Richard Beal’s Blog

One of the most popular breeds of horses found in America is the Arabian. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world.

From the Arabian Horse Organization website:
“From the ancient deserts of the Middle East evolved the oldest known breed of riding horse, the Arabian. Now one of the most popular breeds in America, the Arabians’ incredible energy, intelligence and gentle disposition allow riders to excel in most equine sports and activities. Today, Arabian horses spend as much time on the trail as they do at horse shows and other competitive events.

“For thousands of years, Arabians lived among the desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula, bred by the Bedouins as war mounts for long treks and quick forays into enemy camps. In these harsh desert conditions evolved the Arabian with its large lung capacity and incredible endurance.

“Historical figures like Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Alexander The Great and George Washington rode Arabians. Even today, one finds descendants from the earliest Arabian horses of antiquity. Then, a man’s wealth was measured in his holdings of these fine animals. Given that the Arabian was the original source of quality and speed, and remains foremost in the fields of endurance and soundness, he still either directly or indirectly contributed to the formation of virtually all the modern breeds of horses.

“The prophet Mohammed, in the seventh century AD, was instrumental in spreading the Arabian’s influence around the world. He instructed his followers to look after Arabians and treat them with kindness. He instructed that special attentions should be paid to the mares because they insure the continuity of the breed. He also proclaimed that Allah had created the Arabian, and that those who treated the horse well would be rewarded in the afterlife.

“The severe climate required the nomads to share food and water, and sometimes even their tents with their horses. As a result, Arabians developed a close affinity to man and a high intelligence.

“Over the centuries, the Bedouin tribes zealously maintained the purity of the breed. Because of their limited resources, breeding practices were extremely selective. Such practices, which eventually helped the Arabian become a prized possession throughout the world, have led to the beautiful athletic breed we know today, which is marked by a distinctive dished profile; large, lustrous, wide-set eyes on a broad forehead; small, curved ears; and large, efficient nostrils.

“Even today the purebred Arabian is virtually the same as that ridden in ancient Arabia. Arabians now display their athletic talents in a variety of disciplines from English to Western, with the Arabian positioned as the undisputed champion of endurance events.

“America was built by utilizing horse power and colonists were quick to realize the value of Arabian bloodstock. Nathan Harrison of Virginia imported the first Arabian stallion in 1725. This horse reportedly sired 300 foals from grade mares. Our first President, George Washington, rode an Arabian horse. The first breeder of consequence, however, was A. Keene Richard. He journeyed into the desert in 1853 and 1856, subsequently importing several stallions and two mares. However, his breeding program fell victim to the Civil War and nothing survived.

“In 1877, General Ulysses S. Grant visited Abdul Hamid II, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey. There, he was presented with two stallions from the Sultan’s stable, Leopard and Lindentree. Leopard was later given to Randolph Huntington who subsequently imported two mares and two stallions in 1888 from England. This program, limited as it was, must be considered as the first purebred Arabian breeding program in the United States.

“The Chicago Worlds Fair held in 1893 drew widespread public attention and had an important influence upon the Arabian horse in America. World’s FairWhile every country in the world was invited to participate, Turkey chose to exhibit 45 Arabian horses in a “wild eastern” exhibition. Among the imported Arabians shown were the mare Nejdme and the stallion, Obeyran. Both subsequently became foundation animals No. 1 and No. 2 in the Arabian Stud Book of America (later changed to the Arabian Horse Registry of America and now, Arabian Horse Association). Several years later, two other mares and one stallion were also registered. Many breeding farms today have horses whose pedigrees trace to these 19th century Arabians.

“Historical importations from England and Egypt were made soon after the Fair by such breeders as Spencer Borden, who imported 20 horses between 1898 and 1911 to his Interlachen Stud, and W.R. Brown who imported 20 horses from England, 6 from France and 7 from Egypt between 1918 and 1932.

“One of the most significant importations occurred in 1906, when Homer Davenport received permission from the Sultan of Turkey to export Arabian horses. Davenport, with the backing of then President Theodore Roosevelt, imported 27 horses which became the foundation of “Davenport Arabians.” The Davenport importation of Arabian horses direct from the desert excited the few Arabian breeders in this country. This group of breeders decided that the time was right to form a registry to promote the horse and encourage the importation of new blood. In 1908, the Arabian Horse Club of America was formed (today known as the Arabian Horse Association) and the first stud book published. Recognition of the Arabian stud book by the U.S. Department of Agriculture established the Registry as a national registry and the only one for the purebred Arabian breed. Seventy-one purebred Arabians were registered at that point.

“Another significant importation occurred in the 1920s, when the Kellogg Ranch, founded by W.K. Kellogg, brought in 17 select horses from the Crabbet stud farm in 1926 and 1927. Soon after, Roger Selby established the Selby Stud with 20 horses imported from Crabbet between 1928 and 1933. The Albert Harris importation consisted of two horses from England in 1924 and five from the Hejaz and Nejd desert regions in 1930 and 1931. Joseph Draper brought Spanish Arabians into the American picture when he imported five horses from Spain in 1934. J.M. Dickinson’s Traveler’s Rest Arabian Stud was established between 1934-1937 on an imported mare from Egypt and one from Brazil as well as seven mares from Poland. Henry B. Babson sent people to Egypt in 1932 who brought over two stallions and five mares. This farm still preserves the same bloodlines today.

“In the 1940’s and 1950’s importations of Arabians to America slowed down as American breeding programs evolved from the previously imported stock. With the death of Lady Wentworth in 1957 and the dispersal of Crabbet Stud, importations in abundance were again made from England, and the post-war stud farms of Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain and Egypt were “rediscovered.” Significant importations followed from these countries by several groups of dedicated breeders and again a new era of Arabian horse breeding dawned.”

You can get more information at the official Arabian breed horse organization at their website by clicking HERE.

Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns. He was best known as the star of the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.

My parents knew him and he once did a fund raiser performance in Glendale for the La Canada-Flintridge Orthopedic Guild where my mother was President. He did readings from Macbeth if I remember correctly.

From Wikipedia:
“The show was rated either number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings during each year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. Have Gun — Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, of which 101 were directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.

“The title was a catchphrase used in personal advertisements in newspapers like The Times, indicating that the advertiser was ready-for-anything. It was used in this way from the early 1900s. A form common in theatrical advertising was “Have tux, will travel” and this was the inspiration for the writer Herb Meadow.

“The show followed the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter (played by Richard Boone on television, and by John Dehner on radio), who preferred to settle problems without violence, yet, when forced to fight, excelled. Paladin lived in the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, where he dressed in formal attire, ate gourmet food, and attended the opera. In fact, many who met him initially mistook him for a dandy from the East. When working, he dressed in black, used calling cards, wore a holster that carried a characteristic chess knight emblem, and carried a derringer under his belt. Paladin charged steep fees for his services — typically a thousand dollars a job.

“Born in Los Angeles, Boone tried his hand at oil-rigging, bartending, painting and writing, before joining the United States Navy in 1941. He served on three ships in the Pacific during World War II seeing combat. After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to study acting at the Actor’s Studio in New York. Serious and methodical, Boone debuted on Broadway in 1947 in the play Medea, and appeared in Macbeth (1948) and The Man (1950).

“In 1950, Boone made his screen debut as a Marine in Halls of Montezuma. He starred in three movies with John Wayne: The Alamo (as Sam Houston), Big Jake, and The Shootist.

“It was Boone’s second television series, Have Gun – Will Travel, which made him a national star with his role as Paladin. The show ran from 1957 to 1963, with Boone receiving two more Emmy nominations -in 1959 and 1960.

“After cancellation of his weekly show, Boone and his family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. While living on Oahu, Boone helped persuade Leonard Freeman to film Hawaii Five-O exclusively in Hawaii….. Freeman, impressed by Boone’s love of Hawaii, offered him the role of Steve McGarrett. Boone turned it down, and the role went to Jack Lord.

“Boone was married three times: to Jane Hopper (1937 – 1940), Mimi Kelly (1949 – 1950), and Claire McAloon (1951), by whom he had a son, Peter.

“Boone moved to St. Augustine, Florida from Hawaii in 1970, and worked with the production of Cross and Sword when he wasn’t acting on television or in movies, until his death from cancer in 1981. In the last year of his life, Boone was appointed Florida’s cultural ambassador.”

Bob Kinford is a life long working cowboy, horseman, reduced stress cattle handling expert, humorist, and the producer of the Texas Crossroads Cowboy Gathering; the only cowboy entertainment talent show. He’s also the owner of the 2lazy4U Livestock & Literary Company in the El Paso, Texas Area and a great writer.
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One place where people seem to make mistakes is when they are watching the gate while someone else is pulling cattle. The most common mistake is when a cow is coming down the fence and breaks across the pen. It seems the reaction is to try and outrun the cow to get in front of it and turn it back to the gate. Of course the reaction of the person pulling the cow is the same. The end result is similar to squeezing a greased marble between your thumb and index finger and the cow flies across the pen stirring up and putting stress on the other cattle. Of course the first mistake is behind why the cow broke across the pen in the first place.

When a cow is coming down the fence it is wanting to get around the rider pushing it. No matter how relaxed the cow appears, it is still looking for a hole to get around the rider. If the cow spots the person on the gate, it will react in relationship to where that person is even if the cow is at the back of the pen and the person is just a few feet from the front of the pen. While some cows keep their heads down and never notice the rider watching the gate, others will pack their heads higher, notice the second rider, and react to go around them. I’ve worked with people who have a tendency to do things while watching the gate which will make a cow blow back across the pen. Of course these people are also constantly cursing these “crazy” cows without even giving a second thought to the fact that it may have more to do with what they are doing than the cow‘s attitude.

The fact is, that ninety percent (or more) of the time, when a cow begins turning back or blowing back across the pen, the fault lies in something either the gate person or the person bringing the cow is doing. Other than letting extra cattle run out the gate, the person watching the gate needs to do several things. The most obvious is to recognize which cow the person is pulling. This is difficult if the person bringing the cow has several extra cows (or perhaps half the pen) with the one they want. The second thing is not so obvious. It is possible to attract the cow’s attention and begin moving ourselves in a way to help the person pulling it to get it to the gate. Often this can be done from quite a distance, sometimes from halfway across the pen.

Begin by moving your horse to turn the group of cows away from the gate while keeping your focus on the cow to be pulled. When the cow to be pulled begins to turn with the other cows use a little lateral movement to stop or slow down the action. You need to be careful with this as you don’t want to accidentally turn the cow back, but to keep it from going with the other cows and head for the gate. When you make the move to do this, the cow’s attention will be divided between you and the person pulling the cow. By using lateral movement and moving away from the cow, combined with the pressure from the person pulling the cow, the cow will turn and go past you towards the gate. As the cow goes past you, turn and go with it, using lateral movement to allow the cow to turn and see the gate.

Of course there are those times when the gate is wide open, the cow has a clear field of vision to it, yet blows across the pen. When this happens the reaction of both the person pulling the cow, and the gate person is to get ahead of the cow to turn it. Of course this seldom works and we soon have the majority of the cows in the pen running around. The reason it doesn’t work is because, from the cow’s perspective, we are actually asking the cow to speed up, go by the gate person and across the pen as in figure 1A.

We must remember that our actions play a big part in how the cow reacts. We must also realize that we have been inundated through the years with being taught to work cattle against their natural instincts. As such we are working against ourselves and making our job more difficult. In order to change our reactions to the cattle, we need to concentrate more on reading the cattle and moving in a way which will cause them to react in the way we want. To be successful, this means making smaller adjustments and making them more often than we are used to. While we are making the transition (or when working with someone who doesn’t understand the concepts of working with the cattle), there will be times when we do need to move in a hurry. But we can do this in a way which will still keep the cattle a little calmer.

In Figure 1 the cow is being pushed a little to hard, spots the rider at the gate and runs across the pen. The person watching the gate could have prevented this by moving across the pen before the cow made its move. Once the cow has started moving fast across the pen it is usually too late to get in front of the cow. Trying to get in front of the cow at this point will only speed the cow up as in Figure 1 to the right.

In order to turn the cow without adding more stress, the person on the gate needs to move up the fence while the person pulling the cow needs to use lateral movement, fading away from the cow as in Figure 2. As the “gate person” passes the cow’s hip, the cow will be drawn to look at them, taking the cow’s focus off the person pulling them for a second or two. However, the success in getting the cow to draw to the gate person is highly dependant upon what your partner is doing. The harder they are pushing the cow, the less the cow will be drawn to the gate person. Conversely, the more the person pulling the cow fades and removes pressure, the more the cow will be drawn to the gate person, changing its direction of travel.

Once the cow is facing the gate as in Figure 3, its normal reaction will be to try and go around the gate person.

As your horse is bent into the cow and ready to turn, adjust yourself to the position shown in Figure 4. At this point, being flanked by both riders the cow will have the gate directly in front of it and should go right out the gate. I say should because even though the cow’s focus should be on the gate at this point, many people have the habit of hollering at the cow to speed it up. This habit of making noise to speed up a cow, or to get it going after it stops is another one of those things we have been taught to do which just causes us more problems than it solves. Noises such as shouting or slapping reins on our chaps, etc., just puts stress on the cow without having any focused pressure. As a result the cow is likely to go in a direction we don’t want it to go. Often when we approach a gate and start hollering or making noise to get the cow to go, it will turn to look at what is causing the noise, and try running back between the rider and the fence rather than out the gate. About the only time it is advisable to holler at a cow is when it is blind and can’t see what you are doing.

If the cow is wanting to turn back at the gate, rather than hollering at the cow as it approaches the gate, or putting more pressure on it, you can often speed a cow up by stopping and backing up your horse a few steps. This works because by backing your horses up, you are taking away any hole the cow thought it saw. As the cow is wanting to get away from you, and you have taken away the hole it wanted to use, it will go out the gate. This method will also work when you are walking a cow down the fence. If it stops (and especially when the cow looks back at you) you are too close. Rather than asking the cow to keep going forward you have positioned yourself so that the cow is thinking of going around you. By stopping and backing a couple of steps you are relieving the excess pressure and allowing the cow to move forward down the fence.

You can get more information Bob’s website “Natural Cattle Handling” by clicking HERE.