Notable studs at the time of Crabbet
Many studs arose during the period of Crabbet. We are building a list of the most notable studs who sourced their foundation stock from Crabbet Park.
UK studs at the time of Crabbet
Hanstead stud was established by Lady Yule at Hanstead Park, a country house near St Albans in Hertfordshire in 1928 and operated until 1957. It comprised mainly Crabbet arabians with some other imports of her own. Its horses had a significant impact in many countries and the stud was considered to be second only in importance to the Crabbet Arabian stud.
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Courthouse Stud
Courthouse stud was established in 1910 by Mr. Musgrave Clark in Gloucestershire and comprised mainly Crabbet arabians with some other imports. His preference was for real performance horses that were compact and tough yet typey with a lovely eye. These he bred consistently but his stallions were not available to visiting mares, so we are fortunate indeed that just a few of these fabulous bloodlines remain today.
He was at the first ever meeting of the committee that established the AHS and was massively influential in the early history of the society but always turned down the honour of being president.
His foundation mare, Belka who produced Bahram was considered by Musgrave Clarke to be the best he ever bred. He was Supreme Male Champion 1954 in the U.K. A collectable ceramic model 7 1/2" tall, 'Arab "Bahram" was created by Arthur Gredington of the Beswick England factory (no longer exists) in various colours from 1961 -1989.
One example of Musgrave Clarke’s belief in his horses’ endurance was his regular use of his stallion Mansur (14.3hh) to ride 52 miles to visit his friend, vet Mr Bloxham, and back again a day later.
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He won a 300 mile endurance test on Belka in 1921. The interviewer asked him if it was true that he had refused £5,000 for her after the race 'yes' he replied 'I would not have taken £10,000 for her.' (£10,000 in 1921 was the equivalent of over £400,000 at todays rates).
Harwood Stud
Harwood stud was established in 1896 when Colonel Lyon purchased the mare Howa from one of the Blunts Crabbet sales, she was great grandaughter of Wilfrid Blunt's journey mare Hagar.
Barton Lodge
Nuhra had been a gift from the ruler of Bahrain to celebrate the accession to the throne of HRH King George VI. Nuhra became the foundation mare of The Barton Lodge Stud, and established the renowned 'Nuhra Line'.
Early American Arabian Studs
Davenport Desert Arabians
Homer Davenport was a well known political cartoonist and the highest paid in the USA in the late nineteenth century. He played a key role in bringing some of the earliest desert bred or asil Arabian horses to America. A longtime admirer of horses, Davenport stated in 1905, "I have dreamed of Arabian Horses all of my life". In 1906 Davenport made his own journeys to the Middle East and acquired a number of quality horses from the bedouins just as the Blunts had done some 25 years earlier. Davenport became one of the five incorporators of the Arabian Horse Club of America (now the Arabian Horse Association) as there was a need to have an independent Arabian horse registry in the USA. In addition to his own imports, Davenport also purchased a number of horses from the Crabbet stud, as well as the famous stallion Abu Zeyd, from The Hon. George Savile. Abu Zeyd was considered the best son of his famous sire, Mesaoud. In 1911, Davenport described *Abu Zeyd as "the grandest specimen of the Arabian horse I have ever seen and I will give a $100 cup to the owner of any horse than can beat him."
Davenport died in May 1912 at just 45 years of age.
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Visit: The Davenport Project - facebook page
The Maynesboro stud was founded in 1912 by the American businessman William Robinson Brown. His foundation stallion, the famous Abu Zeyd, was purchased from the estate of Homer Davenport following his death in 1912 along with 10 mares from that stud. He also imported horses from the Crabbet Arabian Stud as well as from France and Egypt. At its peak, Maynesboro was the largest Arabian horse breeding operation in the United States. W.R. Brown served as President of the Arabian Horse Club of America from 1918 until 1939 and made several significant purchases from Crabbet including Berk and Astraled amongst a group of 20 horses for which he paid £2727 in 1918 during the period when Lady Wentworth was needing to raise funds following the bitter dispute with her father Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.
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Brown sold all his horses in 1933 in an attempt to raise funds to keep his Brown Company solvent during the great depression.
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Kellogg Stud
The Kellogg stud was formed in 1925 by the American industrialist Will Keith Kellogg following the purchase of a 377 acre ranch in Ponoma. The first Arabian horses were purchased from the Davenport and Maynesboro studs and subsequently complimenetd by several imports from the Crabbet stud. Over the next few years the stud grew to 750 acres but was donated by Kellogg to the University of California in 1932.
CMK Arabians
CMK stands for “Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg” and recognizes three programmes which transmitted much of the central stock of what became North America’s historical Arab breeding tradition. An excellent source of information on the CMK and Crabbet heritage can be found at CMK Arabians.com
We are still working on this section and there will be more to come soon!...