The term, Davenport Arabian, is used to identify the desert-bred Arabians registered as imported by Homer Davenport in 1906. It also applies to any horse which is totally descended from horses in that importation. Several years ago, a study of a random sample from the current AHR Stud Book indicated that as many as 85% of the foals bred in the United States had one or more lines to Davenport horses. The story of the Davenport importation thus effects most American breeding. In addition to these part-Davenport horses, there are about 700 living Arabians which are "straight Davenport." In many ways these straight Davenports represent a truly unique breeding group. there is no other breeding group like it, anywhere in the world.

           Webster (1989) defines the word "unique" as: 1. existing as the only one, or the sole example; 2. having no like or equal; 3. impossible to duplicate within a stated or implied scope. The Arabian horses known as "Davenport Arabians" are truly unique, meeting the definitions above on all counts. Historically, no other single importation of desert-breds to any country has descendants which survive into modern times without admixture of blood from other importations made to that country.

           Growing up at a time when the horse was, for practical purposes, the only means of transportation, he had early in life developed an interest in Arabian horses. It was not until 1893 that he first saw real Arabian horses. In that year, the Hamidie Society of Syria, imported authentic Arabian horses for display at the Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair). Davenport was employed as a cartoonist for the Chicago Herald Newspaper at that time. However, he became so interested in the Arabian horses at the Fair that he spent all his time there, learning what he could about these fascinating creatures. In fact, he spent so much time at the Fair that he lost his job! Talent such as his was not to be denied, and he was shortly thereafter hired by Randolph Hearst. In 1895, he was transfered to the New York Evening Journal, and immediately started trying to locate the remnants of the Hamidie importation which had been sold at auction in 1894. He found most of them in the possession of millionaire industrialist, Peter Bradley of Massachusetts.

           By 1906, Davenport had acquired a number of Arabians from both Bradley and others, but he had a dream of personally going to the source. He had read the informatative books about desert travel and Arabian horses in their homeland which had been written by English travelers and Arabian importers. Major R. Upton, Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt, and others. He had owned Arabians for eight years. In other words, he had done his homework. He also had the financial assistance from Peter Bradley lined up.

           There remained one major problem. At that time, the settled parts of the Arabian peninsula including modern day Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia etc., and even Egypt were all part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid (After whom the Hamidie Society was named), had placed an embargo on the exportation of Arabian mares from the countries under his rule. Therefore, it was necessary to get an Irade, or export permit, from the Sultan in order to obtain any mares. The prospect of an ordinary American citizen like Davenport being able to obtain an Irade would have been bleak indeed, were it not for the assistance of the President of the United States. Back in 1904, during the Presidential campaign, Davenport had met Presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt, and had been so impressed with him that he had changed his own political orientation. Davenport's 1904 political cartoon showing "Uncle Sam" and Roosevelt with the caption "He's good enough for me," is largely credited with swinging the vote in favor of Roosevelt, who was subsequently elected. When Davenport asked Roosevelt to obtain an export permit from the Sultan, it was quickly done. Later on, Roosevelt also facilitated the shipping of the horses back to the States, and he came to see them in 1908.

           The Blunts, Upton, etc., had indicated in their writings that the Anezeh confederation of Bedouin tribes and the Shammar tribes had the best Arabian horses. These tribes traditionally migrated to the area which is now northern Syria, during the hottest season of the year. Davenport and his two companions left the States in July, thus being able to take advantage of the Bedouins' annual proximity to the town of Aleppo. Once there, Davenport had the extreme good fortune of calling on Sheikh Akmet Hafiz, a member of the Anezeh tribe who served as diplomatic liaison between the Bedouins and the Ottoman governmental officials in Aleppo. Sheikh Akmet Hafiz felt deeply honored that DAvenport had contacted him before contacting the local Governor. This was an error in protocol which served Davenport's purpose beyond any expectations. A firm friendship developed between the two men, and Akmet Hafiz took on personal responsibility in assuring that Davenport acquired only the best of available breeding stock.

           During the past hundred and fifty years or more, many people of diverse nationalities have acquired Arabian horses in, or from the desert countries. Many, if not most of these acquisitions were made for the purpose of obtaining horses to improve local Calvary stock, or other partbred studs. Many were acquired by people temporarily in the area who simply appreciated good riding horses. Some exporters relied totally or in part, on governmental agents temporarily assigned to the area, or bought stock from ageyls ((Arab camel and horse dealers). The Davenport importation was unusually large, numbering 27, with ten females. Most important, they were selected with the specific stipulation, and the Bedouins' oath, sworn to Allah, that they were "asil" (purebred). These were horses valued by the Bedouins themselves as suitable for purebred breeding. The importation included representatives of all the major authentic strains of Arabian horses.

           Of the 27 horses which Davenport imported, 25 were eventually registered, and 20 are still represented in modern American breeding programs. Fifteen have straight Davenport descendents living today.

           The horses of the 1950's to which current Davenports trace, are generally referred to as Second Foundation horses, since they were the start of a new basis in Davenport breeding. Craver was eventually able to purchase eight mares and one stallion. (Six of the mares were of the Kuhaylah Hayfi strain, one was Kuhaylah Krush, and one was Saqlawi Al Abd. The stallion, Tripoli, was a Saqlawi Al Abd). He also preserved the lines to two additional Kuhaylah Haifi stallions and one more Saqlawi Al Abd stallion, by means of various lease arrangements. Dr. Fred Mimmack did his part by acquiring a Second Foundation mare and stallion, both of the Saqlawi Al Abd strain. He worked closely with Craver to expand these bloodlines. Elizabeth Paynter obtained a Second Foundation mare (Hadban Enzahi) and bred her to Craver's stallion to preserve this line.

           Some importations into European countries have been larger in numbers than the Davenport importation, yet these famous studs continually found it necessary to rejuvenate their herds with fresh bloodlines every few generations. The Blunts acquired 46 desert-breds over a period of many years. It is possible that a closed breeding herd could have been maintained from this foundation, but the Blunts introduced horses with several generations of Egyptian breeding after only a few generations of breeding strictly from their desert-breds, so the opportunity was lost. Breeders in Egypt, with their relatively easy access to the Arabians peninsula, have continuously added fresh infusions of desert breeding, some as recently as the 1940's. The Egyptians also incorported many of the Blunt desertbreds into their programs, starting back in 1918. Today there are no Arabians which trace exclusively to the famous horses of Abbas Pasha or Ali Pasha Sherif.

          Those of us fortunate enough to have Davenports are truly blessed, and not merely because these animals are historically unique on paper. We also have true Arabian horses which have retained the qualities which were important to the Bedouins who created this wonderful bred: lovely heads with large, expressive eyes; fine skin and hair coat; the symmetry and balanced conformation of truly athletic horses; superb, kindly dispositions and responsiveness to humane methods of handling. Can a lover of Arabian horses ask for anything more?