My favorite stallion of the visit was without contest the 1991 Hamdani Simri stallion Clarion CF (Regency CF x Chinoiserie CF by Dharanad), at Kirby Drennan. I would like to breed a mare to him in the near future. This stallion, who has a strong liver chestnut color, is built like a war horse. He has a masculine, virile, beauty. Jeanne Craver always knew I would like him, and she was right. Jeanne said that if this horse was with the Shammar Bedouins, he would be their herd sire. I could not agree more.
Of all the old mares I saw, my personal favorite was Kirby Drennan’s 1982 Hamdani Simri mare Anthesis CF (Plantagenet x Meringue by Sir Marchen), who, at 29 years old, looked like an Arabian gazelle.
Wisteria was as beautiful as ever, with large, expressive eyes. She was reminiscent of the painting of the “mare of Baz” which graces the cover of Asil Araber II. I am sorry I don’t have a better photo to render the indefinable charm that emanates from this mare, who is not photogenic.
For starters, here is two pictures I took of Nancy Becker’s 1995 Hamdani Simri stallion stallion Haffiad CF (Regency CF x Kiddleywink CF by Regency CF). He is a true son of the desert, full of fire and kindness at once.
I just went to heaven and back. This past weekend I took the family to Craver Farms for a visit with Charles and Jeanne (shamefully, my first in six years), and the horses. We also saw Alice Martin, Nancy Becker, Kirby Drennan and their horses, who are wonderful. I took some pics, but Kirby took the only non-horse picture (below). The absolute highlight of the trip, other than seeing my horses and especially the new ones, were the two hours I was able to spend with Charles and Jeanne helping put together the slides projector and watching some video footage of the horses at Craver Farms from 1958 up to 1961. Priceless images, and priceless moments, with Charles and Jeanne commenting on the footage. I saw a total of 50 minutes of footage of Tripoli and many of the early horses, some of them preceding the Davenport “Second Foundation”: Arabesque (Rouf x Koreish by Alcazar); her fillies Byzantia (by Garaff), Tizzy and Josephine and her son Tristram (impressive), all by Tripoli; the wonderful 100% Blunt mare Ringlet Astralis x Rudeyna by Daoud), who unfortunately did not produce there; and of course the Second Foundation mares Dharebah (breathtaking, a desert-type mare) Dharanah,…