Crabbet Park in southern England is synonymous with one family - the
Blunts - who scoured the desert of the Middle East from 1878 to import
and breed Arabian horses of the finest purity. From 1917, their daughter
Judith, Lady Wentworth, also a gifted breeder, raised the stud to worldwide
fame and success until her death in 1957.
By the time the stud finally closed in 1971 - a victim of motorway
construction - "Crabbet" horses formed the base for the studs
of almost every major Arab horse-breeding country in the world, especially
Australia, the United States, South Africa and of course Russia.
Appreciating the quality of the Crabbet horses, the Russian government
bought 25 of the best in 1936. This importation included the influential
stallion Naseem by Skowronek and also Raseem by Rasim, Ferhan
by Raswan, Jeruan and Shareer, both by Nureddin 11, and Shareer's
son, Rytham.
Among the 19 mares brought to Tersk in the same shipment were
seven daughters of Nureddin 11, including Ruallia out of Riyala,
Ryama out of Dafina, and Neraida out of Nasifa - plus Nasifa herself
by Skowronek. Notable mares who bred on at Tersk were Rissalma
(Shareer x Rissla), Star of the Hills (Raswan x Selima) and Ruanda
(Najib x Rythma).
|
|
|
Back in the 1880s, the bold adventurer Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, and his
gentle wife, Lady Anne (the wealthy grand-daughter of the poet Lord
Byron) had made a number of journeys to the Ottoman Empire and the Near
East. They learned Turkish and Arabic and travelled with the Bedouin
on horseback, sleeping always in their own tent, attended by their own
servant. They left Judith and the comfort of their newly-restored mansion
and vast estate at Crabbet Park to explore the deserts of Syria in search
of the finest Arabian horses.
|
|
Earlier in the 19th century, many foreign breeders and dealers
had already acquired horses from the Arabian deserts. These had
gone to Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France, India and
other countries which valued quality bloodstock. But because the
Bedouin prize their mares so highly, they seldom sold the females
to foreigners. So there was almost no breeding of Arab to Arab
outside the desert.
|
Yet prior to their foray into Arabia, the far-sighted Lady Anne wrote
in 1877: "We have made a plan of importing the best Anazeh blood
to England and breeding it pure there. It would be an interesting and
useful thing to do, and I should very much like to try it."
She and Wilfrid succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
The unique heritage that the Blunts left the Arabian horse world was
four-fold - firstly: they selected only the very best horses; secondly:
they persuaded the Bedouins to part with their priceless mares; thirdly:
they appreciated the value of the pedigree, written on a "hujjah",
which guaranteed the purity of the breeding (the Bedouin rate purity
above all other qualities - beauty, speed, stamina, intelligence and
loyalty), and fourthly: they created a pure Arabian breeding programme
at Crabbet Park using these imported mares and stallions from verified
lines.
Lady Anne was rich enough to provide the time, facilities and staff
to take the long-term view. So the couple could experiment with different
matings to see which produced the best horses and most improved results.
They culled or gave away those that did not meet their exacting standards.
They sold others, when persuaded.
Count Joseph Potocki bought Wilfrid's own "charger" Pharaoh
by in 1882, although he later sold him to the Imperial Russian Stud.
The life-size portrait of Wilfrid in Arabian costume on a rearing Pharoah,
painted in oils by Lady Anne, now hangs in the English home of artist,
author and expert in all things Arabian, Peter Upton. When I stood beside
the picture, it over-powered me!
Speaking Arabic, the Blunts had a huge advantage over other "horse-hunters".
Lady Anne recounts in the daily journals that she kept meticulously
(even in the discomfort of the desert), the pleasure of meeting sheikhs
from the horse-breeding tribes, and the adventures they had securing
each horse.
The Blunts were very much aided in their plans to secure Arabian horses
by James Skene, the British consul at Aleppo. Skene had a great understanding
of the country and an appreciation of the native horses and made the
Blunts welcome on their arrival in 1877.
Their very first purchase was made on Christmas Day - a yearling filly
of the Kehileh Dajanieh strain whom they finally named Dajania. Her
influence has been enormous and a huge number of her descendants survive
around the world.
In the new year, they bought a gentle-tempered mare they called Hagar
who turned out to be very fast with the long, low stride of an English
racehorse. She became Wilfrid's 'journey mare', carrying him from Aleppo
to Baghdad and back through northern Mesopotamia to Damascus.
The other major purchase at this time was Kars, the impressive 4-year
old bay Seglawi Jedran, the first stallion used at Crabbet. He was from
the Ibn Sbeyni strain of the Mehed of the Fedaan Anazeh. This tribe
still produces fine horses that they were proud to show visitors to
the World Arab Horse Conference in Syria last April.
At the wells of Abu Fayal, the Blunts found a top quality mare, the
celebrated Rodania, a 12-year old chestnut bred by Ibn Rodan of the
Roala.
Wilfrid later noted: "nearly everything of the best at Crabbet
is now descended from her". His comment still holds true today
as her influence continues in a thousand breeding programmes. Rodania
came with a history and wounds on her torso, the result of the battles
between the Roala and the Gomussa, who captured her in war.
Mr Skene was responsible for the purchase of the dark bay Queen of
Sheba, from Beteyen Ibn Mirshid, supreme sheikh of the Gomussa tribe
of the Sebaa in 1878 - for £20 and 14 camels. The sale of this
important mare produced quite a stir in the desert because, as Lady
Anne recorded, "When Beteyen brought her to his tent, we saw that
she was superior to all the mares we had been looking at."
In 1880, an English newspaper reported: "The beautiful Arabian
Stud at Crabbet Park has been increased by five splendid creatures including
a mare and foal". These were the mares Sherifa, Zefifia, Hagar,
Dahma and Rodania.
The Blunts' aspirations really began to be fulfilled in 1885 with the
birth at Crabbet of two remarkable fillies, Rodania's daughter, Rose
of Sharon and Dajania's daughter, Nefisa, both by Hadban, a stallion
the Blunts had bought in India.
After an insignificant start, Rose of Sharon grew into a fine mare,
the dam of Rafyk, sold to Sir James Boucaut and exported to Australia.
Rose of Sharon's most famous and influential son was Rijm, but it is
through just one of her five daughters, Ridaa, that the line thrived
as Ridaa produced the fillies Rim, Riyala and Risala.
Nefisa must hold some sort of record as a brood mare with 21 foals
to her name, the last born when she was 27, although some died before
maturity. Many of her colts were exported, including Naaman to Russia,
a sad loss to England where few breeders appreciated the value of this
desert blood.
In addition to importations from the Bedouins of Syria, the Blunts
were fortunate enough to acquire a collection of fine horses from the
dwindling stud of Ali Pasha Sherif. He had inherited a much larger stable
from the Egyptian ruler Abbas Pasha who had collected one of the finest
herds in the Orient.
In 1892, the Blunts first saw a stallion of this breeding called Shawan
(by the superb old Seglawi stallion Wazir) whom they bought for £62
and imported him to Crabbet later that year. They also acquired the
important grey mare Sobha also by Wazir, as well as another son of his,
Merzuk.
However, by far the most important stallion they bought was the rich
chestnut Mesaoud (Aziz x Yemameh) foaled in 1887, a Seglawi Jedran of
the strain formerly belonging to Ibn Sudan of the Rualla tribe. He has
become by far the most prepotent and influential sire in Arabian breeding.
Many of today's horses from Crabbet lines owe 25% of their pedigree
to Mesaoud.
Between 1888 and 1896, the Blunts bought 17 of the Egyptian horses,
some of which came to Crabbet Park. Others, such as the stallion Ibn
Nura, stayed behind at Sheykh Obeyd, their home outside Cairo. The couple's
separation in 1906 and scandalous divorce in later years left lady Anne
in Cairo and Wilfrid at Crabbet Park and their other stately home, nearby
Newbuildings Place, where some of the horse were badly neglected, resulting
in unnecessary foal deaths.
When Lady Anne died, she left a number of horses to the newly-formed
Egyptian Agricultural Organisation. Her will was hotly disputed between
Wilfrid and his daughter Judith, ending with a court decision to award
the stud to Judith and her children. Tales abound of horses being moved
secretly on dark nights between the properties of Judith and her father
as each tried to secure the prize horses for themselves!
The Blunts sold their surplus horses at an auction each year. In the
1899 sale, de Sdanovitch bought five horses and later the legendary
mare Sobha from the Ali Pasha collection, when she was 20. And in the
greatest loss to Britain, Mesaoud was unforgivably sold to the Kleniewski
Stud in 1903. None of these lines survived the Russian Revolution, but
at least the highly-valued blood of Sobha and Mesaoud lives on in modern
Crabbet pedigrees in Britain and elsewhere.
Because of the Blunts' meticulous pedigree research and recording,
all these early Arabian horses were accepted into the General Stud Book,
the record of English Thoroughbreds kept by Weatherbys for the Jockey
Club and the British racing fraternity since 1789.
Once the horses had arrived safely from the Middle East, the Blunts
established new stables for the mares and youngstock in a main yard
although when Lady Wentworth later took over the stud, she liked to
keep her favourite horses, including Skowronek, in the stables close
to the house. The stallions' paddock and stabling were a little further
away at Caxtons, the home of the stallion man.
The famous Coronation Stables were later built by Lady Wentworth in
the form of a square with an elegant stone-pedimented clock tower over
the entrance facing a large gravelled area and the old walled garden.
Sadly, this historic clock tower has been pulled down and the façade
destroyed, as developers attempt to transform the site into a casino!
The tall brick garden wall is the backdrop for many classic photos
in Lady Wentworth's time. She often used a groom of small stature to
stand the horses up, making them look larger than they really were.
A tiny pony stallion was brought out at the last second before she snapped
the shutter to make the horses look alert - just a couple of many tricks
she used to maximise the appearance of her animals.
In preceding years, she had paraded the horses for visitors on the
grass verges running along the drive to the house to the back of the
tennis courts. Photos of the horses stood up against the distinctive
tall paned oval windows of the ornate indoor Real Tennis court are world
renowned.
On her death, Lady Wentworth's will stipulated that Crabbet be left
to her estate manager and tennis coach Geoffrey Covey, but he had died
a few days earlier than Lady Wentworth, so the Stud passed to his son,
Cecil who managed the stud until it closed in 1971.
From the earliest days, the Blunts, then Lady Wentworth, showed the
horses in national competition, first as "Orientals" as there
were few other pure Arabians to stand against them. The descendants
of these original imports to Crabbet Park continue to grace show-rings,
race courses, dressage arenas and endurance competitions at the top
level around the world, a heritage the Blunts can be proud of, despite
their family disputes.
Arab enthusiasts everywhere owe them a great debt of gratitude.
Copyright: Anne Brown 2007
|