Important Dates in Arabian History

Approx. 2500 B.C.: The ancestors of Arabian horses reside in the deserts of the Middle East and are beloved by the Bedouin people.

1724: The Godolphin Arabian is born. He will later become one of the most influential stallions in Thoroughbred history.

1770s: George Washington rides Blueskin, a half-Arabian, throughout the Revolutionary War.

1888: The first breeding program for purebred Arabians is established in the United States. 1908: The Arabian Horse Club of America (now the Arabian Horse Association) is established, and 71 purebred Arabians are registered. Over one million Arabian horses have been registered as of 2020.

1926: W.K. Kellogg (of Kellogg’s cereal fame) imports Arabians and establishes the Kellogg Ranch.

1926: The stallion *Raffles is born at Lady Wentworth’s Crabbet Arabian Stud in Sussex, England. He arrives in the United States in the 1930s

and begins his influential contribution to Arabian breeding in the United States.

1941: Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion is published.

1948: Marguerite Henry’s King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin

Arabian is published, and it wins the Newbery Medal in 1949 for its distinguished contribution to children’s literature.

1956: The stallion *Bask++ is born in Poland. He is later imported to the United States, where he subsequently sires more than 1,000 foals. 1993: An Arabian stallion named JB Kobask debuts as “Thunder,” an official mascot of the Denver Broncos football team. Two other Arabian geldings have also served as Thunder II and Thunder III, respectively.

2003: The Arabian Horse Association is formed by a merger between the International Arabian Horse Association (IAHA) and the Arabian Horse Registry of America (AHRA). It becomes the official breed registry (www.arabianhorses.org).