Ben Rabba: An Exceptional Influence on the British Arabian

By Alexia Ross. Ben Rabba’s visible debt to the Nasik son Rifnas appealed to many of the breeders of Crabbet lines at the time. It reintroduced a factor for extreme shoulder and front structure that was hard to find within the surviving Crabbet gene pool in the UK. Less obvious to the English eye was his debt to other early American influences, notably the Davenport importation. It is to this influence that Ben Rabba owed his good hindquarter and exceptionally well muscled loin, the latter a trait often overlooked by Arabian breeders for the show ring but essential to genuine athleticism in any horse of any breed.

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Coed-y-foel Arabians, Wales – UK Summer 2000 Stud Tour

By Georgia Cheer. Diana Whittome does not breed pure Crabbet; instead her lines are predominantly Crabbet/Old English, with a dash of Polish, Egyptian or Russian. Her emphasis is to breed performance horses and she has done this exceedingly well. Diana is also a show judge, plus she holds several committee positions on the Arab Horse Society council. She writes articles for the AHS News and other publications and is delightfully entertaining and extremely knowledgeable on pedigrees.

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UK Summer 2000 Stud Tour

By Georgia Cheer. The Farms that I visited on the summer tour were: Imperial Arabian Stud (Wiltshire), Klinta Arabians (Ireland), Star Arabian Stud (Lincolnshire), Al Waha Arabians (Surrey), Blue Moon Arabians (Surrey), Milla Lauquen Stud (Norfolk), Highfield Stud (Wales), Coed-y-Foel Arabian Stud (Wales), and Templars Stud (Lancashire). Combe Farm (Devon, Aug. 5, 2001). I will present a sample preview of what I will see at each farm below.

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Comparison Photos of Ben Rabba Horses From the 1990 British National Show

By Georgia Cheer. Pictured left is the Israeli National Champion mare ABBAH by Ben Rabba out of Azeme Bint Gleam. Pictured on right is 1990 Junior British National Champion Mare AUREME by Aurelian (by Ben Rabba) out of the same dam, Azeme Bint Gleam. Do you notice the similarities? I took Abbah’s photo in 1994 in Virginia where she lives with owner Debra Cashvan. I think then she was about age 12.

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Pilgrimage to Crabbet Park – 2002 Crabbet Convention

By Tiffani McCarthy. Like a modern-day Canterbury Tales, the devoted pilgrims flowed to Crabbet Park in Sussex for the opening of the Crabbet Convention. The only problem was that Crabbet Park is now less Canterbury Cathedral and more Bodiam Castle, just a shell of its former glory and purpose. This did not deter the delegates, however. This was the ancestral home of their beloved horses. For a few moments all of the memories from countless books and film clips and for a lucky few actual time spent at the stud came together through the magic grout of the imagination.

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