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Windt im Wald Farm
Geauga County, Northeast
Ohio
since 1995
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Two great horses. Jadaan
visits the statue of the immortal Seabiscuit at Southern California's
famous Santa Anita race track. A special platform was built
in the midst of one of Santo Anita's noted pansy beds for this
occasion.
JADAAN
The Horse That Valentino Rode
By Aaron Dudley
Photos from Spide Rathbun Collection
from The Western Horseman Mar '52
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Rudolph
Valentino and the stallion
Jadaan in full desert regalia, ready for a dash
over the sands for cameras recording "The Son of
the Sheik." This costume and the Jadaan trappings
are still on display in the tack room of the W.
K. Kellogg ranch at Pomona.
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Probably no horse of modern time -- including
the favorite mounts of our current TV and movie cowboys
-- has enjoyed greater popularity or been viewed by
more people than a proud little grey Arab named Jadaan.
That name probably means little
to the average horseman, and certainly nothing to the
millions of curious who have seen him, but when you
say he's "the horse that Rudolph Valentino rode"
there's an immediate reaction.
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Millions trekked to the famous W.K. Kellogg
Arabian Horse ranch at Pomona, Calif., upon the matinee idol's death
to see this horse and view
trappings the dashing Latin used in his popular desert pictures
of the 1920's. And although the ranch had many fine horses, fully
90 per cent of the visitors who came wanted to see "the Valentino
horse." Women crowded around his box stall, wore the stable
door smooth pressing for a better look at the sleek stallion. And
they stood to silent near-reverence when Jadaan was led riderless
into the arena carrying his former master's colorful desert regalia.
This idolizing of a movie hero's horse continued
almost unabated for 19 years until the little horse died in 1945.
And then avid Valentino zealots had his skeleton preserved and enshrined
in the university of California's School of animal Husbandry.
Jadaan in later years, standing at the foot
of the
Valentino shrine in Hollywood. The old horse was
trailered to hundreds of gatherings honoring
Valentino, and was a top attraction at movieland
parades.
Unfortunately, Jadaan was neither a top individual
(from a horseman's point of view) nor did he produce outstanding
colts1; this in spite of the fact his ancestry was the
best of old-line Arabian stock. His granddam was the famous mare
Waddudda, brought to America in 1906 and presented to Homer Davenport
by Achmet Hefiz, who also reportedly sent along a desert tribesman
to care for the mare.
Registry No. 196, Jadaan was foaled in April,
1916, at Hingham Stock Farm, Hingham, Massachusetts. His sire was
the desert-bred Abbeian, imported by Homer Davenport in 1906. The
dam was Amran by Deyr, No. 33, another Davenport importation.
Deyr, a very fine individual, was the only
stallion of the original Davenport importation ever at the Kellogg
Ranch. His skeleton, a classic example of the Arabian, is now on
display at the Los Angeles Museum at Exposition Park.
But in spite of this royal Arab lineage,
Jadaan had very poor front legs and his get tended to be even farther
over in the knees than their sire.2
Horsewomen Monaei Lindley dons Arabian
garb and mounts Jadaan for a photo at the Kellogg Arabian Horse
ranch entrance. Everything good and bad about the horse can be clearly
seen in this photo. Miss Lindley, at the time this photograph was
taken, was an active horse breeder of Cinnebar Hill, Reno, Nevada.
H. H. Reese, in charge of the Kellogg
Ranch when Jadaan was at the height of his fame, complied to the
public clamor for colts from "the Valentino horse" and produced
a big crop of colts for several seasons.1 They sold fast,
but failed to do anything in the shows, and when a noted judge finally
complained about the uniform badness of Jadaan's offspring, Reese
retired the stud to the limelight of his fame as a movie and parade
horse and withheld him from further activity in the stud.
This situation was made to order for Spide
Rathbun, promotion manager for the Kellogg ranch and the man second
only to Valentino in contribution to Jadaan's fame. It was Rathbun
who gave Jadaan the big build-up as Valentino's horse, who made
Jadaan THE Valentino horse, in spite of the fact Valentino had ridden
Raseyn and other Jadaan stablemates in motion picture work.
So when Reese wrote finis to Jadaan's career
in the stud, Rathbun went to work with added enthusiasm. Jadaan's
picture began appearing in the Sunday supplements at a rapid rate.
Struggling movie starlets begged for an opportunity to be photographed
with him. He was a fixture at Hollywood parades, and even was placed
on exhibit in a special stall right in the lobby of one of the town's
plushiest theaters. He led Pasadena's famous Tournament of Roses
parades, had half a dozen different authentic desert outfits and
rivaled the famous Lady in Black in contributing to the fanatical
Valentino memorabilia. People just wouldn't forget Valentino nor
anything that had been connected with him.
Spide Rathbun and Jadaan went along with
them, and whatever the little horse lacked in conformation he made
up in spirit and a strange human like response to parade music or
camera lens.
- Jadaan in his prime looks over the Kellogg
ranch from a nearby hilltop, with Ken Maynard
as Buffalo Bill Cody astride. Maynard was a
- frequent visitor at the Kellogg ranch
and
- often rode Jadaan in parades.
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"Jadaan had an extraordinary faculty
for falling naturally into beautiful poses," says Rathbun.
And there are literally thousands of pictures to prove it.
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Jadaan had natural beauty, poise, grace,
and a vibrant personality. His head and shoulder poses were
described by some of Hollywood's top cameramen as the most impressive
they had ever photographed.
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There is no denying he was an impressive
horse.
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Valentino first saw him in Palm Springs.
Jadaan was in his prime and in his element, the sandy desert.
And he had the benefit of a masterful rider, a European horsemen
named Carl Schmidt, known to thousands of Arabian breeders today
as "Raswan."
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The pair made an impressive picture,
and Valentino immediately was interested in the prancing stallion.
The price was $3,000 at the time, according to Raswan. (Kellogg
had paid $1,200 for him.) Carl and Valentino visited at length
concerning Jadaan and his possibilities as a movie horse. This
was in 1926 and Valentino was about to make another desert picture
in which he hoped to use an outstanding mount.
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Jadaan at this time was owned by W. K.
Kellogg, the cereal king, having just been purchased from C.
D. Clark, of Point Happy ranch, Indio, along with nine others.
Kellogg, however, left the horse in Clark's care, with Schmidt
in charge.
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Jadaan was then 10 years old.
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Valentino wanted Jadaan badly. Friends
said he mentioned the horse often in the next few months, comparing
the horse with famous statues he had seen in Italy, statuary
of Garibaldi and Marco Polo, always mounted on rearing horses.
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"I used to look at the great, metal
Garibaldi in the little park," friends quoted the actor
saying. "I can see him now, seated firmly on his rearing
horse. I always wanted to ride like that."
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This admiration for dashing horsemanship
probably was responsible for much of the success of Valentino's
desert sheik pictures and, no doubt, led to his first interest
in Jadaan. Jadaan commanded attention.
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Unfortunately for Valentino and his backers,
the actor did not give in to his urge to own Jadaan. Instead,
it was decided to rent him from Kellogg for use in the upcoming
movie.
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This decision was an expensive
one, for before they were through shooting, the aggregate cost
of rental and insurance reached a reputed $12,000. And the movie
makers had to furnish an expert attendant besides.
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One day of retakes cost the film company
$750 of insurance alone, and the backers were pretty sick of
horse problems before they had the picture wrapped up.
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And Valentino, in spite of the fact he
was a far better than average horseman, was too valuable an
asset to risk on a spirited horse for any length of time. As
a consequence, the producer had to hire Carl "Raswan" Schmidt
as his double. In the famous film "Son of the Sheik" Carl portrayed
both the son and the father in all long shots and all those
requiring fast or dangerous riding.
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It was not long thereafter that Valentino
died, and Jadaan, under the expert press agentry of Rathbun
and thanks to an idolizing public, became the nation's most
famous living horse.
- [From Mary Jane Parkinson's The Kellogg
Arabian Ranch The First Fifty Years p. 277: "JADAAN,
age 29, had outlived his usefulness. ... was
destroyed on May 28" by the U.S.
Remount.]
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He was in such great demand that Kellogg
Ranch officials had to maintain careful future booking records
and exercise great caution in agreeing to public appearances
for him. Idolizers of Valentino pulled hair from the horse's
tail and mane, asked for his shoes, and taxed the patience of
attendants by filching jewels from the showy saddle, bridle
and other elaborate trappings.
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Heirs of Buffalo Bill Cody, after seeing
photos of a movieland Buffalo Bill mounted on Jadaan, requested
that upon the animal's death his skin be sent them for mounting
and placing in the museum at Cody, Wyoming. It was recalled
that Buffalo Bill's favorite mount was a white Arabian, Muson,
a stallion loaned to him by his friend Homer Davenport. Cody
always rode Muson in his appearances at Madison Square Garden;
and it was on this animal he is mounted in the Rosa Bonheur
painting.
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Jadaan's skin was preserved upon his
death, but it apparently never reached its destined place of
enshrinement at Cody.
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The Jadaan-Valentino saddle is still
much in evidence at the Kellogg ranch (now Southern California
campus of California Polytechnic College). It looked for a while
one day recently that future generations would not be afforded
an opportunity of seeing this historic piece of Hollywood gear.
As is the custom each Sunday, a riderless horse outfitted with
the Valentino saddle, bridle, fringed martingale, and jeweled
blanket is brought into the ring. The young Cal-Poly student
who saddled the honored Arab on this particular day evidently
saw no reason for cinching up the rig tightly, and the filly
bearing it promptly bucked it loose midway in her appearance
and proceeded to kick it pretty well to ribbons as it hung beneath
her belly.
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Harness maker Z. C. Ellis, of Pomona,
came to the rescue, however, painstakingly piecing embroidery,
dyed leather, and jewels back together again; and posterity
can now see the saddle that Rudolph Valentino rode.
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And parents can continue to scoff when
youngsters look blank and inquire, "Who was he, anyway?"
(1) From "Jadaan 196" by Carol W. Mulder in
Arabian Horse World Dec. 1971 :foals: 1925 Markada (x Fasal)
a broodmare for Dickinson 3 reg foals (from Dickenson's Catalog('47):
"Height 15.1 weight 1025" "Markada is intelligent to a degree
and has been well educated. She knows a number of tricks and has
personality enough to make an ideal heroine for a 'human' horse
story. She seems to take pride in giving one a good ride. Markada
is above average size and well built up, especially in the forehand.
She has deep shoulders, sloping nicely, and good withers. Her middle
piece is well rounded and she carries herself well at both ends.
This mare is close to desert breeding and strong in the blood of
great producing dams." " Used 1931-1934. Sold in Tennessee"
(CWM "Fasal 330"in AHW Feb. 1976: "(Markada) dying in her prime.
")
1927 Irak ( x *Raida) - no recorded get
Wardi ( x Sedjur) a broodmare for Jedel
Ranch
1929 End O'War (x Amham ) died at 4 months Raidaan
(x * Raida) a sire for Gordon A. Dutt 7 reg. foals
Jadanna
( x *Rossana) exp. to Mexico City, Mexico Gloria Davenport (x Sedjur)
4 reg foals
1930 Jadur ( x Sedjur) at 2 reg. daughters Badia
( x Babe Azab) Dam of 12 offspring including the Davenport 2nd
foundation
mare, Asara. Damline of Fadjur's favorite mare, Saki. Estrellita
( x Amham) 8 reg. foals
1931 Jadura ( x Sedjur) line has
died out Amaana ( x Amhan) at least
5 reg foals Raidaana ( x * Raida) Kellogg
broodmare.
at least 6 reg foals Destroyed by Remount
in '44 at age 13. Lame.
1932 Bedaana ( x Beneyeh) 5 reg
foals Majada ( x *Malouma) died at
six months Jurad ( x Sedjur) did not
breed
on.
Hamaan ( x Amham) sire for Marie C.
Scott's Wyoming ranch 20 reg. foals Jarid ( x *Raida) a sire for
Dr.
Fred A. Glass
Fred E. Vanderhoof bred 3 mares to him in 1938
resulting in: 1939 Leidaan ( x Leila), bred on. Havanna ( x *Bint,
at
least 7 reg.
foals. Ravaana ( x Rasrah) at least 7 reg. foals.
(2) "(Buck-knees) While this is a very unsightly
disfigurement, it is not by any means as serious as several other
front leg flaws, and is, in fact, considered by many experts
to be relatively harmless!" Carol Mulder
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