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The Davenport In CMK
by Carrie Stewart
Many, many articles about Arabians have been written by far more knowledgeable people than I, so the intent of this short piece is to direct readers to those articles by introducing them to a subject overview. Being a novice to our wonderful world of CMK Arabians, you can come along with me while I learn and study from some of the best resource experts on CMK bloodlines today and in the past.
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Our first subject will be Homer Davenport and his importation of Arabians from 1906.
“The term, Davenport Arabian, is used to identify the desert-bred Arabian registered as imported by Homer Davenport in 1906. It also applies to any horse which is totally descended from horses in that importation.” Quote from the article Davenports: A Unique Breeding Group – by Carol Lyons.
The fact remains still today that Homer Davenport is one of only a handful of breeders to import Arabians directly from the desert. One of his main driving reasons for going to the desert was his belief that breeders in America at the time were loosing the original Arabian ‘type’ and Davenport thought it of great importance to preserve desert Arabian type in America.
Using political connections gained through his artistry on political cartoons, Davenport obtained the blessing of President Roosevelt and the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid, to obtain Arabian horses for importation to the United States. Through this political advantage and luck, Davenport was able to obtain an outstanding group of individuals within a short period of time.
Elated upon his return to the United States with his group of Arabian horse, Davenport was confronted by American breeders, along with Lady Ann Blunt, who cast their doubts about the authenticity of where the Arabians came from and how quickly Davenport assembled the horses with reference to quality and purity. Davenport had to prove with documentation that his horses were Arabians and that he got them in Arabia. Robert W. Sewell, president of the Huntingdon Arabian stud and main proponent against the purity of Davenports’ Arabian bloodlines, challenged Davenport to prove the purity of his importations. After a heated war of words, Sewell finally visits Davenport to see his Arabians and concludes that they are indeed pureblood Arabians.
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Upon Davenports’ death in 1912, Peter Bradley, who was a financer of the importation, took in all of Davenport’s horses and continued to breed them at his Hingham Stock Farm until the 1920’s. Through a stroke of luck, 2 large groups of Davenport Arabians were acquired by Kellogg Ranch and continued to be bred there, although sparsely, until the 1950’s until the Davenport bloodlines were close to being lost forever.
Then, in the early 1950’s, a man came along who was looking to start a purebred Arabian breeding program. Because he had done his homework, he realized the worth of the Davenport Arabians not only as a breeding group but also as a significant cross into other Arabian lines for breeding, showing and time after time producing outstanding individuals. That man is Charles Craver of Craver Farms who, though hard work, personal dedication and an unwavering passion for Davenport Arabians has, with a small cooperative group, brought back the Davenport Arabian from the verge of extinction. With a small, 15 head of Davenport horses, Craver Farms led the way, bringing back the numbers of horses to around 700 in the early 1990’s. An amazing feat and all the while, maintaining a good genetic diversity within the lines.
Many famous horses came from breedings of Davenport Arabians to Arabians of mixed sources to create CMK Arabians of the first order. Some of the most treasured American Arabians resulted in such breedings: Khemosabi, Ferzon, The Judge, Fame, Ibn Hanrah, Fadjur, Galan, Garaff, and Saki all have strong Davenport elements in their pedigrees. The Davenport Arabian today is a versatile and beautiful horse encompassing all of the traits of the original Arabian imports of Homer Davenport. Below is a listing of those original imports of 1906.
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1. *Abbeian - grey stallion
2. *Abeyah - bay mare
3. *Antar - grey stallion
4. *Deyr - chestnut stallion
5. *El Bulad - grey stallion
6. *Enzahi - bay mare
7. *Euphrates - chestnut stallion
8. *Farha - grey mare
9. *Gomusa - brown stallion
10. *Hadba - brown/bay mare
11. *Haffia - chestnut mare
12. *Haleb - brown stallion
13. *Hamrah - bay stallion
14. *Houran - bay stallion
15. *Jedah - brown mare
16. *Kusof - bay stallion
17. *Masoud - grey stallion
18. *Moharra - chestnut stallion
19. *Mawarda - grey stallion
20. *Muson - grey stallion
21. *Reshan - grey mare
22. *Urfah - bay mare
23. *Wadduda - chestnut mare
24. *Werdi - chestnut mare
References:
At the Beginning – Charles C. Craver III
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/3095/AtTheBegin.html
The Davenport Arabian…How They Came to Be -
Eileen Borowy Sass
http://www.wiwfarm.com/The_Davenport_Arabian__How_they_came_to_be.htm
Davenports: A Unique Breeding Group – Carol
Lyons
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/3095/UniqueDav.html
Davenport Bloodlines in CMK breeding - Charles C.
Craver III
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/3479/DavenportCMK.html
For more information about Davenport Arabian
horses, please visit the following sites for preservation articles and
today’s Davenport breeders.
http://www.davenporthorses.com/
http://www.wiwfarm.com/crabbetcmk.html