CRABBET ARABIANS: A WORLDWIDE TRADITION

by Arlene Magid

The Crabbet Stud of England had more influence worldwide than any other individual program since its inception in 1878. Horses bred by the stud's founders, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt, and their daughter, Judith, Lady Wentworth, have been sought after by serious breeders on every continent.

Ironically, the Crabbet Stud was not named for the family that founded it , nor was it initially meant to be an Arabian breeding establishment! The founders of the stud, Lord Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt, actually set out to recreate an outstanding foundation sire of the Thoroughbred, the Darley Arabian, in their initial effort to obtain breeding stock. The Blunts had a large estate at Crabbet and Newbuildings in Sussex, England that Wilfrid had inherited in 1872. The name "Crabbet Stud" actually came from the house on the property at the time of the inheritance, which was in shabby shape and which the Blunts tore down and built another in its place. The Blunts, being independently wealthy, were able to make multiple journeys to Egypt, Syria, the Sinai Peninsula, and Algeria in their search for horses of the same strain as the Darley. In 1877, they made a visit that convinced Lady Anne that she wanted to breed purebred Arabians. The first desertbreds arrived in the summer of 1878. Several of this first group would have worldwide influence on Arabian breeding, as among them were Basilisk (whose dam line influence descends through just one daughter, Bozra) and Dajania (foundress of one of the most prominent of Crabbet dam lines). Also in this group, though her influence was not maintained at Crabbet, was Wild Thyme, who through her daughter Raschida (owned by the early British breeder Ethelred Dillon, who had the second largest collection of Arabians in Britain in the latter part of the nineteenth century) founded a line that still exists today. U.S. National Champion Stallion Arn Ett Perlane+ traces to Wild Thyme in tail female.

The influence of Wild Thyme brings up another misconception that needs to be dispelled: not all Arabians imported from England are of all-Crabbet breeding! There were other importers of Arabians in the nineteenth century besides the Blunts, and the Blunts sold a number of horses to other breeders that left no descent at Crabbet. Horses with non-Crabbet lines imported from Britain are termed "old English" if their breeding predates 1950 or so, when bloodlines from many other countries began to be imported into England. Hence, defining a straight Crabbet horse can involve some research. Due to the success of the Crabbet lines in nicking with other blood, there are very few pure Crabbet horses to be found in America today.Ironically, the very success of the Crabbet stock in blending with other lines has made straight Crabbet horses the rarest bloodline group in North America today. Noted researcher and geneticist Michael Bowling estimates that there are only around 300 living straight Crabbet horses on this continent, many too old to breed on. Numbers of straight Crabbet horses in Britain and Australia are seriously dwindling as well as breeders cross with other lines to produce "fashionable" stock. Once the present group of straight Crabbet or "old English" blood is decimated, it cannot be recreated.

The Blunts imported a total of 48 Arabian horses to England. Of these, 15 came direct from the desert, and 33 from Ali Pasha Sherif, an Egyptian breeder whose root stock was all from the best Bedouin sources. Some of the most notable include : Ferida (imported 1891), Queen of Sheba (imported 1879), Rodania (imported 1881), Sobha (imported 1891, the only Ali Pasha Sherif mare to leave a tail female line at Crabbet), Merzuk (imported 1891, important for his daughter Ridaa, who founded one of the most successful branches of the Rodania tail female line), Pharaoh (imported 1879, notable for his daughter Bozra and paternal granddaughter Rosemary), Feysul (imported 1898), Mahruss (imported from Egypt in 1893 and founder of the sire line from which the great motion sire Rissalix descends) and Mesaoud (imported from Egypt in 1891, and sire of more foals than any other stallion at Crabbet--a total of 97). In addition to their base in England, the Blunts established a second farm in Egypt, the Sheykh Obeyd Stud, at which they kept a number of their horses as well, and through which the Crabbet lines are found in most Egyptian horses today. During the time the Blunts controlled the stud, Crabbet Arabians were sold to diverse locations, including Russia (where the Crabbet foundation mare Sobha and stallions Mesaoud and Pharoah ended their days), Argentina (with two stallions and a mare sold there in 1912 and1913), and Australia (to which many Crabbet horses were imported, the first of them in 1891).

The Blunt had just one child, Judith, later known as Lady Wentworth. Because of family conflicts, Judith entered into a protracted legal battle with Wilfrid over the disposition of the horses after her mother's death, with the end result being that she finally gained control of the horses in 1920. 1920 was a landmark year for the stud, as Lady Wentworth sold a group of 19 horses to the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt (among them the maternal grandsire of the great progenitor Nazeer), and acquired the stallion who may have had the most influence of any used at stud in this century--the Polish-born Skowronek. Although Skowronek sired just 47 foals, crossing him on the Blunt bred mares proved to be a golden nick, and increased demand for Crabbet stock worldwide The sale to the Royal Agricultural Society was the first major sale abroad made by Lady Wentworth, but it was not to be the last.

There was only one further addition to the Crabbet stock after Skowronek of a horse not descended from the original Blunt horses: the mare Dafina, imported from the desert in 1927 and presented to Lady Wentworth through Sir Gilbert Clayton of the Arab Bureau. Dafina bred on through just two daughters--Dafinetta, who remained in England, and Ryama, who was sold to Russia as a five year old. From Ryama descends U.S. Reserve National Champion Stallion and leading halter sire Padrons Psyche, one of the breed's leading sires of halter winners. Lady Wentworth sold Dafina in 1936, and henceforth the few additions to her program were all from stock descending from prior Crabbet breeding (such as the great motion sire Oran, the last stallion used at Crabbet who had no lines to Skowronek).

The largest sale of horses from Crabbet prior to the death of Lady Wentworth was in 1936, when the Russian government purchased six stallions and 19 mares, among them the key stallion Naseem and important broodmare sires Raseem and Shareer, and mares Rissalma and Star of the Hills.Please refer to the article on Russian bloodlines on this website for more information on the Crabbet influence in Russian horses.. Other important sales abroad made by Lady Wentworth included a group brought into Spain in 1930 by the Duke of Veragua which included the Skowronek daughters Jalila (who also left a prominent dam line in America through her daughters *Rose of France and *Rasmina) and Reyna, a full sister to *Rifala, the dam of *Raffles. Lady Wentworth also sold a group to Baron Bicker in Poland that included the prominent Crabbet sire Rasim (to whom U.S. National Champion Stallion *El Paso and U.S. Reserve National Champion Park *Zbrucz trace), Sardhana (to whom several American National winners trace in tail female), and Fasila (dam of National winner sire *Sulejman).

Lady Wentworth died in 1957, and left her horses to Geoffrey Covey, a family employee since 1910, who predeceased her by a few days. The horses were then inherited by his son Cecil Covey, who was forced to sell many because of the very high British estate taxes. Covey maintained a small group of Crabbet horses until 1972, when the stud was totally disbanded due to highway construction that bisected the land where the horses were located.

The final dispersal of the Crabbet stock in 1972 represented the end of nearly a century of continuous breeding of the Blunt's stock, but the torch had been passed to many other breeders in countries around the world. A brief summary of some of the most important exports to America follows.

In America, the early imports from Crabbet were utilized by one of the best early clients of the stud, Spencer Borden, who bred Arabians for 20 years His most notable imports from Crabbet included the Ali Pasha Sherif mare *Ghazala (granddam of Gulastra), the fine broodmare sire *Rodan, and *Rose of Sharon, one of the most important representatives of the Rodania dam line. Borden sold all of his remaining horses to W.R. Brown of Berlin, New Hampshire, in 1918. Brown later acquired the sire of Gulastra, *Astraled, and imported a significant group of horses from Crabbet in 1918. The Brown imports included *Berk (an important sire at Crabbet, where he sired Rissla, granddam of *Raffles), *Rijma (dam of Ribal, the grandsire of important broodmares like Bint Sahara and Wirdih Jameel), *Hazna (from whom descend Yatana, the famed Cedardell foundation mare, and Lasma's great producer Habina++), and *Felestin(Ibn Yashmak x Fejr) (whose daughter Kishta produced 6 producers of National winners!). Brown's Maynesboro Stud is the "M" in the CMK designation that stands for Crabbet/Maynesboro/Kellogg, the breeding group that has attracted much interest from people who want to maintain the type of Arabian bred in America before 1950. (CMK horses CAN be of all Crabbet lineage, but almost all come from mixed backgrounds based on the breeding programs of the three studs mentioned, which in the case of Maynesboro and Kellogg include influences other than Crabbet).

The "K" of the CMK designation is the Kellogg Ranch..W.K. Kellogg made an importation of 17 horses from Crabbet in 1926. This group was one of the most influential ever brought to the U.S., and included the Skowronek son *Raseyn (sire of 21 producers of National winners, including Ferseyn, Sureyn and U.S. Top Ten Mare Angyl, dam of U.S. National Champion Stallion Bay Abi++). The other major sire of the group, *Nasik had sired 15 registered foals in England. In America, he sired the great stockhorse Farana, who became a tremendously influential broodmare sire. *Nasik also began the American sire line that includes the spectacular Aurab, whose son Ben Rabba was exported to England on lease and increased the *Nasik sire line influence there (which had for the most part died out at the time). The two most influential mares of the 1926 Kellogg importation were *Ferda and her daughter *Farasin . *Ferda produced the key American sire Ferseyn by *Raseyn, while *Farasin was the dam of Farana and founded a dam line that includes the leading broodmares Nafa, Nafalla (dam of 4 National winners) and Autumn Fire, the breed's all time leading dam of national winners (she has produced 7 to date, including the noted sire Afire Bey V). In 1936, Kellogg made an additional importation using the name of K.M.Brown. Two of the mares have had major impact on the breed: the Skowronek daughter*Crabbet Sura(whose son Sureyn sired 19 National winners including the first U.S. National Champion Stallion and Mare)and *Rissletta, a Skowronek granddaughter, who produced the renowned sire Abu Farwa, who appears often in the pedigrees of some of the breed's most popular show horses (Bey Shah+, for example, traces to him twice on his dam side).

Another significant importer of Crabbet horses in the Wentworth heyday was Roger Selby. Selby made four importations from Crabbet which included the desertbred stallion *Mirage. The *Mirage sire line is one of the most prominent in the breed today thanks to the influence of U.S. National Champion Stallion Bay Abi++. Also imported by Selby was *Raffles, who sired 121 get in America, 45 of them National winner producers. Significant mares imported by Selby included *Indaia, dam of the Al-Marah foundation sire Indraff and *Rose of France (*Raswan x Jalila), to whom the national halter champions Galizon, Rohara Tsultress+, and Heritage Desiree all trace in tail female.

Later Crabbet importations to America were (with one exception) smaller than the ones of Brown, Kellogg, or Selby, but many of the horses have had great influence on American show rings and breeding programs. In the 1950s, John Rogers brought in the all time leading Crabbet sire of champions, *Serafix, as well as two mares who produced U.S. National Champions in halter:: *Serafire(dam of U.S. National Champion Mare Indian Genii) and *Silver Crystal (dam of U.S. National Champion Stallion Mujahid++

The largest importation ever made from England was made by Bazy Tankersley, for whom Crabbet blood had become a trademark. After the death of Lady Wentworth and that of Lady Yule (one of her main clients and later rivals), Tankersley obtained 34 horses for Al-Marah Arabians. Almost all were "straight Crabbet" in pedigree. The importation was famed for its mares, which included U.S. Top Ten Mare *Silwara, who produced 4 national winners including Canadian National Champion Stallion Tornado. Two years later Tankersley imported *Count Dorsaz and it was because of him and several mares in the 1957 group that she developed her very successful "Double R" program which featured horses with lines to Rissalix and *Raffles (and/or *Raseyn). *Count Dorsaz sired a total of 15 national winners, and is the only all-Crabbet stallion to sire both a U.S. National Champion Stallion (Count Bazy++) and a U.S. National Champion Park Horse (Seahorse Duke Dorsaz).

The 1960s saw American breeders continuing to bring in Crabbet-bred horses to enhance the stock they already had. Patricia Hewitt of Friendship Farm imported *Nizzam, later co- owned with Lewisfield Arabians. He sired 13 national winners, among them U.S. National Champion Park Lewisfield Nizzof (whose dam was a *Raffles daughter who was also a granddaughter of the Selby imported mare *Rasmina). 1961 saw the importation of *Serafix's maternal brother *Oran Van Crabbet, by Ronald and Merle Dow of Maine. He was later named U.S. National Champion in park, formal driving and formal combination. Two significant sires came to America in 1962 and 1963. Bazy Tankersley (in partnership with Charles Prange of Pennsylvania) imported twice British National Champion Stallion *Silver Vanity (Oran x Silver Gilt). In America *Silver Vanity went on to sire national winners in performance including U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Al-Marah Silver Sparrow. The following year, Dr. H.F. Kale imported *Serafix's full brother *Silver Drift, an english pleasure champion in America and sire of national champions in halter and performance including the exquisite Canadian National Champion Mare Jewel Drift.

The Lewis family of Lewisfield Arabians in Virginia imported 19 horses from England to go with *Nizzam, and these horses came to America in two groups. The most memorable of the stallions were *Touch of Magic (Indian Magic x *Indian Diamond), a sire of national winners in halter and performance, and U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure *Lewisfield Magic+/ (Indian Magic x *Michelia). Four of the mares produced national winners as well. Not all of the Lewisfield imports were bred at Crabbet, nor were all "straight Crabbet" by pedigree, but they were part of the Crabbet tradition in America, a tradition being maintained by a number of caring breeders who recognize the quality and versatility of these lines.

All of our breed histories were commissioned by Jamal Arabians with Arlene Magid. No reproduction can be made from these without the express written consent of Jamal Arabians and the Author.

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