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The CMK Heritage
Michael Bowling copyright 1995
The Arabian breeding tradition now summarized in the phrase Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg was founded on the evaluation of horses on their individual merits; the CMK pedigree definition developed out of the study of the horses. CMK specializes in preservation breeding of the Arabian horse as established in North America before 1950, the most eclectic and freely-recombining gene pool in world Arabian history. Its roots go back to the Arabian desert through the efforts of the original breeders of England, Poland, Egypt, France and Spain. As with many other subsets of the Arab-breeding tradition, CMK includes desert sources unique to itself. The most pervasive of these are the 1906 imports of Homer Davenport; a later-arriving set is the Hearst horses of 1947. CMK character has been shaped by the individual visions of its historical breeders; only the bare outline can be given here.
The Crabbet Arab stands with respect to modern Arabian horse breeding, as the Arab does to the light horse breeds; its influence is all-pervading. Genetically, through exports of horses, and philosophically, through the circulation of their ideas on type and breeding, the Blunts and Lady Wentworth influenced the direction taken by most of the Western Arab-breeding countries. No short treatment can do justice to the history of Crabbet and its horses, or to the three brilliant and complex characters who founded and developed it. Very briefly, as a result of their experience with the Arab horse on their desert journeys, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt began breeding Arabians at Crabbet Park in 1878 with desertbreds including AZREK and RODANIA. To this very solid base they added such influences as MESAOUD and SOBHA, bred in Egypt from the stock of Abbas Pasha and Ali Pasha Sherif. In her turn the Blunts daughter Lady Wentworth introduced a key outcross in the Polish SKOWRONEK.
North American Arabian breeding also traces its beginnings back to 1878, for in that year the stallions *LEOPARD and *LINDEN TREE were presented by the Sultan of Turkey to former President Grant. These horses attracted the attention of a sophisticated trotting horse breeder, Randolph Huntington, who saw in them the opportunity to found a national horse for the United States. Huntingtons Americo-Arab project, based on the Grant stallions and mares by the trotting horse HENRY CLAY, was doomed to disappear. He did found a more lasting tradition when he imported the Old English (non-Crabbet) Arabian mare *NAOMI and sent her to *LEOPARD. The resulting foal of 1890, ANAZEH, was the first Arabian bred in North America to leave registered descent. Huntington imported three other Arabians from England, a daughter and two grandsons of *NAOMI.
In 1893 the Arabian horses of the Hamidie Hippodrome Society were sideshow exhibits at the Chicago Worlds Fair. Five of the Hamidie imports found their way into modern pedigrees, including *OBEYRAN whose daughter AARED founded the family to which BINT SAHARA belongs. Perhaps more importantly, they introduced the political cartoonist Homer Davenport to Arabian horses and led to his own desert journey and importation a few years later.
J.A.P. Ramsdell was an Arabian breeder for only a few years, but appears to have made an effort to collect the best stock available. His effective foundation mare was the best of the Hamidie mares, *NEJDME. Her descendants are prominent in modern pedigrees. Ramsdells sires were the Ali Pasha Sherif stallion *SHAHWAN, imported from Crabbet; *GARAVEEN, bought from Huntington; and Davenports famous Crabbet stallion *ABU ZEYD.
Spencer Bordens Interlachen Stud was the premier North American Arabian nursery of its day. Borden imported horses from the Blunts and from other English breeders; his most important individuals were the great mares *ROSE OF SHARON, a major producer at Crabbet and dam for Borden of *RODAN and ROSA RUGOSA; and *GHAZALA, bred by Ali Pasha Sherif, dam of GUEMURA and GULNARE. These are still accounted classical sources of quality in Arabian breeding.
Homer Davenport is responsible for the single largest contribution to the uniqueness of American Arabian breeding. At least 20 of his 27 desert imports have bred on into modern pedigrees. The Davenports represented an unusually broad cross section of the desert stock, for the tribes were in summer quarters at the time of his journey and he was able to contact more of them in the time available than could otherwise have been the case. *HAMRAH and *DEYR became the most influential of the Davenport sires, while there are too many healthy Davenport female lines to list; *WADDUDA and *URFAH are particularly influential.
W.R. Browns Maynesboro Stud was the successor to Bordens as the premier Crabbet nursery in North America, though in fact neither Brown nor Borden set out to breed straight Crabbet horses, or likely ever thought in such terms. At any rate the Crabbet and Old English heritage of the Borden, Ramsdell and Huntington stock would not be represented as strongly as it is in modern breeding were it not for Browns use of those lines at Maynesboro. The earlier Crabbet imports *RODAN, *ABU ZEYD and *ASTRALED were to leave their most influential descent through Maynesboro breeding. Browns own imports from Crabbet included the great sire *BERK and at least nine mares destined to found influential families. The publication of excerpts from the journals of Lady Anne Blunt throws an exciting light on the pedigrees of the Maynesboro imports. Wilfrid Blunt, shortly after his wifes death, systematically sold off her most prized animals or their surviviving offspring; many of the horses favorably referred to by Lady Anne in her journals are closely represented in Maynesboro pedigrees.
The Maynesboro Arabians represent the strongest surviving sources of many of the most esteemed early Crabbet lines, lines which in some cases are lost, or nearly so, from modern English breeding. GULASTRA, GHAZI, REHAL, RAHAS were just a few of the major sires bred at Maynesboro. The mare line founders include GHAZAWI, GHANIGAT, BAZRAH, RABIYAT, GHAZAYAT, RAAD, BAHREYN and NUSARA.
Maynesboro was not a farm where Arabians were kept in padded stalls. The horses were used for family riding and worked in light harness, and most visibly, took part in the U.S. Mounted Service Competitions, better known as the Army endurance rides. Both Borden and Brown had worked to get the Arab recognized as the natural horse for the U.S. Cavalry. Even though Browns horses retired the Mounted Service Cup by winning three of the Army rides, there were not enough Arabs to mount the Cavalry. The U.S. Remount did accept the Arab as worth standing to grade mares to breed potential cavalry mounts.
Brown also imported Arabians from France and Egypt. The Maynesboro French influence survives most strongly today through the mares FOLLYAT and FATH. The former is ancestress of MUHULI, AURAB and KONTIKI, while the latter produced ALYF and was granddam of the Selby matriarch WOENGRAN. The Brown Egyptians are still widely influential, including such familiar names as *NASR, *ZARIFE, *RODA, *AZIZA, and *HH MOHAMMED ALIS HAMIDA.
The next major nursery in North America was W.K. Kelloggs California stud at Pomona, diagonally across the continent from the New England beginnings outlined so far. Kellogg began with horses of Davenport breeding, and his stud played the same role in terms of that group as Browns did with the Borden, Huntington and Ramsdell stock: much of the Davenport influence in modern Arabian breeding is there because the Kellogg management bought horses of this breeding, used some of them and placed others where they profited from the opportunity.
Crabbet Arabians were introduced almost immediately; Lady Wentworth was now at the helm and for financial reasons, horses were made available that might otherwise have been kept. The Kellogg importation of 1926 introduced the SKOWRONEK influence to North America, a fact which sometimes overshadows the other important Crabbet sources represented. *NASIK and *FERDIN were the other breeding stallions of this importation; the latter became a broodmare sire of note. The aged *NASIK, with few crops left to him, gave quality daughters, the top broodmare sires FARANA and SIKIN, and founded a distinguished male line especially through RIFNAS. *RASEYN by SKOWRONEK left 135 registered foals and became one of the most influential sires in the history of the breed, with FERSEYN and SUREYN his most noted sons. *FERDA, *RIFLA, *ROSSANA, BAHREYN and *RASIMA were chief mares of this group. Maynesboro horses also played a prominent role at the Kellogg establishment. The Brown mares referring not to color but to their breeder produced some of the best of the Kellogg stock. RABIYAS, the last foal bred by W.R. Brown, was for years the Kellogg head sire, numbering among his offspring the horse probably most readily associated today with the Kellogg name the great ABU FARWA. Arabians from other sources, including the Draper Spanish import *NAKKLA and the Tahawia mare *MALOUMA, bred in Egypt from desert parents, became important members of the Kellogg program.
Once again, the Arab as the horse for cavalry was an important theme; in fact the Kellogg ranch and horses were donated to the Remount. For some years the program was run by the Army before it became part of Cal Poly Pomona, but by that time the Kellogg influence in Arabian breeding had extended far beyond the Pomona location.
Shortly after the Kellogg project began, Roger Selby started his own series of importations from Crabbet. The success of *RAFFLES makes it easy to overlook the desertbred *MIRAGE; *SELMIAN, the only NASEEM son to come to this country; and the *NASIK grandson *MIRZAM. A number of Selby-imported mares founded major families, again including branches of lines which were lost in England. Selby also used Davenport mare lines, most extensively through WOENGRAN and AATIKA, though CHRALLAH produced two major *RAFFLES sons. The influence of the Selby Stud on Arabian breeding in North America has been profound, and any number of programs have been founded on the *RAFFLES or *RAFFLES-*MIRAGE influence in combination with assorted mare lines.
The last hurrah of the CMK founder programs came in 1947: Preston Dyer imported 14 Arabians from Lebanon and Syria for the publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Nearly all still are represented in pedigrees, though not as widely so as lines which had 50 years' head start. Hearst himself had owned Arabians for decades. His solid breeding program was founded on Kellogg and Maynesboro stock; the 1947 stallions such as *MOUNWER, *GHAMIL and *ZAMAL bred on particularly well, and most of the mares founded families.
Within the CMK tradition, individual breeders may emphasize different sources of the old stock, and make use of additional Blunt samples provided by more recent English or Australian imports. Ingredient names such as Crabbet or Davenport are used in two different senses in talking about modern stock; these foundation animals are spread throughout the breed and highly valued in CMK circles; a subset of their influence is prized in the form of modern straight breeding.
Latterly CMK has emphasized maintaining direct inheritance from the old founder sire and dam lines. The constant theme is that of selection toward an ideal combining Arabian character with riding conformation, performance ability and a mental outlook which accepts training. This is the kind of Arabian the Blunts and Davenport brought home from the desert, the kind that won the Army rides for Brown, the kind that can still be competitive in todays complex Arabian scene.