Tag: Ludo

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

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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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Risslina (Rafeef x Rissla) 1926 chestnut mare. Photo from the Crabbet Arabians by Cecil Covey.

Margaret Murray and the Painswick Lodge Stud: Part 1, 1932-1967

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By Emma Bennett. Perhaps the inspiration to own and breed Arabs came from Margaret Murray seeing her mother drive a pair of South African Arabs in a phaeton, for in 1932 she bought a grey two-year-old colt from Mr. T.C. Armitage’s stud at Taunton in Somerset. This colt was Sahban, by *Aldebar 1864 (bred by the Prince of Wales) out of the Crabbet mare, Seriya (Skowronek x Somra). Sahban was the start of a long friendship between Margaret Murray and Tom Armitage who was president of the Arab Horse Society three times. Sabhan was used mainly on pony and Thoroughbred mares and only sired a few purebred foals as at that time Arabs were used mainly to improve other types of horses.

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Sirella (UK)

Distinctly Crabbet: Sirella and Hanif

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Shortly after he won the Supreme Male Championship at the Arab Show in 1962, *Silver Vanity 22555, was exported to America. It was a great los to England as much of the little stock he left behind was also exported. However, the year that *Silver Vanity left, a colt was born to Sirella who was to become an all-time favourite of breeders on both sides of the Atlantic – Hanif. Hanif was one of only two pure Crabbet stallions left by *Silver Vanity in the UK, the other being Rayyan out of Risseefa.

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Klinta Arabians, Ireland – UK Summer 2000 Stud Tour

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By Georgia Cheer. Fortunately for me, there is one pure Crabbet breeder in Ireland, Klinta Arabians. This was my first visit to Ireland, and I will certainly not forget the wonderful time I had with Gunilla and Geoff Hamer. Gunilla is a very interesting, lively, humorous and unique individual. Gunilla is Swedish by birth, but has traveled the world, living prior to her move to Ireland in Buch b. Frauenfeld, Switzerland, where she and Geoff kept a pet donkey named Oscar, who was raised by the Hamer’s from age nine days old through to his accidental death at age 21. Oscar was a donkey who thought he was human. Stories about Oscar could fill a small book, like his pension for gin and tonic. Sadly he passed away a few years ago so I did not ‘meet’ him. Gunilla also owns a Skye Terrier by the name of Paddy. Paddy was a champion show dog in his younger days and is her constant companion.

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Pilgrimage to Crabbet Park – 2002 Crabbet Convention

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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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