Re: RC: "Red" (from Barb Peck).

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Mon, 27 Aug 2001  1:58:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, guest@endurance.net writes:

> Barb Peck bpeck@together.net
> I watched Red trot out quite a few times (undersaddle and not)
> at PAC. He's quite impressive. As much power at the trot as a
> Standardbred.
> 
> Is he a purebred (or registered) arab?

Yes, Barb, his registered name is Crystals Charm, and he is another one of those good old CMK horses...  His sire is straight GSB (appears to be straight Crabbet) and is an English import--but back in his pedigree are many of the individuals that bred on at Crabbet before being imported to the Kellogg program.  He has a small dash of Polish breeding in his dam's sire line, but the rest of her pedigree is Kellogg breeding and more direct Crabbet imports (including *Silver Vanity and *Serafix), with the dam line being from the old Draper program.  He's another one of those horses (like Benjih, BRR Aurber Lights, etc.) that one would be almost surprised if they did NOT rise to the top of this sport, given good opportunity by a good rider, based on their breeding.

> His conditioned physique is quite like a racing thourough-bred
> (like the ones I've seen at Saratoga).
> He even has the same kind of sweeping walk.

You betcha.  Those old-time horses were bred for that sort of athleticism, and it still comes through.

> If he is pure-bred, and if the story's true about being
> purchased of a stock-yard truck on his way to the killers...
> Why would an 8 year old sound Arab be on the killer truck?
> Are there THAT many extra Arabs in the area?

I've heard the details of this story, but forgotten all but the generalities, so will leave the specifics to others that know them better.  But sadly, these athleticly bred old-style horses are NOT the "fad" in the Arabian show ring, and far too often are left mouldering away in back yards or shipped off.  Too many so-called breeders have no clue what constitutes a good using horse, and these wonderful athletes don't have the flat pelvises, the sausage bodies, and the "hooky" necks (as Bazy calls the show horses--"Loch Ness Monsters") and so are considered by some to be undesirables.  While Red's case is extreme, it is shocking how many really fabulous broodmares of such lines were cast away in the fads of the '70's and '80's, and how many of the really athletic sire lines were simply lost to the breed.  Thank heavens more people are waking up to the fact that keeping these sorts of horses available requires some joint and cooperative effort in breeding and sharing preservatio!
n bloodlines--both Benjih and BR
R Aurber Lights came from programs that have been intentionally breeding such athletes.  Prior to the '70's, these same lines were the mainstream of American breeding, and were also the norm in the show ring--it is too bad to see how much damage can be done to a gene pool in just a few decades.  

Heidi