Arabian Horse Bloodline Groups
by Laurel Dedes

1. Crabbet and CMK

What can I say about Crabbet Park except that they were probably the single most influential and important Arabian breeding establishment, which gave elements to all of the world's great programs, save one? Some of the Crabbet horses can be found in straight Egyptian pedigrees, in pure Polish pedigrees. They are a large element in Russian breeding, and possibly most of the purebred Arabians in America have at least one Crabbet ancestor. Lady Anne & Wilfrid Blunt started Crabbet Park on the path of Arabian breeding. Their daughter, Lady Anne Wentworth, continued. During the time of the Blunts, a stud was established known as Sheykh Obeyd, in Egypt. This held the Blunts' Egyptian and desert bred horses. Both Skowronek and Mirage were at Crabbet Park during the time of Lady Wentworth.

The best known of the Crabbet Park horses include Skowronek, Raffles, Mirage, Raseyn, Raktha, Serafix, Indian Magic, Count Dorsaz, Silver Vanity, Dargee, Silver Gilt, Silwara, Ferda, Rose Of France, Nisreen and Rissla. Mirage can be considered either desert bred or CMK, because he was obtained, not bred, by Lady Wentworth, and he was not used as a sire a Crabbet Park, but only in America.

Many of the mares, particularly, came from the desert by way of Egypt, and later descendants were returned to Egypt to revitalize their program. For instance, the stallion Sotamm, sire of the maternal grandsire of Nazeer, was sent to Egypt from England, while Sotamm's paternal grandsire was Mesaoud, brought to England from Egypt by the Blunts or Lady Wentworth. Some of the Blunt stock at Sheykh Obeyd came from the Abbas Pasha I, who had obtained excellent desert stock. As Margaret Greely writes in Arabian Exodus, "When the Sheykh Obeyd horses were either moved to England or dispersed in Egypt, the stallion Jamil was among those who stayed in Egypt, transferred to the Egyptian Agricultural Stud." Jamil sired Mansour, who sired Nazeer. No, this doesn't mean you can call straight Egyptian horses Crabbet. This is simply meant to show the relationship between bloodline groups. The Blunts and Lady Wentworth were scrupulous about the purity of their stock. Skowronek came with less documentation than some other horses, but Lady Wentworth felt that he was clearly and beyond question a purebred Arabian.

Skowronek has probably proved to be the single most influential Arabian sire in history. He founded sire lines such as Raffles (Indraff= Al Marah Indraff/Al Marah Radames; Azraff= Garaff/Shalimar Gilette/Comar Bay Beau/Galizon/Camiraff/Aza Destiny; Handeyraff= Raf-Farana; Hanraff; Imaraff; Rapture=Nafsi/Al-Marah Cassanova=Cass Ole; Geym= Gem of Cedardell/Rageym; Aaraf= Aarfate/Lewisfield Sun God/La Flag, Aarief=The Real McCoy= Authenticity/McCoys Count), Raseyn (Ferseyn=Ferneyn=Ferzon; El Gato= El Magato; Sureyn=Surf/Sur-Bo/Saneyn/Sur-Neet/Sur-Knight), and Naseem (Negativ=Naborr/Salon/Tinian/Cebion/Buszmen/Etiw/Bandos= Eukaliptus; Raktha= Indian Magic/Serafix/General Grant/Silver Drift; Irex= Greatheart/Champurrado/Iridos; Rissam= Nizzam) Whew! Now that's impressive- and it's only a partial listing.

The Crabbet horses imported to America found their way into many different programs and produced excellent horses in each. Many of the first mares bred to the Polish import, Bask, were of Crabbet breeding, and the foals were some of Bask's best, including such horses as Zodiac Matador, the leading sire of English horses for years; Fame, a National Champion mare; The Chief Justice, National winner in both Halter and Performance; Baske-Tu, sire; Contessa-B and Tornado. Crabbet combined with Egyptian produced such horses as High Hopes++/, US Nat'l Reserve Champ Park Horse and US Nat'l Champion FormalDriving. Crabbet and early Spanish imports gave us horses like Sur-Knight, a US Nat'l Top Ten Stallion (Draper Spanish imports qualify as CMK sources)

Lady Wentworth's three big mistakes were Raffles, Mirage and Raseyn, in that she sold them rather than keeping them, and they turned out to be great and influential progenitors for the Arabian breed.

There is a Crabbet cross even recognized as a bloodline group in America with a name of its own: CMK, or Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg. These are horses from the three separate programs, and there is an organization that will help fix the percentage of each bloodline group. The Maynesboro horses are primarily Egyptians, from the Blunt lines, bred by W.R.Brown (Gulastra, Rabiyas, Rahas, Ribal) and the Kellogg horses are mostly of Davenport ancestry, bred by the Michigan cereal king, W.K. Kellogg, at his Pomona, California facility. Kellogg's ranch later became California Polytechnic University. The horses from his program include Abu Farwa, Farlouma, Lutaf, Ferseyn and El Sikada. Some famous CMK horses are Khemosabi, Ferseyn and Ferzon. Not every line has to be C, M or K to qualify as a CMK horse. The official definition is that a horse must meet ALL three of these criteria: 1) have a pedigree with 75% horses descended from CMK sources 2) have a sire line tracing to a CMK source 3) have a damline established in America by 1950.* The CMK source horses include Crabbet, Maynesboro and Kellogg, of course, but also the groups of horses owned by Randolph Hearst in California, the Davenport horses, the Old English horses, including those from Gladys Yule's program, and the Hamidie horses. Also, there are some individual horses, or groups, allowed into the group as exceptions to the general rules- such as the horses from the Draper Spanish importation.

Within the CMK designation are several breeding groups that stand identifiable on their own: Al-Marah, Gainey, McCoy, Davenport, Kellogg, etc.

The horses within these groups vary considerably in physical appearance, since many different sources are included. Most horses of Raffles descent are considered to be on the small side, round in build, generally good legged and with considerable breed type, particualry a short, dished head. The horses from the Raktha line can be taller and rangier. Serafix was a lovely horse, and a good mover, but rather plain of face. Abu Farwa and Farana looked mostly like the using, western horse they often were; low in the hocks, more rounded of croup, and short coupled. Some horses of the Crabbet or CMK lines exhibit considerable white markings. Crabbet and CMK horses have earned a reputation as riding, using, family oriented horses, with outstandingly good temperaments.

* from http://www.dsrtweyr.com/cmk/cmkindex.html

2. Egyptian

a. "new" Egyptian. Generally the horses imported from the 1950s onward, or after WWII. This was the second major wave of importations from Egypt to the USA. Most of these horses were sons and daughters of Nazeer, the main sire at the Royal Agricultural Stud (RAS) The RAS became the Egyptian Agricultural Organization (EAO). Some of the most famous of the horses brought to America during this time were: Morafic, Ansata Ibn Halima, Bint Moniet el Nefous, Bint Maisa el Saghira, Ibn Moniet el Nefous and Ramses Fayek. The leading lights in bringing Egyptian Arabians over and maintaining breeding herds of straight Egyptians were Ansata Arabians and Gleannloch Farms. Gleannloch particularly saw a need for outcrosses for Nazeer, and brought over and offered such horses as Ibn Hafiza (Sameh), Ibn Antar (Anter) Zaghloul (Gassir) and Moftakhar (Enzahi) who were not Nazeer offspring. These stallions had moderate success, but were eclipsed by the Nazeer horses. The next most successful line was probably from Sameh. From him came Ibn Hafiza, Sultan (Sultann in America) National Champion Asadd (also Nat'l Champion EP), Sakr (multiple National winner in Park and Costume) and El Mareekh. Egyptian Arabians from the Sultan line are often considered to be more athletic than their Nazeer counterparts. The Anter line was perhaps least used in America, but also shows up in some pedigrees.

b. "old" or Babson Egyptian. Generally the horses from the importation made by Henry Babson. This was in the 1930s. These horses included Fadl, Bint Serra I and Maaroufa. The Babson horses and the later imports share some of the same lines. Sotamm appears in the pedigrees of both Fadl and Nazeer, while Ibn Rabdan can be found in the pedigree of both Fadl and Morafic. Some of the well known Babsons of recent times include Serr Maariner, renowned Dressage horse; Ibn Sabbah Bedu and Pri Asali Halim. Joramir and Hallany Mistanny are also straight 'old' Egyptian. Joramir is Babson on his dam's side, and his sire's sire was from W.R. Brown's Maynesboro Stud. Hallany Mistanny was of Maynesboro lines. The main difference in these programs is that while the Babson horses formed a straight Egyptian breeding group, with effort made to keep producing straight Egyptian horses, the Brown horses and others left far fewer straight Egyptian progeny.

Many of the new, popular, Egyptian horses were also bred to American horses. Crabbet related and CMK mares were often used. Generally, in heavily Egyptian pedigrees, you have to look most closely at the end female lines to see if you have a straight Egyptian pedigree or not. A couple of horses who would, at first glance, appear to be allowed, but are not, are Saroukh and Registan (by Skowronek). Desert breds appearing in pedigrees are not straight Egyptian- Turfa, for one. The presence of desert bred horses whose progeny did not go through and get used in Egypt, means the horse is not "straight Egyptian".

There has been and still is disagreement about what constitutes "straight Egyptian" and specific horses some people have thought should be included; other horses some people feel should be excluded. Famously, Richard Pritzlaff, owner of Rancho San Ignacio, had a different opinion than other people interested in continuation of the Pyramid Society, which Pritzlaff and Jarrell McCracken, with Judith Forbis, had formed. The people on both sides of this disagreement were serious students of the Arabian breed, with years of experience in horses. Still, they could not agree. Pritzlaff's foundation mare, Rabanna, was among those excluded from Pyramid Society straight Egyptian status. Pritzlaff was the owner of Rashad Ibn Nazeer, perhaps the least typey Nazeer son, but a very athletic, usable horse. Pritzlaff taught Rashad Ibn Nazeer high level Dressage movement. Pritzlaff also owned the much admired, and much disliked (depending on who you talk to) Bint Moniet el Nefous. Hansi Heck has also had some rather famous disagreements with the majority as to which horses should be allowed to claim straight Egyptian lineage. There are Egyptian horses today which do not meet the Pyramid Society definition of the term straight Egyptian, but which are included in other specific bloodline groups, such as Sheykh Obeyd, Al Khamsa, Doyle, etc. There is some overlapping of these groups, but belonging to one does mean automatic inlcusion in any other.

There have been some very well known individuals from the Egyptian/Spanish cross. El Shaklan is the most recognized. Talagato was a US Nat'l Top Ten Stallion owned by Nichols Arabians, and was well known. Gai-Seance was a Nat'l Reserve Champion Stallion before being gelded, an English Pleasure Champion, and he was a cross of 'new' Egyptian and Gainey lines. Both Ali Jamaal, US Nat'l Champion Stallion and High Hopes, US Nat'l Reserve Champion Park Horse and US Nat'l Champion Formal Driving Horse, were 'new' Egyptian/CMK crosses. BlueSpruceTanzeer was a blend of 'new' Egyptian, Gainey and Polish lines. US Nat'l Champion Stallion, Amurath Bandolero, was a 'new' Egyptian/Polish cross, and Fadheilan, the sire of Fadjur, was an old Egyptian/Polish cross. The Poles successfully incorporated the Nazeer grandson, Palas, into their breeding program, having especially good results with Negatiw (Skowronek) descendant crosses.

Some of the well known straight 'new' Egyptians currently alive include Imperial Imdal, Mahksous, Ahadd, HIA Sud Abnus, Thee Desperado, Hadidi, Akid Geshan and Abraxas Halimaar. The 'new' Egyptians are often very refined, lighter of bone, much drier of face (dry in Arabians indicates lean, non-fleshy; with prominent bones and veins visible) fine skinned, thin lipped. The Babson descendants are rounder, typically with dished profiles, comparitively luxuriant manes and tails, with arched, if not long, necks. The two programs had different aims- Babsons were a preservation breeding groups, later used as family and performance horses, while the "new" Egyptians tended mostly to be originally marketed as investment quality horses, later directed toward Halter classes.

Egyptian related horses are considered to be any horse with two straight Egyptian grandparents, as defined by the Pyramid Society. The other bloodlines can be of any group.

Egyptian horses and Egyptian related horses have had their greatest competitive successes in Halter and Costume. In the 1960s and 70s, some were winning Park horses. Individual horses have been successful in everything from Western Trail to Dressage. The Pyramid Society runs their own show for straight Egyptian and Egyptian related horses, called the Egyptian Event, in Lexington, Kentucky, at the Horse Park. This show operates under its own rules and is not an AHSA (now USA Equestrian) member show.

Sources used to fact check this article include the book Arabian Exodus, by Margaret Greely, 1975, 1976, 1990; the Arabian Horse Datasource at the Arabian Horse Registry online web site, http://www.theregistry.org; the show records at the International Arabian Horse Association website, http://www.iaha.com and records I've compiled using the Arabian Horse Yearbooks, and both Arabian Horse World and Arabian Horse Times. Thanks to Sue Stewart for looking over this article before publication and helping me make sure it was as correct as I could make it. The author alone is responsible for any errors.

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