I originally posted this in 2003, am reposting again, with additional comments.
original message:
>Since being on the internet I have searched from time to time for info about my first childhood horse, a grey/white Arabian gelding who lived to be over 40. We rescued him from a riding stable in the early 1950s when he was at least in his mid twenties, and he was known to many old time horsemen and my uncle in our northern NY State county as having been owned by a local wealthy businessman and well known horseman for most of his life until being sold to the riding stable upon the owner's death. He was originally bought as a young horse by the business man at a sale of starving Arabians in Indiana in the early 1930s, as the Indiana farm had gone broke and the owner went to prison. We always called our horse "Sammy", as that was his name, according to the old timers. I am now wondering if that was a corruption of his real Arabian name. Now that I found the history of the Davenports and the misfortunes of the farm in Indiana owned by Morton S. Hawkins, I am wondering if that is the farm where our horse came from and what his real name and breeding were. I would appreciate any info anyone can give me. We do not know if he was even registered, but the coincidences of his history seem to point to that he came from Morton S. Hawkin's herd of Davenport breeding. I see that some of the Hawkins rescued stock also went to Hearst in Calif., and some of our Morgans trace to the Hearst stock.
Thank you.
Joanne Curtis
in the Champlain Valley of northern NY
Posted on Aug 11, 2003, 10:32 AM>
Since posting the above, I hav spoken to my mother, and she says that my old Arab was buried in an abandoned well on our farm, near the barn, as it was winter, and the town road crew brought gravel to cover him. I am wondering, since we know where he is, if dna could be done on a tooth or bone to perhap identify what line he was from? I am a pedigree buff, now have Morgans, and have had a lifetime interest in finding out his identity, am familiar with dna issues. I would need some advice from other Arab breeders as far as finding other horses of related lines that could be compared to his dna. Where can I start? Any advice? I have a set of the Arabian registries, but cannot figure out which horse he might have been.
Joanne Curtis