RAS Bint Vanity (Silver Vanity x Blue Sal) 1977 grey mare owned by Rhodes Arabian Stud.

Long Live Crabbet: A Tour of Straight Crabbets in the American North East

By Alexia Ross. The good news is that there are a small number of breeders in America who are still trying to preserve a resource of Straight Crabbet Arabians and are doing so with some very nice horses. Standards vary, as in any bloodline group, with some plain heads and rough couplings in evidence but good temperament and athleticism is pretty standard with more than enough exotic heads and smooth bodies to offer a positive future. On the whole, limbs, length of shoulder and movement are better than the norm that is accepted in the show ring these days with long ground covering strides on offer instead of the stylized, but not particularly functional, high knee action which is becoming fashionable now in Europe.

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Joe and Sue Norman with Kasadi foals (l) Gavin (R) Marceline

Centenary of the Harwood Stud

By Rosemary Archer. Harwood has the distinction of being the oldest Arabian stud in Britain. It was founded in 1896 when Colonel F. Lyon of Horsham, Sussex, bought the four year-old mare Howa at the 8th Crabbet Sale. Howa was a great-granddaughter of the Blunt’s well-known mare Hagar, which they bought in Arabia and rode on their desert journeys, and her sire was Azrek, one of the Blunt’s finest imports.

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Phara Farm: Golden Horses of the Sun

By Faye Ahneman-Rudsenske. Their eyes met across the crowded space, his dark and liquid hot. He was young with a serene, regal air that hinted at royalty. The sunlight illuminated his golden hair and outlined the sculptured, aristocratic features of his face. His sleek, smooth body was not quite fully mature, but handsome, nevertheless, with a promise of impressive maturity.

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Ben Rabba, photo provided by Jewell Cantrell.

Cantrell Arabs and the ‘Ben Rabba Collection’

By Pamela Biery. Many years ago, between appointments and errands, I went by Cantrell Arabians hoping to see the latest foal crop. Standing by the fence with Jewell Cantrell chatting about this and that, I suddenly felt a chill. We were surveying some fifteen to twenty Ben Rabba daughters, granddaughters and old-line Crabbet mares. I looked again at the pasture dotted with exquisite mares and back to Jewell, shaking my head. I was astounded not only by the beauty of the scene, but by the potential impact of the ‘Ben Rabba Collection’ on Crabbet breeding.

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Fairview Farm: The Abu Farwa Legacy

By Jim Robbins. The scenic Okanagan Valley of British Columbia is home to the finest peach and apple orchards in the province, a thriving tourism trade, and possibly the most concentrated Abu Farwa breeding program in the world. Dr. David Ward’s Fairview Farm is the home to a collection of over 50 linebred and inbred horses, based on the sons and daughters of the legendary Abu Farwa (Rabiyas x *Rissletta).

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