Preservation movements are a common phenomenon worldwide, and in South Africa the Crabbet preservation movement is picking up speed.
Crabbet/Blunt horses are defined by Eva Dano as: “Any horse that was bred by or ever owned by the Blunts whether it be their Sheykh Obeyd Stud in Egypt or at the Crabbet Stud in England. Also any horse that was bred by or ever owned by the subsequent owners of Crabbet Stud until its demise.”

For purposes of this article, we will use the term “Crabbet” as an umbrella term to indicate all relationships to those horses bred at Crabbet Park. It will include terms such as 100% Crabbet, Crabbet/Blunt, Crabbet/Wentworth as well as Crabbet/Maynesboro/Kellog (CMK).

A worldwide tradition

Since its inception in 1878, the Crabbet Stud of England has had more influence worldwide than any other individual breeding programme. Horses bred by the stud’s founders, Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt, and their daughter, Lady Wentworth, were sought after by serious breeders on every continent. The Blunts, in their travels searching for horses, kept great records of all their activities and these documents are valuable source documents for any scholar of the Arabian horse.

They were of the first western buyers to venture into unknown territory in search of their vision, a purebred Arabian horse with impeccable pedigree, sound conformation and kind disposition.

Value as an outcross and basis

Rick Synowski remarks that “… CMK Arabian horses have come to represent a minority breeding group today. CMK foundation mare lines hold fast to their international domination of lists of leading dams of champions.” It must be noted that champions such as Bey Shah, Khemosabi and Padron have a significant percentage of Crabbet blood in them.

Crabbet mares are used as the foundation for breeding programmes throughout the world. In South Africa the majority of studs also followed this approach. The mares Nourmahal Vanessa, Hammad Jasmeyn, Ridwaan Negma, Shareef Smayha, Ahbot Sadri and Vlinkfontein Rochelle, have all had a significant number of progeny excelling in some or other discipline.

Qualities sought after

Georgia Cheer is of the opinion that the foremost character traits of loyalty and devotion to his master are still very much evident in the Crabbet Arabian. She maintains that ­Crabbets are “people-lovers” and that they have some other magical power to “possess” their ­masters, probably due to the loyalty and dedication shown by these horses when showered with love and care.

The Crabbet is also a high achiever and numerous articles have been published indicating the success of the Crabbet in the ridden classes at the national championships, where about 60% of the top five in certain classes were Crabbet horses.

In the endurance discipline SAF Firstaar, Egyptian sire on Crabbet dam, is an example. The results of the best times per weight division of the Fauresmith rides from 1974 to 2000, speak for themselves. Here, a pedigree study revealed that a big proportion of bloodlines present were Crabbet – at least in the dam line.

As the majority of horses in the Crabbet tradition are of the same strain, Kuhaylah, and sub-strains, Dajania and Rodania, it is natural that they all look the same. According to Raswan, the Kuhaylan is the original Arabian Desert Horse. The key word for this strain is strength (muscular strength in the extreme). While the Kuhaylan is also beautiful, the strain has a more "masculine" appearance. The head of the Kuhaylan is the shortest in length, broadest of forehead, but usually does not have much bulge above or a dish below the eyes.

Kuhaylans also have the greatest width between the jowls. Raswan describes the wind-pipe as much larger in diameter than that of any other breed of horse, which explains the greater stamina and endurance. And in today's Bedouin inspired programmes, this might account for the thicker, less "show oriented" throatlatch.

Crabbet horses today

The horses we see, ride and breed from, although intermixed with Egyptian and Polish bloodlines, bear a strong Crabbet influence, mostly due to the presence of foundation Crabbet dam lines.

Examples of South African national champions are Rasheeq el Azeem with a high percentage Crabbet, tracing back to Queen of Sheba, and Hasans Magnifire, tracing back to Razafia – a CMK mare. In the show arena for Purebred Arabians, Silvern Gleam won multiple championships under saddle and sired some notable stock excelling in own right.

The endurance sport has been the most pertinent in showing the true value of the Crabbet. In 2006, Al Gamila Rothos (by Ibn Chantarella) won the SA National Endurance Championship at Fauresmith. In analyzing the pedigrees of top performers at Fauresmith from its inception in 1974 to 2004, it was found that:

The sire with the most occurrences in these pedigrees was Raktha (Naseem X Razina), with a count of 245 in only the sire line, with the next most notable stallion Rabiyas (Rahas x Rabiyat), with a count of 55. Zahir (Ibn Fayda IV X Zahra) also made a notable contribution, while the influence of Babson blood through Anchor Hill Omar (Char Echo X Anchor Hill Bint Gamila) and Crystal Shah (The Shah X Crystal Rose) cannot be ignored.

Noteworthy stallions present in pedigrees, but not as sire or grand-sire, are Oran (Riffal X Astrella), Dargee (Manasseh X ­Myola) and Nazeer (Mansour X Bint ­Samiha). A combination of Raktha in the sire-line with Oran and/or Dargee in the dam line made the biggest impact. When these mares were mated to a stallion with some Nazeer, it made a good cross.

The mares noted most were Nightingale (Silver Thrush X Amsha), Kumara (Grey Owl X Hama) and Kasala (Sala X Queen Zenobia), all Crabbet mares, and Barakah (Ibn Manial X Gamalat), which was imported directly from Egypt to South Africa

In the dressage arena the Crabbet horses also excelled, with Mystic Aulrab performing well. Crabbets also showed their mettle in Interbreed Championships, with Silvern Gleam winning the Steward Wrightson Trophy – being the interbreed champion.

Hidden influence

One also has to consider the “hidden influence” of Crabbet Arabains, as pointed out by Betty Finke. Examples of these are Rusleem in the UK, Negatiw and El Paso in Polish lines and Rissalma and Naseem in Russian lines. A number of the great Arabian horses of our times all have between 35 and 40 percent Crabbet/Blunt blood in their pedigrees, with Khemosabi, Bey Shah, The Minstral, Afire Bey V and Padron’s Psyche being prime examples.

Kept going over time

Economic trying times have not prevented preservation breeders to continue with their endeavours to keep the Crabbet bloodlines pure. Owning and breeding any Arabian horse is a rewarding and pleasurable experience, and the Crabbet Arabian will provide much delight and happiness to its owner!

(References available from the author)