DRINKERS OF THE WIND ARABIANS
Robert Bouttier (Archie) started breeding Arabian horses in the mid 1970s at his ranch in Bellevue, Idaho. He named the ranch Drinkers of the Wind Arabians (DWA) after he read the book “Drinkers of the Wind” by Carl Raswan. His objective and his passion was to breed athletic horses with good minds who would excel at the race track and endurance. He was lucky to acquire a stallion named Sabson (a full brother to Sambor) whose sire was Czort (Wielke Szlem by Ofir) and whose dam was Sabellina. He bred his mares, many who had bloodlines of Forta and Sabellina, to Sabson, and bred three of his mares in 1993 to a stallion named Falat. Falat was the sire of one of Archie’s favorite stallions named DWA Ziffalat, who was an excellent race horse. Archie began breeding some of his Sabson daughters to successful Polish race horses such as Monarch AH, NF Proof, Moment of Valor, Samsheik, etc. Then French bloodlines were introduced into his breeding program by the stallions Haffir el Rimal and Ala Croixnoire, as well as others. DWA French Kiss (Haffir el Rimal X DWA WH Zinfandel by Sabson) was one of his best race horses and was the Colorado Racehorse of the Year in 2003.
Many of the horses Archie bred became good endurance horses. Global Endurance purchased and campaigned a number of DWA horses sired by Sabson starting in 1999 and then after they purchased the stallion DWA Express by Sabson, the DWA bloodlines also continued with their breeding program. A number of the GE horses sired by DWA Express are doing well in endurance at this time. The DWA website’s “Endurance Records” page and “Endurance Photos” page shows photos and endurance achievements of DWA horses.
Some of the DWA horses have gone to homes where they are enjoying their lives as trail or pleasure horses. The important thing is that they are well loved and cared for.
Archie died unexpectedly on February 28, 2021. Helen, who for 24 years was his companion, partner, and eventually his wife and who shared his love of the DWA horses (and horses in general), is continuing to document the photos and records of many of the DWA horses through the DWA website: dwarabians.com
Helen enjoys following the DWA horses’ endurance careers and other
activities, collecting photos of them (many taken at endurance rides
by the wonderful ride photographers), and documenting their endurance
records and photos on the website. Archie would like this and it helps
keep his memory alive, so Helen will continue to keep the website
going, at least in the near future, even though the DWA breeding
program has ceased and there are no DWA horses for sale at this
time. Fisher Ranch Arabians, fisherrancharabians.com, is breeding many
of Archie’s favorite bloodlines.
