Originally posted by Egbert

Am guessing but I think it is because the blood contains a lot of Abbas Pasha blood and that came in large measure from deep in the Nejd. For some reason that blood historically takes a long time to mature, for the bones to close, and the horse's face to dry out. Additionally the very high quality Skowronek lines also tend to retard the development speed. And again, it is rumored that there is an excellent chance that the Ibrahim sire line traces back to Ali Pasha Sherif/Abbas Pasha. That would explain A LOT!

Originally posted by Egbert



Becky,

Thank you!

Hi Alexia,

It isn't a matter of me being upset. She was an Englishwoman. It is a matter of the truth vs. a matter of unwittingly perpetuating stories that simply are not true about a British breeder who because of her success, is always popular to bash. Especially here in the US. (edited to add: Alexia, I know your heart is in the right place about this...) When you hear a lot of meanspirited views enough, as I have here, it spurs the desire to investigate the tales more closely. As a result I've read masses (from the early '30's to '54) of Lady W's correspondence particularly to that of one family, and the one thing that comes through loud and clear was that she was extremely ethical especially about breeding, but wary of those trying to take advantage of her as was too often the case, simply because she was who she was.

The most famous 'wrong' (and given the circumstances think that is too strong a description) which she went out of her way to rectify, and the ONLY incident I am aware of, was that of acquiring Skowronek from Musgrave Clark...His own reputation was such that Lady W didn't want the scalawag to take advantage of her. If he was an honest man the price would have been the same to her as the young American. That he was p.o.'ed when he found out that Skowronek ended up with Lady W spells volumes about his own motivations and character. He made the issue. Never, ever once did he say he would have sold her Skowronek for the same price but instead he felt she was trying to rip him off! What a hypocrite! He was so bitter that he started all kinds of rumors against her and even wrote the most scathing letters to her daughter, Lady Anne Lytton, the worst of which came after Lady W's passing when she was hardly in a position to defend herself. Pretty clearly this was not a nice man which by his actions he proved over and over.

On the contrary I've found Lady W went out of her way to help young breeders, and those trying to make good decisions. Look at the correspondence between her and WK Kellogg. She was so aware of how important the blood was and the critical nature of preserving it for the generations to come. When you read her correspondence with various breeders, that comes out over and over and over. Since the early '80's I've interviewed dozens who actually knew her, did business with her and called her 'friend' or 'boss' and without exception they adored her, admired her enormously and only had good things to say about her. You would be amazed at how many times she became aware of those trying to take advantage of her and she was actually appreciative of their efforts, e.g., another lesser known incident: WK Kellogg wanted a particular mare but was afraid hearing it was him, would ask more than he wanted to spend so he had one Gladys Brown (aka Gladys Brown Edwards) to contact Lady W about buying the mare. Lady W wrote, quoted her a reasonable price and sold her the mare...but when sending the papers, noted she knew GBE worked for Mr. Kellogg! She was placed in the same position as Musgrave Clark but handled it with a panache that failed her meanest critic.

The Crabbet blood continues to prove itself generation after generation. When you look at the winners worldwide-the numbers of tail females tracing to Crabbet Park is truly awesome. The leading all time winner is Rodania but following her, as a group, the winners coming from Crabbet dam lines is something like 3:1! And surprisingly there are only 4-5 universally successful sire lines: Kuhailan Haifi, Nazeer, Mirage, Mesaoud and Skowronek. Three of them are either from Crabbet or Crabbet related.

So that is where people must be aware, before they listen to the usual twaddle about Lady W, of the real story. No one person in history has done more for the Arabian horse in terms of preserving it for generations to come ethically and with genuine concern for the breed. Because of Lady W we all are beneficiaries.

Liv,

Meant to say there are a couple of stallions I'd look at for your girl Aatiqah and that would be the Peck's Gwydion in particular and also taking a close look at the stallions at Cullinghurst, and Kate Fox's Tobago...They would all suit her very well, IMHO.

Mogwai! Many thanks!

Nicki,

Am so sorry to read of the loss of your mare. Her tail female goes back to the great Seglawi Ibn Ed Derri, Basilisk brought from the desert by the Blunts. The interim blood goes to the Richard Pritzlaff breeding program of Rancho San Ignacio and then on back to the JM Dickinson horses. You might want to consider renting the Arabian Horse Datasource for 24 hours which is about 5 lbs. for the day. Also look up Rancho San Ignacio, Pritzlaff and Dickinson on the internet. Good luck. She had a wonderful pedigree.