HOMER DAVENPORT's father was an Indian agent of the old West. The passion for horses and the people of the plains were in Homer Davenport's blood when he went to desert Arabia.

THE TASK of bringing horses directly from Arabia to America was not easy, but with the assistance of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, applications were made to His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, asking for an Irade, or export permit for a number of stallions and mares from the desert. In June 1906 the permission was granted and in due time Homer Davenport and his two companions set out on their pilgrimage. After reaching Aleppo they began their quest in the desert of northern Arabia and Syria in which the famous Hashem Bey, the Shaykh of all Sheikhs, played a most romantic and helpful role.

HASHEM BEY was the distant but direct descendent of that renowned Fid'an Chief who, two hundred years earlier, sold to his friend, Mr. Darley, (at that time British Consul in Aleppo), the desert-bred stallion Manak (mentioned in my last article on the Mu'niqiyat breeding) -- the sire of Flying Childers and foundation sire of the Eclipse line of Thoroughbreds.

AMONG THE animals which Homer Davenport brought to the U.S.A. was a pure-in-the-strain Mu'niqi-Hadruj. This horse was Kusof, a two year old stallion of the Darley Arabian race-strain. What a lucky find! I roamed the deserts of Arabia on and off for over twenty-five years and was never able to acquire a pure-in-the-strain Mu'niqi-Hadruj.

THE TRAGEDY however is that Kusof was never mated with a mare of the Mu'niqi-Hadruj strain, though several pure-bred Mu'niqiyah-Hadrujiyah mares of Randolph Huntington were still alive in America at that time. Kusof was only used three times to Arabian mares in fifteen years (1908-1923) and all three belonged to other strains (not the Mu'niqiyat).

FORTUNATELY Homer Davenport had purchased twenty-six other horses besides Kusof. Davenport owned his acquisition to Shaykh Ahmed Hafiz, a Bedouin diplomat and political representative of many tribes in Aleppo. This important Bedouin agent, though an old man, was "famed as a horseman of the highest rank, and versed in pedigrees second to none."

HOMER DAVENPORT journeying with Ahmed Hafiz among the tribes in quest of Arabian horses, became his blood-brother in a scared ceremony. After that Ahmed Hafiz saw to it that Davenport was well treated and that only outstanding horses of distinguished lineage were bought. They were the choice of the desert, the priceless heritage of the Bedouins, from which they never would have parted for less than their friendship and loved of this old Bedouin-brother of Homer Davenport.

HOMER DAVENPORT brought to the U.S.A. six pure-in-the- strain- bred Arabian horses (Kusof-Reshan-Abeyah-Urfah-Jedah) and three in related type and strain (Houran-Wadduda-Moharra). Eleven other Arabs were of related classic strains and three whose sires are not mentioned in our studbooks (and cannot classify therefore). Only four of the twenty-seven horses were of mixed strains. This record alone should prove that the majority of horse breeders among the Bedouins in 1906 were still breeding pure-in-the-strain or within the classic strains.

WITHOUT EXAGGERATION it may be said today (more than thirty years later) that Homer Davenport's Arabians and their offspring have become the pride and heritage of America too. There are hundreds of Americans who own Arabs out of Homer Davenport's importation. Twenty-seven stallions and mares formed the little herd of desert steeds that landed on the shores of America in 1906; but today they have grown into a mighty herd which has been registered and whose breeding is the serious concern of many men and women in our country. Every year there are millions of Americans who watch Arabians perform, not only in horse shows and rodeos, on ranches and over bridle paths, but in motion pictures, too -- and most of these handsome creatures carry some blood of Homer Davenport's almost forgotten importation.

MUSON one of Davenport's Desert Arabs, created a sensation at his appearance in Madison Square Garden in 1907 when Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) mounted him at the opening of his "Congress of Wild Riders and Wild West Show." President Theodore Roosevelt and his guests paid homage ot this great horse, "which fulfilled the fanciful picture that one has in mind when you mention Arabian horses." (Muson was a Kuhaylan, sired by a Shuwayman who belongs to the same classic antique type as the Kuhaylan). a more powerful and at the same time such a graceful horse never had been seen, gentle, alert and of beautiful symmetrical proportions. One of the unforgettable impressions created by Muson was when a full-blooded Indian, seventy-two year old "Bull Bear," High Chief of the Cheyennes mounted him and gave an exhibition of bareback riding. The old warrior of the plains handled the high-spirited Arabian stallion without effort, sitting erect and stern in his place, a noble red man.

LETAN , whom I bought for the Kellogg ranch in 1925, was a son of Muson. Letan became famous as a stock and show horse in the West. Will Rogers, lover of horses had a special fondness for Letan and rode him on his ranch and in his movie pictures.

ANOTHER ONE of Homer Davenport's Arabians was Haleb, whose parents were a combination of the Shuwayman strain (known for strength and beauty) and his dam of the Mu'niqi-Sbaili (fast, but not so angular as the Mu'niqi-Hadruj). (The Sbaili are more handsome too.) Strength, beauty and speed were qualities which had created Justin Morgan's fame in his time, making the ideal combination horse of greatest utility and all-purpose. Haleb was a horse of this Morgan type. He was first shown to Homer Davenport in the palace grounds of Nazim Pasha, Governor of Aleppo on the sixth day of August 1906. Haleb was of such fame that "Town-Arabs" like Prince Rashid of Hayil and Emir of Riyad who were not fanatic "Purists" (breeders of one particular pure strain) but just horse-fanciers who liked a good horse, sent from the distant south their mares under special convoy to Syria to breed to Haleb.

Haleb originally was born among the Saba' tribe and presented as a token of appreciation to Turkish Governor of Syria who had shown unusual fairness in dealing with the children of the desert.

DAVENPORT rode his priceless horse over two hundred mikles from Aleppo into the desert to meet the people who had raised Haleb. The tribesmen gathered from all ends of the wilderness to pay tribute to the horse that had been honored by both rulers of Arabia and the Turkish Governor of Syria. The Bedouins bowed down to the ground as they bade farewell to their beloved steed. Some cried, men of the desert, unashamed, who did not hold back their tears.

ON JUNE 17, 1907, Haleb (a seal brown without a white hair), won first prize in the Justin Morgan class at the Rutland, Vermont, horse show, competing with and winning over the best Morgans on their own home grounds. Haleb was conceded to be the most remarkable horse. Horse breeders considered him "the salvation of the Morgan breed". But tragedy was soon to follow on the heels of this historical event. With the Justin Morgan cup his prized possession, Homer Davenport lost his invaluable horse. A few days later Haleb died -- supposedly poisoned.

ALWAYS REMEMBERED by American breeders will be Wadduda, mother of Moliah and eight other well known fillies and colts in the American Stud book of Arabian horses. Wadduda, Hashem Bey's own war-mare with large lustrous eyes was not only celebrated for her beauty, but her courage. Two large scars on her neck bore witness to a deadly duel which her master had fought from her back, when he unhorsed a chieftain of the Ruala tribe and two slaves of the dying master thrust the steel blades of their lances into her. At another time Wadduda proved her great endurance when she was ridden from Alexandretta to Aleppo, 106 miles in eleven hours over high mountain trails. Hashem Bey's love for Wadduda was not exceeded by that for his family, but he turned his war-mare over to Shaykh Ahmed hafiz as a token of their friendship and respect for each other. When Davenport came to Aleppo, it was Shaykh Ahmed Hafiz's turn to give the famous war-mare away. Taking leave from her, Ahmed Hafiz pointed to a blue bead which Hashem Bey had tied into Wadduda's tail when she was born and said to Davenport: "I love even this little talisman fastened into her long hair, but from now on Wadduda is the possession of my brother and the blue Bead will be a token of her noble birth."

DAVENPORT had to accept not only Wadduda but her personal slave, who had come as a gift with the mare from the great Shaykh Hashem Bey to Ahmed Hafiz. Robed in his Nomad Arab's shepherd coat, Said 'Abdallah became a picturesque figure wherever the Davenport horses were shown. Said was a great horseman and a match for any rider in America.

IN 1924, I acquired Jadaan, a famous grandson of Wadduda from Peter B. Bradley (old friend and partner of Homer Davenport) and brought the stallion to California. I rode Jadaan for years and also "doubled" on him for Rudolph Valentino as the old and the young chief in the photoplay of the "Son of the Sheik."

ON APRIL 13th, Jadaan will be twenty-six years of age. he is still shown on the Kellogg Ranch near Pomona, California and has often been seen as mount of the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, and at other fairs in California. Visitors comment on Jadaan's "natural" grace and "conscious" pride to show off and display his beauty and style. It must be in his blood -- he is a Saqlawi (the "Beauty" stain and type).

JADAAN was one of the eleven Arabians of pure Davenport descent (four stallions and seven mares) which I had collected in various states of America and brought to California in 1924. A year later these eleven Davenport Arabians became the foundation stock of the Kellogg Ranch, Pomona.

IN 1926 I brought to America, fourteen Arabians from Lady Anne Blunt's historical Crabbet Park Stud. Among them Nasik, Raseyn, Rossana, Rifla, Rasima, Raida, Ferda and other so-called "double-registered" Arabians. With pardonable pride I may say that of the original twenty-five Arabians which I brought to California in 1924 and 1926, every one has made its name in horse breeding. Their descendants (hundreds of them) are found all over America today and even in distant parts of the world where they have been exported to. But if you ask me who is to be "blamed" for it all I must decline the responsibility and point again to Homer Davenport for whom we feel a lasting gratitude that he saved the Arabian horse in America and thus helped to improve our Stock Horses continually.

(In the next article Mr. Raswan will deal with our so-called "Double-Registered Arabians.")

Jadaan, Carl Raswan and Rudolph Valentino during the filming of th epic picture "The Son of the Sheik,"near Yuma, Arizona, in June, 1926. Jadaan is by a Davenport horse.

Wadduda, the famous war mare of the desert, and her foal, Mekka, with Said Abdallah, the Bedouin slave.

Homer Davenport with Ibn Mahruss (later owned by Anita Baldwin).

Haleb's pedigree, which Homer Davenport brought from Arabia with his famous horse.

TRANSLATION:

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL ALLAH: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, and prayers and greetings upon our Master Muhammad, and upon all his family and his followers.

God, the All-High, has said in his cherished Book: By those which run swiftly with a panting noise, and which strike fire, and which make an incursion in the morning, raising a cloud of dust and piercing the ranks of a host."Also, Ali, may God bathe his face with Glory, has said: Plenty is knotted to the horse's manes.": He has also said: "(On) Their backs are splendor and (in) their wombs are treasure." And now: The pure brown stallion who is devoid of white and whose age is five years, going on his sixth, is a MANAKHY SABILY. His sire is a SHUWAYIMAN SABBAH, who breeds pure and exclusive, and is consequently free of all defects. -- and we have not testified except to what we have known, and we are incognizant of the unknown. -- written the 25th of HAMADA, the last, 1324 (HEGIRA) and the 15th of August, 1906 A.D.

(Signed) Ahmad Hafiz (Signed) Sheikh el-Bukhamis Ali Al-Rashid (Signed) Kaimakam Hagim Bey Menhad

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