gathering horses… She and I would go around and visit different studs… When we would leave she would say, “What did you think of this or that horse?” I didn’t really know too much, but I’d give my opinion and she’d tell me what was wrong with the horse. So the next time I’d look for a little more. When I heard [*Astran] was for sale… we went to look at him, and she told me, “He’s just a perfect horse.” I never heard her say that about anything. I asked the people there if I could bring a veterinary to come look at him. They said… “If you find something wrong with him, maybe we can buy him,” because they were merely boarding the horse. I brought the vet over… he would take care of the horses at the national stud, which really wasn’t far from Newbuildings Place. He went over and looked at him, and on the way back I said, “What did you think?” and he said, “That’s a nice horse, but the thing that puzzled me was I looked in his stall and he didn’t look very big, and I thought, ‘Why does this man want such a small horse?’ But he stepped out to the paddock and he grew four inches. I never saw such a thing.” He was only 14.2, but he said you would swear he was over 15 just by the way he stood. When Lady Anne and I were leaving after looking at him I asked her, “What’s wrong with him?” She said, “Absolutely nothing,” She said, “If he was here in the spring, I would use him on everything I have.” She said, “There’s a rumor around that he’s infertile, but nobody knows because he’s never been used.” When I had him checked for fertility after I got him to this country… we found he was highly fertile… He produced some pretty nice looking horses, to the third generation… [*Astran] was a direct descendant of Skowronek, but on that same level he had three crosses to Rasim, and that’s what made him….

[*Astran] was a very good riding horse, and I had the shock of my life when I put him in a show here, what they call English Pleasure… and he didn’t even place. I had him entered in a Park class. I said to the girl riding, “Go ahead and enter, but you’re not going to get anywhere,” and bingo, he won first. I went to the judge later and said, “What was wrong in the other?” He said, “I picked him in the first class to win the second class, because I thought he was too animated for a pleasure horse.” I don’t know why a pleasure horse should be a deadhead, but apparently that’s what they preferred….

*Micah bint Mikeno… strongly resembled the mare I brought out of Saudi Arabia. From across the pasture I’d have to look pretty close to tell the difference. Now that’s from two parts of the world, yet the type had so fixed…. I must admit the English mare moved better and she had a better shape of shoulder. There was also in Lady Anne Lytton’s box of photographs a picture of a mare that looked just like those two… *Micah was two years old. I bred her a year later, and unfortunately before she foaled about three or four days, I noticed her standing separate from the other horses…. I brought her in to another place to foal, and about four days before that she collapsed. She had a stroke. This place was right next door to the Oklahoma state veterinary school, so I had the vets over, and they couldn’t figure it out. It was definitely a stroke, and they had isolated it down to the third vertebra because she could move her head, but her body was inert. Her tail you could move over to one side and the next morning it would be exactly where you’d left it. After four days she tried to foal. The foal had no particular will to live. It had a beautiful head and four stockings, a lot like Mikeno, really. So I lost her. We finally had to put her down. …What caused it we don’t know.

The mare *Mellawieh was in foal to Manto; he was her half brother. She had been sent off but didn’t settle, so in sheer desperation Lady Anne Lytton bred her to her half brother Manto, by Blue Domino. She had a filly [*Qatifah]…

COLOR AND MARKINGS

At Crabbet, nobody worried about any white markings. I don’t see why people worry about it. I have seen horses in the Middle East, some with stockings clear over the knees, some with a big white splash on their bellies, and none of that that I could see ever affected a horse’s way of going, metabolism, threw them off their diet, or made them lame. If it did something of that nature, it would be a fault. But if it’s just a color or marking I just can’t see that it would make any difference….

[The Blunts] kept a stud [in Egypt], which was called Sheykh Obeyd, where they kept a good many horses that never came to England. One of them was a roan. I mentioned to Lady Anne that I’d never seen a roan Arab, and she said her grandmother had one and she showed me a photograph of [Kerima]. It’s a rarity, but don’t say it never happens. I’ve seen one horse in this country that was almost roan…. The people that owned it were so ashamed of it they kept it where nobody would see it. I snuck around and saw it and it was the best horse they had. Whatever the horse’s color is, or his markings, makes no difference…

It’s quite possible that colors do accompany other genes. I don’t know this for sure…. When Lady Wentworth died, Cecil Covey fell heir to about 75 pretty nice Arabian horses. There was hardly a single bay in the whole stud, if there was one at all. It had nothing to do with the color. It was merely that Lady Wentworth was looking for certain characteristics the bays didn’t come up with. Now this is not to decry a bay at all. It was merely what she was looking for. Lady Anne Lytton later bought a bay, a Polish horse, *Grojec, and was quite pleased to have him because of his color, because she said, “I remember we had some beautiful bays at Crabbet, and I’ll be awfully glad to get some back. I just think we need a little more variety.” And that is not to say one is better, or one is less than the other. It’s variety. Trying to get all Arabs to look precisely alike is a waste of time….

ACTION

The Blunts, and of course Lady Wentworth, were quite insistent on a horse’s being able to move, because their introduction to the horse was in the desert where action and movement with efficiency is of paramount importance, which seems to have been lost now. If he’s flashy right now they think he’s good….

Probably the finest moving horse in 1961 or that era was Mikeno, who was by Rissalix and had the Rissalix action, which he got from Rissla, which she got from *Berk. Lady Anne Blunt told her granddaughter, Lady Anne Lytton, one time as they stood and watched *Berk moving, “Anne, that is the way an Arab is supposed to move.” It’s a reaching stride. It takes good slope of shoulder and it takes strong quarters…

When the Blunts founded Crabbet, horses were a means of conveyance, not just a hobby. They had to move from here to there in an efficient manner. I don’t know of anybody in the present day who would have the same background as the Blunts, because time is against you. The Blunts were artists, both of them, so they appreciated the beauty of a horse, the balance, the conformation… They rode their horses in the desert, and they knew that the horse had to make it there and back, so consequently they were quite critical of efficient action….

Here, you ride a horse around the ring for ten minutes or so and that’s it. There’s nothing wrong with that, and you can do anything with your horses you want to, but it is unfortunate that this flashy action, the high knee action — ladder climbing I call it — has come intto vogue so much that a reaching horse, like an Arab should be, is penalized. There’s nothing of course we can do about that, but if you want a horse to move across country, you better get one that reaches, and never mind how high they pick the feet up; it’s how far forward they go.

…I think perhaps the true characteristic of the Arab is moving from point A to point B. That’s not well presented in a show ring. It’s just impossible. So I think perhaps cross country racing is the best, and they have in England now a cross country race… I can see something to that. As for racing on the track, I see nothing wrong with that. And I understand there’s a new program out now: chariot racing, and that strikes me as quite interesting. And I would see nothing wrong with a sulky race trotting, because some of these Arabs can trot….

CONFORMATION

It is better when you have a horse with good conformation, but unfortunately in the desert, or that part of the world, there are very, very few good horses, but seldom do you find a horse with enough good points to say that it’s a first class horse. Occasionally it does happen, but it’s rare….

I personally prefer a horse with length of neck; some are shorter than others, but I prefer the length, because a horse’s head and neck is what helps his balance, and they can’t move gracefully with a short stubby neck.

I like strong quarters. I’ve seen Arabs that people rave about the high tail set, which doesn’t mean a thing in the world if there’s no quarters beneath it.

…Most Arabs have no heels to speak of on their hoofs. They’re rather short. I hadn’t paid much attention to this. One of the veterinarians working on our horses asked me, “Do all Arabs have low heels like this?” I got to thinking, “Why yes, they do.” Some of these Arabs that are kept to imitate the American Saddle horses, they let the feet grow out, and put shoes on them to get a longer heel. I don’t care for that action at all….

LADY WENTWORTH

Geoffrey Covey had been a tennis coach, and Lady Wentworth had quite the thing with tennis. She purported to be world champion at royal tennis. They were quite friendly, so she appointed him to head the stud…. You must remember the nature of this woman. She was headstrong, strong-willed, opinionated. When she decided something was something, that was it. If she said it three times… it became a fact.

…When Lady Wentworth saw *Mellawieh, she ordered Anne to give her back to Crabbet. Anne said, “I’m not going to give you back that horse, I want her myself.” So her mother in a huff wasn’t even speaking to her. When I left England the last of October, she told me, “The last big argument I had with my mother was over that mare.” [At the end of Lady Wentworth’s life] she hadn’t seen her son in thirty years…. The only one speaking to Lady Wentworth was her daughter Winifrid. I had lunch with a family friend… who had been a school chum. She told me Lady Winifrid was to come over to her place for lunch, and she got a call from her: “I have to go… my mother is dying, and I’m the only one she’ll speak to.”

LADY ANNE LYTTON AND CECIL COVEY

[Lady Wentworth] left her horses to Geoffrey Covey, but he died… before she did. So Cecil Covey… fell heir to 75 beautiful horses…. He told me there was no way he could take care of that many horses. So they began selling horses. He told me… there were some very fine horses that sold for less than 100 pounds, which would be at that time around $300.

…I had talked to Lady Anne about breeding a mare to Dargee, and she had said, “Well, I’m not too sure about sending a horse over there.” There was a feeling between her and Cecil Covey, although they had grown up together at Crabbet, a feeling of estrangement… he told me… “I always felt that the family resented my getting the horses. I can understand that. But had any member of that family come to me and asked for a horse, any horse, they could have had it… because I feel that blood is thicker than water…” Lady Anne told me “well, we meet sometimes at horse meetings and are very cordial, but we just don’t have the comradeship.”

…I picked [*Qasumah] out of Mr. Covey’s herd because of the way she stood and looked…. She had a lot of white markings on her [and] he told me, “Americans don’t like white on horses.” I’d come out of Arabia and had seen white on horses and I didn’t see that it made any difference, so I said, “Well ‘Americans’ aren’t buying this horse, I am.” so I took her and I’ve never regretted it. I had talked to Lady Anne about what I’d picked out to buy there, so I asked Mr. Covey, “Would you mind if I had Lady Anne come over and look at this filly?” He said, “Why no.” A day or two later I spoke to her again…. I said, “Would you like to go over to Crabbet and look at this filly?” She was very eager… so we went over and in a few minutes they were just chatting…. He later told me, “I want to thank you for making it possible for Lady Anne to come over,” and this was when he told me he’d always felt that the family resented his having the horses.

I remember one time Lady Anne and Cecil were talking about something, and I thought, “I’ll just sit over here and listen and maybe learn something.” And they’d been talking thirty minutes or so about different horses when she turned to me and said, “Well what do you think? You haven’t said a word.” I was flattered those two people who had such a history with horses — she at that time was about sixty years old and he was approximately the same — they had all of those years of experience with the good horses, and I was amazed that they wanted to know my opinion on something. Yet I never once heard either one of those people say, “I’ve got the finest Arabs in the country.” Yet I’ve heard Americans say time and time again, “I have the finest Arabs in the country.”

At Crabbet, if a horse had something that they didn’t think was quite right… they would tell you…. They never tried to hide anything. They were looking more than anything else for the improvement of the horse.

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The Arabians of Ben Hur Farm

by Joseph N. White, Arabian Horse World 1981.

When we talk about the “greatness” of something, we are usually referring to its impact over a number of years. In this sense of the word, “greatness” aptly defines the influence the old Ben Hur Farms of Portland, Indiana, has had on Arabian breeding in this country.

Mr. Herbert Tormohlen, owner of Ben Hur Farms, Portland, Indiana, at his turkey farm the Christmas before his death in July, 1968.

Ben Hur Farms was owned by Herbert and Blanche Tormohlen, both extremely knowledgeable breeders. Its program, which lasted for over 35 years, combined the breeding of two of the most successful programs existing at that time — that of the Davenport horses and Crabbet Stud in England.

The first registered foal from Ben Hur was the mare Valencia 587, foaled in 1926, by Hanad 489, and out of the prolific mare Dahura 90. Valencia and her full brother Ameer Ali 644 (foaled in 1927) were sold, along with Hanad, to the Kellogg Ranch in California. In 1930, Hanad and Valencia were named Champion Stallion and Mare at the Los Angeles County Fair and thus, according to an early Ben Hur brochure, they became the first champion Arabian stallion and mare in the United States.

The mare Dahura continued to produce steadily for Ben Hur. In 1929 and 1930, she produced Aabann 736 and Aabab 741, respectively, both by Hanad. Next she was bred to Hanad’s half-brother Tabab 441 (*Deyr 33 x Domow 267), and produced Aabazem 874 in 1931. Her last foal, Aabella 1014 by Mahomet 729 (Hanad x Domow) was foaled in 1933. Aabella, along with Aabann and Aabab, played an important part in the early Ben Hur program.

In 1935, at the first National Arabian Show, Aabann and Aabab won Champion and Reserve in three-gaited performance, now known as park, a feat which matched the record of their sister Valencia.

Besides Dahura, there were two other foundation mares at Ben Hur — Hayah 385 (Harara 122 x Dehahah), a Davenport mare, and Nadirat 619 (*Rizvan 381 x Nusara 371), a Crabbet mare.

Hayah possessed a rather erratic foaling record, with time lapses ranging from two to nine years. While at Ben Hur she produced three foals. The first, by Aabab, was Aahar 1734 in 1939, followed in 1943 by Aahmad 2747, sired by Aanad 1735 (Aabab x Nadirat), and finally, in 1944, Hayah produced her last, and according to some, her best foal, Aah Abu 3060, by Indraff 1575 (*Raffles 952 x *Indaia 813). Aah Abu, by the way, was her only grey foal. All the others were chestnuts.

Nadirat also played an important part throughout the entire Ben Hur program. She produced at least three foals there, beginning in 1938 with Aanad 1735, and Aalita 2746 in 1943, both by Aabab. She produced at least one other foal for the Tormohlens, the filly Aalastra 3716, foaled in 1946. Aalastra was one of two Gulastra 521 (*Astraled 238 x Gulnare 278) daughters at Ben Hur. The other was Aastra 3712, out of Aadraffa 2075 (Indraff x Aadah 1857). Both of these mares figured prominently in the Ben Hur program.

Herbert Tormohlen was a firm believer in Gulastra blood. He felt that although it wasn’t necessary to have a lot of this blood, it was important to have at least a little of it. A friend of Mr. Tormohlen, after seeing these mares, once asked why he was keeping them, as she felt they were only average. Tormohlen told the lady to take a closer look at their heads. When she did, she saw some of the most beautiful heads she had ever seen on a horse. Tormohlen then went on to explain that was the reason Gulastra blood was so important in a breeding program — incorporating even a small amount of this blood would add to the beauty and refinement of the heads on the horses produced.

Of the three early mares at the farm, only Dahura and Nadirat were to play a key role in its later program. Dahura is remembered most through her double granddaughter, Aadah 1857 (Aabab x Aabella), who later became one of Ben Hur’s two premier mares. She produced eleven foals in twelve years, ten of which were fillies. Nadirat became more influential through a daughter that was not bred at Ben Hur, the mare Aarah 1184.

Aarah, 1935 chestnut mare (Ghadaf x Nadirat)


Bred by C. P. Knight, Jr., of Providence, Rhode Island, and foaled in 1935, Aarah was by Ghadaf 694, a half-brother to Gulastra. Aarah was the only horse ever at Ben Hur to be given a formal burial and a commemorative monument on her grave. Her ten foals were directly responsible for some of the most illustrious champions and producers of her day.

An almost immediate reaction by older breeders to the “double A”-named horses is to think that they trace back to Aarah, and to a certain extent they are right. Aarah was acquired by Ben Hur in the early 1940’s, and she foaled her first for them in 1942, a colt named Aaronek 2249 by Indraff. That year she was bred back to *Raffles 952 (Skowronek x *Rifala 815), and the following year she produced the beautiful chestnut colt, Aaraf 2748.

Had Aarah produced only this foal, her place in Arabian history would have been assured, for Aaraf sired over 125 foals in his lifetime. That may be a small number by today’s standards, but considering the times then, and the fact that many of these foals became champions and went on to produce champions, the record is impressive.

Aaraf was not, however, Aarah’s last foal. In 1944 she produced the mare Aarafa 2872, followed by Aaraq 3371 in 1945, Aarief 3717 in 1946, and Aarafla 4344 in 1947, all by *Raffles. Aaraq was the only one of these five to be sold — as a colt he went to Tom Sheppard of Colorado. There are still many foals by him in the Midwest. The other four *Raffles/Aarah foals were retained by Ben Hur and used heavily in their program — in fact Aaraf, Aarafa, and Aarafla were three of Mr. Tormohlen’s favorite horses. He felt that they were three of the finest Arabs in the country at that time, and that was quite an honor, considering Tormohlen’s fine eye for horses.

Aaraf, 1943 chestnut stallion, (*Raffles x Aarah). Sired 125 purebreds.
Aaraf, 1943 chestnut stallion, (*Raffles x Aarah). Sired 125 purebreds.
Aarief, 1946 grey stallion, full brother to Aaraf above.
Aarief, 1946 grey stallion, full brother to Aaraf above.

*Raffles was not the only stallion to which Aarah was bred. She also produced several outstanding foals by Azkar 1109.

Azkar was by Rahas 651 (Gulastra x Raad 474) and out of the imported Egyptian mare *Aziza 888 (Jamil x Negma). At one time, *Aziza was considered to be the most beautiful mare to come from Egypt and was of what is now referred to as Old Egyptian breeding (bred very closely to the Babson Egyptians). This cross to *Aziza blended well with the *Raffles/Aarah horses. *Aziza herself was a half-sister to *Roda 886, who crossed extremely well with *Raffles (producing Tut Ankh Amen 3830 and Star Of Egypt 4167, among others).

The cross to Rahas brought in another line to Gulastra, of which Mr. Tormohlen was so fond, while the cross to Raad (Sidi 223 x *Rijma 346) brought in yet another vital line. While *Rijma, who was imported from the Crabbet Stud, possessed a pedigree which read like a “Who’s Who” of Arabian horses from the studs of Abbas Pasha I and Ali Pasha Sherif, as well as from the Crabbet desert imports, Sidi’s pedigree represented some of the finest individuals of the early domestic programs.

Azkar sired many foals for Ben Hur, including Aazrar 10429, Aazhar 6145, and Aazkara 4879, out of Aarah; Aalzar 7984, out of Aahlwe 3403 (Khaleb 1168 x *Hilwe 810); Karada, out of Aadelfa 7983 (Aaraf x Aadah); Aaziza and Aazalia, both out of Aarafa; Aazdura 6146, out of Aadura 2744 (Indraff x Aadah); and Aazfar 13627, out of Aarafla. Many of these horses can still be found in modern pedigrees.

Produce of the *Raffles/Aarah cross became the mainstay of the Ben Hur program. Aaraf was head stallion, siring foals from mares who were daughters and granddaughters of their original foundation mares. The first Aaraf foals were born in 1946. Aakafa 3713 (x Aakala) was Aaraf’s first foal, followed by Aalurah 3714 (x Aadah) and finally Aarita 3715 out of Aalita 2746 (Aabab x Nadirat). Aaraf also blended well with the Azkar daughters, in particular Aazkara. Aaraf sired four sons and six daughters from Aazkara, and four sons and one daughter from Aazdura. Aaraf sired three foals from his full sister Aarafa — Aarafaa 10426, foaled in 1955, Lewisfield Sun God 21194 in 1962, and Lewisfield Sun Gal 27582 in 1964. From his full sister, Aarafla, Aaraf sired one daughter — Aafala 15522 in 1959.

Aarafa was one of the loveliest mares to come from Ben Hur, and another of Tormohlen’s favorites. She was a strong show horse, and won numerous championships. She also produced many champions, including U.S. National Reserve Champion Stallion, Lewisfield Bold Hawk by Aalzar; Lewisfield Nizrif 41760 by *Nizzam; Aaziza and Aazalia, by Azkar; Lewisfield Lovely by Lewisfield Nizzamo; as well as the three Aaraf foals, and many others.

Aarafla was also a consistent show champion and added many awards to the Ben Hur collection, most in what we now refer to as Park. In Tormohlen’s opinion, she exemplified what the “ideal” Arabian should be, as she possessed “the natural, uninhibited gaits and action of the exquisite beauty of the ancient or classic type of Arabian.” Carl Raswan was quick to verify this, and photos of Aarafla were added to his already famous collection. Aarafla, unfortunately, produced only two foals. The first was Aazfar 13627, by Azkar, who followed in his mother’s footsteps and won many park championships. Not only was Aazfar Aarafla’s only son, but he was Azkar’s youngest son as well. The second of Aarafla’s foals was Aafala, by Aaraf. Aafala was Aarafla’s only daughter, and at 21 years of age is still producing.

While Aaraf, Aarafa, and Aarafla were winning at shows in the East, Aarief was making an equally impressive name for himself on the west coast, while he was on lease to Lasma Arabians. While there he sired many foals, including Aadrief 12380 and Aalrief 14233, a National Top Ten horse. Aarief also played an important part in the breeding program at McCoy Arabians. He sired The Real McCoy, out of Fersara (dam of Ferzon), who influenced the breeding program at Lewisfield Arabians during the Sixties. Photos of Aarief were also added to the Raswan collection.

Ben Hur Farms acquired quite an impressive collection of trophies over the years, including numerous halter and park awards. The most prestigious, however, was the Egyptian Challenge Trophy, donated by King Farouk of Egypt. In order to retire the trophy permanently, Ben Hur had to win it three times at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, in Harrisburg. The winners were selected for “perfection of breed type, and performance.” The first horse ever to win this trophy, and the first horse to win it for Ben Hur, was Aarafa in 1950. Later the trophy was awarded to Aalzar, and finally, in 1963, it was won by Raffarana 12401, by Handeyraff 3940 (*Raffles x Hanadin 2575), out of Yatana 1232 (Farana 708 x Ghazayat 584).

Ben Hur Farms produced a number of other excellent horses during its existence, many of whom were not only champions themselves, but also the sires and dams of champions, including Aadeara 10823 (Aaraf x Aadura), Aalurah 3714 (Aaraf x Aadah), Aabona 12277 (Aaraf x Aaba) and Aahfour 10820 (Aaraf x Aastra 3712).

*Raffles, 1926 gray stallion (Skowronek x *Rifala)


Around 1960 the bulk of Ben Hur stock, some 40 horses, was sold to James F. Lewis, Jr., to become part of the foundation for his Lewisfield Arabians. Lewis had also imported a large number of horses from Lady Wentworth’s Crabbet Stud in England, and had purchased several horses of the *Raseyn/*Raffles cross. Lewisfield’s main stallion was *Nizzam 16070, and Ben Hur mares, when bred to him, consistently produced exquisite foals — perhaps his finest. Numbered among the champions from this cross are Lewisfield Nizziza, Lewisfield Nizzarafa, Lewisfield Nizzaza, Lewisfield Nizzara, Lewisfield Nizzoro, Lewisfield Nizzamo, Lewisfield Nizrif, and Lewisfield Legacy.

Lewisfield also bred a few “straight Ben Hur” horses, most of whom were sired by Aaraf. Most noted among these are Lewisfield Serenade 13633 (also called Aadaia) and Rafhanna formerly Lewisfield Dixie), out of Aadah; Lewisfield Royal Flush 21195, Lewisfield Caress 23656, and Lewisfield Bahama 27580, out of Aazkara; and Lewisfield Sun God 21194 and Lewisfield Sun Gal out of Aarafa. Aarafa’s son Lewisfield Bold Hawk (by Aalzar) was also “straight Ben Hur.”

When Lewisfield was dispersed in 1973, these Ben Hur horses were sold to various farms throughout the country, where they were incorporated into already existing programs. Gradually the percentage of Ben Hur blood decreased and appeared farther back in the pedigrees. However, no matter in what type of program these horses were used, they always helped to improve it, thus proving their versatility as breeding stock by mixing well with various bloodlines and becoming ideal outcrosses.

Today there are a number of dedicated breeders throughout the country, mostly in the central part, who maintain small herds of Ben Hur-bred horses, including Mary Manor Farm in Troy, Ohio; Phara Farm in Hartford, Wisconsin; and Marcy Arabians in Dyersville, Iowa. The quality of the horses at these farms and many others is comparable to that of the horses produced ten years ago at Lewisfield, and twenty or thirty years ago at Ben Hur Farms. The stallion B.H. Bold Decision 71851 (Lewisfield Bold Hawk x Burr-Hill Gindara), owned by Judy Williams of Nobelsville, Indiana, bears a strong likeness to his great-grandfather, Aaraf, and especially to his father’s half-brother, Lewisfield Sun God, as well as a striking resemblance to his distant cousins Sun God Reflection and The Midnight Sun, both owned by Annette Patti of Phara Farm.

The quality of these horses has remained constant, yet the prices have stayed relatively low. Still, it’s nice to know that in these days when so many people are determined to latch onto the latest imported fad, there are still a few breeders following a proven domestic program, like that of Ben Hur Farms, which has rightfully earned the title, “American-Bred.”

CMK Mare Families

The original Crabbet/Maynesboro/Kellogg mare families: Foundation of a unique North American gene pool one hundred years in the making

Rick Synowski © Copyright 1992

Used by permission of Rick Synowski. First published in the CMK Heritage Catalogue Volume III

This treatment reflects the CMK dam line picture before the 1993 revision of the CMK Definition. — MB

While CMK Arabian horses have come to represent a minority breeding group today, CMK foundation mare lines hold fast to their international domination of lists of leading dams of champions. Their production records, some accomplished by mares now deceased, may never be equalled. The character, type and breeding of such celebrated mares must inevitably be diminished and disappear when outcrossing to stallions of other breeding groups predominates.

Veteran horsewoman Faye Thompson, whose father Claude Thompson introduced the Arabian horse into Oregon nearly 60 years ago, observes that “modern Arabian horses are good horses, but they’ve lost that classic, desert look that used to excite me so. Modern horses don’t get me excited the way the old ones did” [CMK Record, Spring 1989].

It is to be hoped the classic desert look which so excited the observer does not disappear, but may be perpetuated on some scale as CMK mares produce within the CMK breeding group. Perhaps the realization of the unique history behind these mares will contribute to this end.

Imported in 1888: *Naomi

THE FIRST ARABIAN MARE TO come to North America and leave modern descent, and the oldest mare in the Arabian Horse Registry of America, is *Naomi, foaled in England in 1877. Her sire and dam YATAGHAN and HAIDEE were brought from the desert by Capt. Roger Upton. Randolph Huntington, America’s earliest breeder of Arabian horses still represented in modern lines, imported *Naomi in 1888. In 1890 *Naomi foaled the fine chestnut colt ANAZEH, the first Arabian bred and born on American soil to leave modern descent. ANAZEH was sired by *Leopard, the grey Arabian stallion presented by Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey to General U.S. Grant in 1878.

A mare with many firsts to her credit, though perhaps not of the show ring variety, *Naomi was photographed here at age 18, standing behind the strapping 13-day-old Khaled, her eighth of ten foals. As an individual *Naomi must have pleased Randolph Huntington, who by this time was enjoying no small recognition as one of America’s leading breeders of light horses. Huntington would build his entire Arabian program around this single mare, and thus *Naomi would make a far-reaching contribution to the development of a North American Arabian gene pool via her high-quality descendants.

Perhaps the most important of *Naomi’s tail-female descendants was to be the Manion-bred IMAGIDA, dam of the illustrious *Raffles daughters GIDA and RAFGIDA and two sons also by *Raffles, IMARAFF and RAFFI. Another distinguished female line was founded by the straight Maynesboro MADAHA. *Naomi’s descent from both sons and daughters also included the likes of RAHAS, GHAZI, RABIYAT, GHAZAYAT, Abu Farwa, ALLA AMARWARD and Aurab, just to name a few of the famous ones. *Naomi’s sons and daughters were among the finest horses of their time, and their descendants continue to be so regarded.

1893: *GALFIA and *NEJDME

IN 1893, BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT with Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 45 Arabian horses were brought from Syria for exhibition at the Chicago World’s Fair. The Hamidie horses, so named for the Hamidie Hippodrome Company which sponsored the exhibition, were beset by a series of disasters. Financial ruin of the company and a fire left 28 horses to be auctioned off.

Only three mares of the entire group would be given the opportunity to breed on. In 1894 Peter Bradley purchased the mares *GALFIA and *PRIDE. The third mare, *NEJDME, was purchased by J.A.P. Ramsdell. *GALFIA would be the first of the three to produce with her 1895 colt, MANNAKY JR. by the Hamidie stallion *MANNAKY. The following year *GALFIA again foaled to *MANNAKY and the filly ZITRA was to establish *GALFIA’s tail female line into modern descent.

In 1898 *NEJDME established the third American mare line with the birth of NONLIKER, sired by Ramsdell’s Ali Pasha Sherif stallion *SHAHWAN. Unfortunately NONLIKER was the only foal of the magnificent *SHAHWAN to breed on in America. That *SHAHWAN left scant descent at Crabbet prior to his importation was to be regretted by the Blunts as well, given the breeding performance of his daughter YASHMAK. NONLIKER was joined by younger half-sisters NANSHAN (1902) and NANDA (1905); the *NEJDME lines of DAHURA and LARKSPUR came to be particularly highly prized.

The third Hamidie mare bred on but not in tail female. *PRIDE produced just one registered foal, the 1902 mare SHEBA sired by MANNAKY JR. SHEBA would leave an important mark on the breeding program of Albert W. Harris in her sons NEJDRAN JR (by *NEJDRAN) and EL JAFIL (by *IBN MAHRUSS), sire of Harris’ noteworthy EL SABOK.

Much of the identifying information on the Hamidie horses, including the original authentication, has been lost, presumably in the fire. Bits and pieces of information from letters and newspaper articles have surfaced over the years. Some of the information coming down is conflicting regarding strains and birthdates, if not the outright identities of some of the horses. What we do know is that the horses which bred on did so extremely well.

1900: BASILISK

IN 1900 THE FIRST CRABBET MARE came to America in the person of the BASILISK granddaughter *BUSHRA. She is registered as imported from the Crabbet Stud by “Mr. Eustis” but almost certainly went directly to Randolph Huntington’s ownership and produced her American offspring for Homer Davenport.

Wilfrid Blunt considered the family of BASILISK to be one of the best of their early desert importations. Later, the American breeder Spencer Borden noted the BASILISK mare line as the “best blood in the world.” The BASILISK family would be well represented among the early imports. *BUTHEYNA, *BARAZA and *BATTLA followed *BUSHRA.

The BASILISK female line died out at Crabbet, though it continued to England from the line established by BELKA at the Courthouse Stud. In America the line flourished notably from the Maynesboro mare BAZRAH.

1905: WILD THYME and RODANIA

SPENCER BORDEN CAME UPON the scene at the turn of the century. His contribution to the Arabian horse in America as an importer, breeder and author during these early days was to be monumental. In 1898 Borden had imported *SHABAKA from England, a mare by the desertbred MAMELUKE and out of KESIA II, imported en utero from the desert. *SHABAKA was not to establish a female line but her influence was realized in a highly valued son, SEGARIO. The KESIA mare line would in fact never become established here, but was represented again in Borden’s 1905 import, *SHABAKA’s half-brother *IMAMZADA, and in the 1924 Harris import *NURI PASHA [ex RUTH KESIA].

In 1905 Borden imported two fillies from the Hon. Miss Ethelred Dillon and introduced the WILD THYME mare line to breed on in America. Borden’s yearling *MAHAL and weanling *NESSA were both daughters of the Crabbet mare RASCHIDA (Kars x Wild Thyme). Like BASILISK’s, WILD THYME’s family died out early at Crabbet, but it was ably perpetuated by both *MAHAL and *NESSA in this country.

It was a stroke of genius that, also in 1905, Borden introduced the RODANIA female line to America with his importation of the dowager queen mother of Crabbet, *ROSE OF SHARON. Borden’s coup in obtaining the most celebrated of Crabbet’s early matrons must be considered in light of her unparalleled international influence.

The RODANIA daughters spread the influence of Crabbet breeding to virtually every other Arabian horse breeding base in the world. *ROSE OF SHARON’s mare line would carry forward in American breeding by her tail female descendants imported later from Crabbet. Her uniquely American contributions to the breed came via her son *RODAN and daughter ROSA RUGOSA, dam of the important Maynesboro sire SIDI.

The two remaining branches of RODANIA’s family were brought to America later and also became firmly established here. The RODANIA daughter ROSEMARY is represented by *ROKHSA, imported in 1918 by W.R.Brown, *RAIDA, imported in 1926 by Kellogg, *RISHAFIEH, imported in 1932 by Selby, and *KADIRA, imported 1939 by J.M. Dickinson. The ROSE OF JERICHO branch was established by the 1926 Kellogg imports *ROSSANA, *RASIMA and *RASAFA, and the 1930 Selby ones *RASMINA and *ROSE OF FRANCE.

1906: *WADDUDA, *RESHAN, *ABEYAH, *URFAH, *WERDI, *HADBA

IN 1906 HOMER DAVENPORT imported 27 Arabian horses directly from the desert. This importation would be the largest genetic contribution unique to American Arabian horse breeding. Six of Davenport’s desert mares would establish mare lines, and each would be represented on the leading dams of champions lists. For many years the leading dam of champions, BINT SAHARA, and her runner-up daughter FERSARA, are of *WADDUDA’s line. SAKI, whose champion produce record would come to equal BINT SAHARA’s, was of *WERDI’s family.

As in the case of each of these mares, Davenport breeding blended wonderfully well with that of other early CMK sourcess, the result being realized in some of the best representatives of the breed in history. Interestingly, some of Davenport’s desert sources were the same breeders from whom the Blunts had purchased foundation stock nearly 30 years earlier. The success Davenport, and later W.R.Brown, Harris, Kellogg, Hearst and Selby realized in combining Davenport and Crabbet breeding represented in some cases a recombining of lines derived from the same desert sources.

Davenport mare lines survive both in straight Davenport breeding programs and inextricably within the larger CMK breeding group. Their contribution of classic desert type and quality can still readily be identified.

1909: BINT HELWA

APART FROM HOMER DAVENPORT, there was no one to compare to the spirited patronage of Spencer Borden for the Arabian horse in America at the turn of the century. Borden’s visits to the Crabbet Stud and his lively correspondence with Lady Anne Blunt were to gain him respect and favor in securing some of the best individuals of that Stud. And so in 1909 Borden would again bring a grande dame of Crabbet to American shores, the Ali Pasha Sherif bred *GHAZALA, daughter of the Crabbet family foundress BINT HELWA.

BINT HELWA’s line was a third to take hold in America but die out at Crabbet. And take hold it did in the two illustrious *GHAZALA daughters, GULNARE and GUEMURA. Two other branches of the BINT HELWA family would later provide foundation mares to American CMK breeding in *HAMIDA, *HAZNA and *HILWE.

1910: DAJANIA and *LISA

THE NEXT YEAR A FIFTH Crabbet family line would reach America in the DAJANIA mare *NARDA II, imported by F. Lothrop Ames. *NARDA II, a daughter of NARGHILEH, was purchased in foal to RIJM and the next year foaled *NOAM, a three-quarters sister to *NASIK, *Nureddin II and NESSIMA.

The DAJANIA family would be greatly distinguished at Crabbet and in America as producers of some of the greatest sires in the history of the breed: the aforementioned *NASIK and *Nureddin II, and NASEEM, INDIAN GOLD, *NIZZAM, INDIAN MAGIC, *SERAFIX, ELECTRIC SILVER and *SILVER DRIFT. In America the DAJANIA line sires included INDRAFF, RAPTURE and AARAF.

Later *INDAIA was imported by Roger Selby and *INCORONATA by Kellogg, bringing the imported family of DAJANIA mares to just four.

Also in 1910, the mare *LISA was imported by C.P.Hatch. She was listed as having been “bred in the desert” and registered as black. *LISA’s family line survives via one daughter, ALIXE by *HAURAN. ALIXE’s breeder was Warren Delano of Barrytown, NY. ALIXE in turn produced three daughters by JERREDE (*Euphrates x *Nejdme), and of these JERAL and NARADA bred on.

1918: FERIDA and SOBHA

THE MAYNESBORO STUD IN Berlin, NH was founded in 1912 by William Robinson Brown. Brown’s foundation stock was acquired in the beginning from other American breeders. It was, in fact, via Maynesboro that key links with some of the earliest CMK bloodlines were to be carried forward.

In 1918 Brown made an importation of 17 horses from the Crabbet Stud. Brown’s purchase would be a timely one for CMK breeding in that advantage was taken, purposely or not, of the legal feud between Lady Wentworth and her father Wilfrid Blunt, after Lady Anne Blunt’s death. Certain Crabbet horses were acquired by Brown which might otherwise never have left the Stud. This was especially true of the phenomenal *BERK.

The 1918 Maynesboro importation introduced the FERIDA family to North America in the two-yr-old chestnut filly *FELESTIN. *FELESTIN’s dam FEJR (Rijm x Feluka) also produced the stallions FARIS and FERHAN, sires in turn of the important English breeding horses RISSALIX and INDIAN GOLD.

A second, more prolific, branch of the FERIDA family was established eight years later with the importation of the celebrated FELUKA daughter, *FERDA, by W.K.Kellogg. Ten years after her importation, half the horses at the Kellogg Ranch would be descended from *FERDA, such was the value of this FERIDA line mare.

The 1918 Maynesboro importation also brought a seventh Crabbet family to America in the SOBHA representative, *SIMAWA, a mare who would later become important to the breeding program of Albert Harris. Selby and Kellogg would each make astute importations of SOBHA line mares in *SELMNAB (imported 1930) and *CRABBET SURA (imported 1936).

The most acclaimed branch of the SOBHA family did not reach America until the 1950s. This was the line of Lady Wentworth’s unforgettable SILVER FIRE.

1921 and 1922: *BALKIS II and *KOLA

W.R. BROWN WAS A U.S. ARMY Remount agent, and it was a major purpose of his breeding program that Arabians be bred as suitable mounts for cavalry. It was probably with this in mind that in 1921 and ’22 he imported Arabian horses from France, a country long esteemed for breeding cavalry horses.

Brown’s French importation was in keeping with the tradition of Huntington, Borden, Bradley and Davenport, who touted the utilitarian supremacy of the Arabian horse, promoting the Arabian for American cavalry use.

Two of the French mares would establish mare lines at Maynesboro. The *BALKIS II granddaughter FOLLYAT and the *KOLA daughters FADIH and FATH were broodmatrons which especially earned respect for the contribution of French breeding to the CMK foundation.

1924: QUEEN OF SHEBA

THE SOLE REPRESENTATIVE of the Crabbet family of QUEEN OF SHEBA to breed on in CMK founder lines was *ANA (Dwarka x Amida), imported to America in 1924. *ANA would produce two daughters for her importer Albert Harris. She was later sold to Philip Wrigley for whom she was to produce four more daughters including the notable ADIBIYEH.

*ANA was full sister to *ALDEBAR, bred by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and imported by Henry Babson.

1928: *NOURA and MAKBULA

AMEEN RIHANI OF NEW YORK imported three Arabians from the desert in 1928, a stallion *SAOUD and two mares, *NOURA and her daughter *MUHA. A thin but well-regarded line was to come from these mares. *NOURA’s family would be famously represented by Margaret Shuey’s elegant matron MY BONNIE NYLON.

Roger Selby’s Crabbet importation of 1928 introduced the MAKBULA family to America in the small-statured, exquiste *KAREYMA. *KAREYMA would prove to be one of Selby’s best purchases from Crabbet, judging by the excellence of her produce. Selby would bring three more representatives of the MAKBULA line to Ohio in 1930 with the importation of *KIYAMA, *JERAMA and *NAMILLA.

1929: *MALOUMA

IN 1929 HERMAN FRANK of Los Angeles imported *MALOUMA, the first of two Egyptian lines to be incorporated into the foundation of CMK breeding. *MALOUMA was purchased by Kellogg for whom she produced the four daughters which carry on her line.

1931: *LA TISA

IN 1931 THE CHICAGO INDUSTRIALIST and philanthropist Charles Crane made a trip to the Middle East and came back with some Arabian horses, gifts from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz, who had not met an American before Crane. Crane dispatched a geologist engineer to Arabia in search of oil and water.

This exchange of favors between Crane and the Saudi ruler resulted in ARAMCO’s being established as Saudi Arabia’s petroleum exploration and development partner–a partnership which only too obviously has shaped American foreign policy to this day.

Crane’s two fillies, *LA TISA and *MAHSUDHA, reportedly were of quality and beauty in keeping with the rest of his venture. *LA TISA would establish a family which has carried forward into CMK breeding.

1932: BINT YAMAMA

W.R.BROWN INTRODUCED A second Egyptian mare line to CMK breeding with the 1932 importation of seven Arabians bred by Prince Mohammed Ali of Cairo. All were of the BINT YAMAMA family line, which was perpetuated by the four mares: *RODA and *AZIZA, daughters of NEGMA; *H.H. MOHAMMED ALI’S HAMAMA and *H.H. MOHAMMED ALI’S HAMIDA, both out of the famed NEGMA daughter MAHROUSSA. The Maynesboro Egyptian importation had been made at the same time as Henry Babson’s importation of six horses also from Egypt.

Interestingly, the origins of the Egyptian horses can be traced back in part to Abbas Pasha/Ali Pasha Sherif stock of the Blunt’s day. The exact origin of BINT YAMAMA and her relationship to early Blunt horses is a mystery yet to be solved.

1934: ZULIMA

IN 1934, JIM AND EDNA Draper of Richmond, California brought home five Arabians from Spain. Four of the five were mares, and all of the same female line, that of the Spanish ZULIMA through SIRIA. The elegant grey *NAKKLA was purchased by Kellogg’s and incorporated into that breeding program. The Drapers retained the SIRIA daughters *MECA and *MENFIS (dam of *NAKKLA) and *MECA’s daughter *BARAKAT, breeding them to CMK stallions.

The Draper Spanish mares produced admirably, gaining a place of pride within the CMK tradition. Edna Draper holds the distinction of being the last importer of CMK foundation stock still living.

1947: *NAJWA, *LAYYA, *KOUHAILANE, *LEBNANIAH, *RAJWA, *NOUWAYRA

THE LAST DESERT CONTRIBUTION considered a part of CMK foundation breeding was the Hearst importation of 1947. This was the largest group of Arabians brought directly from the Arabian desert countries since that of Homer Davenport.

The Hearst Ranch had been established with the purchase of Maynesboro stock upon that farm’s dispersal, which included the Maynesboro sires RAHAS, REHAL, GHAZI and GULASTRA. Hearst had also purchased Kellogg stock, bring about a parallel breeding program to that Stud’s.

The Hearst importation included eight mares (*RAJWA was accompanied by her daughter *BINT RAJWA), all but one of which contributed to the CMK breeding tradition.

1953: HAGAR

HAGAR, THE “JOURNEY MARE,” was the Blunts’ second acquisition in the desert, but it took 75 years before her female line reached America to stay. HAGAR was purchased to carry Wilfrid Blunt from Aleppo to Baghdad and back to Damascus on the Blunts’ 1878 journey. She proved admirably up to the task and earned praise from Lady Anne in her journals.

HAGAR was sent to England as part of the foundation of the Crabbet Stud. She was sold to the Hon. Ethelred Dillon for whose Puddlicote Stud HAGAR proved a foundress. The first HAGAR breeding reached America in 1905 via the important Dillon-bred *NESSA’s sire *HAURAN and another HAGAR son, HAIL.

There was still no HAGAR female line in America when hers became another family lost to Crabbet. The line persisted through Miss Dillon’s ZEM ZEM and through HOWA, foundation mare of the Harwood Stud. ZEM ZEM and her daughter ZOBEIDE were left to Borden by Miss Dillon’s will, but left no further registered progeny.

It was not until 1953 that the HAGAR family would reach American shores and be carried on into CMK breeding. This came about when seven mares from Holland’s Rodania Stud (Dr. H.C.E.M. Houtappel) were imported to New York by T. Cremer. The mares were *CHADIGA, *FAIKA, *LATIFAA, *FATIMAA, *RITLA, *LEILA NAKHLA and *MISHKA.

With HAGAR’s line, American breeders had 10 mare families to carry on the Crabbet breeding base.

THESE, THEN, ARE THE ORIGINAL CMK MARE FAMILIES. They have been combined in American horse breeding history to form one genetic legacy uniquely American–CMK. The timeless quality of CMK mares should be obvious to all fanciers of the Arabian horse, but it would appear to fall to a few to recognize that an effort must be made to conserve the identity of these irreplaceable lines for posterity.

This treatment reflected the CMK dam line picture before the 1993 revision of the CMK Definition. — MB

Line-Breeding And In-Breeding

by BEN HUR (Western Horseman May/Jun’45)

[Ed. Note: Today Ibrahim is accepted as a Desert-Bred stallion. See footnote (1) below]

Aarah No. 1184, chestnut Arabian mare owned by Ben Hur Farms, and her filly foal, Aarafa No. 2870, by Champion Raffles. She and all in her pedigree, including the fourth generation, have the blood of the tap-root stallion, Zobeyni — a striking example of line-breeding.


What kind of a stallion would you select to mate to your mares to improve the quality of the foal? Would your first consideration be that the stallion and mares be unrelated? Or would you select the best stallion available, with the best breeding (pedigree) regardless of his relationship to the mares?

Do you study the pedigrees of prospective sires? Do you know their breeding, and do you have the pedigree of your mares? Marked improvement in your foals can be made regardless of the kind of mares you have. You may have Pintos, Palominos, Quarter Horses, Morgans, Albinos, Arabians or American Saddle horses or just plain Stock Horses. By selecting the right kind of stallion you can make improvements each generation. The better the breeding of your mares, the more nearly pure in blood, the greater improvement in the foals.

Line-breeding and in-breeding are the old and time-proven methods by which breed improvement has been made in the past. This is true in cattle, horses, sheep, poultry, dogs. All our present day breeds are the result of close line-breeding and often, intense in-breeding. There is no mystery where our finest horse, cattle, sheep and dogs came from. A study of their pedigrees will reveal the facts. Owners of pedigreed animals are well aware of the importance of line-breeding and in-breeding. However, you, too, with grade mares may, by a definite breeding program and the proper selection of a stallion, employ the same methods of improvement in the foals.

Let us study the breeding of Arabians. They are pure in blood and their pedigrees extend back many generations. Pedigrees of Thoroughbreds, Morgans, American Saddle horses, as well as Arabians, all reveal the same fact, i.e., that there have been certain outstanding males every so often that have dominated and influenced all succeeding generations. The male exerts a far greater influence in breed improvement than the female, due solely to the numerical supremacy of off-spring. A mare may have twenty foals in a lifetime, but a stallion may get fifty or one hundred foals a year for ten to twenty years.

Zobeyni, famous Arabian stallion more than 100 years ago, furnishes an interesting study. Pedigrees of Arabians back five or six generations seldom show his name. But his blood is the greatest influence today among Arabians in England, the United States, Egypt, Australia, South America or whenever there are pure Arabians. It is more difficult to find Arabians without his blood, than with it. Zobeyni was a grey Seglawi Jedran stallion of the strain of Ibn Sbeyni of the Mehed tribe of the Fedaan Anazeh Bedouins, bred in Arabia and imported to Egypt early in the 19th century where he became enormously important in the world-famous stud of Abbas Pacha I. He is the founder of the male line that has been most successful throughout the world the past century. His great grandson, Mesaoud, and great, great grandson, Skowronek(1), are each in turn contributing as much or more than their illustrious ancestors to the success of Arabians in the 20th century.

Skowronek, bred in Poland, was later used as leading stallion at Lady Wentworth’s Crabbet Stud in England, from where his blood has gone to all parts of the world where Arabians are bred.

Mesaoud, grandson of the tap-root stallion, Zobeyni. Bred in Egypt, he was taken to England, then to Russia.

Arab tribes in the desert followed the custom of giving the strain and family name of the mare to the foal, rather than the name of the sire. The custom, followed in this country for a number of years, led to confusion and misunderstanding. The foal, given the strain name of its dam, might be, and in nearly every instance was, from a number of other strains and with many more related bloodlines on the male side than the female. As a result of this confusion, The Arabian Horse Club of America several years ago discontinued the practice of giving strain names to Arabians registered with them.

A study of the pedigrees with this article illustrates the fallacy of blindly following and giving breeding value to the strain name of the dam. Champion Raffles, for example, has been referred to as Kehilan for four generations back. Had the custom been followed of giving the strain name of the sire to the foal it will be readily seen that Raffles would be a Seglawi Jedran, from his illustrious male line — Skowronek, Ibrahim, Heijer, Mahruss, Wazir and Zobeyni.

Champion Raffles, owned by Roger Selby, Portsmouth, Ohio, bred by Lady Wentworth in England. As son and grandson of Skowronek, he is an example of successful in-breeding and line-breeding from the Zobeyni line.

Aaraf, foaled in 1943, sired by *Raffles, out of Aarah. Note resemblance to Mesaoud, who appears nine times in pedigree.

To the student of pedigrees and breeding it will be apparent that there is vastly more involved than a custom in this instance. These pedigrees aptly illustrate the vastly greater importance and influence of the male line in most pedigrees. Raffles goes back to Zobeyni not once but twelve times, out of thirty-two ancestors in the sixth generation. Rose of Sharon, the great grand-dam of Raffles in the sixth generation, whose strain or family name of Kehilan has been arbitrarily given by those who still follow this custom, appears in his pedigree but once. We leave it to the reader to decide whether the male Zobeyni (Seglawi) line or the female Rose of Sharon (Kehilan) blood and influence is the stronger.

The questionable value placed on strain and family names of the dam is shown in the pedigree of Raffles in that there are seven different strain names out of thirty-two names in the sixth generation and nine names of unknown strain names.

Abu Zeyd, son of Mesaoud, was foaled in England, imported to United States in 1904 by Homer Davenport.

The pedigree of the Arabian mare, Aarah, pictured with this article, shows that she is bred along the same lines as Raffles, in fact, they are very much in line. Aarah, like Raffles, would be Kehilan from her dam’s side, but take time to count — 18 of her 32 ancestors in the sixth generation are sons and daughters of grandsons and daughters of the famous Zobeyni, a Seglawi. Mesaoud, illustrious great grandson of Zobeyni, and also a Seglawi through his dam, appears eight times in the pedigree of Aarah. Is there reason then for similarity of appearance of Aarah and Mesaoud?

Aaraf and Aarafa, out of Aarah and by Raffles, follow to a marked degree the type and markings of Mesaoud. The pedigree of Raffles shows Mesaoud twice which added to that of Aarah makes Mesaoud appear ten times in the pedigrees of Aaraf and Aarafa and numerical superiority is the answer. We must not assume that success in breeding is a mathematical problem of addition and multiplication. Breeders have universally found it safe to follow the rule of eliminating from the pedigree the undesirable and animals of doubtful value and to multiply as often as possible the highly desirable animals. The blood of Zobeyni, for example, appears in 12 out of 16 ancestors of Aarah in the fifth generation and Zobeyni is a common ancestor in eight out of eight ancestors of Aarah in the fifth generation and Zobeyni is a common ancestor in eight out of eight ancestors in the fourth generation, yet without direct, closeup in-breeding.

What is in-breeding? The commonly accepted definition is that of mating dam to son, as in the case of Rifala, daughter of Skowronek, back to Skowronek, or sire bred to daughter, the two most commonly practiced. There may be several other close variations of in-breeding, brother and sister, half-brother and sister, dam to grandson, sire to granddaughter.

In-breeding has been found to be most successful where there has been a previous successful outcross. Ibrahim, sire of Skowronek, it will be noted, is an example of the closest kind of line-breeding in that in the fourth generation Wazir, sired by Zobeyni, appears three times and his full sister Horra, once, mated to a grandson of Zobeyni. Eleven of 14 of Ibrahim’s ancestors in the first four generations are close up in the blood of Zobeyni. Ibrahim, taken to Poland from Egypt, and out-crossed on the Polish Arabian mare, Yaskoulka, not directly related, produced Skowronek, whose blood is found in Arabians around the world today. The blood of Skowronek was intensified in his get, Raffles, when he was bred to his daughter, Rifala, thus giving Raffles three-fourths of the blood of Skowronek, combined with the blood of Mesaoud of the same line of breeding.

The predominate blood of a female line is harder to find among pedigrees of horses of live stock, not because there are not highly desirable females but in the case of horses, because of the limit placed on reproduction in the mare as compared to the stallion.

*Raffles No 952

Grey Arabian Stallion —

 

Wazir * s

Mahruss*

BF Saouda w

Heijer*

Wazir

B Jamila*

Ghazieh s

Ibrahim*

Aziz * d

a Seg-Jed*

Horra * s

La Fitte*

Wazir *

Makbula*

M Kebira k

SIRE

Skowronek*

Cercle

Kortez

Gonta

Rymnik

Kohejlan

Hama

Caramba

Yaskoulka

—–

Derwisz

—–

Epopeja

O Maciuk

Lira

Kreolka k

 

 

Mahruss * w

Heijer *

B Jamila s

Ibrahim

a Seg-Jed

La Fitte*

Makbula * k

Skowronek*

Kortez

Rymnik

Gonta

Yaskoulka

Derwisz

Epopea

Lira

DAM

Rifala*

Mesaoud * s

Seyal*

Sobha * h

Berk*

Ahmar a

Bukra

Bozra s

Rissla*

Aziz * d

Mesaoud*

Yemameh s

Risala

Merzuk * k

Ridaa*

R Sharon k

    * Asterisk after the name denotes those with the ancient, tap-root, desert-bred stallion, Zobeyni, as an ancestor, founder of the male line that has been most successful in England and the U.S. the past century.

    The small lettes after the names in the sixth generation denote the family strain names, k — Kehilan; s — Seglawi; a — Abeyan; b — Sh. Sba; d–D. Shahwan; h — Hamdani; w — W. Hursan.

    The capital letters before certain names are, R — Rose; M — Makbula; O — Obejan; B — Bint; F — Faras. ……

 

AARAH No. 1184 Chestnut Arabian Mare —

Mesaoud * s

Seyal*

Sobha * h

Berk*

Ahmar

Bukra

Bozra

Ribal*

I Mahruss * s

Rijm*

R Sharon k

Rijma*

Mesaoud * s

Risala*

Ridaa * k

SIRE

Ghadaf*

Mesaoud * s

Harb*

B Helwa * s

Rodan*

Hadban h

R Sharon

Rodania k

Gulnare*

Sottam n

I Sherara

Sheara k

Ghazala*

Aziz * d

B Helwa*

Helwa * s

 

Ibn Nura * d

Feysul*

El Argaa k

I Yashmak*

Shahwan * d

Yashmak*

Yemama k

Rizvan*

I Mahruss * s

Rijm*

R Sharon k

Rijma*

Mesaoud * s

Risala*

Ridaa * k

DAM

Nadirat*

Aziz * d

Mesaoud*

Yemameh s

Abu Zeyd*

Azrek s

R Diamond

R Jericho k

Nusara*

I Mahruss * s

Rijm*

R Sharon k

Noam*

Rejeb * k

Narda II *

Narghileh * k

    * Asterisk after the name denotes those with the ancient, tap-root, desert-bred stallion, Zobeyni, as an ancestor, founder of the male line that has been most successful in England and the U.S. the past century.

    The small letters after the names in the sixth generation denote the family strain names: k — Kehilan; s — Seglawi; d — D Shahwan; h — Hamdani; a — Abeyan; n — D Nejib; h — H Enzeki.

    Capital letters before names denote R – Rose; I — Ibn; B — Bint.

The Arabian mare Rodania, celebrated mare of the desert, captured by the Gomussa tribe, sold to the Blunts, and taken to their Crabbet stud, England, in 1881, is the most striking example of the female influence. Note her daughters in these pedigrees and the number of times they appear — Rose of Sharon, Rose of Jericho, and her granddaughters Rose Diamond and Ridaa, and grandsons, Rijm, Rodan and Rejeb. The pedigrees of Raffles and Aarah in connection with this articles illustrate the concentration of blood of a male and female line of successful line-breeding and the more controversial in-breeding. You may apply the practical application of these results in breeding to your own horses, no matter what breed or type.

(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

See also:

Skowronek — Magic Progenitor