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Windt im Wald Farm
Geauga County, Northeast
Ohio
since 1995
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- The Arabians of the
- CMK Heritage
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Michael Bowling
- (copyright 1998)
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The CMK pedigree definition has become
increasingly streamlined over the years; we now require 75%
CMK founder ancestry, with a CMK sire line and a dam line established
in North America by 1950. Our approach differs from that of
some preservation or conservation breeding groups in the Arabian
community, because we do not have a closed pedigree requirement.
Not working with such narrowly defined pedigrees enables us
to put more emphasis on practical concerns, although we do serve
as a rallying point for some of the specialty closed pedigree
groups that fall within our larger concept.
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"CMK" itself commemorates three founder
programs—Crabbet of Lady Wentworth in England, Maynesboro of
W. R. Brown in New Hampshire, and the W. K. Kellogg program
at Pomona in Southern California—whose historical and genetic
contributions have proven our strongest links to the breeding
and philosophical tradition of the desert travelers: Lady Wentworth's
parents Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt, and the American newspaperman
Homer Davenport.
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The most influential single contribution
to the overall CMK breeding base has been made by the stock
of England's famed Crabbet Stud, founded by the Blunts in 1878.
Crabbet breeding contributes to CMK through more recent lines
as well as the earliest English imports which give CMK by far
the most extensive sampling of the original Blunt founders of
any breeding tradition in the world. CMK ancestry also includes
unique lines based on horses imported direct to North America
from the Middle East. Desert horses of the Davenport (1906)
and Chicago World's Fair (1893) importations are the most widely
influential, and a later source was provided by the Hearst horses
of 1947.
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We also embrace a relatively small number
of other Arabian ancestors which come in because of their use
at Maynesboro or by Kellogg, or their later whole-hearted incorporation
into the Midwest or Old California cooperator breeding circles
of the 1940s and '50s. An entire chapter could be written on
the influence and interactions of the two breeder circles, and
their spirit of community and cooperation is among the things
we aim to keep current, right along with the genetic contributions
of their horses.
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The CMK concept developed to maintain
the traditional using and companion horses that made the breed's
original reputation in this country, and these lines still are
prized as examples of the Arabian as a "beautiful generalist"
riding horse. Individual CMK Arabians continue to excel both
in the show ring and in virtually every field of performance
open to the breed; individual breeders working within the CMK
Heritage may specialize in any performance area. Latterly CMK
Arabians are increasingly valued in the endurance and sport
horse disciplines. Recognizing our performance emphasis is not
to say that CMK Breeders are immune to the aspect of the breed
which Lady Wentworth called its "genius for beauty;" rather,
we prefer not to give up any of the traits historically recognize
in the Arabian.
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The CMK Heritage does not operate through
a national organization, but rather our central committee attempts
to facilitate communication between local CMK action groups.
Activities on the local level include unrated shows and noncompetitive
symposia or showcase events, with a historical and community
emphasis.
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CMK is a registered US trademark; we
encourage its use to refer to CMK qualifying Arabians and to
the CMK ancestral elements in combined-source pedigrees.
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