By Tobi Lopez Taylor
John, thank you for being willing to talk to me about horses. How and when did you become involved with Arabian horses? What drew you to the breed?
Those who like horses can never remember a time when they weren’t a source of fascination. I grew up in a family that had little involvement in horses, although my maternal grandfather had a great love of horses and used them as part of his livelihood. He died when I was seven, and he was in failing health before that time, so he had no opportunity to pass along any lore. When I was about 20 years old, I found two interesting books at the Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, library when visiting a college buddy. One dealt with the King Ranch and it was absorbing reading, but the other was Lady Wentworth’s masterful treatment, The Authentic Arabian Horse. I think the die must have been cast at this time, even though I had no master plan or goal laid out. Shortly before I met my wife, I bought a half-Arabian mare to goof around with, and started getting some practical, hands-on experience with horses. Although my equipment and techniques would be subject to ridicule now, I truly bonded with that honest little mare, and she allowed me to learn quite a bit. I started to subscribe to Arabian Horse World and pored over every issue. Of course I wouldn’t recommend my next course of action, but in those days there was almost an imperative to say, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a foal?” Therefore I commenced on a search for a stallion to breed my half-Arabian mare to.
I lived in a Portland suburb, and the first place I chose to visit was the Patterson Ranch in Sisters, Oregon. Of course now, from the perspective of many years, I can only marvel that a place that rivaled Lasma Arabians as the foremost ranch in North America would be so close to home. Even more amazing is the courtesy and respect that Richard and Kay Patterson showed towards a neophyte such as myself. Long story short, the Pattersons showed their stallions to me, and I bred my mare to the pure Polish *Cytrys (Trypolis x Cissa by Wielki Szlem). A tall, bay filly made her appearance the following year. At this point I began to absorb whatever tidbits of information the Pattersons might send my way. About a year after I got married, I found a very pretty and refined dark bay pure Polish filly, Mi Daiclare, by *Fortel out of Mortraza by *Bask. With great good fortune I was able to sell this youngster, two years later, through the Lasma training barn for a sum that was about equal to what I had just paid for my starter house and barn on three acres. From there I commenced on the wild ride of Arabian horse breeding of the 1970s and ‘80s. I think that the overwhelming draw of the Arabian horse for me was undoubtedly the beauty and class of the best representatives of the breed.
If you could go back in time and talk to some of the great breeders of the past, whom would you choose, and what would you ask them?
First I’d like to discuss some of the great breeders of North America whom I had the privilege of meeting. I’ve already mentioned Richard and Kay Patterson. I also met both Janice Rust Garrard and Frank Rust. Mr. Rust may not be as famous as his former wife when it comes to the Arabian horse, but he was a very sharp man, to say nothing of being a tough negotiator. Janice Rust extended many courtesies towards me. Through her efforts, I was the proud owner of a syndicate share of the great stallion Gdansk, a son of *Bask. Janice Rust introduced me to the breeder Don Doessel, whom I found to be a very warm and engaging person. His passing at a relatively early age deprived the world of a great resource. Nonetheless, he not only bred some splendid replacement mares, but a high number of very important stallions, a difficult task.
Gdansk (*Bask x *Gdynia)
While visiting Bill and Susan Pereira, I briefly met Dr. Bert Husband, who was riding his legendary stallion Khemosabi, the sire of the last non–pure Polish foal that I ever bred (at least to this point in time). Dr. Husband gave off a very pleasant vibe. Shortly after I purchased the Wielki Szlem daughter *Morwa from the Pereiras, I paid a visit to Denise Borg’s Four Winds Farm in Santa Ynez, California. Ms. Borg impressed me very much, both from the standpoint of the many fine horses at her place and her straightforward, courteous manner. She was very thorough about showing me her horses. I regret to this day that I didn’t recognize how valuable it might have been for me to utilize the stallion *Wiraz (Comet x Wielka Zorza) in some capacity.
*Wiraz (Comet x Wielka Zorza)
I met Sheila Varian on only one occasion, when I visited her California ranch, and saw Huckleberry Bey as a yearling. He was absolutely stunning and an obvious star, but I was, by that time, firmly entrenched as a pure Polish guy. The car my wife and I had been riding in had been rear ended in a dust storm on the way down to southern California, and Ms. Varian was very attentive to the comfort of my wife, who was then sporting a neck brace. My memories of Ms. Varian and her horses are among my most vivid. I’ll never forget how much I fell for *Kassapia (*Pietuszok x Kassala by Bad Afas), who was being schooled in a barn aisle by Ms. Varian.
I ran into Dr. Sam Harrison at a convention held in Portland and fell victim to his mega-watt personality. He seemed to be attuned to every person in the room and was able to make judgments that were shocking in their accuracy, given that I already knew many of the individuals he was talking about and he was observing them for the first time.
I have met Mary Jo Wertheimer and appreciate her dedication to do right by every horse under her care, to say nothing of the fine quality of her breeding efforts over the decades. I personally apologized to Ms. Wertheimer over the phone when I assessed on further reflection that the individuals she used when line-breeding to *Bandos were actually perfect for the task that she set them to. Her intent was not necessarily a line-breeding experiment, but a phenotypical cross that was complementary.
*Bandos (Negatiw x Bandola)
I can also recall brash statements that I made to both Richard Patterson and Denise Borg that I now recognize as being in error. I also have a great appreciation for the knowledge and achievements of Heidi Sause, a breeder in Oregon. During an open house held at her farm, I met two experts on Polish Arabian breeding, Ignacy Jaworowski and Izabella Pawelec-Zawadska. This was the second time I met the great director from Poland’s Michalow State Stud. Our first meeting occurred when the Pattersons introduced me to him at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. I was too intimidated to have any interaction with him on either occasion, but Izabella was very open about engaging with me during our encounter in southern Oregon. I think the common factor in almost all of these occasions was that at the time they took place, I didn’t feel I was equipped with enough knowledge and study to be deemed worthy of serious interaction. I’d like to think that now I would be closer to having risen to that level.
Tabling for a moment what I would ask these folks, I wish to mention four other individuals who have been great friends to me and with whom I have shared many long discussions. The first of these is Albert Mauck. “Mack” did not enter the Arabian horse business with great resources, but I consider him to be a true success story. He first utilized horses of *Witez II breeding with solid results, and he was one also one of the first to recognize the value of Gdansk. When charged with the task of “buying the best” for one client, Mack found a terrific pure Polish *Bask daughter that was successfully shown, bred, and marketed to great effect. Mack also had a tremendous ability to impart confidence, leavened with appropriate critiques from the ground when fine tuning already accomplished professional saddleseat trainers. I saw him ride a horse on only one occasion and he was very talented in his own right. This was when Mack was in his 60s and after a long layoff from being in the saddle.
Tabling for a moment what I would ask these folks, I wish to mention four other individuals who have been great friends to me and with whom I have shared many long discussions. The first of these is Albert Mauck. “Mack” did not enter the Arabian horse business with great resources, but I consider him to be a true success story. He first utilized horses of *Witez II breeding with solid results, and he was one also one of the first to recognize the value of Gdansk. When charged with the task of “buying the best” for one client, Mack found a terrific pure Polish *Bask daughter that was successfully shown, bred, and marketed to great effect. Mack also had a tremendous ability to impart confidence, leavened with appropriate critiques from the ground when fine tuning already accomplished professional saddleseat trainers. I saw him ride a horse on only one occasion and he was very talented in his own right. This was when Mack was in his 60s and after a long layoff from being in the saddle.
Mustafa Sabankaya and I bought horses that were very closely related when we were both starting out. I just couldn’t keep up the pace. He is now in his fourth decade of continuous breeding, and it is clear that he deserves the designation of being a great breeder. Seeing hundreds of horses at Mustafa’s ranches in both Santa Cruz and Shastina-Weed, California, was and is a unique experience.
Robbin Stewart, who lives in my home town of West Linn, acquired some of my best horses, and thanks to her exemplary taste I got to personally interact on almost a daily basis with horses such as the following: *Algorada (Celebes x Algonkina by *Pietuszok), Posejdon (*Bask x *Portulaka by Faher), Cantarina (*Bask x *Canberra by Abu Afas), Evening Breeze (*Bask x *Boltonka by Arax), *Gwintowka (*El Paso x Gwardia by Branibor), Amad Pass AH (*El Paso x *Armada by Banat), *Ceratka (Gwarny x Cerkwica by Comet), *Eureka (Gwarny x Eunice by Comet), *Parodia (Gwarny x Parma by Aswan), *Czapla (Gwarny x Czapelka by Magnit), *Mgla (Banat x Mgielka by Mokan), *Donna (Negatiw x Dysputa by Comet), *Edykt (Eukaliptus x Elana by Elf), *Zaspa (Czardasz x Zlota Iwa by Arax), Aladanska (Gdansk x *Alergia by Ellorus)…and the list literally goes on from there. Having a conversation with Robbin is probably the closest I will ever come to understanding the experience of jamming with a jazz musician.
A client of Robbin’s was Jered Johnson, who ultimately took his program in a different direction than I might have, but whose study and dedication were more than sufficient for me to accept his decisions. The wonderfully bred Patterson horses Esconcja (Negatraz x *Esencja by Aquinor), Werwa (Negatraz x *Wieza by Doktryner), and Marionetka (*Dar x Maritza by Soverign) paid a call at Robbin’s Highland Arabians. Werwa and Marionetka were owned by Jered, and Esconcja was located by Jered on behalf of another client. I owned Andrzejevo (Negatraz x *Andorra by *Pietuszok) in partnership with Robbin Stewart and Michael Barzilay. Through our efforts at repatriating him to Oregon, I met Patty Ross. Patty is an incredible fount of information and beyond generous in her concern for the welfare of the breed. I am proud that her Andrzejevo son Romanek, out of Cerrah (Gallup x Homestead Cerysz by *Caracyn), gained the attention of the great master breeder Roman Pankiewicz, who commissioned an article on all of us by Jerzy "George Z" Zbyszewski in Kon Polski magazine. I’m sure George doesn’t remember first meeting with me, but I visited him in Washington state when he was standing *Emanor, and he confirmed certain speculations I had about some of the directors of the Polish State Studs. I would hasten to add that these speculations were serious in nature and not gossipy. More recently I have come to treasure meeting people like Jeffrey Wintersteen, Anette Mattson, and you, Tobi.
Andrzejevo (Negatraz x *Andorra)
I met Andrzejevo’s then owner Don Nitz during a visit to Mustafa’s ranch in northern California and instantly established a nice friendship with him. I did not imagine that some years later I would end up acquiring Andrzejevo. Our friendship has gotten closer and closer over the years. Don has a tremendous appreciation for the pure Polish horse, but he has also been able to stay afloat in the current world of Arabian horse breeding by producing horses that trainers like the Stachowski brothers clamor for. Don and I reminisced recently about how nice it was to sip premium Tequila shots on hay bales in his small outlying barn for aged mares, with two of our companions being pure Polish Andrzejevo daughters.
Andrzejevo (Negatraz x *Andorra)
My greatest good fortune must be that through whimsy, effort, and good fortune I was able to establish a dialog with Roman Pankiewicz during the last decade. Some of the questions that I would ask the “greats” were brought up in an interview I conducted with Roman that recently appeared in Arabian Horse World. I have other questions that I have posed to another prominent breeder, which I’m hoping will garner a response that will also be worthy of publishing. I guess I am rather selfishly holding some of these questions close to the vest in a proprietary manner. Nonetheless, I think a lot of my philosophies and general questions will still come to light as I continue to respond to your kindly received inquiries.
With respect to some of the greats, there are occasions where we have precious written records of their thoughts about Arabians and breeding. One of those exalted individuals is Mike Nichols, a celebrity who stands on his own as a great, great breeder even without the cachet of his multitudinous other accomplishments. He has spoken eloquently about the importance of Amurath Sahib as a breeding horse, mirroring similar statements made by the Pattersons and Janice Rust. He has talked about overcoming preconceived beliefs imparted by others and going with his own assessments (for example, regarding his stallion Barbary) after he attained a certain point of sophistication. My question for him would be simple: “Do you think that it is a worthy effort on my part to utilize an aged pure Polish stallion (a grandson of *Bask and *Eter), bred by you, on the pure Polish Andrzejevo daughters?” I am offering support to the owner of this stallion, and it is our hope that some viable straws of frozen semen will soon be available to be utilized for many years going forward.
Are there any particular horses that you think were underutilized in past breeding programs?
I’ll now turn to the topic of underutilized horses. There is still quite a bit of latitude in how this question can be answered. I’ll start with some pure Polish horses that others have remarked upon and with the reader’s indulgence, hopefully granting that I had come to similar conclusions before seeing them verified. Let’s start with Enwer Bey and his son Trypolis. Enwer Bey was necessarily limited because he was not very fertile; being removed from Poland to Russia was no doubt disruptive as well. Not only was Enwer Bey the sire of Trypolis, but with Gazella II he gave the important Russian mare, Taraszcza, who was the dam of Negatiw. The Enwer Bey son Halef was an important horse in Germany as well. With the value of this handful of horses being so exalted, it is hard not to wish that Enwer Bey had had many more offspring.
His son Trypolis had no issue with fertility. He sired during the years of World War II, which may or may not have limited his opportunities; in other words, if Poland’s stallion power had not been diluted, would he still have been designated a chief stallion? However, it is shocking to realize that after giving two such splendid mares such as Carmen and Canaria in his first crop, Trypolis did not sire any purebreds for seven years in Poland after World War II. Thankfully he was then utilized for eight subsequent years.
It is also generally accepted that Abu Afas was an amazing breeding horse for Poland. He had only two crops of foals for Nowy Dwor, and seven foals total. The full siblings Comet and *Canberra were noteworthy, as were the sisters *Sabellina and Sakwa. Comet and *Sabellina have achieved fame that is stratospheric. Abu Afas was sold to East Germany, where he thankfully lived and sired for a much longer time than his famous son Comet, but no one can claim that there was a group of mares in East Germany that rivaled those of Poland at this time.
With respect to some of the greats, there are occasions where we have precious written records of their thoughts about Arabians and breeding. One of those exalted individuals is Mike Nichols, a celebrity who stands on his own as a great, great breeder even without the cachet of his multitudinous other accomplishments. He has spoken eloquently about the importance of Amurath Sahib as a breeding horse, mirroring similar statements made by the Pattersons and Janice Rust. He has talked about overcoming preconceived beliefs imparted by others and going with his own assessments (for example, regarding his stallion Barbary) after he attained a certain point of sophistication. My question for him would be simple: “Do you think that it is a worthy effort on my part to utilize an aged pure Polish stallion (a grandson of *Bask and *Eter), bred by you, on the pure Polish Andrzejevo daughters?” I am offering support to the owner of this stallion, and it is our hope that some viable straws of frozen semen will soon be available to be utilized for many years going forward.
Grazynaa (Romanek x Appril Love)
Are there any particular horses that you think were underutilized in past breeding programs?
I’ll now turn to the topic of underutilized horses. There is still quite a bit of latitude in how this question can be answered. I’ll start with some pure Polish horses that others have remarked upon and with the reader’s indulgence, hopefully granting that I had come to similar conclusions before seeing them verified. Let’s start with Enwer Bey and his son Trypolis. Enwer Bey was necessarily limited because he was not very fertile; being removed from Poland to Russia was no doubt disruptive as well. Not only was Enwer Bey the sire of Trypolis, but with Gazella II he gave the important Russian mare, Taraszcza, who was the dam of Negatiw. The Enwer Bey son Halef was an important horse in Germany as well. With the value of this handful of horses being so exalted, it is hard not to wish that Enwer Bey had had many more offspring.
His son Trypolis had no issue with fertility. He sired during the years of World War II, which may or may not have limited his opportunities; in other words, if Poland’s stallion power had not been diluted, would he still have been designated a chief stallion? However, it is shocking to realize that after giving two such splendid mares such as Carmen and Canaria in his first crop, Trypolis did not sire any purebreds for seven years in Poland after World War II. Thankfully he was then utilized for eight subsequent years.
It is also generally accepted that Abu Afas was an amazing breeding horse for Poland. He had only two crops of foals for Nowy Dwor, and seven foals total. The full siblings Comet and *Canberra were noteworthy, as were the sisters *Sabellina and Sakwa. Comet and *Sabellina have achieved fame that is stratospheric. Abu Afas was sold to East Germany, where he thankfully lived and sired for a much longer time than his famous son Comet, but no one can claim that there was a group of mares in East Germany that rivaled those of Poland at this time.
Comet (Bad Afas x Carmen)
There is a dearth of English-language translations for Nowy Dwor’s great director, Joszef Tyszkowski, as far as breeding advice. He is largely responsible for rescuing Trypolis from obscurity. He bred the Bad Afas daughter *Naganka (dam of Bay El Bey), Comet, and *Sabellina — so for these horses alone, he deserves to have his name inscribed in gold. I guess an obvious series of questions presents itself: “Why did you sell Abu Afas? Did you already know that Comet was materially better and did you feel that you could be patient in waiting for him to grow up? Was the sale something that was beyond your control, decreed by other Polish authorities?” Director Tyszkowski also deserves our admiration for literally risking his own life and that of his family during a multi-year period during World War II, rescuing and sheltering precious breeding stock as they were buffeted about in the theater of war. As long as we are talking about the war years, I have to mention an absolute favorite of mine, the *Witez II son, Wisznu. He had a good siring career in Germany, but I think he was better than any US-bred *Witez II son, and seen from my prism of being an obvious believer in the pure Polish Arabian, I can only imagine what he might have been able to accomplish if put to the broodmares of Poland.
Wisznu (*Witez II x Malaga)
I’ll step away from Polish stallions for a moment and talk about two Crabbet-bred sons of Rissla. I’m referring to Rissalix by Faris, and Irex by Naseem. Rissalix had fewer than 30 lifetime foals. His percentage of first-class sons was off the charts. Irex did a little bit better in terms of lifetime foals, with 38, but he did not have his first purebred offspring until he was 11. He had only one or two foals a year until he was more properly appreciated, with foal crops of 10 at age 20 and 6 at age 21. Rissalix may have been the better breeding horse, but both of these individuals were very underappreciated in their lifetimes.
We have you to thank, Tobi, for bringing the story of the impeccably bred Tersk import *Park (Knippel x Ptashka by Priboj) to light. It seems incredible now, but this superlative stallion, who was imported to the US by Ed Tweed at the height of the Cold War, was denied registration as a purebred because he had been bred in the USSR, and thus was not put to any significant number of mares. Nonetheless his small number of foals, some registered as half-Arabians in spite of being purebred, showed what a short-sighted loss the American registry’s policies were to the breeding community.
Jumping to Egypt, we have to thank General Tibor von Pettko Szandtner for finding Nazeer at an outlying stallion station and instantly conferring chief stallion status on that soon-to-be legend. He also chose to line breed to the sire of Nazeer, Mansour, by utilizing another Mansour son, Sheikh el Arab, with Nazeer blood. His legacy is gigantic, but imagine if Nazeer had been discovered a decade earlier. My absolute favorite Nazeer son was *Ansata Ibn Halima. His career was almost perfectly managed. His task of breaking ground in the US was important. Nonetheless, there was an early fallow period after his importation, as the broodmare band at Ansata was small in number, immature, and closely related, and few breeders from outside that program were able to recognize the greatness of *Ansata Ibn Halima. In this case, however, I can’t honestly suggest any change to history. At this time I feel that I need to offer a bit of a clarification about Germany. I don’t know enough about its Nazeer sons to be able to declare any of them on the level of an *Ansata Ibn Halima. This omission, along with my comments about Wisznu and Abu Afas, may imply a lack of respect for the breeding programs of Germany. I’ll address this by saying that a case could probably be made that Germany’s crossing of Egyptian, Spanish, Polish, and Russian bloodlines constituted a jumpstart on producing the “modern” Arabian that we (sometimes) can see so successfully presented today.
Since EW Sabask (*Bask x *Sabellina by Abu Afas) was a homozygous bay and his mother had such an abundance of “athletic” genes, I wish his owners at Simms Arabians had kept him at their Scottsdale ranch for a longer time before selling him to a less-traveled venue on the East Coast, where he covered only a small number of pure Polish mares.
Chopinn (*Carycyn x Baskera by *Bask) was coming into his prime just when the Arabian industry in the US was hitting challenging times. I think this horse’s quality was high, and looking at pictures of a bay daughter of his named Chovella, out of *Carawella (Negatiw x Czatanoga by Anarchista), reinforces my opinion.
We have you to thank, Tobi, for bringing the story of the impeccably bred Tersk import *Park (Knippel x Ptashka by Priboj) to light. It seems incredible now, but this superlative stallion, who was imported to the US by Ed Tweed at the height of the Cold War, was denied registration as a purebred because he had been bred in the USSR, and thus was not put to any significant number of mares. Nonetheless his small number of foals, some registered as half-Arabians in spite of being purebred, showed what a short-sighted loss the American registry’s policies were to the breeding community.
*Park (Knippel x Ptashka, by Priboj)
Jumping to Egypt, we have to thank General Tibor von Pettko Szandtner for finding Nazeer at an outlying stallion station and instantly conferring chief stallion status on that soon-to-be legend. He also chose to line breed to the sire of Nazeer, Mansour, by utilizing another Mansour son, Sheikh el Arab, with Nazeer blood. His legacy is gigantic, but imagine if Nazeer had been discovered a decade earlier. My absolute favorite Nazeer son was *Ansata Ibn Halima. His career was almost perfectly managed. His task of breaking ground in the US was important. Nonetheless, there was an early fallow period after his importation, as the broodmare band at Ansata was small in number, immature, and closely related, and few breeders from outside that program were able to recognize the greatness of *Ansata Ibn Halima. In this case, however, I can’t honestly suggest any change to history. At this time I feel that I need to offer a bit of a clarification about Germany. I don’t know enough about its Nazeer sons to be able to declare any of them on the level of an *Ansata Ibn Halima. This omission, along with my comments about Wisznu and Abu Afas, may imply a lack of respect for the breeding programs of Germany. I’ll address this by saying that a case could probably be made that Germany’s crossing of Egyptian, Spanish, Polish, and Russian bloodlines constituted a jumpstart on producing the “modern” Arabian that we (sometimes) can see so successfully presented today.
Since EW Sabask (*Bask x *Sabellina by Abu Afas) was a homozygous bay and his mother had such an abundance of “athletic” genes, I wish his owners at Simms Arabians had kept him at their Scottsdale ranch for a longer time before selling him to a less-traveled venue on the East Coast, where he covered only a small number of pure Polish mares.
Chopinn (*Carycyn x Baskera by *Bask) was coming into his prime just when the Arabian industry in the US was hitting challenging times. I think this horse’s quality was high, and looking at pictures of a bay daughter of his named Chovella, out of *Carawella (Negatiw x Czatanoga by Anarchista), reinforces my opinion.
Chopinn (*Carycyn x Baskera)
One could also make a case that *Carycyn could have been more heavily used in Poland before being sold to the US. Upon his arrival in the states, he was at a farm that stood four or five other breeding stallions, none of them slouches, but not, in my opinion, having as much breeding value as *Carycyn. Even though *Carycyn was bred at Janow and used at Michalow, I would ask Director Jaworowski why he sold off so many Comet sons without trying them and then why, later, he utilized Probat (a Comet grandson) so heavily? In my opinion Probat did not rise to the level of his sire Pohaniec or any number of other Comet sons. At least Director Jaworowski used Comet heavily at Michalow during the horse’s lifetime, in contrast to Director Andrzej Krzystalowicz’s parsimonious distribution when Comet stood at Janow. This of course leads to an obvious question for Director Krzysztalowicz. I’m going to self-edit the path that I seem to be proceeding down, and pull back to try and explore larger precepts now. I will use Comet as a jumping-off point, however.
One of the most amazing observations that I was able to make from a first-hand basis was the startling realization of how successful inbreeding with Comet could be. I’ve already spoken of having known the horses of Denise Borg as well as the Rusts of Halali Arabians. I also had the privilege to visit Brusally Arabians and Crown Point Arabians. I did not get to visit with the respective proprietors, Ed Tweed or the Johnsons, Ken and Peg, but it was obvious that they owned some first-class horses. I would add Mr. Tweed to the list of great past breeders that I wish I could have a conversation with. What was a common feature of my visits to each of these places? At Four Winds I could see splendid Ariston get, out of two full sisters, that were the product of breeding the Comet son *Wiraz to the Comet daughter *Bryzeida. At Crown Point I remember being totally charmed by the refinement and quality of two diminutive bay Comet daughters, *Salvia and *Murcja. Although not a closely bred individual, one of the greatest Arabians I’ve ever seen was *Cometera (Bandos x *Felluka by Comet). She was then only two years old but tall, regal, and gorgeous. I saw that the Comet son *Grojec had his best offspring out of the Comet daughter *Salvia. At Brusally Ranch, I saw an absolutely stunning *Zbrucz daughter out of the Comet daughter *Salinaa (full sister to *Salvia). The Tweed-bred double-Comet granddaughter by *Zbrucz out of *Basta owned by Frank Rust was a beauty as well. Pictures of two other full sisters of this cross were arresting. One of them went through the Sutton Arabians dispersal sale, and the other was housed at Mustafa Sabankaya’s for a while. The Tweed-owned Comet son *Czester (full brother to *Carycyn) did a nice job with *Basta, too. I guess I would ask Mr. Tweed how he came to be one of the earliest and most committed practitioners in terms of trying this strategy.
Taking the great Thoroughbred breeder Federico Tesio at his word that linebreeding is a viable strategy, when does it cease to be a practical tool? Does Comet’s quality dictate that he is very much the exception to the rule in terms of avoiding breeding that is too close? This brings me to the subject of *Raffles (Skowronek x Rifala by Skowronek), bred by Lady Wentworth. It would be great to hear her expound on the topic of inbreeding and linebreeding, along with any number of other subjects. I can guarantee that she would intimidate me, but I would love to be a fly on the wall during any discussion between the formidable one and her two brilliant parents, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt.
The Pattersons once put forth an all-star dinner guest list of great Arabian breeders and also delineated some of the lessons learned from these people. I guess I could make a partial list of some of the greats from the past, such as Count Rzewuski, Count Dzieduszcky, Prince Roman Sanguszko the elder, Count Potocki, Janow Director Stanislaw Pohoski, General J. M. Dickinson, Bogdan Zietarski, Abbas Pasha, Dr. Edward Skorkowski, General Tibor von Pettko Szandtner, and Lady Yule.
Last, I am fascinated by how scientific advancements and complex research add to our knowledge and how this ties into what might loosely be termed “breeders’ lore.” For instance, a number of great breeders swear by the importance of the tail female line, but now, how will MtDNA research relate to this previously stated precept? There are academics in Poland who have put together charts that break down in detail, with sufficient examples, the siring abilities of Polish stallions for a number of specific traits as well as overall assessments. It is interesting to compare this straightforward data to previous word-of-mouth generalities passed along by breeders about horses like *Europejczyk and *Monogramm.
One of the most amazing observations that I was able to make from a first-hand basis was the startling realization of how successful inbreeding with Comet could be. I’ve already spoken of having known the horses of Denise Borg as well as the Rusts of Halali Arabians. I also had the privilege to visit Brusally Arabians and Crown Point Arabians. I did not get to visit with the respective proprietors, Ed Tweed or the Johnsons, Ken and Peg, but it was obvious that they owned some first-class horses. I would add Mr. Tweed to the list of great past breeders that I wish I could have a conversation with. What was a common feature of my visits to each of these places? At Four Winds I could see splendid Ariston get, out of two full sisters, that were the product of breeding the Comet son *Wiraz to the Comet daughter *Bryzeida. At Crown Point I remember being totally charmed by the refinement and quality of two diminutive bay Comet daughters, *Salvia and *Murcja. Although not a closely bred individual, one of the greatest Arabians I’ve ever seen was *Cometera (Bandos x *Felluka by Comet). She was then only two years old but tall, regal, and gorgeous. I saw that the Comet son *Grojec had his best offspring out of the Comet daughter *Salvia. At Brusally Ranch, I saw an absolutely stunning *Zbrucz daughter out of the Comet daughter *Salinaa (full sister to *Salvia). The Tweed-bred double-Comet granddaughter by *Zbrucz out of *Basta owned by Frank Rust was a beauty as well. Pictures of two other full sisters of this cross were arresting. One of them went through the Sutton Arabians dispersal sale, and the other was housed at Mustafa Sabankaya’s for a while. The Tweed-owned Comet son *Czester (full brother to *Carycyn) did a nice job with *Basta, too. I guess I would ask Mr. Tweed how he came to be one of the earliest and most committed practitioners in terms of trying this strategy.
*Cometera (Bandos x *Felluka)
Taking the great Thoroughbred breeder Federico Tesio at his word that linebreeding is a viable strategy, when does it cease to be a practical tool? Does Comet’s quality dictate that he is very much the exception to the rule in terms of avoiding breeding that is too close? This brings me to the subject of *Raffles (Skowronek x Rifala by Skowronek), bred by Lady Wentworth. It would be great to hear her expound on the topic of inbreeding and linebreeding, along with any number of other subjects. I can guarantee that she would intimidate me, but I would love to be a fly on the wall during any discussion between the formidable one and her two brilliant parents, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt.
The Pattersons once put forth an all-star dinner guest list of great Arabian breeders and also delineated some of the lessons learned from these people. I guess I could make a partial list of some of the greats from the past, such as Count Rzewuski, Count Dzieduszcky, Prince Roman Sanguszko the elder, Count Potocki, Janow Director Stanislaw Pohoski, General J. M. Dickinson, Bogdan Zietarski, Abbas Pasha, Dr. Edward Skorkowski, General Tibor von Pettko Szandtner, and Lady Yule.
Last, I am fascinated by how scientific advancements and complex research add to our knowledge and how this ties into what might loosely be termed “breeders’ lore.” For instance, a number of great breeders swear by the importance of the tail female line, but now, how will MtDNA research relate to this previously stated precept? There are academics in Poland who have put together charts that break down in detail, with sufficient examples, the siring abilities of Polish stallions for a number of specific traits as well as overall assessments. It is interesting to compare this straightforward data to previous word-of-mouth generalities passed along by breeders about horses like *Europejczyk and *Monogramm.
