The practical usefulness of Raswan’s strain theory is dependent on the application to horse breeding practice of a body of secondary principles of strain breeding which derive from, or are implied by his major concepts on the subject. In terms of logic, these could be termed “corollaries.” Raswan expressed them in various places: sometimes in articles, often in letters, often in personal conversation. There is no telling how many such principles he developed, the total number must be great. Some of them are included here:

Corollary 1: The female side of a pedigree is more important than the male side. In marking pedigrees of specific horses, Raswan typically called special attention to the occurrence of patterns on the female side of a pedigree. Thus, for the present writer, the presence of Kuhaylan elements on the female side of the pedigrees of Dharebah and Dharanah were especially noted. In a letter dated February 12, 1952, to Dr. J.L. Doyle, he wrote, “the important line is of the Dam“. In his “‘Key’ to Arabian Pedigrees” he makes references to the special importance of the influence of the dam’s side of the pedigree as applied to all three strain-breeding groups. This, of course, is consistent with the Bedouin breeding practice of tracing strain inheritance through the dam.

Corollary 2: Arabian type is influenced by strains according to their proportional importance in a pedigree. In evaluating a specific pedigree, Raswan typically calculated the percentages of the major strains present. Individuality of the horse was considered in large part to be represented by the majority strain influence present. He made the point that this might be different from the actual tail-female strain of the pedigree, which technically determains an animal’s strain of registration. In this way, Farana, a registered Mu’niqi, is shown to be predominantly Kuhaylan. Ronek was described as “A registered Seqlawi, but by pedigree he proves to be 7/8 Kuhaylan and only 1/8 Saqlawi.” (Western Horseman: “Undistinguished Types of Arabian Horses“). As Arabian strains have developed in complex modern pedigrees, the actual tail-female strain of an Arabian horse seldom indicates the predominant strain in its pedigree.

Corollary 3: After enough removal, the strain of a given ancesor no longer contributes to individuality. In his Western Horseman article “Breeding to Arabian Type,” Raswan writes, “When we come to five generations (or more) removed from unrelated strains, we enter the domain of the perfect Arabain horses. They are practically (and for many reasons) as good as those who never carried a drop of unrelated blood.” As applied to modern breeding, this corollary effectively removes concern which most breeders might have for Mu’niqi elements in their horses’ pedigree. The fact is that Mu’niqi influence in most modern bloodlines traces to very remote pedigree elements which have seldom concentrated in their descendents. They are usually too far back to count for much, if anything. Some of the best domestic American bloodlines are Mu’niqi in tail-female and are therefore of that strain, as far as registration is concerned. This is seldom the predominant strain in their pedigrees and has little if any relationship to how they appear or how they breed.

The same lack of concern is not necessarily warranted for other “unrelated” pedigree elements.

Corollary 4: When animals of mixed strains background but of the same strain are bred to each other, classic type intensifies. This was the basis of “pure-in-strain” breeding, which consisted of breeding animals of the same strain to each other. Raswan maintained that “Orthodox Bedouins always bred Arabians pure in the strain!” (Western Horseman “Pure Strains of Arabians.”) He felt that “plus points” accumulated in working towards the reappearance of classic Arabian type for each generation of breeding in a pedigree in which animals of the same strains were bred to each other through the sixth generation of breeding. (“‘Key’ to Arabian Pedigrees”) “‘Fanatics’ aim at purity of strain…by faithful adherence to the same strain. When that one particular strain has been used throughout five generations, an Arabian horse of the original type of the desert has been recreated.” (From Western Horseman, “Breeding to Arabian Type.”)

Corollary 5: The Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains are related and their type characteristics are complementary. Somewhat in contradiction to corollary 4 above, in personal conversation as in some of his written work, Raswan maintained that the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains were very much alike with only minor differences and that they could be bred to each other to produce an ideal Arabian.” … The mixing of the two classic-antique types, (1) the Kuhaylan (including its substrains) and (2) the Saqlawi (including its substrains), does no harm, as far as Arabian characteristics, harmonious proportions, symmetrical lines and the balance of the whole horse are concerned.” (Western Horseman “Related Strains of Arabians“)

In personal conversation and in letters, Raswan sometimes recommended this type of crossing as he did to the present writer, to Dr. J.L. Doyle, and to Alice Payne. It is the writer’s impression that the cross between *Mirage and *Raffles bloodlines initiated at the Selby farm in the 1930s and subsequently followed at Never Die Farm and elsewhere, was in part at least the result of Raswan’s thought and/or recommendation. He sometimes used *Mirage as an example of Saqlawi type and *Raffles as an example of Kuhaylan type.

Corollary 6: Classic Arabian type emerges as the percentage of Mu’niqi of unrelated ancestry diminishes. “The most amazing imporvements occur when Arabians are at least four generations removed from any unrelated blood.” Western Horseman: “Breeding to Arabian Type“). In chart form, Raswan’s “‘Key’ to Arabian Pedigrees” establishes a graduated system of points of evalutation in which points of merit are subtracted according to how many Mu’niqi ancestors appear in the first six generations and added according to the number of generations the subject of a pedigree is removed from Mu’niqi ancestry.

Corollary 7: Physical type of an individual can be evidence of its strain background. This is illustrated by a passage from manuscript in the Pritzlaff collection:

“Each strain with its families is individually different… a Bedouin could without difficulty place a blooded Arabian stallion or mare in his or her different strain, because the distinctions of outward conformity are striking to the accustiomed eye. Likewise, the Arabian horse which comes of a mixed strain can be judged outwardly according to its descent, and a practiced eye can establish the various strains of the sires and grandsires…“

In 1925, Raswan wrote a letter to W.R. Brown, which is also included in the Pritzlaff Collection:

“If a Bedouin would come to your tent in the desert and ask for a fast enduring horse to save his life from a well mounted pursuer and you would offer him 3 mares to pick from: a Saklawi, a Kuhailan, a Miniqi–he would pick the Kuhailan Mare as sure as she would have to have 4 legs and he would not need to ask you which one was the Kuhailan mare, as he would know her from her looks and conformation!!“

Corollary 8: Strain breeding is not restricted to the production of “classic” Arabian type. Raswan’s theory also was applicable to the production of “non-classic” types, if the definition of “classic” is taken to be the picture-book kind of pretty Arabian. From the Richard Pritzlaff collection, in personal notation on the margin of pages torn out of Lady Wentworth’s The Authentic Arabian, he indicates that the Mu’niqi mares *Ferda and *Farasin were included in his famous 1926 importation from Crabbet to the Kellogg farm, because he “planned to cross these Mu’niqiyah mares to a Mu’niqi stallion in America (and could not get a pure Mu’niqiyah mare from Lady W. or anybody else in England and had to take what would match the Mu’niqi stallions in America.” (Underlining Raswan’s). Unfortunately, such matings were not done, but at a later date he was successful in carrying out or arranging breedings which concentrated the Mu’niqi strain. The writer has seen an example of the produce of this breeding, and it was, sure enough, recognizably what Raswan had described as Mu’niqi.

Raswan’s theory as to the influence of Mu’niqi pedigree elements is also useful in accounting for achieving certain desired results in modern Arabian breeding which are apart from goals of strictly “classic” breeding. Some of the features of Mu’niqi influence are very attractive to modern breeders, especially in the show context. Increased size, longer legs, longer necks, exaggeration of tail carriage, racing rear leg structure, and extra elements of “flash” are all components of individuality which can be enhanced by a level of influence of Mu’niqi or certain other blood that is unrelated to the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains.

Strain theory shows how such pedigree elements can be used to furnish these features and at the same time preserve some of the “classic” features of Arabian type, such as a pretty head and general “Arab” character. The trick is to have the sources of these elements close enough in a pedigree to have the desired effect, but far enough back so that the animal produced is attractive and balanced. A number of major current breeding programs are successful in achieving this balance.

What has been presented in this article is a version of elements of Raswan strain theory. Another writer on the same subject might well come up with a somewhat different account, but any person seriously attempting to represent Raswan’s work of record would at least have to give consideration to the main points stated here.

Would Raswan have agreed with the present article? Perhaps not. He was a man of extremely complicated thought processes. Although he had the gift of appearing to write very clearly, his work was by no means simple or easy to understand. Probably no one completely understood Raswan but Raswan.

It would be convenient if Raswan’s strain theory could be “proven.” That is unlikely to ever happen in any logical sense because of the difficulty of stating his thoughts in empirically verifiable format. Furthermore, the objects from which his theory was primarily derived, namely the Arabian horses of tribal life in Arabia, no longer exist as Raswan wrote about them. Current verification of the basic observation upon which his theory is based is therefore unlikely.

Whether Raswan’s strain theory can be “proven” is really not of importance for most Arabian horse breeders. The important thing is that it presents a way of breeding and understanding Arabian horses which is effective in producing good results for breeders. Many people over the years have used it either knowingly or otherwise and been well rewarded. It would be difficult for the theory to fail in application, because it involves so many elements which are simply common sense, practical applications of genetic principles, such as are used by good breeders of many kinds of livestock.

An example of this is the emphasis on the female side of a pedigree. Almost every cow-man know that his best calves come from a certain few cows in his herd. That is not considered strain theory: just a fact of life. Another example of common sense in Raswan strain theory is the importance given to the actual observable results of strain breeding. People expect such results, and use them as a check on strain procedures. It is also a matter of common sense as well as accepted genetic expectation, that animals of fixed-type reproduce themselves when bred to each other. Just about every breeder of purebred livestock must be aware of this. Another almost universally accepted basis of livestock breeding is that, as pedigree elements become distant, they become less important.

In general, much of Raswan’s application of strain theory was based on simple, logical principles of breeding. They were useful, and, if they were not technically provable, they were not different in this from most other of the “principles” of everyday living upon which we depend for all kinds of guidance. Most of us don’t know what makes the car go, apples fall, medicine work, and the banks stay open. Our lack of perfect knowledge does not keep us from making useful decisions about such events, not does it prevent us from using strain-breeding concepts as tools in the production of better Arabian horses.

Raswan, C.R., The Arab and His Horse, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 55-11083.

Raswan, C.R., The Raswan Index. Published in several editions. References here are given by topic rather than page number as a convenience to readers.

Raswan, C.R., A Collection of Articles by Carl Raswan, a private republication by Alice L. Payne and her son Robert of articles by Carl Raswan originally appearing in Western Horseman magazine.

Raswan, C.R., “Key” to Arabian Pedigrees. Originally copyrighted in 1956, this document was later incorporated into The Raswan Index.

One of the reasons many Arabian breeders are fascinated by strain breeding theory is that it provides a logical approach to the understanding of Arabian horse pedigrees. It reduces them to simple terms from which evaluations and predictions can be made. For some people the evaluations and predictions are useful. For others they are not. In either case, they are arrived at by a process of reason.

Strain breeding didn’t start out as a logical exercise. Until the 1920s, almost everyone who wrote about the Arabian horse in Arabia observed that the Bedouin horse breeding tribes had different families of horses which they called strains. Such observations, which extend at least until 1970, occur in the works of Burkhardt, Guarmani, Upton, the Blunts, Skene, Tweedy, Davenport, Raswan, Brown, Zientarski, H.R.P. Dickson, Forbis, and others.

These people all had first-hand experience observing the Arabian horse in its native environment. They described the overall breed as divided into strains, and they obviously seemed to think that the strain names described different types of horses. Few such observers thought of the subject of Arabian strains as a subject of logical analysis. To them, it was simply a fact that the Arabian breed was divided into different breeding groups which were identified by strain names.

However, as Arabian horse breeding has become established outside of Arabia, mostly in Egypt, England, the Americas, and Europe, there has been a tendency for breeders to lose sight of basic Bedouin concepts of breeding. One of the first such concepts to be lost was that of strain breeding. It was not well understood outside of Arabia at best. A worse reason for ignoring it was that a number of breeders who set the tone for writing on the subject of Arabian horse breeding came to the conclusion that, after generations of ignoring strain considerations and other standards of Bedouin breeding, Arabian strain concepts no longer fit Arabian horses.

This position has too often been both right and wrong. Wrong because some of these people did not understand Arabian strains well enough to know when they were active in a pedigree and when they were not. They didn’t even understand what they were rejecting. Right because it is indeed true that Arabian breeding has arrived at a point where there are many registered Arabian horses which are so far removed in type and pedigree from the Arabian horse of Arabia that Bedouin standards no longer apply to them, including strain standards. For such horses, it is not reasonable to think in terms of strain breeding.

By the 1920s, most writers on the subject of Arabian breeding were thinking mainly about “breeding the best to the best” and trying to produce good cavalry horses. About that time a young German immigrant to this country, Carl Raswan (born Carl Schmidt), began a lifelong career as a horseman and writer in which he presented a theory as to how Arabian strains could be used to produce certain types of Arabian horses.

Raswan repeatedly made the point that he had not invented his version of strain breeding. As evidence, he referenced written testimony of Bedouin breeders of historic record Western Horseman:  ”Pure Strains of Arabians,” (pages 42-44) as well as his own contacts with Bedouin breeders in Arabia, where he had traveled extensively, and his study of Arabian breeding outside of Arabia. Thus, his contribution to strain breeding theory was presented as a matter of restatement, systematization, and interpretation.

Raswan had no monopoly on strain-breeding theory. Other people have had their own ideas on the subject and conducted excellent breeding programs based upon them. Polish breeding, for instance, is said to place importance on strain-breeding principles, and Raswan maintained that, by his criteria, Lady Wentworth was, in effect, a closet strain breeder, a proposition which she articulately denied.

American breeders have used strain breeding of one form or another from the time of our very first American breeder, Randolph Huntington. Other Americans who strain bred were Homer Davenport, Peter Bradley, Alice Payne, John Doyle, Jane and Carl Asmis, numerous breeders associated with Al Khamsa-type horses, and a multitude of people who deliberately or not, followed concepts of type and pedigree which amount to strain breeding. The concepts of strain breeding have been widely observed in the United States. They are not unusual, esoteric, or extreme. But sometimes they are not recognized.

Raswan’s version of strain breeding was unusual in that it was comprehensive for Arabian breeding. It was not universally accepted in the Arabian horse community. It offended some people, perhaps because it did not treat their horses well. Others did not follow its logic, and some simply didn’t agree with it.

Raswan himself was a persuasive personality and a convincing writer, but his work lost some public crediblility because his lifestye was unconventional, and because from time to time he made statements about Arabian horse breeding which he perhaps understood but appeared to be contradictory to some people. Also, he had the disadvantage of publishing over a period of forty some years. During that time there were changes of position, sometimes based on normal thought developement, and sometimes on new information such as constantly turns up concerning Arabian horses. It is very difficult matter for an author to be completely consistent over such a long period of time.

Over the years, a number of critics have rejected Raswan strain theory because they disagreed with his stand in favor of purist breeding. The two were not the same at all and, in fact, the strain theory provides a means of correcting what Raswan felt to be mistakes in purist breeding so that they no longer have practical effect.

In spite of criticism, Raswan’s concept of strain breeding received wide distribution among Arabian breeders, with some finding it convincing and others being less attracted to it. In recent times, a resurgence of interest seems to be in process. Perhaps this results from the increasing tendency at our Arabian horse shows and in pictures in our national magazines, for the Arabian horse as registered to look less and less like what people recognize as a real Arabian horse. Strain-breeding theory is perceived as offering a program for returning to a recognizable type of Arabian horse.

There are several basic propositions upon which Raswan’s theories of strain breeding are based. These have been described numerous places and will be listed here with only brief explanations. Readers who desire more detail are referred first of all to Raswan’s own written work, of which perhaps the most convenient instance is The Raswan Index. A survey of the subject was included in “Kissing the Frog Prince,” by the present writer in Arabian Visions, May and June issues of 1989.

Proposition 1: The horses bred by the Bedouins of Arabia could be classified as belonging to three major strain groups:

1) the Kuhaylan group: “Strength-type: masculine, muscular, wide across back, croup, chest, neck, forehead, and broad across forearm and gaskins. Even the mares are muscular-masculine;

2) the Saqlawi group, tending to have high neck and tail carriage: “Beauty-type: feminine, elegant, fine boned, extremely handsome. The Parade and Show Type. Even the stallions are extremely beautiful-feminine,”

3) the Mu’niqi group, “the Angular-Race-type: with long lines (long back, long neck, long legs, and long, narrow head), also taller than the ‘Classic’-type-Arabian and also coarser (often ugly in appearance and in temperament).” (Strain descriptions from The Arab and His Horse, page 28.)

Each breeding group has other distinctive details as well, concerning which, the reader is referred to Raswan’s work. There was at least one possible exception to the classification of Arabian strains into three breeding groups, and that concerned the Hadban strain. In personal conversation, Raswan said this strain was neither Saqlawi, Kuhaylan, or My’niqi, but that horses of this strain crossed best with those of Kuhaylan bloodlines. However, in his Western Horseman article “The Head of the Arabian,” and in the table of strains published by the same magazine in the article “Undistinguished Types of Arabian Horses,” he gives the Hadban and Kuhaylan strains as related, as he does in The Arab and His Horse, page 28, and elsewhere.

It ought to be kept in mind that by classifying the multitude of Arabian strains into three major breeding groups, Raswan was not indicating that individual strains within each breeding didn’t have their own characteristics. On the contary, he obviously felt that the separate strains within the larger breeding groups had distinctive features. These are described in detail in the section titled “Arabian Strains” in The Raswan Index.

Proposition 2: Bred within their own divisions of the three breeding groups, Arabian horses tend to produce according to their groups. Thus Saqlawi bred to a Saqlawi, tends to produce a Saqlawi. A Kuhaylan bred to a Kuhaylan, tends to produce a Kuhaylan. A Mu’niqi bred to a Mu’niqi tends to produce a Mu’niqi.

Proposition 3: The Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains are related, and when individuals of these strains are bred to each other, harmonious, attractive individuals result which may lack the extreme features of either parent strain, but are recognizable of “Classic” Arabian type.

Proposition 4: The Mu’niqi strain is fundamentally unrelated to the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi strains. When individuals of it or other unrelated bloodlines are crossed with Kuhaylan and Saqlawi bloodlines, “classic” Arabian type deteriorates. It was Raswan’s theory that the lack of type in many Arabian horses of his time as a writer (roughly 1925 to 1966), was the result of unsuccessful crosses between the Mu’niqi and the Kuhaylan and Saqlawi breeding groups.

The propositions given here as the basics of Raswan strain theory provide an interesting tool for analyzing the Arabian horse as a breed. By themselves, however, they are not very useful in guiding actual Arabian breeders in production of Arabian horses according to predictable patterns. They are simply too general to have much specific application: it is fine to know that there are different major families of Arabian horses, but that does not tell how to plan flesh-and-blood matings between horses.

“Corollaries of Strain Breeding, Part II” will follow in the April 1991 Classic Arabian Issue.

Raswan, C.R., The Arab and His Horse, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 55-11083.

Raswan, C.R., The Raswan Index. Published in several editions. References here are given by topic rather than page number as a convenience to readers.

Raswan, C.R., A Collection of Articles by Carl Raswan, a private republication by Alice L. Payne and her son Robert of articles by Carl Raswan originally appearing in Western Horseman magazine.

Raswan, C.R., “Key” to Arabian Pedigrees. Originally copyrighted in 1956, this document was later incorporated into The Raswan Index.

Give or take a couple of years, Arabian breeding began in the United States in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. that was almost a hundred years ago.

People used horses on a daily basis in those days, and as a matter of necessity were very serious about them. It is of interest to consider why they were attracted to Arabian horses. They had plenty of horses of all kinds. So why Arabians?

Of course there were different reasons.

Horsemen sought Arab blood as a means of producing a better using horse of one sort or another. Some wanted to rejuvenate the Thoroughbred. Others wanted a better trotter. The production of sounder cavalry horses was a frequent goal.

From a less economic point of view, a family horse was desired which could be enjoyed by women, children and older people; or a stylish horse to ride in the park or a polo mount.

Not least was the desire to have a horse that carried with it a bit of the romance of the desert and which embodied the ideals of beauty which the painters of Arabian types of horses in Europe had articulated for many years.

These were all motivating factors for breeders at the turn of the century who were enthused with the idea of starting the Arabian breed in America. Probably none of the early breeders had all these goals in mind. No doubt all of them shared some of them.

Homer Davenport was one of the most influential of the early Arabian breeders of America. He was a national figure — a gifted political cartoonist with the knack of showing the political issues of the day in drawings that anyone could understand. He played a major role in bringing public attention to bear on political abuses as a part of the reform movement that culminated in the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

He was a colorful public speaker, a person who enjoyed the rough and tumble of public debate, a major collector of exotic fowl, and a humorous and effective writer. He had an obvious taste for adventure.

Davenport’s interest in Arabian horses began as a child. In 1893 he saw his first ones. They were the Hamidie Society horses which had been imported for the Chicago World’s Fair. They were dispersed after the Fair, and eventually Davenport ended up owning several of them.

He was an enthusiastic Arabian breeder and can be assumed to have been well-informed on the subject of Arabian horses from first-hand experience as well as from the excellent literature on the subject available to him, which is still the basis of serious Arabian horse breeding today.

During the 1904 campaign for re-election to the presidency by Theodore Roosevelt, Davenport was helpful to the president through his cartooning. After the election, he solicited the president’s support in a project for the improvement of horse breeding in America, the direct importation of horses to this country from the horse-breeding tribes of the Arabian desert.

Roosevelt was a man of enthusiasm and imagination. He appears to have recognized the project as worthwhile and as being in harmony with his own goal of developing a national remount program for the production of better cavalry horses.

At that time, the Arabian Peninsula was a part of the Turkish Empire, whose ruling Sultan was Abdul Hamid II. The exportation of Arabian mares from the Empire was officially restricted.

Through Roosevelt’s influence, special permission was granted by the Sultan for Davenport to obtain six or eight mares and accompanying stallions to bring to the United States.

With the backing of the president and special permission from the Turkish Sultan, Davenport personally went to the Arabian desert to get his horses. His trip was financed in major part by Peter Bradley, a New England industrialist. He was accompanied by two American friends, C.A. Moore and Jack Thompson.

In the history of horse-buying expeditions to Arabia, Davenport’s trip was probably the most unconventional. He went in the middle of the summer when the weather was the hottest and most uncomfortable.

Most other travelers had instead gone in the cooler times of the year when the weather ws easier to bear, and indeed, the Sultan himself warned against making the trip in the summer season.

Among items of Davenport’s typically American equipment were a Western cowboy saddle, clothing which looked a lot like a rumpled Americah business suit, a proper American camping tent, the inevitable camera equipment of the American tourist, and his pen and sketch pad.

Furthermore, like any American tourist today, he had a travel book (Baedeker, of course), and he even took at least one of his books on Arabian horse breeding. Most importantly, he had his own somewhat earthy sense of humor and rather typical American disinterest in social formality.

It is hard to imagine any European horse buying commission going with similar accouterments, but what he had suited Davenport well. He rode the cowboy saddle, and he even got the Supreme Sheikh of the Anazah confederation to try the same, an obvious subject of hilarity in one of the expedition photos.

He took pictures with the camera, and they are an invaluable record of Arab life and the expedition. With his sketching material, he drew lovely pictures of the trip. His Bedouin hosts were fascinated when he cartooned American cowboys using their horses with Western saddles as they roped and threw steers.

It is hard to know the exact usage of the books. The Baedeker was no doubt a useful guide because the issue of those days on the Middle East was full of worthwhile information on the area. Arabian horse books of that time may have been more useful guides yet for the enterprise.

The three major books of the era are among the best ever written on the Arabian horse, and by having them Davenport was drawing on the solid experience of his precursors in Arabian travel. He writes that he had one of his books annotated by Hashem Bey Ibn Mhayd, Sheikh of the Fid’an-Anazah.

Even the timing of his expedition in the heat of the summer turned out to be an advantage, because at that time of year some of the best horse-breeding tribes of the Anazah were concentrated in an accessible area near Aleppo, which concentrated in an accessible area near Aleppo, which Davenport took as his point of departure to the desert. Inconvenience aside, the time of year suited Davenport’s purposes as a horse buyer perfectly.

Davenport’s sense of adventure and his gift of humor were among his greatest assets. Because he was willing to take some chances in making his trip work, he developed unique opportunities in horse buying.

Because of his sense of humor — and perhaps the rumpled clothes — he maintained an individual detachment and personal integrity that advanced the trip and no doubt endeared him to his Bedouin contacts.

The Bedouin knew all about horse buyers from abroad. They arrived in Arabia mostly from Europe, spent their time primarily in Syrian cities and traveled with as many European comforts as possible — in one recorded case with a supply of European wines — strictly contrary to Moslem custom and religion.

Most such buyers sought horses like the ones they had at home. To the Bedouin, buyers of this sort were at best adversaries and, at worst, incomprehensible “nasrani” fools to be charged as much as possible.

But Davenport came among the Bedouin as a guest and friend, sincerely sought their advice, valued the horses they valued, respected their manhood and customs, and placed them on sacred oath as to the purity of the horses they offered for sale. The Bedouin loved humor and he joked with them.

At the same time he smiled gently from an American point of view in the observation that the men could have up to four wives and thought themselves fortunate. So spoke a man who was having trouble at home.

Such a person the Bedouin remembered many years after his expedition, not as an easy buyer who had paid too much, but instead as a guest who had lived their lives as he could and become a sincere blood brother of one of their distinguished Sheikhs.

They had sold him the kind of horses they themselves used and prized; horses of the ghazu, horses which were spoils of war even among their own tribes, horses which, as poor people, they would give up their own gold and camels to try to buy back for themselves, and a stallion — *Haleb — to whom they brought mares to breed even as Davenport was taking him from the desert.

The outstanding feature of Davenport’s importation was that he personally selected his horses directly from the primary horse-breeding tribes of Arabia. This personal aspect of the selection of stock to be brought out of the desert is very unusual among importers of Arabian horses.

As a matter of history, most horses exported from the desert have come by means of dealers, agents, or other intermediaries. But Homer Davenport was right there in the desert, on the spot, buying horses for himself according to what he could learn about them from observation in their native environment. No doubt part of the character of his importation was that the selection of horses were his own.

As a matter of history, most horses imported from the desert have come by means of dealers, agents, or other intermediaries. But Homer Davenport was right there in the desert, on the spot, buying horses for himself according to what he could learn about them from observation in their native environment. No doubt part of the character of his importation was that the selection of horses were his own.

Everything worked for him so that he was able to buy horses — as Raswan has observed — from the same tribes and even from the same families of breeders who had sold to great importers before him such as Abbas Pasha, Upton, and the Blunts.

In all, Davenport’s desert importation included 27 horses, of which 24 were ultimately registered. They included eight mares, two fillies, and 17 stallions and colts.

He made a particular point of obtaining horses which were especially prized by the Bedouin for their own use. When some mares could not be purchased, he obtained their sons.

A number of the animals were of particular distinction among the Bedouin: *Abeyah #39 was noted by them for her beautiful head and her speed; *Wadduda #30 had been the personal war mare of Hashem Bey, the Supreme Sheikh of the Anazah; *Urfah #40 was considered by the Bedouin to be the finest Saqlawiyah-Jidraniah in the northern desert; *Haffia was sired by a Hamdani-Simri stallion the Anazah esteemed so much that they refused to sell him to the Italian government in May 1906 at any price; *Hamrah and *Euphrates were by “the great Hamdani-Simri chestnut horse that the Anazah are so proud of” — perhaps the same horse, *Reshan #38 had drawn an offer variously reported as 30 to 50 female camels by the Bedouin in an effort to buy her back; *Haleb #25 hd been a gift horse from the combined Arabian tribes to the Governor of Syria.

The horse was so highly thought of by the Bedouin that at the time of Davenport’s importation over 200 mares were said to be in foal to him, and he was supposed to eventually be returned to Arabia.

Furthermore, the horses obtained by Davenport in Arabia were of authenticated pedigrees. Almost all of them were obtained directly from their Bedouin owners who were required to give particulars as to pedigree and asil status under religious oath.

In America, the Davenport horses were a major new force in Arabian breeding. Numerous horsemen recognized that they were unique and precious horses.

Naturally, some Arabian breeders having other bloodlines resented them, and from this discontent a bitter chapter in Arabian breeding started, which finally resulted in the establishment of the Arabian Horse Club of America, under whose aegis the Davenport bloodlines, along with the other fine lines of American breeding, have prospered.

Homer Davenport did not live to enjoy the full fruits of his desert importation. In 1912 — only six years after his desert importation — he died of pneumonia.

Arabian breeding in America had lost one of its primary leaders, but the bloodlines of the Davenport importation continued to be bred by Peter B. Bradley, Davenport’s partner in the desert importation and its subsequent development. By the time this foundation breeder had produced his last horse in 1925, he had established the bloodlines of the Davenport importation as a breeding group in their own right.

Since then other breeders have followed his example, and Davenport horses continue as a well-defined breeding group to the present day, numbering something over 500 head and being maintained by about a hundred active, enthusiastic breeders. It is the oldest existing closed breeding group of American origin in our studbooks, and one of the two oldest in the world.

These present-day Davenport horses are registered as entirely descended from the animals of the 1906 importation. Generally speaking, they are very much like the horses of the original imporation: about the same size — 14.1 to 15 hands — the same shades of colors and even, is some cases, obviously similar markings.

They are noted for big eyes, well-shaped ears, fine skin, width between the jaws, large cranial boxes, proportional bodies, athletic inclination, and amenable dispositions. People visiting a herd of them for the first time will often comment that they look like they really came from Arabia.

It turns out that this kind of horse still fits extremely well into American life. It is excellent for a wide variety of riding purposes from pleasure hacking to nearly the whole gamut of show activities.

Davenports have special merit as companion animals. They have the easily recognized beauty of the authentic thing, and the romance of the desert is as much a part of them as it ever was.

As far as concerns how they resemble 19th-century artists’ portrayals of the Arabian hore, if they are not quite the same, at least the Davenports have furnished their share of individuals which could have served as models for such idealized portraiture.

The major use of Davenport blood in American Arabian breeding has been in conjunction with other bloodlines. The Davenports are one of the most reliable breeding groups for outcrossing, and frequently the results have been very good.

This especially has been the case where the non-Davenport side of the pedigree has been of the intensely bred, classic sort. Usually the resulting foal from such breedings strongly resembles the non-Davenport parent with a touch of the desert quality from the Davenport lines. Often the major source of the best non-Davenport bloodlines in past American breeding is when they have been crossed with Davenport stock.

One of the oldest and most universal patterns in American breeding is that popular new bloodlines are imported from other countries, and once here, are bred to typically American domestic Arabians, which nearly always have a significant Davenport element.

The resulting foals are usualy more to American tastes than the newly imported ancestor, although popular credit for them usually goes to that ancestor.

The last part of September of this year will be the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Davenport desert importation in the United States. When the horses arived they were an embodiment of the ideals of foundation Arabian breeders for the Arabian horses.

The new horses could do — and in fact accomplished — almost all of the things those first breeders wanted in an Arabian horse.

As the Davenport bloodlines have continued in this country, they have remained remarkably true to the ideals of Homer Davenport and other founding Arabian breeders.

They have rejuvenated other breeds and other bloodlines in the Arabian breed. They have been useful, athletic animals for the broad range of Arabian activity. They have been wonderful companion animals. In addition, they have had the gifts of style and beauty, and have retained the romance of the desert.

The amazing fact is that these are all still attributes and achievements which are of imporance to American horsemen. Some of us go off the deep end in search of strange, new show horses from time to time, but the ideal we come back to is still much like what Homer Davenport and others found in the original horse of the desert. We are fortunate that after 80 years, this ideal is still embodied in living Davenport horses.

This ideal is also embodied in a multitude of horses of part-Davenport breeding. Surely their Davenport ancestors added to the features that make these, too, horses of the desert.

All rights reserved
from: An Anthology of Articles from the KHAMSAT 1981-1990

The term “straight” as applied to Arabian horse breeding may have begun with Mrs. Kathleen Ott, who has contributed much useful terminology to the subject. At some point, perhaps in the 1960’s, she was referring to horses which were entirely of Egyptian pedigree as “straight” Egyptians. Others probably picked the term up from her.

Usage has expanded to include bloodlines in addition to Egyptian. In Al Khamsa, we hear of “straight” Babson, “straight” desert-bred, “straight” New Egyptian, “straight” Babson-Turfa, “straight” Davenport, and “straight” almost anything else that can be separated from other breeding groups. Outside of the Al Khamsa context, it is not unusual to hear the term “straight” Polish or “straight” Spanish. Somebody is probably also talking about “straight” Russian, “straight” Crabbet, “straight” Kellogg and “straight” Selby.

Some recognized breeding groups are so heterogenous in their backgrounds that it hardly seems appropriate to call them “straight” anything. Usually, however, when something is described as “straight,” most people know generally what is meant: It really does mean something when a horse is described as “straight” Egyptian, “straight” Polish, or “straight” Davenport or any of the other established breeding groups.

Sometimes the concept of being “straight” something-or-other gives a financial advantage. Very few “straight” Egyptian mares, for instance, are bred to stallions of other lines of horses partly because it is generally felt that to do so would produce a foal of lesser cash value, regardless of individual merit. This can easily be a trap in Arabian breeding if it causes breeders to ignore worthwhile bloodlines in planning breedings. The comment has been made in circles centered on class A show ring competition that “straight” horses of any kind are not as good as the others.

Blasphemy!

But is there some truth to it? Except for the horses presented by a few very efficient, die-hard “straight” specialists, many of the top show contenders are blends of bloodlines. After all, no one bloodline has all the good points of the Arabian horse, and people who are producing blends have a terrific palette of ingredients from which to choose excellence. If you play eeni-meeni-mini-mo among the successful horses at a big show, chances are you will not catch a straight one. Partly that may be an indication of how the best horses are bred, although it should be granted that our typically American way of breeding horses, people and everything else is to put all ingredients into our national melting pot and to declare the end product a triumphant success.

One of the charming things about Al Khamsa is that we have so many different kinds of “straight” breeding groups of horses concentrated in a relatively small catalogue. By one standard or another, perhaps 75% of our horses are “straight” something. This at least tends to keep the annual Al Khamsa Conventions on a non-commercial plane: It is not a good place to sell a horse. Many of the people present have their own “straight” breeding programs. Usually each “straight” group is represented by a few people who know each other well enough so that they care more about visiting than selling horses amongst themselves. As for selling horses to people of different “straight” groups, forget it. That almost can’t be done. The effort saved from attempting it can instead be spent exchanging thoughts about the more general aspects of Arabian breeding and having a nice time.

There is no question that the easy emphasis is on “straight” breeding groups in Al Khamsa. It has encouraged a worthwhile diversity in the horses we attempt to preserve. That is especially appropriate because the Bedouin horses from which our horses originally derive were themselves a diverse group of various types and strains. In preserving the basic differences in the horses we are following a fundamental tradition in Bedouin breeding.

Equally important, the interest in “straight” breeding has brought into Al Khamsa people having differing individual tastes in horses. There can be quite a range in taste between the kind of people who want New Egyptians and those who prefer Blue Stars or Babsons or Davenports, etc. It is one of the strengths of Al Khamsa that we have an appropriate horse for each taste.

However, there is a major problem with the emphasis which has been placed on “straight” breeding in Al Khamsa. It is that many of our horses are not really “straight” anything except Al Khamsa. These are horses that have not been tagged with a specific identifying name. Without a marker, they sometimes do not attract that recognition on the part of breeders which benefits “straight” breeding groups. These horses — especially the females — are by no means discarded. They end up loved and used. Nearly every Al Khamsa herd has one or more of them along with its “straights”.

The difficulty in describing these horses is that no single name universally applies to them. The terms “mixed-source” and “combined source” are frequently heard. They are appropriate because they describe the characteristic aspect of pedigree which identifies the horses: they combine pedigree elements that are often perceived to be of differing kinds.

This description is true for practical purposes, but anyone who has read the Foundation Horses section of Al Khamsa Arabians and followed the animals in it forward into current pedigrees is aware that actually all Al Khamsa horses — “straight” and otherwise — are of combined sources. Living Al Khamsa horses derive from foundation stock which was obtained in various ways by various people from various Bedouin sources. Virtually all of them — “straight” and otherwise — at some point are of “mixed source” origin. Even with the straightest of our “straights,” usually the element of mixture is not very far back. Most of our oldest identified pedigree elements only date from the Abbas Pasha collection in the 1850’s — a mere yesterday in genetic terms. More frequent dates of source were in the 1870’s, 1906, the 1930’s and immediately post-World War II.

Where “straight” breeding groups have been established from such Foundation horses there is frequently a combination of systematic breeding for part of a pedigree and substantial outcross for another part. The result is that in Al Khamsa, our “straights” are actually “combined sources” too. Apart from quibbling about whether some Al Khamsa horses are “straight” or all of them are “combined,” does it always matter? We have to be careful about confusing a semantic issue with a genetic identification.

If we make the mistake of placing an artificial premium on the breeding of “straight” categories of Al Khamsa horses we are in danger of limiting the breeding stock available for the production of the best possible Al Khamsa horse. Whether we like it or not, there is a great competition among the breeders of Arabian horses — within and without Al Khamsa — for the production of quality individual horses. Al Khamsa as a breeding movement cannot afford to produce animals which are inferior to those produced elsewhere. At the present time, our horses are as good as or better than any others, but we have to maintain that position or we are not going to continue on any long-term basis as an important element in Arabian horse breeding.

Other breeders are plenty smart. They have excellent genetic resources, including the best which we have preserved for them. In addition, they have a precious advantage in some of the choice Al Khamsa eligible lines of history which are lost to us through admixture with non-Al Khamsa breeding. To survive in this type of competition, we have to produce the very best kind of horses we can. It is not enough for us to be an antiquarian society for the preservation of “straight” pedigrees.

In Al Khamsa, just as with other bloodlines, no one “straight” category has all the good features. The effort should certainly be made to put the good points of our various “straight” categories together into a better Arabian of desert type. That is what our foundation breeders did with the breeding stock available to them. Abbas Pasha, Ali Pasha Sherif, Prince Muhammed Ali, Huntington, the Blunts, Davenport, Brown, Harris and others all used horses of differing sources to produce their end products. Can we afford to ignore the example they set?

This is not to say that “straights” should not be preserved for their own merits as “straights.” They are usually something special in their own right which we take pride in preserving. But in the larger picture of Arabian breeding, “straights” are building blocks for the construction of pedigrees of future horses. It is not enough for building blocks to just exist. They should be used to make something more than they are themselves.

Our “straights” should certainly be preserved and cherished, but in Al Khamsa and elsewhere they should also be used to make new pedigrees oriented towards producing a superior horse combining their good points. Perhaps there is not even much point in preserving a “straight” category that is not also useful for this purpose. To produce a truly superior horse is an ultimate project in livestock breeding, requiring all the genetic resources available in the Al Khamsa context. When such a horse is produced — the one that most fully realizes the potential of our current Al Khamsa bloodlines — the source designation following its name in the pedigree index of some future issue of Al Khamsa Arabians will probably include a goodly number of source designations of Al Khamsa horses. Perhaps it will read something like: “EPITOME OF AL KHAMSA (Egypt-Blunt-Inshass – Sa’ud – Davenport – Upton – Leopard – Dwarka – Mameluke – Nejdran – Huntington – Hamidie, etc.)” No doubt each one of these separate source elements will in some way contribute to the final perfect end-product.

Partly the matter of over-emphasis on “straight” breeding is corrected when animals of differing “straight” categories are bred to each other. A number of such crosses have been very successful, as when various Egyptians lines are crossed (new and old, for instance), Egyptian with Davenport, Blue Star with Egyptian or Davenport, and others. Many variations are possible on these themes. People who do them have a freedom of choice and opportunity unknown to “straight” breeders. This type of breeding between current “straight” groups can be done at any time, of course, and is worthwhile when it produces a better horse for a specific purpose. It demonstrates both the value of “straight” breeding and the practicality of outcrossing. In the long run, it may lead to wonderful new opportunities in Al Khamsa breeding.

Such crosses, however, do not address an urgent problem in present Al Khamsa breeding, which is that our emphasis on “straight” breeding programs sometimes works against some of our unique and extremely valuable bloodlines which do not fit within current definitions of “straight.” We find their sources in the “Foundation Horses” section of Al Khamsa Arabians. They are horses which do not fit into present categories of “Egyptian,” “Blue Star,” “Babson-Turfa,” “Blunt,” “Davenport,” etc. Often they represent sources of Al Khamsa blood not available in any other country. Many of them have historically produced and are currently producing extremely successful animals. Without attempting to list them all, among such foundation horses are: *Nejdme, *Obeyran, *King John, *Leopard, *Kismet, *Mirage, *Nejdran, Dwarka, *El Bulad, *La Tisa, *Mohalhil, *Nufoud, *Pride, and *Sunshine.

Such horses are a significant portion of that tiny selection of Foundation animals from which Al Khamsa derives. If they were in the pedigrees of foreign horses instead of our own, we would probably seek their descendants out for importation as precious.

What do we do with such horses?

Well, it almost seems we ignore them as much as possible. We certainly do not brag about them nearly enough, and the mares are usually bred to a “straight” stallion of some sort, frequently Egyptian. The same process occurs over generations with the result that the original, unique pedigree element is constantly diluted. Finally it can become insignificant. Death by dilution.

The situation is made worse because the stallions — however nice — are infrequently bred to Al Khamsa mares and hardly ever to mares having their same special pedigree elements.

Because we tend to outcross our unique, non-straight bloodlines with every generation, Al Khamsa loses some of its genetic wealth. How much we are actually losing we really do not know because hardly anyone has systematically put these bloodlines together to find out what they can do. Some of their combined produce would probably be less than optimum. That is to be expected. It is part of bloodline development. The things that don’t work should just be dropped or bred around. There is no obligation to perpetuate something just because it is rare. There is such a thing in Arabian breeding as the deservedly obscure bloodline.

But many of these are vital bloodlines still retaining their own special characteristics which we should treasure. We need these characteristics. They should be sought out, concentrated, and their future insured in Al Khamsa and elsewhere.

It ought to be noted that Al Khamsa breeders in the past did not have our present problem of bloodlines slipping away by dilution. Systematic breeding which eventually led to Al Khamsa began with the publication of the Blue Arabian Horse Catalog in 1961. One of the valuable features of this book was that all horses in this country meeting the requirements of the authors were catalogued. This included a number of individuals which had not been popular enough to stay in the mainstream of American breeding. They were sought out and prized by people who were interested in the message of the Blue Arabian Horse Catalog. Almost all major breeders of that time took part in the salvage effort, and as a result, the base of current Al Khamsa breeding was greatly broadened.

It is now our choice as to how we should make use of this entire base.

Preserving this little group of unique bloodlines is a project that not all of us can or should do. There are other worthwhile things in Al Khamsa which also must continue. Among these is certainly the continued breading of “straight” Al Khamsa bloodlines. But something each of us can do is to articulate and act upon an increased appreciation of the importance of the various aspects of bloodlines which are not “straight.” Public recognition of the value of theses horses is very important as a matter of plain, simple fairness to the owners of such horses. Often such recognition leads the way to success in breeding.

Maybe as much as anything else we need a name. Something better than “mixed source” or “combined source.” Those terms simply do not strike the spark of enthusiasm.

Finally, those of us who have these horses should recognize that we have an opportunity through them to make a needed contribution to Al Khamsa breeding. We need to give more thought to how they should be bred in order to best develop their unique characteristics. We should avoid wasting theses bloodlines in an effort to mirror what we are already doing with “straights.” As we produce horses that have something good our other horses do not have, we make real progress.

We ought to be using those stud colts right back on the parent bloodlines.

Where does “going straight” lead? Not to the same destination for everyone. Not always to the best horse. Not always to the best future for Al Khamsa. We need to do some straight thinking about that.

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[On the bottom half of the final page of the above article in the Anthology we find:]

Arabs will produce Arabs with no throwbacks. Arabs bred to anything else will be at least one-half Arab, probably more, on account of the strength of the Arabian blood.

This theory confirms or corroborates Randolph Huntington’s statement made in 1885 after fifty years of study and breeding experiments. In referring to the foreign countries which went to Arabia for this horse, from which to create new types, he says, “From no other horse could these families (breeds) be produced, nor can either of them produce other new, desirable, self-sustaining types. ” The same applies to the three breeds developed in this country — the Morgan, the American Saddle Horse, and the Standard Bred Trotter — namely, their blood as a base is not strong enough to produce other desirable and self-sustaining types. As has been said of gold, the more gold back of a country’s currency, the more valuable it is. So the more Arab blood back of any registered horse of any breed, the better.

I am not here trying to prove anything, just admitting the truth of what has been claimed by the breeders of these horses. The necessity for this blood in the past on account of its prepotency and its desirable qualities, which could be stamped upon its progeny, proves the desirability of maintaining the species in its purity.

From: “THE BLOOD OF THE ARAB,” Albert W. Harris, Chicago, 1941.

Craver Farms
Charles & Jeanne Craver
RT 2, Box 262
Winchester IL 62694
217-742-3415

In 1906, Arabian breeding in the U.S. was jump-started into real activity by the importation of 27 Arabian horses directly from Arabia by an American, Homer Davenport. This importation increased by about one-third the number of Arabians in the U.S. Insuring their influence was the ingenuity, optimism and drive of their importer, Homer Davenport, backed by the steady determination and healthy financial reserves of his partner in horses, Peter B. Bradley of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Before the Davenport importation, there were already good Arabian horses in this country. They came from various sources. Several English breeders had contributed stock. There were desert-bred horses which had originally been imported by the Hamidie Society importation for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. One horse was even present from Russia. Arabian owners had tried to get together to set up a breed organization in 1903. Nothing at the time seems to have come of this first effort to develop an Arabian Horse Club for the United States.

With the arrival of the Davenport importation in 1906, the whole context of Arabian breeding changed. The number of horses in this country had suddenly gotten big enough to amount to something. Furthermore, Davenport and his partner Bradley, while at the same time promoting their own horses, acted strongly on behalf of Arabians of other bloodlines as well. Under their leadership, the Arabian Horse Club of America was organized, furnishing registration opportunity for all Arabians in this country.

This was the first national registry exclusively for Arabian horses in the world. It was a giant step in the preservation of the Arabian horse outside of Arabia because it broke away from the idea of using precious Arabian blood mainly for cross breeding with other kinds of horses. American breeders talked about doing that, of course, but their real goal was to preserve the Arabian horse for its own merits because they knew it was the best horse in the world.

Davenport’s 1906 importation of horses from Arabia which started all this was one of the major such importations of record. It was conducted with the essential sponsorship of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States at the time, and Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, which included Arabia. The expedition was unusual in that, contrary to usual practice, special importance was placed on getting horses which the Arab horsemen themselves considered to be desirable breeding stock.

Pictures of the imported horses were mostly the usual bad photographs of the day, but the horses they show compare very favorably with horses shown in pictures of desertbred horses of other bloodlines. The horses were widely recognized by horsemen in America as superior individuals. One of our major pioneer breeders, Spencer Borden, wrote of Davenport:

“His expedition to Aleppo, and bringing back so many good horses, real Arabs, was a feat without an example. I did not believe it possible till I talked with him, and saw the animals.“

Readers who are interested in knowing more of this importation, detailed with a light dusting of humor, will enjoy Homer Davenport’s own account of the subject, My Quest of the Arabian Horse. Many an Arabian library has been started with this book.

By long-term usage, horses which are registered as tracing entirely to foundation stock in Homer Davenport’s 1906 importation are spoken of as “Davenport Arabians.”

When the importation first arrived in this country, its horses were mostly bred to each other. This pattern of breeding has continued at some level ever since, constituting one of the oldest, recorded programs of Arabian breeding within the context of a closed herd. Presently, there are 700 living individuals. The actual number capable of reproduction, of course, is much smaller than that since many horses are youngsters, surplus males, pensioners, and animals which are reserved for performance purposes.

Characteristic features of these horses are fine skin, large eyes, large cranial area, moderate size, deep bodies, long hips, strong loins, cadenced and athletic movement, and sensible dispositions. People frequently comment that they “look like they came from Arabia.”

Students of Arabian breeding particularly enjoy the Davenports because these horses preserve the type characteristics of the major strains of Arabian horses known to the Bedouins of Arabia who originated the breed. One can go through a herd of Davenports with a Raswan book in hand and see horses of Saqlawi strain and Kuhaylans which illustrate his descriptions of the Kuhaylan strain. These type manifestations of Bedouin strain are backed up by generations of systematic breeding to cause the horses to be what they are.

Davenport horses are used for most of the purposes for which Arabian horses are currently used in America. This includes the usual show-ring utilization in which they have capability of success according to peculiarities of training and judging. In addition they have been used for endurance, cattle work, jumping, driving, and trail riding. They are well adapted to dressage training, and are excellent pleasure mounts and companion animals.

Dating from the importation of the foundation stock in 1906, Davenport blood has been used for crossing with other Arabian bloodlines. This has been done so extensively that at the present time, probably between 85 and 90 percent of Arabians in the United States have some Davenport ancestry, usually present in a pedigree at about 10 percent of blood represented. Many of the best historic bloodlines of American breeding occur only in conjunction with Davenport ancestry. When present on an outcross basis, the general tendency of Davenport blood is to bring out the best of the characteristics of the non-Davenport part of the pedigree. Additionally, there are often benefits of body proportion, athletic ability, and general Arabian type. Davenport blood is usually an influence towards amenability of disposition. Davenport presence is not by itself a guarantee of success in outcrossing. Good characteristics are necessary from other sources, too. The resulting animal is often superior to either parent.

Preservation goals started with Davenport horses before they even left Arabia. In a farewell dinner with his Arabian host, the latter jokingly told Davenport that he would be coming to America to see how well the bloodlines were being preserved. In America, the bloodlines were bred together very systematically both by Davenport and by Peter Bradley, his partner in the importation and for some years in Arabian breeding. As time passed, the bloodlines tended to scatter into breeding ventures where they were used extensively with other bloodlines. Some entirely Davenport horses continued to be bred right along, even though the number of such matings was not usually great. That such a pattern existed for many years is good evidence that deliberate preservation breeding was occurring.

By 1955, the number of horses entirely of Davenport breeding was down to about 25. At that point, a systematic effort was made to gather them together to be preserved as a breeding unit. Several breeders worked cooperatively on the project with the result that the number of Davenport horses began to increase. New enthusiastic owners were attracted. It began to be possible to separate the Davenport breeding stock into individual bloodlines which could be developed to their best potential as sub-breeding groups. Currently nine such groups exist in Davenport breeding with more possible. One of the strengths of Davenport breeding is that these breeding groups are compatible with each other and have the potential of long-term interactivity.

Davenport horses fit into the Al Khamsa and CMK categories of preservationist breeding. If anyone ever decides to restore the glory of old American breeding, they will be found to be present right at the ground floor, with first registrations in the 1909 Arabian Horse Club Stud Book and in Volume I, which was issued in 1913. Davenport horses represent more than the preservation of a single worthwhile breeding group in Arabian breeding. They also represent aspects of the larger heritage of Arabian breeding which all Arabian bloodlines have, but which sometimes are overlooked. Bedouin Arabian type is an example. The Davenports are still much like their desert ancestors and, in fact, allowing for some differences in condition, the similarity of present stock to pictures of foundation individuals can be amazing. Certain features originating with *Hamrah, *Muson, *Abeyah, *Reshan and *Haleb have clearly come to us. The tradition of a moderate-sized, athletic animal of amenable disposition has also been maintained. One of the goals of Davenport breeding is to preserve a kind of horse which the Bedouins of Arabia Deserta would have recognized as their own thing.

Is such a goal worthwhile in this age of improvements? Well, for the general purpose Arabian owner, no one has yet come up with a better horse than the Arabs did when they were exporting breeding stock to remodel the horse breeds of the world. From some points of view, every “improvement” that has been loaded on to the horse of the desert has made it worse.

A final object of preservation in connection with the Davenport Arabian horse has to do with people rather than horseflesh. Davenport horses call for ownership values that sometimes seem to be slipping away from Arabian horse affairs: a love of the tradition of the breed, an appreciation of the Arabian horse as an overall athlete, an awareness of the importance of the horse as a companion animal, a love of the beauty of the Arabian horse as a “natural” animal — these are values that Davenport owners are apt to share.

It would be impossible, of course, to preserve horses which fulfill these values if owners are not also preserved who seek them.

Craver Farms
Charles & Jeanne Craver
RT 2, Box 262
Winchester IL 62694
217-742-3415

The concept of “Preservation Breeding” is one of the oldest treasures in Arabian breeding. The first person who bred two Arabian horses together because they were Arabians was a “preservation breeder.” One of the oldest instances of “Preservation breeding” in the literature among the Arab Bedouin breeders was when the Jellabiet Feysul line was sent from Arabia to Bahrain during the Wahhaby wars so that it could be safeguarded.

Many modern bloodlines are based on episodes of preservation breeding in their history: Egyptian breeding would be vastly different had not Ali Pasha Sherif preserved Abbas Pasha bloodlines. After Ali Pasha Sherif, the Blunts performed the same function both for Egyptian and Crabbet breeding by preserving elements of Ali Pasha Sherif’s stud. In continental Europe — including France, Germany, Hungary and Poland — there were repeated instances of importation of Bedouin-bred horses to preserve the authentic character of European Arabians. One of the all-time great achievements of preservation breeding was the reconstruction of Polish Arabian breeding from the few Arabian horses of Poland that survived World War II.

From the beginning of Arabian breeding in the U.S., we have had a strong tradition of preservation breeding which has, in fact, shaped the way the breed has developed in this country. It was not enough for our earliest breeders just to breed Arabian horses. Some of them had very strong opinions about restricting their bloodlines in certain ways. They bred accordingly. The Arabian horses of today are still influenced by what they thought about double registration (joint registration by the American Jockey Club and the Arabian Horse Club), by the kind of breeding stock they imported, and by how they fostered some bloodlines and let others drop. Much current breeding still continues the patterns they established: Crabbet breeding, Davenport breeding, Babson Egyptian breeding, CMK breeding — these are all active, successful “Preservation” breeding programs which were substantially in place in the United States by 1932.

Other active “Preservation” programs also existed, of course, and have been lost with time except for their sometimes powerful effects in pedigrees. They have been much more than replaced as new programs have been developed.

There is nothing about “Preservation” breeding that has to be ancient. Whenever some special combination of horses turns up which somebody recognizes as being worth preserving for its own sake, a new preseveration program has the chance to start.

Thus we have “new” programs known to us all such as the one based on McCoy breeding and extending to the later “Gainey” horses. We have the “Double R” program, various *Raffles preservation groups, and several variations within the Polish, Russian and Egyptian groups. Not all “Preservation” breeding programs are large-scale or famous. Many a breeder works quietly on a limited project, making a contribution to the Arabian horse which may seem modest at the time but eventually could be of great importance.

Preservation breeding is not for everyone. It does not replace the worthwhile efforts of the larger number of breeders who are instead interested in working towards the perfect Arabian horses by combining various bloodlines. Even these breeders benefit from “preservation” efforts of others who furnish breeding stock of intensified genetic character to their programs.

Furthermore, “Preservation” breeding furnishes a means by which certain specific “types” of Arabian horses can be preserved for us all to enjoy. In this world of beautiful show champions of blended bloodlines, it still a thrill to see an example of *Raffles type, or something such as *Fadl was, or Hanad, or the Crabbet horses of years gone by. The Arabian horse never has been nor is it now just one kind of horse.

Nor are Arabian owners just one kind of person. We each like our own kind of horse. “Preservation” breeding is a way of insuring that kind of horse will still exist when we want it.

One wonders, too, if the concept of “double registration” did not play some part in the selection of the stallion battery at Traveler’s Rest. There were prominent exceptions, but many of the stallions used in that breeding operation were double registered. The two best known of the Traveler’s Rest stallions were *NASR 889 and *CZUBUTHAN 1499. Both stallions were imported to the United States after the Jockey Club had ceased Arabian registrations, so, of course, they were not registered with that organization. It would be extremely interesting to know whether they were imported in such a way that they met the technical criteria for such registrations in the event the Jockey Club should re-open its stud books to Arabians. In any case, General Dickenson took “double registration” seriously enough so that the Traveler’s Rest Catalogue indicates which of the horses were registered by the Jockey Club as well as by the Arabian Horse Club.

There is no way of knowing how many other farms were in some way influenced by the possibility of Jockey Club registration. From personal conversations, the writer knows that it was very definitely a factor with some of the older breeders. As recently as within the last year, one of our national Arabian magazines carried an ad for stallions for which one of the recommendations as that their sire was registered by the Jockey Club.

The idea of “double registration” was a legacy from Spencer Borden to W.R.Brown. Towards the end of his career as a breeder, Brown rather ruefully wrote,

“No one really breeds Jockey Club stock, except myself, and there is only one breeder in England, Lady Wentworth, who handles Weatherby’s stock exclusively.”¹

At about that time, the Jockey Club ceased registering Arabians altogether. Since then, the matter has become a non-issue, and only old-timers in the breed think about it. If the Jockey Club would still register Arabian horses according to its former standards of eligibility, a very minor percentage would still be eligible — at the most under four percent, and probably less than that.

***

It is obvious that these founding members of the Arabian horse community in America had strong, highly individualistic personalities. They lived in an era when public debate was not always of the kid glove variety. Each of them in his own way was an efficient and determined promoter of what he took to be the Arabian horse. With such founding fathers, it is no wonder that this new breed was able to establish itself in America at a comparatively late date as far as horses were concerned and to continue to grow at a rate which no one could logically have foreseen. In ways, time has more or less smoothed over the early disturbances, but this is not to say that they had no effect. In order to attempt to measure their effect, some figures concerning the Arabian horse as the breed occurs in America at the present time are offered in accompanying charts.

As a base point for understanding the charts, the writer attempted to determine the influence of the Homer Davenport importation of 1906 by doing pedigree analysis of representative animals from Volume XX (1971) of the series of stud books published by the Arabian Horse Registry of America. Pedigrees were completely drawn for each 100th animal in the series of registrations in this volume. The percentage of genetic contribution to each animal by individuals imported by Homer Davenport in 1906 was calculated. In all, sixty pedigrees were considered. Of these, fifty-eight (96.6%) were found to trace at some level to the Davenport importation. (In other words, only two (3.4%) had no Davenport background whatever.) Of the horses which did trace to the Davenport importation, the average level at which they did so was 12.56%. In a simple pedigree, this is approximately equal to the contribution made by one great-grandparent. Most experienced breeders would probably agree that, in a group of Arabian horses where all other pedigree and environmental factors are similar, it is possible for the reasonable informed observer to distinguish a difference in genetic background of about 3%.

The Davenport influence in the horses studied would therefore be about four times the minimum observable level. This would make it a significant, though, of course, not controlling, factor in the individuality of the animals themselves.

If the average foal registered in Volume XX (1971) was 12.86% Davenport in ancestry, the next logical point of inquiry is how that figure compares with a similar calculation for horses which are considered to be successful representatives of the breed. Of course, there are different standards for success with Arabian horses. By using several of these, it was thought that some valid insights into the contributions of the Davenport importation and other aspects of Arabian breeding might be developed.

One important standard of success for an Arabian stallion has to do with the extent to which it is used as a sire. For some years now, as the Arabian Horse Club has published new volumes of its stud book, the Arabian Horse World has published a listing of the stallions in each volume siring ten or more of the foals registered in that volume. From stud book to stud book, the horses on these lists vary, but generally speaking the listings indicate the stallions to which mare owners look as the most successful sires available. An analysis for the AHC stud books Volumes XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX is shown as chart A.

Chart A

It will be seen that the percentage of these stallions which trace to Davenport ancestry is much lower than was the case with the foals registered in Volume XX. The average figure for the four years is only 56%, whereas the average among the foals of Volume XX was 96.6%. The difference is attributable mainly to the popularity with mare owners of imported stallions or stallions which are immediately descended from recently imported stock. However, of the sires listed, the majority still trace to the 1906 Davenport importation, and it is an interesting point that, for the four volumes studied, they do so at the level of 15.42%, which is a significantly higher level than shown by the average foal studied in Volume XX (12.86%).

In the United States, the most public evaluation of Arabian horses occurs in the show ring. Two studies have been done by E. Tanson in order to establish the influence of Davenport background in the modern Arabian show horse. Chart B was prepared from the 1971 International Arabian Horse Association Purebred Eligibility list of April 22, 1971. The pedigrees of all horses were considered, a total of 1,307. Stallions and geldings traced to Davenport at a level of 75.66%, mares at a level of 77.43%. It will be observed that the percentage of non-Davenport related stock is considerably lower than was the case with the listings of Sires of Ten or More foals. This probably reflects the tendency of imported stallions to be bred to American bred mares which are already part Davenport.

Of the horses which were eligible for the 1971 national championship competition, the part Davenport majority traced to its Davenport ancestry in varying degrees according to the category of competition, ranging from 10.8% for the Formal Combination stallions and geldings to 20.8% for the Costume mares. Some categories were small, involving only a few individuals, but others such as Western Pleasure, English Pleasure, Park, and Halter were large. In each category except for two of the minor ones, the level of Davenport breeding in the part-Davenport horses was higher than was found in the average foal studied from Volume XX of the stud book. In several of the categories the difference exceeded the 3% level of significance, as was the case with English Pleasure stallions, Stock Horse mares, Costume, and Trail.

As far as halter competition was concerned, the Davenport influence among the part Davenports was about on a level with the average from Volume XX of the stud book.

Chart B

One of the places where the total show experience for the Arabian horse is best summarized is in the Legion of Merit award. Horses which have achieved this have differing attributes and abilities, but each one of them is a campaigner and a successful show horse. E. Tanson analyzed the pedigrees of the 365 winners of this award from 1961 through 1972. The results are shown as chart C. It will be observed that these horses were not substantially different in background from those eligible for the 1971 national classes. Slightly over 71% of the mares traced to Davenport origins, over 80% of the stallions. The percentage of Davenport genetic material among the part Davenports was 15.85% for the mares, 15.71% for the stallions and geldings. For both categories it approached the 3% difference from the average estimated to be required for observation.

Chart C

So, after sixty-eight years, it can fairly be said that the breeding stock which Homer Davenport acquired from the Anazeh Bedouins for American breeders has thoroughly integrated into the breeding of Arabian horses in America, and continues to make its contribution to the horses that are bred at the present time. In fact, the case can be made that it is the Davenport element which is the distinguishing feature of the pedigree of an American Arabian horse. Other countries breeding Arabian horses have often exchanged bloodlines among themselves, but none of them to any significant degree have the Davenport ancestry among their horses. When looking at American pedigrees, one can find examples of Polish, English, Egyptian, Hungarian, and almost every other kind of foreign breeding imaginable; chances are, if the animal studied has two generations or more of American breeding, it will also have the Davenport influence at a significant level.

In our breeding of Arabian horses, we are by nature a country of importers. This has been going on since the breed was established in America at the turn of the century. Of course, all the early foundation stock had to be imported, and Homer Davenport was among the first Americans to go abroad for such stock. What he brought was highly publicized for its day; that day passed, and other importations were also made. Since then, every decade has seen one or more importations of Arabian horses, each of which has been highly publicized, and each of which up to the present time has tended to lapse into obscurity.

Out of this has come the Arabian horse of America, as we know it. Sometimes it has seemed a hard thing that the new importations have crowded the horses already here out of the public eye. There have been good reasons. Probably the most important of them is that the imported horses for the most part have been excellent animals – the best that their breeders would sell for export — and this excellence has deserved recognition. Also, there is the matter of fashion: as with clothing, there are times when some horses are ‘in’ and others are “out.” The *RAFFLES type horses of the early 50’s were just as good as Arabians as the Polish and Egyptian winners of today, but at this moment in time they do not get the recognition they once had. Fashion changes, however, and their opportunities will no doubt come again.

With all the additions of bloodlines and the changes in fashion, it would only be reasonable to expect that the handful of horses which Homer Davenport bought in Arabia in 1906 would be submerged in the current of Arabian breeding. This has not been the case. Their influence, to be sure, has been temporarily diluted by each new importation, but there appears to have been an automatic process of selection operating in succeeding generations which has caused it to reconcentrate.

Perhaps over a period of years, the Davenport influence could diminish from its present point, but this would require the greatly expanded use on a national scale of recently imported stallions and stallions bred exclusively from such stock. It is unlikely that this will occur because there are certain advantages to some Davenport ancestry in a pedigree which are lacking in horses from other countries. For sixty-eight years, now, the American horse breeding public has demonstrated that it desires those advantages.

It is only fair in considering the contribution which the Davenport importation of 1906 has made to acknowledge that it has done so against obstacles. When the horses first arrived in this country, they received some public attention. Before his death, Homer Davenport wrote his book about the importation, My Quest of the Arabian Horse. Beyond that, the importation has received very little publicity, and its influence has had to make its way pretty much on the year-to-year basis of foals produced. This has been especially a problem because the amount of 100% Davenport seed stock to produce outcross foals has always been extremely limited, owning to the habitual failure of American breeders to preserve seed stock from almost each intact breeding group that has come to this country, Davenport or otherwise.

The other great adverse influence has been the outgrowth of the points at issue between Spencer Borden and Homer Davenport. These were resolved into the matter of Jockey Club registration. That is something with which few breeders now concern themselves. It was, nevertheless, a determining factor in how the breed developed in the United States because it was a consideration upon which a number of the earlier breeding establishments were planned. There is no doubt that it tended to restrict the use of Davenport bloodlines, especially in the case of stallions. From an historical point of view, the early stages of the breed’s development were very sensitive to differences in foundation stock. More liberal usage of non-Jockey Club stallions could easily have doubled the Davenport influence on the breed today. That would very definitely have changed the appearance of our horses.

If this is the case, it can be seen that the quarrel between Davenport and Borden was really one of the important issues in all of American Arabian breeding. Whether they knew it or not, the two men were arguing as to which of them was to lead the Arabian horse into the future. As matters worked out, neither won and neither lost. The Arabian horse we proudly own today is a different animal than it would have been if either of these men had been less far sighted, less dedicated, or, perhaps, a little more inclined to see the other fellow’s point of view.

***

Most particular thanks are expressed to Mr. Peter R. Sarra for making available for publication a number of pictures from his fine collection. So far as the writer knows, a number of these have not been published elsewhere, and they furnish a definite addition to what we know of these early horses. Mr. Sarra has performed a valuable service for the Arabian horses in collecting information and other material concerning the history of Arabian breeding in America. Without his interest, much of this information would no doubt have been lost through the normal processes of time. It is hoped that Arabian breeders will continue to cooperate with Mr. Sarra as well as with others who seek to preserve the history of our breed of horses, since a realistic knowledge of this history is essential for a full appreciation of the horses which we now have.

Thanks are also expressed to Miss Margaret Dietz, executive secretary of the Arabian Horse Owner’s Foundation. Miss Dietz has been most helpful in furnishing letters and other material from the Foundation’s extensive collection concerning early Arabian breeding in America. It has been a privilege to have access to this material, and the writer hopes that the use which has been made of it will remind readers of the service performed by the Arabian Horse Owner’s Foundation in acting as a repository for historical material about the Arabian horse.

Lady Anne Blunt’s approval of *URFAH 40 permitted the Jockey Club registration of both *URFAH and her son *EUPHRATES, which in turn permitted the registration of JERREDE, Brown’s stallion. With the registration of *URFAH and *EUPHRATES, there was no great bar to the registration of other horses of Davenport’s 1906 importation, since their credentials for registration were not particularly different. this possibility was indirectly suggested by correspondence from Rowe of the Jockey Club to W.R. Brown, indicating that registration of the Peter Bradley horses, which were descendants of the imported animals, would be possible with supporting stud records of matings at the Hingham Stock Farm. This amounted to only checking through stud records for breedings which had occurred since the importation and was a requirement which could have been met rather easily.

Brown’s view of the matter was somewhat different, however. He replied by return mail that the entire procedure that had been gone through to register *EUPHRATES should be repeated with each of the other horses:

“The point is will Mr. Towle” (Bradley’s manager) “go to work from the very start to get all the necessary papers verified concerning his other horses. In other words, will he have the patience to get his pedigrees accepted by Weatherby’s after being passed on by Lady Anne Blunt or someone with equal knowledge and authority, the consular certificates to accompany them, certificates of importation to this country, and certificate from the Davenport family as to the breeding. The fact that you asked all of these things of me would of course make it right that you require the same of him. Those individuals that could satisfy all of these points ought to be in, if they cannot they ought not to be in your registration.” ¹

All this represented a prodigious amount of duplicate work which was not likely to be repeated. Technically, however, Brown was right, as Rowe acknowledged in his reply:

“I fully realize that Mr. Towle would be very unlikely to do all the many things that you went through to get the EUPHRATES matter in its present shape, and I imagine there is now, with the death of Lady Anne Blunt, small chance that he could make good on it, even if he really tried.” ²

As matters worked out, no effort was made. By that time, the Arabian Horse Club had an effective registry of its own. The management at Hingham apparently felt that duplicate Jockey Club registration was not worth the trouble.

It was October 30, 1919, that W.R. Brown was finally notified by the Jockey Club that *EUPHRATES AHC 36 had finally been registered in the American Stud Book.

With or without the Jockey Club, the Arabian horse was off to a vigorous start in America.

***

By 1908, it must have been obvious that there were going to be difficulties in securing registration services from the Jockey Club for certain Arabian horses in America. In the past, a few, such as *NEJDME I and others, had apparently been registered by the Jockey Club without any particular documentation as to origin, but, for one reason and another, the situation had changed. The main group of horses involved were those imported by Davenport in the 1906 importation. There were other horses also concerned, however. Among them were the remnants of the Hamidie Society importation of 1893. It happened that the majority of the horses which the Jockey Club would not handle were either in the ownership of Davenport himself or of Peter Bradley of Hingham, Massachusetts, who had been the main financial sponsor of the expedition to Arabia and a number of other horse activities on Davenport’s part. If the Jockey Club registration problem was being compounded by personal factors, as Davenport and Bradley believed, there was no certain time when registration of these horses in the American Stud Book could be anticipated.

Because of this problem, an Arabian horse breeder’s club was organized in 1908. The primary organizers were no doubt Davenport and Bradley, who had the most to gain, but the other interested people of the Arabian horse community in America also belonged with the notable exception of Spencer Borden. According to his statement, he was not invited to participate. ³ He had not been satisfied by the early confrontation between Davenport and Sewell, and perhaps it was felt by the organizers of the new club that he would not be a congenial influence in the new project. However, he was informed that numbers had been reserved for his horses in the first volume of the new stud book to be issued, to which he replied that his

“horses were registered thoroughbred by Weatherby in England, and by the American Jockey Club, those two thoroughbred stud books being recognized the world over, and “… (that he) … “did not care to enter them in any other place.” ⁴

The new club and the stormy little Arab world came in for some public attention the following spring at the Durland show in New York City. The Arabian breeding class at this show was judged by J.A.P. Ramsdell, one of the foundation Arabian breeders. Class specifications called for horses that were registered or eligible for registration. The first three ribbons were awarded to entries shown by Homer Davenport and apparently from the desert importation. Fourth award was given to Spencer Borden’s stallion SEGARIO 249 (Nimr x Shabaka). The gelding ABDALLAH 52 (Bedr x Jamila) was excluded on the grounds that the class was a breeding class. Borden’s stallion IMAMZADA 210 (Imam x Kesia II) received no award.

In those days, as now, Arabian horses people were inclined to take the show ring more as an arena for battle to the death than for good-humored sport. Beyond that, there was a larger point at issue which was whether the new Arabian Horse Club could coexist with the Jockey Club as a registry for the Arabian horse.

Spencer Borden had come equipped for difficulties with the judging and with no inclination to accept competition from the Davenport horses. Upon making his entries at the show, he wrote that

“I gave the pages in the English Stud Book where they were registered, also their registration numbers in the Thoroughbred Stud Book of America, had the memorandum certified by the registrar of the Jockey Club, who went with me and personally verified my list to Mr. Durland. I also handed Mr. Durland a letter telling him I should expect others to present equal evidence of thoroughbreeding on the part of their horses. A copy of this letter Mr. Durland assured me he sent to Mr. Ramsdell” (the judge). ⁵

When the class did not go well for the Borden entries, he presented a further letter to the show manager from the Jockey Club stating that the Davenport horses “were not registered, and had not been accepted for registration by the Jockey Club.” ⁶

Further homework on Borden’s part came out a few days after the show. the class specifications called for horses which were “registered or eligible for registration.” ⁷ He had proven that, while his horses were registered with the Jockey Club, the Davenports were not. The Davenports were, however, registered with the newly formed Arabian Horse Club. Borden took the position that this was not a bona fide registry. He had written to the Department of Agriculture and received the following reply:

“Regarding the application of Arabian breeders for the certification of their stud book by this Department, I will say that there is no possibility of this as long as the club has certain rules of entry which were in force at the time it made application to the Department a short time age.” ⁸

In other words, the United States Government said that the stud book of the new Arabian Horse Club was not officially recognized. Borden’s conclusion, therefore, was that the Davenport entries had not met the class specifications, and that the awards should be redistributed to the other horses, which he felt were eligible. ⁹

There followed a series of exchanges in The Rider and Driver columns. Ramsdell, the judge, was reported as having said that Borden’s horse SEGARIO 249 had two “outcrosses” in his pedigree. ¹⁰ Borden replied that this was in contradiction to the Weatherby Stud Book records ¹¹ and that in the case of one ancestor in question there was a confusion of identity of horses on Ramsdell’s part. ¹²

Davenport’s response to having his horses questioned was to challenge Spence Borden to a pedigree contest between Borden’s SEGARIO 249 and his own *HALEB 25, with Lady Anne Blunt to be the judge of the better pedigree. He originally proposed a stake of $5,000 as the prize, but finally cut the figure to $1,000. Davenport most likely had wind of Lady Anne Blunt’s opinion of one of the ancestors of Borden’s horse as reported in the Raswan Index. ¹³ The challenge did not tempt Borden. He “said he would take no notice of it as his horses are thoroughbred and Mr. Davenport’s are not.” ¹⁴ He also suggested to Davenport that “if you want genuine Arabian horses, go to Lady Blunt, whom you agree as ‘the world’s recognized authority on Arab horse breeding’ and buy.” ¹⁵

The results of the Durland show were not formally protested by Borden. A protest was filed, however, by Mr. N.J.Hess, owner of ABDALLAH 52. ABDALLAH had not been considered in the judging because he was a gelding being shown in a breeding class. He was a bay, a beautiful horse, and, judging from a photograph of him at the trot, capable of performance which would cause him to place well in Arabian performance competition anywhere or any time. In the same Durland show in which he was not judged in the breeding class because he was a gelding, he won the class for best trained saddle horse, being judged as “walk, trot and canter; backing; change of lead on the canter in circles and straightaway; manners when mounted and dismounted; general balance and mouth and handiness.” ¹⁶ (We could do with the same classes judged on this basis in our present shows.)

Mr. Hess’s basic complaint was that his horse’s capacity for performance, which was supposed to count for fifty per cent, had not been fairly considered. This was especially offensive to him since the winning Davenport horses, in his opinion, were neither registered nor eligible for registration in the Jockey Club’s American Stud Book. ¹⁷

A special committee of the horse show was held on May 27, 1909, to consider the protest. Hess was present as the person with the grievance. Davenport’s side was represented by Davenport himself, Peter Bradley, M.A. Towle, and C.A. Moore. The hearing that followed was headlined in The Rider and Driver as “That Arab Horse Tangle.” which was a rather accurate description. If the Davenport horses were not registered with the Jockey club to Mr. Hess’s satisfaction, it turned out that neither was Mr. Hess’s own horse, and that, in fact, the latter was not even registered with the Arabian Horse Club, although application for such registration had been made and was being held up until transfers of ownership could be traced.

To Davenport, the point at issue was that the lack of Jockey Club registration of his entries did not have any bearing on their authenticity as Arabian horses. In explaining this, he made a rather extensive review of the Jockey Club’s actions as he interpreted them. The matter of the non-recognition by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of the newly formed Arabian Horse Club was brought up but to no conclusion because Davenport said the problem was being straightened out. It is now clear that he was correct in that assumption, at least, but he also expressed optimism about the outcome of the issue with the Jockey Club, and that was a problem that never eased during his own lifetime, nor, perhaps, could it have.

Through the whole affair, the person who was really lost sight of was the protester, Hess. His final remarks were,

“Mr. Chairman, part of my protest consists of the question of training and manners, and as we have Mr. Ramsdell here, don’t you think we had better bring that up now.?”

To which the chairman answered that the matter could be considered at the next meeting, four and one half months later. ¹⁸

It would be interesting to know whether that meeting was ever held.

***

There were great differences between the Arabian horses of Homer Davenport’s day. The differences in their owners were not less pronounced. Some of them were marked individualists, as befitted pioneer breeders of an exotic breed of horses. In order to understand how the breed was established and has progressed in this country, it helps to understand something of these men as personalities.

Homer Davenport comes to us through the years as a man of impulse and intuition, yet with the perseverance to pursue his goals in Arabian breeding over a span of twenty years, which was to the end of his life. His chief public prominence was as a political cartoonist. This required an instant, intuitive response to the social situations of his day, and, of course, the ability to project a strong sense of humor. His feelings were robust. He was inclined to express what he felt without much deliberation. People liked him and followed his leadership. In his personal life, he was very much an individualist.

Davenport’s traits of personality had great bearing on his activities with Arabian horses. We have read so much about it that the trip to the desert seems routine to us, perhaps, but in the context of Davenport’s time, it was a great adventure. He could much more easily have imported horses from the Blunts or other English sources. To interest Theodore Roosevelt in sponsoring the trip, to arrange financial backing from Peter Bradley and other sources, to depart within only one month of having received notification that the trip was diplomatically possible — there were actions that required imagination and the ability to carry projects into action quickly.

The key to the success of the Davenport importation was that the trip to the desert and the selection of the horses were under the direction of the Bedouin Sheik, Achmet Haffez. Without the direction, Davenport would no doubt have found horses somewhere in the area of Arabia, but he would have been forced to go the horse dealer route, and it is doubtful that he would have attained animals of the authenticity which he sought. Davenport has described his contact with Achmet Haffez as a “stupid but fortunate blunder.” ¹⁹ In a sense, it may have been that, but it was a blunder that grew out of Davenport’s personality, one that another might not have made.

Davenport’s personality was also one key to the establishment of the Arabian horse in the United States. He was an active and effective publicist for its virtues. Generally speaking, he was not inclined to understate its merits or the merits of his own horses. This was felt by some, Lady Anne Blunt among them, to be “bad form,” and it must have been quite irritating to those who had Arabian horses from other sources. He was successful in starting a number of other breeders, including Albert Harris. ²⁰ He was instrumental in the establishment of the Arabian Horse Club. (At the height of their disagreement, Borden commented that Davenport’s horses “are to be made ‘thoroughbred,’ even if Mr. Davenport has to publish a book of his own.”) ²¹

It is difficult to fully assess Davenport’s contribution as a breeder of Arabian horses. The stud books beginning with Vol II, published in 1918, credit him with having bred twenty head, plus a joint breeding with Ramsdell. This was certainly a respectable number, especially when Arabian horses were a rarity, but he very likely played a much more active part as a breeder than that figure would indicate through participation in a joint breeding effort with Peter Bradley. Bradley had been the primary financial backer for the expedition to Arabia. With the horses in America, he apparently retained his interest in them but preferred to remain in the background as far as Arabian horse activities were concerned, letting Davenport present them to the public. Immediately following the importation, the horses were advertised in a catalogue titled The Davenport Desert Arabian Stud, 1906-1907. From this catalogue, it appears that this stud was operated as a corporation of some sort with Homer Davenport given as president, A.G. Hooley, vice-president and treasurer, and Bradley, Hooley, and Davenport as directors.

Most of the horse of the importation and their descendants apparently continued to be owned by this organization through the publication in 1909 of the Stud Book of the Arabian Horse Club of America Class A, which it will be noted predated the Volume I published in 1913. As of the 1909 stud book, no entries were recorded in the name of Peter Bradley or of his eventual horse operation, the Hingham Stock Farm.

Homer Davenport died in 1913. In that year, following his death, a new edition of the stud book, Volume I, was published. Most of the remaining desert-breds of the Davenport importation had been transferred to the ownership of the Hingham Stock Farm, indicating complete ownership by Peter Bradley. A few had been transferred to the Armstrong Bedouin Stud. This was the name under which Davenport’s last activities as an Arabian owner were conducted.

One of the interesting things about the 1913 issue of the AHC stud book is that thirty-five of the entries are indicated as having been bred by the “Davenport Desert Arabian Stud.” Subsequently, in Volume II, 1918, almost all of these breeding credits were transferred to the Hingham Stock Farm, but, considering the joint nature of the business arrangement between Bradley and Davenport following the importation, one wonders if Davenport does not deserve some credit for the breeding of these horses. It is a question that could be argued because most of these animals were born in the years 1909, 1910, and 1911. There are some indications that there was a rift of some sort between Bradley and Davenport out of which the Davenport importation from England developed in 1910, and the rift, if any, may have developed prior to the years concerned.

***

Spencer Borden was Homer Davenport’s opposite number in Arabian horse affairs. Through his letters and other writing, he comes to us as somewhat dour and salty, logical, thorough, and a loner. He wanted to do things the right way. He was not shy about entering into controversy, but he was not reluctant to get someone else to pull the chestnuts out of the fire before he stuck his own hand into the coals. He was anything but impetuous. The main thing he and Davenport had in common was a sincere love for the Arabian horse.

Although Borden had owned Arabian horses in a minor way for several years prior to that time, his primary influence on the Arabian scene began about the year of the Davenport importation. In 1905 he began a program of importation of his own from England. In 1906, his book The Arab Horse was published. Perhaps part of the controversy between the two men was that they were both beginners in a new field, and each was eager to prove that his horses were the best. Certainly, when Davenport’s importation arrived with attendant publicity, it tended to overshadow Borden’s own efforts.

The important issue for Borden, however, was that he thought Davenport’s horses were of questionable authenticity. The initial letters he had from Lady Anne Blunt gave reasonable grounds for his doubts. In this context, his objections were more than a matter of demonstrating the superiority of his own horses: he was also trying to prevent Arabian horse breeding in America from becoming a program for horses which were not really Arabians. As matters finally developed, the issue boiled down in his mind to registration with the Jockey Club.

Apparently during most of the debate between the two sides, Borden and Davenport were strangers to one another. In December, 1909, Lady Anne Blunt wrote to Borden

” … I am extremely glad that you have met Mr. Davenport and that as you say he held out the ‘palm branch,’ also that you accepted it. I cannot help thinking that good will come of this good action. He could not but be pleased with your kind and friendly words about his book (I wish he would send me a copy)…” ²²

Years later, Borden wrote of Davenport,

“…I learned to know the latter, and he had many likable traits in his character. His expedition to Aleppo, and bringing back so many good horses, real Arabs, was a feat without an example. I did not believe it possible till I talked with him, and saw the animals. I do not think they were all equally good, but some were excellent.” ²³

Spencer Borden was an active promoter of the Arabian horse. Apropos of nothing, he would send clippings and pictures to news magazines. If someone wrote a derogatory article about Arabians, he would reply publicly and vehemently. Some of his horses were apparently trained in haute ecole by European trainers, and it must have been extremely unpleasant to him to see them beaten by Davenport’s less finished animals. He was active in trying to develop a future for the Arabian horse as a cavalry mount. He felt Brown’s efforts in promoting the same cause were ineffectual. His own method was to give horses to Generals and promising officers who were on the way up, which shows a realistic grasp of how to get things done in the U.S. Army. ²⁴

W.R. Brown was not as colorful a personality as Borden or Davenport, nor as easy to characterize. He came into the picture as an Arabian breeder after Davenport’s death. Within a short time, he had established his Maynesboro stud as the most important Arabian breeding farm in the United States. His influence on the Arabian Horse Club was equally great. He wrote that

“When I first became interested in Arabs about 8 or 10 years ago and joined the Club and attended the first meeting, there was no one there except H.K.Bush-Brown, Secretary, and Henry Fairfield Osborn. At that time Mr. Peter Bradley was President but gave it no personal interest whatever, leaving any matter which was attended to Martin A. Towle, his general manager. Spencer Borden who owned nearly an equal number of Arabs with Bradley, and practically all that were in the Jockey Club, played a lone hand and was out of sorts with all of Bradley’s horses.” ²⁵

Within a few years, Brown was president of the club, had brought Spencer Borden into the fold after having bought most of his horses, and had put out a fine new stud book. He was a businessman and an extremely effective personality.

As has been seen, it was through Brown’s persistence that the registration of *EUPHRATES 36 and *URFAH 40 with the Jockey Club had been accomplished. He had gone to a considerable amount of trouble over a period of not less than three years to do it. With that done, he was not interested in having the other Davenport desert imports and their descendants at Bradley’s Hingham Stock Farm so registered, rebuffing the exploratory suggestion on the part of Rowe of the Jockey Club that this could be done with them. This was probably partly a matter of business with him. If the Bradley horses had been registered by the Jockey Club in addition to their current registration with the Arabian Horse Club, the number of horses so registered would have increased very greatly, probably by about half. With the door closed on the Bradley horses, however, Brown had an effective monopoly of the Arabian horses which were registered with the Jockey Club as of the time of registration by that organization of *EUPHRATES 36 and *URFAH 40. There were several specific advantages to Jockey Club registration which were definite selling points. Horses with such registration could be imported or exported without duty to all countries of the world. ²⁶ They were useful “to those who wish to purchase Arabs they can breed to English Thoroughbreds without loss of registration in the thoroughbred class.” ²⁷

Different Arabian breeders have different goals in conducting their breeding programs. for W.R. Brown, it had become a major goal to have only horses which carried “double registration,” that is, which were registered by both the Arabian Horse Club and the Jockey club. There was certainly nothing wrong with using this as a criteria for the selection of breeding stock. It was no less sensible than it might have been to want all chestnuts or all greys, or all big horses, or all small horses, or all imported horses or all horses of domestic breeding. Fortunately, the Arabian breed provides these alternatives for those who wish to enjoy them. However, any route chosen in Arabian breeding has consequences. The consequences are not necessarily for the better or for the worse, but they do cause differences in the horses that are produced further down the road.

In Brown’s case, one of the consequences was that certain bloodlines were closed to him which he otherwise might have used. For instance, in 1916, he had the opportunity of buying *EUPHRATES 36, whose registration he had not yet cleared through the Jockey Club. He wrote to Rowe of the Jockey Club that “I might be disposed to do it provided you were successful in obtaining the registration.” ²⁸ In 1922, he was offered the stallion *HAMRAH 28, the brother of EUPHRATES 36. Years later, statistical analysis of the AHC Stud Book determined that this stallion was the most influential individual of the breed through 1946. ²⁹ Answering for Brown, his farm manager declined the purchase on the basis that the horse did not have Jockey Club registration.³⁰ Even the stallion JERREDE 84, for whose registration by the Jockey Club Brown had worked so diligently, was used rather sparingly at Maynesboro, and was sold to Wyoming before the Jockey Club registration finally cleared.

As far as expansion of the Maynesboro stud by acquisition was concerned, the limitation to Jockey Club registration largely ruled out domestic sources of breeding stock because Brown already owned most of the desirable domestic horses fitting into that category. As his practical alternative, this left horses from foreign stud books that would be eligible for Jockey Club registration. As a result, American breeding was enriched by his importations from England and other places.

Brown’s interest in the Jockey Club status of his own horses, of course, had implications outside of the direct development of his own breeding operation. Obviously, he believed in the program he had chosen to follow, and, in addition, he had horses to sell. One of the points of promotion for his horses was their “double registered” status. Answering an inquiry for him, his manager wrote:

“If you really are going to start a herd of pure Arabs, with the registration of both the Arab Horse Club and the Jockey Club which authenticates their desert origin, it looks to us as though it would pay you to make arrangements for their keep and take us up on a proposition we can make you now. Probably we will not be able to make you such an offer again in years.” ³¹

The same person was not above representing the Arabian horses which were not registered with the Jockey Club as being of lesser authenticity than the Brown horses, which, of course, was not true and was contradicted by numerous documents in the Brown files.

Brown had apparently written to W.K.Kellogg concerning the desirability of “double registration” of Arabian horses because Kellogg wrote to him, saying

“Also note what you say about the Weatherby’s registration, and thank you for the information. I appreciate the importance of what you say with reference to importing horses thru France in the future, in order to have proper registration.” ³²

This letter may partly explain the tendency at the Kellogg ranch to breed mares having Jockey Club registration to stallions which were similarly registered. It was not a universal breeding pattern. There were not less than eighteen exceptions through 1944, but a number of the “double registered” mares were bred to “double registered” stallions for their entire productive careers. After the departures from Kellogg’s in 1930 of ANTEZ 448 and in 1936 of HANAD 489, stallions in use at that farm were almost exclusively registered with the Jockey Club or eligible for such registration. The primary exception was RALET 759, who was not used extensively.

Footnotes

“An examination of the pedigrees of the Sewell horses forces me to admit that they are not as closely inbred as I had surmised, and that the finer specimens are not inbred at all. I do not yield an inch, however, in my assertion that I have brought from Arabia the finest bunch of Arabs that ever came out of the desert, Mr. Sewell’s not excepted, and welcome the opportunity to show mine against his before a jury of impartial judges.” ¹

Sewell, too, made a final statement of the matter. It was about on a par with Davenport’s:

“The doubts cast upon the exact whereabouts of the wanderings of Mr. Davenport . . . I think may be settled by the admission that Mr. Davenport made a journey along the northern boundary of Arabia proper, up country from Aleppo. Whether he actually crossed the boundary line into Arabia is a matter of comparatively small importance, and one on which Mr. Davenport himself seems a little in doubt.

“What is of real importance is the fact that I now candidly admit that Mr. Davenport came in touch somewhere on or near, the boundary between Arabia and Mesopotamia with the great Anazeh tribe of migratory horse-breeding Bedouins, which last year, fortunately for Mr. Davenport, swung the circle of its Summer migration rather further north than usual, and that he was able to obtain from them a very interesting and valuable collection of their horses — possibly a better collection than has been procured by others of late years.

“My opinion expressed in late letters to the Times to the effect that the purest Libyan blood was no longer to be obtained from the desert has been confirmed by a careful study of Mr. Davenport’s beautiful animals. This conclusion is not intended to be in any sense disparaging. It has been pointed out by scientific students of the subject that pure Libyan blood has been practically unobtainable, and it is no disparagement to Mr. Davenport’s fine animals to say that in their veins does not course absolutely unadulterated the rare blood of the chariot horses of the old Assyrian and Egyptian Kings.

“It is possible that this blood, in its absolute purity, uncontaminated by even a drop of blood of the comparatively ignoble European horse, does not exist today or that if it does exist the individuals are so few in number and so isolated that their perpetuation is of doubtful assurance.

“We of the Huntington Arabian Stud fondly believe that our animals, or at least some of them, show more of the traits of these noblest, of necessity, oldest, and — alas! — passing, race than do the specimens of Mr. Davenport’s.” ²

With that the great New York Times Arabian debate of 1906 was concluded. No contest between horses resulted. Davenport conceded that the Huntington horses were not so bad after all. Seward admitted that the Davenport horses were actual Arabians, even if they did not happen to be the pure and unadulterated descendants of the chariot horse of the ancient Assyrian and Egyptian Kings. In the whole exchange, neither side had changed position particularly, but better humor had resulted between the two parties, and, by fanning flames, the New York Times had obtained several very entertaining columns of copy.

***

The Davenport horses next came to the attention of the general public at a horse show at Rutland, Vermont, held the last of June, 1907. This was a show of some importance in the area. Among others, the Governor of the state was in attendance. The manner of his presence was not a complete political success because he had demonstrated poor taste in coming to the show in an automobile, and, of course, there was criticism of him on that ground. In a perhaps unrelated incident, the Morgan horse historian declined to exhibit his horses at the show because a representative of the show had visited him in an automobile. ³

The show was a three-day affair. A number of the Davenport horses appear to have been there, and each day there was an exhibit of them as an Arabian collection. On the last day of the show,

“As a special feature during the afternoon three of the Arabian horses, MASOUD, HAMRA, and HAMDANI raced a half-mile, HAMRA winning. The Bedouin boy, who was riding one of the horses, jumped down from his horses after the race and kissed the winning horse, showing the Arab’s love for his horse.” ⁴

From an Arabian breeder’s point of view, the main event at this show was a class in which the prize was awarded to the horse most closely resembling the original Justin Morgan type. The winner of this class was one of the Arabian horses of Davenport’s importation, *HALEB 25. This stallion had been a noted animal in Arabia, where he had been in extensive use as a sire by the Bedouins themselves. ⁵ On the arrival of the importation in America, he was considered by horsemen to be the best individual of the group. ⁶ At that time, the Morgan breed of horses was highly esteemed on the American scene and represented a fine tradition of domestic Arabian horse breeding. *HALEB’s victory in a class judged on resemblance to “original Justin Morgan type” was considered by Arabian breeders to prove both that the Arabian horse could compete with the best native horse of America and that, in Davenport’s words,

“horsemen are the same the world over, whether they wear the rough cloaks of the Bedouins spun under camel-hair tents or frock coats built on Fifth Avenue.” ⁷

This particular win has become a definite part of Arabian horse literature, commented on in Davenport’s writing, in Mr. Harris’ book, The Blood of the Arab, ⁸ and in W.R.Brown’s The Horse of the Desert. ⁹

For Morgan horsemen, however, *HALEB’s win may have had a somewhat different significance. Though the Morgan breed was at that time will established in America, it seems to have been at the beginning of a cross-roads in its history, and the event at the Rutland show provides a hint of this. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had become a factor in the perpetuation of the Morgan breed through its operation of the Morgan Horse Farm. This called for an official stand as to what the Morgan horse should be. The choice was whether to maintain the original type of the breed or to seek an improved kind of horse. The decision of the Department of Agriculture authorities was that

“it would be making a serious mistake if it should attempt to reproduce exactly the old type of Morgan horse . . . . The old Morgan type, the “Justin Morgan type,’ if we may so state, has served its day, just as the old types of beef cattle and hogs have served their day. In all successful stock breeding, progress is made slowly but surely. . . the Morgan horse of today and tomorrow should be a better horse than the Morgan horse of fifty years ago and a better horse than Justin Morgan. He should have the good points of conformation of the old Morgan and his indomitable spirit, but more size, more quality, and freer action.” ¹⁰

To this end, an attractive stallion, General Gates, was purchased to stand at the Morgan Horse Farm. the editor of The Rider and Driver commented upon the foals of General Gates that their

“beautiful form and exquisite quality . . . won his unstinted admiration, but they were more like the ideal saddle horse than the harness horse in conformation. In fact, they very closely resembled thoroughbreds of substance, with bodies well made, straight top line, depth through the heart, short backs, clean flat bone and heads and necks that would delight a connoisseur. Upon inquiry it was learned that General Gates is himself part thoroughbred . . . . We should like to ask the Agricultural Department if, with this breeding and the results observed . . . as described, it is, after all, probable that the Justin Morgan type, if that is aimed at, will be reproduced.” ¹¹

Elsewhere, the same writer comments that

“the get of General Gates were of a very ‘breedy sort.’ Unfortunately, whether it came from the admixture of ’saddle blood’ or some other cause, they were not very square trotters, being decidedly mixed in gait at the trot and exhibiting a tendency to amble and pace.” ¹²

Where the Department of Agriculture represented a faction that had decided to “improve” the Morgan horse, there must have been an opposing faction whose aim was the opposite, namely, to preserve the good, old-fashioned Morgan horse. (The controversy would have been in many respects similar to the recurrent one with Arabian breeders: whether to preserve the “classic” type or to produce the “perfect” horse.)

With this information as background, we might take another look at *HALEB’s victory in the class for horses of original Justin Morgan Type at Rutland, Vermont. According to the editor of The Rider and Driver magazine, who was one of them, the judges at this show commented that the

“Agricultural Department and the managers of the show . . . have been at variance as to the ideal Morgan desired to be produced in the future.” The show management carried its point for the day, at least, by instructing the judges to “adhere to the type of the original Justin Morgan. It was for this reason that the little Arab pony *HALEB was given the blue ribbon as the horse of all others shown which came nearest to the type of Justin Morgan.” ¹³

In other words, the class specifications had been deliberately worded to give a horse of *HALEB’s type the advantage. One wonders if the victory was not even somewhat more predetermined than that would indicate. In a letter to The Rider and Driver, Spencer Borden commented that

“The action of the Agricultural Society in paying Davenport to bring *HALEB (and perhaps some others) to Rutland in 1907 (is the) cause of much unfavorable comment by many of the Vermont people.” ¹⁴

From this it would appear that the antichange faction in Morgan circles, in addition to establishing class specifications of a horse of *HALEB’s type, had gone the logical step further of insuring that such a horse would be present.

When *HALEB was awarded the blue, the Morgan traditionalists won the day, and the course which they thought the Morgan breed should take was publicly established. Having the advantage of hindsight, however, we know that their success was a temporary one only. Over the intervening years, the Morgan horse has been “improved” to the point that one has to look far indeed to find an example within the breed of “Justin Morgan” type, although, of course, that breed does contain many fine individuals of other types. It is doubtful that *HALEB could win in a class of Morgans today.

***

In 1906, when the Davenport importation arrived in the United States, the only official stud book in which Arabians could be registered was the American Stud Book, maintained by the Jockey Club primarily for the registration of American Thoroughbreds. Many of the Arabian horses then in this country were not registered in that stud book, but the ones which could be said to be registered anywhere were found there.

Davenport applied to the Jockey Club for registration of his newly imported horses. The application was refused.

The conditions surrounding this and subsequent actions by the Jockey Club are complex. Probably the lapse of time which has occurred since then guarantees that no one is going to fully figure out what happened. Davenport’s side of the story was that he had published an unfavorable cartoon about August Belmont, chairman of the Jockey Club, and that Belmont was so offended that he would not permit registration of the horses imported in Davenport’s name, although their credentials were in adequate order. One horse of the importation, BEAMING STAR, was registered by the Jockey Club, but this horse belonged to Davenport’s companion on the trip, Jack Thompson, and Davenport’s name did not appear in connection with the application for registration. Davenport took this to prove that the objection was not to the horses he had imported but to him personally, because of the cartooning incident. ¹⁵

The more usually told side of the story is the version of Albert W. Harris:

“When Mr. Davenport applied to have these horses registered by the Jockey Club, he was told that, as they were not in the General Stud Book of England, they could not be accepted in the American Stud Book except under the rules of the General Stud Book of England, which required certain affidavits from Arabia and the American Consul. Now when one has spent months and gone through political and desert maneuvers and been adopted into the tribe of Anazeh Bedouins and is then asked to go back, figuratively speaking, and get an affidavit that he was there and that is where he got the horses, it is embarrassing, to say the least, but all according to Hoyle, as they say.” ¹⁶

W.R. Brown tells a somewhat different story yet.

“…On his return from Arabia…he asked the Jockey Club to register all of his horses. He had, however, only pedigree papers for part of his horses. The Jockey Club, very rightly, said they would register those for which he had papers, and asked him to produce the papers for the others including certificates of exportation from Alexandretta. He got mad and started to cartoon Belmont, then president of the Jockey Club, which did not help the case.” ¹⁷

This version is probably rather close to the truth. As a matter of fact, if anyone had been able to read the Arabic documents which arrived with the horses from Arabia, it would have been found that their Bedouin origin was well established. Eighteen of these documents still exist, accounting for all but three of the horses subsequently registered by the Arabian Horse Club. There is no particular reason to believe that documentation did not also exist for the three horses not accounted for. The remarkable fact is that the documentation for the other horses was preserved. The more usual course is for such papers to be lost or discarded, and it is unfortunate but true that most desert-bred foundation animals recognized by Arabian registries all over the world are simply not documented by authenticated papers taken at the time of their departure from Bedouin hands. The sources of such horses cannot be technically “proven,” and they are accepted according to the reliability of their importers.

Some years after Davenport’s death, further light was cast upon the Jockey Club’s refusal to register the horses of the Davenport importation. W.R. Brown had found it to his advantage to reverse the decision in regard to the Davenport stallion *EUPHRATES 26, which he was able to do after meeting certain requirements. He corresponded with W.H.Rowe of the Jockey Club on the matter. Several comments by Mr. Brown are pertinent:

“I shall be surprised and earthquaked if the EUPHRATES application is not granted by the Stewards, even though it is a radical departure from our usual conditions, owing to the fact that the Arabian horse people paid no attention to registering animals coming as EUPHRATES did — excepting, of course, the late Mr. Davenport, and his gyrations did the Arabian horse proposition in general much more harm than good with our people, as you can well imagine. I hope and believe that the proofs and data which you collected, and your personal willingness and trouble to comply with everything we requested , will do a great deal to offset the unpleasant memories of Mr. Davenport’s conduct and defiance of our regulations and requirements.” ¹⁸

In another letter:

“…as I have often told you, the previous indifference of the Arabian horse devotees and the antics of the late Mr. Davenport had naturally made a bad impression with our folks.” ¹⁹

The complete truth of what happened between the Jockey Club and Davenport probably lies somewhere between all versions of the story. At the time of the importation, it is unlikely that real technical objections to the registrations of the horses existed because at that time the requirements for registration of Arabians with the Jockey Club do not appear to have been particularly strict. It is very doubtful, for instance, that the application of *NEJDME I, who was so registered, was ever supported by a pedigree or any official document concerning export from Turkey or Arabia. Similarly, it is doubtful that there was much if any documentation connected with *LEOPARD 233 or *LINDEN TREE 234, who were imported in 1879, and these were also registered by the Jockey Club. That BEAMING STAR was accepted by the Jockey Club when the others from the expedition were not is a further indication that something other than documentation was causing the trouble, especially since BEAMING STAR was the one horse of the importation which was not considered by Davenport to be a purebred. He does not appear among the registrations of the Arabian Horse Club.

It would not be fair to the Jockey Club to assume that its actions were entirely a matter of prejudice. To this day, if you call the Jockey Club office and ask a question concerning the registration of a horse, the response will be “Who were the sire and dam?” These were questions Davenport could not answer. True, he did have documents, but they were poorly understood, and it is easy to see how initial questions could have been raised, followed, perhaps, by the complications coming from a ruffled temper.

That there was no barrier of substance was indicated some years later when the Jockey Club registered the stallion *EUPHRATES 36 and the mare *URFAH, of the Davenport importation. W.R. Brown had acquired a son of *EUPHRATES, JERREDE 84. He was out of *NEJDME 1, who, although she probably lacked any technical documentation as to source, was registered with the Jockey Club. The only thing, therefore, that kept JERREDE from also being registered was that his sire was one of the Davenport imports. It was a matter of personal importance to Brown that his horses be “double registered,” that is registered by both the Arabian Horse Club and the Jockey Club. In order to obtain such registration for his own horse JERREDE, he set about removing objections which the Jockey Club might have to *EUPHRATES. He had an A.H.Harlan inquire concerning the Davenport importation at the Custom House in New York. It turned out that photographs of the Arabic pedigrees were there. Brown wrote to Harlan to

“please get a signed description of *EUPHRATES, that he came in on such a date as a 2-year-old, etc, I do not care anything about any other horse except *EUPHRATES’ mother. If they have a pedigree photo of *EUPHRATES get it rephotoed, but presume they will only have the mother’s pedigree.” ²⁰

By this time, the Jockey Club had taken the position that it would only register an Arabian horse if it met the current standards of registration maintained by Weatherby’s of England. Brown contacted Weatherby’s to see what such standards would be and was told

“Before we included the Arabian horses in the Stud Book we should require the statement on the certificate verified by the Consul or some other Government official in or near the place where the horses came from.” ²¹ Apparently the Jockey Club or someone had already made the effort to get such a statement from the British Consul but it had “failed because he said that it would take a regiment of soldiers to find out the Shieks who filed the pedigree.” ²²

Brown took the alternative route of contacting the man who had been U.S. Consul for Aleppo at the time of the importation and secured the required certificate. ²³ The final requirement for authentication was met “through Lady Anne Blunt’s personal representations to Weatherby’s in passing on URFAH’s pedigree.” ²⁴ This represented a considerable change from the cool stand she had taken on the Davenport importation when she had first heard of it. After all, quite a number of years had passed since those days, and during that time she had corresponded with Davenport himself, with Spencer Borden, and with W.R.Brown on the subject. No doubt she had made inquires from her own sources which we cannot know today.

Perhaps, too, one of the factors leading to her change of opinion was that she finally did meet Homer Davenport:

“…..Mr. Homer Davenport’s much talked of and written about visit to Crabbet Stud has actually come off, and, contrary to all expectations, it resulted in the purchase of a mare and two colts. I had not regarded him even as a possible buyer after the voluminous correspondence extending over several years which had never gone further than inquiries–very much to our amusement here, mine and Mrs. Lytton’s for it had indeed become a sort of joke with us–of which I could not help reminding Mr. Davenport. But he took it very well, and if you had been present on the occasion of his visit, as I wish you had, I am sure you would have found both amusement and interest in the conversation; he is really a brilliant talker besides being one of those persons who thoroughly understand what they are looking at and to whom it is therefore necessarily a pleasure to show one’s horses. Thus the visit passed off very agreeably.” ²⁵

Footnotes

The ultimate achievement for an Arabian breeder in the successful importation of breeding stock from Arabia. Nothing else comes up to it: numbers bred, champions shown, importations form other sources, books written — none of these together can compare with having made the importation directly from the desert. In modern times, the number of breeders who have had the distinction of making such importations is extremely small. Probably the really successful ones can be numbered on the fingers of one’s hands, if not on the fingers of a single hand.

When Homer Davenport returned from Arabia in 1906 with his importation of Arabian horses, he could not have been unaware that he was one of those few people who had done the big thing, that by going directly to the Bedouin tribes of the desert to obtain horses he had acted in the tradition of Abbas Pasha, Upton, and the Blunts. He arrived in America with the recollection fresh that the Bedouins themselves had told him that the horses he was bringing were the only horses within their memories of authenticated pedigree which had left the desert. Their lives were short, and their memories did not cover a long span of years, but it was still a statement of significance: an indication that what he had obtained was more than just a boatload of horses.

So, as he arrived in America, he had reason to be satisfied with himself and to be proud of his achievement. Probably he anticipated its acclaim by other Arabian breeders. Probably he expected to enjoy a certain amount of public glory and then to settle down to years of enjoyment in making use of the unique breeding stock which had been obtained.

As a matter of fact, things did not work out that way.

To understand why, one has to consider something of the

background of Arabian breeding in America

at that time. It had gotten off to a surprisingly good start. Even before the Davenport importation, there were something over eighty Arabian horses here which were subsequently registered by the Arabian Horse Club. They represented the efforts of dedicated breeders and importers who had no doubt each paid dearly to be patrons of the new breed of horses in this country. The horses had come form various sources: some from the Hamidie Society, some from Russia and Turkey, some from English breeders — most notably Miss Dillon and Lady Anne Blunt. There were a number of active, established stud farms. Four that were particularly noteworthy were those of Spencer Borden, Randolph Huntington, J.A.P. Ramsdell, and Peter Bradley.

Davenport, too, was one of the established breeders of Arabian horses, but, prior to his importation of 1906,, perhaps he had not been considered by the other breeders to be a major factor. However, he did own Arabian horses and had been active with the breed for a considerable period of time. Prior to his departure for the desert, he had taken it upon himself to write an article for Country Life in America titled “The Arabian Horse–Its Present Place and Mission.” This article was published while he was abroad. It reviewed some of the romantic tales of Arabian horse lore which all of us would like to believe whether they are true or not, and in addition, it discussed the breeders of Arabian horses then active on the American scene. Concerning the Randolf Huntington breeding program, Davenport’s comments were of the sort that would bruise every nerve in a breeder’s sensibilities:

“Mr. Randolph Huntington, of Oyster Bay, has been less fortunate: [than J.A.P.Ramsdell] “–possible through too great effort to follow Arab methods, or rather a misunderstanding of Arab methods….Mr. Huntington’s foundation stock came from Arabia by way of England, and was supplemented by the blood of the Grant stallions, yet by breeding too close he has lost the Arab type.” (1)

It was not a polite thing to write about anybody’s horses, and subsequently Davenport would hear about it.

***

The arrival of the Davenport importation in the United States was reported in the New York Times issue of October 8, 1906. The reporter made an interesting story of a number of the details of the importation, and it was obvious that a bit of the romance of the desert had arrived in America.

Even in those days, the world was a pretty small place as far as transmission of news was concerned. Within two weeks, a remount official from this side of the Atlantic had called at Crabbet and mentioned that Homer Davenport had “been in Arabia and brought back equine treasures.” (2) Upon learning of this, Lady Anne Blunt wrote to her best American customer of the time, Spencer Borden, expressing doubts about the Davenport importation:

“These may be treasures but the bringer of them can hardly have been in Arabia, as that peninsula has been inaccessible of late for any sort of visitor or traveler – I am in constant communication with Bedouins coming from and going there and always hearing particulars of what is going on; the Bedouins themselves have great difficulty in getting about. If you think of it when you are writing to me I would like to hear the Davenport story in an authentic form.” (3)

Apparently within the next few days she read a news account of the importation. She again wrote to Borden:

“I…cannot help writing to say I saw with a mixture of amusement and annoyance the tone of the announcement of the 27 head of the best Arabian horses and mares that ever were seen now being imported to America by Homer Davenport. What is ‘bad form’ is the assumption that nothing good has ever gone out of Arabia before, and it is not true; … Some or all of the 27 head of horses may be good but the number seems considerable to have collected in so short a time (even at Aleppo and with the kind help of the Sultan and the American Government) when one remembers how the Austrian Govt in a longer time only got half a dozen good enough to export, and how difficult it was in 1878 and 1881 when we were there, actually in the desert, to find really first rate specimens. I shall be much interested in hearing what these are like, so please write and tell me about them.” (4)

Lady Anne Blunt’s doubts about the importation were reasonable. On their surface, to her the preliminary public reports must have seemed improbable. They told of a man of no particular background in either horses or travel who had gone to Arabia and in a matter of weeks had come away with a large number of choice horses from the most inaccessible tribes, accomplishing more with almost no effort that other experienced importers had been able to do after long expeditions.

These doubts were fully matched by the doubts of some of the already established American breeders. Accordingly, the New York Times of November 16, 1906, contained a letter from Robert W. Sewell, president of the Huntington Arabian Stud. It will be recalled that this was the breeding operation which Davenport’s article earlier in the year had not treated in a kindly fashion. The Sewell letter was headlined, “Lady Anne Blunt Doubts Homer Davenport.” The text of the letter, in part, was as follows:

“So much has been said in the press of late in regard to Arabian horses in general and an alleged importation of Arabian horses by Homer Davenport, that the writer has been requested by some of the breeders of Arabian horses in America to endeavor to clear the atmosphere in regard to the subject in general and Mr. Davenport’s importation in particular..”

“Mr. Davenport’s methods of discussion of the question of Arabian horses, especially those belonging to his rivals, is regarded by them as not only of dubious taste, but calculated to injure the cause to which they are devoting their efforts ….

“To Arabia, then, on July 5 last, with a great blare of trumpets departed Mr. Homer Davenport, bent upon pursuing the wily child of the desert to his native fastnesses and depriving him of his well known ’steed’, immortal both in song and story.

“The intrepid cartoonist was forced to leave to others the care of his invaluable collection of ducks, drakes, and long haired goats…and as he bade an affectionate farewell to the gentlemen who were backing his enterprise he assured them that he would bring back ‘the goods’ or never again return.

“It was safe to say that Mr. Davenport would bring back horses, which he certainly did, to the number of twenty-seven. This marvelous success in getting what he went for when others failed has met with the chorus of praise which such a feat deserves. Besides an accomplishment like this, the production of a rabbit from a stovepipe hat in which no rabbit was pales in insignificance.

“It is unnecessary to add that the confiding syndicate, as well as the public, were regaled with tales of the sort proper to tell in regard to ‘Arab steeds,’ among which a modern version of ‘take back thy gold’ fiction figured, as it of course should

After this in the way of a foreword, Sewell presented fairly drawn extracts from the letters from Lady Anne Blunt to Spence Borden, which apparently had been furnished to him by Borden. He concluded with

“However, the horses are alive and at Morris Plains. They are real horses, and we have Mr. Davenport’s unsustained word that they are real Arabians. It is, therefore, our duty in accepting his word to congratulate him.” (5)

It must be an established tradition of newspaper reporters never to let a good quarrel die. The day after the publication of the Sewell letter, an interview with Homer Davenport was reported:

“Homer Davenport, cartoonist, and collector of Arabian horses, is to say the least, annoyed. That Lady Anne Blunt, another Arabian horse enthusiast, should even hint that he had not been to Arabia, hurts him. That Robert W. Sewell should question the genuineness of his horses’ pedigrees angers him. That anyone should inquire “Who and what is he? cause him to wonder. (6)

” ‘Arab, Arab, who’s got the Arab’ is apparently the latest game in polite horse breeding circles. Mr. Davenport asserted yesterday that he had several Arabs, twenty-seven to be exact, and that all but one of them were the finest ever. He said, furthermore, that he had been to Arabia, and he produced photographs to prove both facts. In addition, his statements were corroborated by Arthur Moore of the firm of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, who made the trip to the land of wonderful horses with the artist and saw the particular animals in question purchased.

“Mr. Davenport was not in a particularly calm frame of mind when a Times reporter interviewed him yesterday. He had read Mr. Sewell’s letter quoting Lady Anne Blunt, and had been discussing it with friends. Kodak pictures were scattered all over his latest cartoon, and there was a large bagful of documents in support of his contentions on his desk. He had come from his home in Morris Plains prepared for the enemy, and was hurling broadsides indiscriminately and with vehemence …

” ‘I didn’t know that it was necessary to get the consent of the Blunts and Sewell and Col. Spencer Borden to go to Arabia. I thought that the President’s aid and the Sultan’s aid would do. And so I went there and I got horses, and twenty-six out of the twenty-seven horses I got are ‘chubby.’ That means that they are horses which the Anaza tribes would breed. This whole thing just shows the smallness of human nature. Now, here is a picture of one of the horses Sewell bought from Huntington. Look at it!’

“The picture was a half-tone of a very ordinary looking animal.

” ‘You see the tail: how it hangs straight down. Well, just after this was published, Sewell asked me about my horses’ tails; whether they always stood out from the hocks. I told him “yes.” Now look at this picture’ – another half-tone. ‘Same horse, same stone near the hind hoof. But the picture has been retouched to make the tail stand out. That’s the way Mr. Sewell gets real Arab horses.”.

“Mr. Davenport, greatly excited, showed several photographs of his own animals. As far as appearance went, they were unmistakably the real thing, beautiful pictures of beautiful animals. In one picture a Bedouin was riding one of the stallions of the Davenport stud….

” ‘That’s a slave — a Bedouin slave who can’t speak a word of English. He was given to me, and he’s out on my place in Morris Plains now. Never been in Arabia! (disgustedly)

” ‘How about your going only to Aleppo, a coast town?’ Mr. Davenport was asked.

” ‘Tisn’t a coast town,’ replied Mr. Davenport. ‘It is 160 miles inland from Iskenderoon. Any map will show that. We went there first, and then we traveled on down the Euphrates. We were bound for a place called Deyr. They told us we could get horses there, but we found plenty of horses before we got there….

” ‘It’s just this. We went in there in the Summer time, when everybody else went in Winter. In the summer the Arabs pasture their horses at the northern end of the desert. That’s why we found it so easy to get in and to buy horses. I suppose when Lady Anne speaks of it being dangerous she really means the peninsula, the southern part: what they call the Nejd. There always is a lot of trouble down there, fighting and all that. We didn’t go there. We didn’t have to.

” ‘And say! Arthur Moore and Thompson and I asked nearly every Bedouin we met and, do you know, we didn’t find a single one who even knew the Blunts. It’s thirty years since they were there, and, as Lady Anne says in her book, the people there are short-lived. I didn’t know they had put up a gate on the place and a sign: “You mustn’t go in here; it belongs to us” ‘ ….

…” In answer to the statement that the Austrian Government had found it hard to get a half dozen good animals in a longer time, he said that a representative of the German Government had been there two years previously and secured twelve stallions, while an Italian official had left the country only six weeks before Mr. Davenport’s arrival with seven stallions.

” ‘ “Hashem” (Bey) told me that out of about 6,000 horses about 600 belonging to the Anaza tribes were chubby. The Bedouins will not breed horses unless they know their pedigrees. When horses were taken in warfare, the captor did not know the pedigree of the animal, and would not breed it. Now, by arrangement, the defeated horses owner turns over to the man who has captured his horse a certificate showing the pedigree; exactly such a document as I have for each of my horses. Horses that the tribesmen know enough of and think enough of to breed are called chubby, and all but one of the horses I brought back are chubby. ‘

On November 25th another interview with Davenport was reported in the Times which contained further information about Arabian horses in Arabia:

“We found many mares that we could not buy, as they did not allow all their female blood to pass out of the hands of the Anazeh tribe, but in all of those instances we bought horse colts from such mares. To get war mares you must go among the warring tribes of the desert, not on the piers of Beyruit, and during our visit with the Anazeh, which is the most warlike Bedouin tribe now in existence, living entirely from raids and robberies, I bought mares, one of which bore the scars of war. It was much prized as the war mare of the present ruler.” 7

In the days of old, when one gentleman said that another gentleman’s horses were no good and the second gentleman responded with the accusation that the first gentleman was a fake and a liar, there would have been ample grounds for a duel, and the matter could have been settled in a final sense with pistols or swords. By 1906, the simplicity of this form of argument had gone out of style. Gentlemen turned to other ways of settling their disputes, but the idea of settlement by some form of contest was still current. Mr. Seward was not at all satisfied with Davenport’s explanations. In any case, the treatment of the Huntington horses had been an insult. In a letter dated November 21st to the New York Times, he issued a challenge:

“Mr. Davenport’s reply … on the subject of his importation of Syrian horses said to be Arabian, contains so many ‘glaring inaccuracies’ that I hesitate to ask you for space in which to reply in detail.

“After all, the real proof is in the quality and the presence of racial characteristics in the animals themselves, as the Arabian blood and the degree of its purity are apparent to the trained eye.

“…We would gladly enter into a competition with Mr. Davenport to show any pair of horses against any of his before a jury of three, one of whom shall be Mr. Osborne or a scientist of equal distinction, for a purse of $1,000, to be contributed by the contesting parties.

“If our horses are the feeble and degenerate lot that Mr. Davenport represents them to be, now is the time for him to prove the superiority of his own.”

Now that the Times had succeeded in promoting the feud between Davenport and Sewell from a slow burn to a beginning fire, a reporter was sent to Davenport with Sewell’s challenge to see what further heat could be generated. He responded nicely to give about a column of further copy on the subject:

“When this challenge was submitted to Mr. Davenport by a Times reporter…he demurred at first, saying that such a contest as that suggested by Mr. Sewell would not really show what there was in an Arab horse.” (9)

” ‘If there is one thing claimed for the Arab horse it is its intelligence,’ said the Cartoonist. ‘I think any contest to be arranged should be comprehensive enough to give scope for the manifestation of this quality in the horses. I have a counter-challenge to submit to Mr. Sewell, which will fulfill that condition and be a real test. Such a contest as I propose would enable even a layman to determine whose horses are superior.”

“Mr. Davenport then submitted a programme for ten contests, with a prize of $1,000 for each, open not only to the horses of the Sewell stud, but to all horses of pure Arab blood. Here is the cartoonists’ programme for the $10,000 contests under his challenge:

1. Trotting, five miles.

2. Running, two miles.

3. Exhibition of three-year-old horse or filly.

4. Exhibition of aged stallion.

5. Exhibition of brood mare and foal.

6. Exhibition of yearling colt.

7. Team of horses, driven by child.

8. Horse or mare, to be ridden by child.

9. Contest for the best type of Arab horse, to be traced to the Anezah tribe.

10. A $1,000 prize to prove that I went to the Anezah tribe in the northern desert of Arabia, and bought horses whose pedigrees bear the seal of the greatest Bedouin living, according to the mark of his standing as a Sheik of the Anezah tribe.

“…After Mr. Davenport had issued this challenge he bethought himself further and said that to give Mr. Sewell every opportunity to compete he was willing to accept his (Sewell’s ) challenge as well under the conditions named for his own challenge.

” ‘It’s almost robbery to drag Sewell into this.’ chuckled the cartoonist. ‘The police really ought to be notified. We will be there with the goods…If he had known what was good for him, Sewell would never have brought this onto himself.’ And Mr. Davenport chuckled again.

It was a great challenge and counter-challenge..If the proposed competition had come about, America would have had its first all-Arabian show right at the time of the establishment of the breed in this country. The program would have offered an interesting and comprehensive view of the Arabian horse. In many ways it would have paralleled our Arabian shows of today, with performance classes, racing, halter classes, and contests for junior exhibitors. Modern exhibition would have been paralleled in another respect because both men were trying to set up events to be judged in their own favor. By requiring that Professor Osborne be one of the judges, Sewell was insuring that one member of the panel of three would be favorable to his cause, thus making it necessary to win over only one of the other two. According to Walter Russell, a former president of Sewell’s Huntington stud, Professor Osborne had pronounced that stud’s premier sire “the finest Arab stallion in the world.” (10)

Davenport was making an equivalent effort to pre-determine results. Because his own horses had just been imported from the Anazeh tribe, they would be the most logical contenders for category nine. In addition, he was the only person who could possibly win the prize for proving that he had been to the Anazeh tribe to buy horses.

Obviously, neither man intended to lose any substantial amount of money. Unfortunately, Davenport’s proposal did not really satisfy Sewell’s point, which was something that no show ring extravaganza could settle. Sewell’s reply was:

“…We fear that as yet he ” (Davenport) “does not quite understand the nature of our controversy. We do not doubt that Mr. Davenport’s importation of horses of Arabian blood, claimed to be pure Arabians, includes many excellent, well-trained, and useful animals; the whole question to us is one of the purity of their Arabian blood, or, as it is more scientifically termed, the ‘Libyan’ blood of these animals.” (Sewell apparently followed the Ridgeway theory that the Arabian horse originated in North Africa.)” 11

“We do not admit that the horses brought by Mr. Davenport from Southern Asia Minor are of pure or the purest Libyan origin….

“It is in this spirit…that we challenge Mr. Davenport to an immediate competition and comparison to decide the relative purity of the blood of his horses and ours….

“…If he will meet us we will enter the lists against him with one living horse and the mounted skeleton of another (his sire).

Davenport did not care more for Sewell’s proposal than Sewell did for his. Perhaps the prospect of furnishing a mounted skeleton was too much for him since his newly imported horses had not progressed to that point yet. Further contact followed between the two sides, and, finely, Davenport commented that

“Sewell has not seen my horses, and I think if he were more of a sportsman he would come down to Morris Plains and look them over before doing so much talking.” (11a)

Sewell appears to have taken this as an invitation. From Davenport’s account, the visit turned out surprisingly well:

“We thought a Winter cyclone had suddenly struck the Morris Plains Arabian Stud when Mr. Robert V.V. Sewell hit our happy home on Sunday last, and we anticipated nothing less than a stampede of all the horses. After being assured that our lives were not in danger, we ventured to submit our stock for his inspection, and we surprised to hear him assert that they were in his opinion real Arabians. There may be hope for Sewell after all.”

“For my part, I am free to admit that my intimation in a former interview in the Times that Mr. Sewell was so ignorant of the questions at issue that he did not know a horse’s tail from his withers, was an exaggeration due to the heat of the controversy, as a more intimate acquaintance with Mr. Sewell convinces me that his knowledge of equine anatomy is less superficial than I had at first supposed.

Foot Notes:
(1) Homer Davenport, “The Arabian Horse — Its Present Place and Mission,” in Country Life in America, Vol. X, No. 4, August 1906, p. 430.

(2) Anne Blunt to Spencer Borden, October 24, 1906.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Anne Blunt to Spence Borden, November 1, 1906.

(5) New York Times, November 16, 1906.

(6) New York Times, November 22, 1906.

(7) New York Times, November 25, 1906.

(8) New York Times, November 22, 1906

(9) Ibid.

(10) Ibid.

(11) New York Times, November 29, 1906.

(11a) New York Times, December 1, 1906.

(12) New York Times, December, 1906.