Ferseyn by Gladys Brown Edwards

by Gladys Brown Edwards
*from the Arab Horse Journal, February 1963

The year 1962 rang down the curtain on the career of one of the greatest sires of the Arabian breed, Ferseyn, with at least thirty-eight champions and reserve champions to his credit in all-Arabian shows alone, and excluding winners at fairs and other shows for which reasonably accurate figures cannot be obtained.

For several years he has headed the 'leading sires' list, with his sons and daughters bow also carrying on his dynasty, bringing the number of his trophy-collecting descendants to astronomical numbers.

The foregoing champions are "halter class", but his get have won countless performance classes of all sorts, and of course there are numerous "just pleasure horses" by Ferseyn which may have never seen a show ring in a class of that name but which have been pleasure, pure pleasure, to their owners in the primary meaning of the word.

There are also goodly numbers of ranch horses or other 'working' horses which may never have time for the "folderol" of the show ring but which nevertheless have helped make a name for the breed.

Ferseyn was a stallion with built-in style and presence. This was very evident to admiring ringsiders that hot day in Devonshire Downs in 1947 when Ferseyn strutted around the ring, with arched neck and gaily carried tail, for what seemed like endless circles of the huge ring, to be finally pulled out as winner of that class of 34 stallions.

Although it took some time for the judge, Dr. Amin Zaher of Egypt, to go over this record-breaking number of entries (which were kept walking, rather than lined up) Ferseyn never lost an iota of presence, regardless of the 110 temperature.

Even "back at the ranch" Ferseyn would strut in this fashion whenever led out, flexing his neck like a well-trained dressage horse, with a way of going that was typically Ferseyn. His personality was always evident in his expressive face and his large eyes, which, if such could be said of a horse, had a quizzical glint and more than a hint of impish humor.

Mrs. Reese tells of his always great interest in what was going on around him in this story: When Ferseyn was at the Reese place in West Covina his corral was next to the busy corner of Garvey (Highway 60-70-99) and Glendora Avenue, an intersection that drew its share of accidents.

One day a real smackeroo of an accident took place, first with the screech of brakes - which brought Ferseyn to his ringside rail at a high trot - then the bang of cars in metal-to-metal combat - followed by the usual intermediate-range bumps of other cars whose drivers were not quite as alert as they should have been.

This was all a very satisfactory state of affairs to Ferseyn who stood like a statue all the while, waiting for the forthcoming wail of sirens, the arrival of ambulances, crowds, and whatnot. As soon as the traffic again started moving and the ambulances had sirened their way down the highway, Ferseyn promptly turned away and went back across the corral to his interrupted lunch.

Mrs. Reese says she was so entranced by Ferseyn's intense interest and quick relapse into boredom when the affair was over that she never forgot it, and in fact, timed his trance, which was for around an hour, during which time his ears were cocked and his eyes 'popped', with hardly as much as a blink.

Later, on the Reese Ranch in Pomona, there was no traffic at all for him to watch, and aside from keeping an eye on his harem - and a hopeful eye on the harems of the other Reese stallions he had little to do for amusement, so would watch for trailers in happy anticipation.

When in his stall, he would turn on the lights at odd hours, giving - at first - the creepy illusion of ghosts, or at least elves, prowling in the stable at night. So he had to have special arrangements made for his lighting fixtures, also door locks.

In other words, he was a silvery version of TV's Mr. Ed, minus the latter's talkativeness. At the Mari ranch too he watched all that went on, from his vantage point at the end of the lane, and nothing went on that he did not know about on which he would express an opinion.

The people who are lucky enough to own sons and daughters of Ferseyn are always amazed at their personality and their desire to be a part of everything that goes on, so Ferseyn imparted this trait to his get as well as the true Arabian type and other all-Arabian characteristics.

Ferseyn was bred by the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch in Pomona, California but started his quarter century of life at the Fred Vanderhoof Ranch in Woodlake on May 21, 1937, since his dam had been sold, in foal to *Raseyn, at the age of twenty-four.

As *Ferda was beginning to show her age, it was thought she would receive better and more personal care in private ownership than at the Kellogg Ranch. However, Ferseyn almost never came into being at all, since *Ferda nearly did not come to America with the 1926 importation of Crabbet Arabians.

At the time of Mr. Kellogg's purchase of horses from the Crabbet Park Stud, *Ferda was owned by Lady Wentworth's daughter, Lady Anne Lytton, who gives us the following background on *Ferda:

I was very fond of Ferda and after the tragic family lawsuit which my grandfather Wilfrid Blunt lost and my sister and myself won, we being minors and not able to afford to keep the Crabbet Stud, sold it to my mother through the trustees.

I kept Ferda to breed from, and wanted Nasik, but so did my mother so I let him go. She later persuaded me to let her have Ferda for sale to Mr. Kellogg, and in exchange she let me have Rossana by Skowronek.

I rode and schooled Rossana but gave her back to my mother and Mr. Kellogg took her also and she became his favorite riding mare. At the time I regretted very much letting Ferda go, but now I am extremely glad as she might never have been so famous as a broodmare had I kept her.

I bred four foals from her, Farasin, Fantana, Farrash and Fejran. My mother entered them as bred by her but the mare was my property until the sale to Mr. Kellogg. I gave her all the foals including Farasin, but in those days I fondly imagined my mother intended the stud to be a family concern.

I have since been well repaid because in 1949 she made a friendly gesture and gave me Mifaria by Oran out of Rythyana by Raktha. There could have been no better olive branch because this mare has produced for me the most wonderful foals.

I am sending the only picture I have of Ferda, a snapshot taken by me in 1922. I am also sending a photo of her sire Rustem, a horse greatly admired by my grandfather.

It was Mr. Kellogg's agent for this purchase (Carl Raswan) who insisted that *Ferda and her daughter *Farasin be included in the shipment and which nearly 'blew up a storm' as a consequence, since after all, *Ferda was not Lady Wentworth's property.

However it all turned out for the best, as Lady Anne Lytton has pointed out, and certainly the influence of *Ferda has been far beyond that of any other mare of the Kellogg Ranch. She was not the incubator type of mare, but rather she passed on many of her own good points to her produce mainly the well-sloped shoulder, high withers and excellent legs.

Of course, the dominance of Skowronek would sometimes negate the former two good points but the blend of his own virtues with those of *Ferda's in later generations, has proven an excellent nick.

It is said that all good sires are out of superior broodmatrons which are representatives of great producing families, and this is decidedly true in Ferseyn's case.

*Ferda was out of Feluka, a daughter of Mesaoud, who also produced Fejr who possibly is best known in the country as the dam of *Felestin (high on the 'leading broodmare family' lists) but who also produced Ferhan (sire of Indian Gold); Faris (sire of Rissalix); and the beautiful Fayal, also a noted sire.

Fejr's daughter Fasila, sold to Poland, produced *Sulejman, imported to this country by Henry Babson. The handsome *Sulejman is not only a fine sire, but was also a successful racehorse in Poland.

The line through *Ferda herself is especially potent, her daughter *Farasin being the most prolific and influential as far as the distraff side is concerned. *Farasin was by Rasim, one of Crabbet's best stallions, and she is probably remembered most through her son Farana, a flashy exhibition stock horse and influential sire whose progeny seem to nick especially well when 'returned' to Ferseyn, thus doubling the *Ferda blood.

For instance, Bint Sahara is a granddaughter of Farana, and her produce by Ferseyn has always been of championship quality. Ferdia was a daughter of Farana who, bred to Ferseyn, produced Saki and Fersiaseyna, the former being the dam of four of Fadjur's champions, and the latter the dam of Fertif who sired the sisters Fer-Natta and Hi-Natta (out of Natta, also a daughter of Farana) who together equal Saki's record of champion offspring.

In direct tail female, Narasa (sister of Farana) is the main color-bearer for the *Ferda family. Her daughter Nafa, and Nafa's daughter Nafalla, have nicked extraordinarily well with the Polish stallion *Witez II, with six champions to their combined credit so far.

Another daughter of Narasa produced Ronara, a champion herself and dam of several such winners, including the coast-to-coast campaigner Ibn Hanrah.

Another full sister of Farana was Farnasa, dam of the beautiful bay stallion Farlyf, featured at Cal Poly as a harness as a harness horse until his unfortunate death while still young. She is also the dam of Regis, a very promising grey colt by Ferseyn, slated to go to stud this year, and who of course is 'all-Crabbet' in breeding, and is also double *Ferda.

The list of horses of the *Ferda line could go on forever, but this is enough to show that Ferseyn's dam was influential in her own right, although Ferseyn himself was almost a 'dead ringer' for his sire.

*Ferda added a few of her own good points however, Ferseyn having been a little 'breedier' with a finer-chiseled head and larger, more prominent eyes; also his shoulder, though not having the perfection of *Ferda's, was nevertheless better than *Raseyn's.

The fame of *Raseyn and his sire Skowronek is so great that little need to be said on their behalf. The dam of *Raseyn was Rayya, a dark bay mare with hardly a white hair, and she, together with Skowronek's own reputation for nearly unmarked (in most cases) horses, may account for *Raseyn's record of siring foals with little white, which was not however considered an asset during his Kellogg career.

Ferseyn also sired very little in the way of white markings, probably due to his 'double Rustem' (sire of both *Ferda and Rayya) heritage as well as that of Skowronek. Mesaoud shines in the background of Ferseyn also, though through the less flashily marked lines such as the nearly solid-color *Astraled, Riada (dam of Rayya), and the neatly-marked Feluka.

When Ferseyn was a two-year-old he was sent down by Mr. Vanderhoof with a group of young Arabians to Mr. H.H. Reese's place in West Covina for eventual sale. Mr. Reese, as a former manager of the W.K. Kellogg Ranch, knew Ferseyn's breeding and was well impressed with the youngster.

In fact, he liked him so well he decided not to let anyone else snap him up so bought the colt himself. Since his business was selling horses and standing stallions at stud, he did not go in for showing, but did on rare occasions show the stallions, winning a championship with Abu Farwa as well as a three-gaited event at the Bellflower show, and winning the largest (at that time) stallion class in all-Arabian show history with Ferseyn as well as the reserve championship of the Devonshire Downs show.

Ferseyn was an instant success at stud, with one of his first sons winning the junior championship at the Southern California Arabian Horse Association show, followed by other winners in that period of which the greatest was Fersara.

This daughter of Bint Sahara continued to win for several years up and down the coast, winning one of the first Pacific Coast championships and permanently retired the W.K. Kellogg Perpetual (or so they thought!) Trophy for grand champion of the Southern California show by winning this honor three times.

Fersara is second only to her dam as a broodmare, but another Ferseyn daughter, Saki, is beginning to close in on her record. This mare (dam of Ibn Fadjur) is only one champion less than Fersara's five.

Ferzon, a 'double Ferseyn' stallion by Ferneyn out of Fersara, is a leading sire in the Midwest, with four of 1962's champions being by him. Ferneyn also added two champions to his list this year.

Ferneyn (by Ferseyn) is 'double *Raseyn', so the blood of the latter is intensified in Ferzon.

Royal Son, a full brother of Ferzon (and unusual for this nick, being a red chestnut) is the sire of four champions.

Some of the other Ferseyn sons which have champions to their credit are Seneyn, Al-Marah Safir, and Neyseyn.

Bishara, a Ferseyn daughter, is one of the best-producing broodmares of Richard Newman's in Colorado, nicking well with the 'double *Raseyn' grandson Mujahid.

By coincidence, Ferseyn's champions 'bracketed' the Southern California shows, one of the first being the aforementioned junior, Diseyn (sire of the sensational 3-gaited and combination mare Diza) and one of the last, the 1962 Spring show champion, Tamri-Farwa, which rather rounded out Ferseyn's career in fitting fashion.

In between these two were thirty-six other champions, and possibly even more, since records of the early years are difficult to obtain or authenticate. Also, the polls are not closed for 1962.

These champions were halter class winners and do not include the innumerable Ferseyn progeny which topped working classes. Among his noted stock horses were Khalek, Seneyn, Ferba and Bellez, and Marfir won many cutting events.

Some of his get who started out collecting blue ribbons as westerners tuned 'city slicker' and started chasing the blues with noteworthy results in three-gaited classes, two of these being Fermait and Taj Mahal.

Few performance mares can touch the record of Ferseyn's granddaughter Diza, and geldings by Ferseyn have proven the value of this rare 'sex' among Arabians by winning English Pleasure class stakes and similar events, as well as garnering more blue ribbons in halter classes.

These do not represent the field by any means, but the list would get so long that even rubber type would not be of help if we tried to get in all the Ferseyn winners.

When Ferseyn was twenty-one years of age he was sold to Frisco Mari of La Puente, California for what was then a record price for an Arabian stallion of any age, let alone one old enough to be considered 'through' by some experts on horse vintages.

However Ferseyn, under the loving care of the whole Mari family, not only fooled the experts on longevity, but continued to sire champions. In fact, he did better than ever percentage-wise, for up to the time of his sale he had been bred to any and all sorts of mares, of infinite variety as to type and bloodlines.

Under the Mari supervision the quality of his mares were controlled and limited, with resultant increase in over-all quality in the foals.

At present the Mari family has eight daughters of Ferseyn, namely: Ferdith, Bella Rosa, Contessa, Belleza, Grandad, Andrea, Marchesa, and Isabelle. They also have three Ferseyn sons, Regis, the afore-mentioned grey colt out of Farnasa; Amerigo, a very promising soundly-made grey out of the Polish import *Szarza; and another good prospect, Avanti, a bay out of Anamait. Three mares are due to foal to Ferseyn this year, Lalumah, Fallah, and the second Polish mare *Sabaa.

Ferseyn did not die out of debility, but rather from a tumor in a forefoot, which, though in spite of all that veterinarians could do, finally became so bad, and caused intense pain, that Ferseyn had to be put to sleep.

He received round-the-clock care from the Mari family, none of whom were willing to leave the ranch at all during those last weeks, and no horse could have had more devoted attention, even the most famous 'millionaire' Thoroughbreds.

The Maris took Ferseyn's death hard, for he was never just a horse, he was more than a friend, he was a member of the family. They say that no stallion, not even one of his own sons, can ever take his place, so his stall will never be occupied by another horse.

To them there may be many more great Arabians, but there is only one "greatest"-Ferseyn.