 |
| Antez 448 (Harara 122 x Moliah 109) with W.K. Kellogg |
In 1925, W.K. Kellogg visited F.E. Lewis' Diamond Bar Ranch in Spadra, California, where he made the 2nd purchase of Arabian horses within the same year, having already purchased Chauncey Clarke's herd, which had been hand-picked by Carl Raswan for Chauncey Clarke. The Diamond Bar purchase totaled 6 horses, including the 5-year old stallion, Antez. A golden chestnut stallion, Antez was bred by F.E. Lewis, of all Davenport breeding, as his sire was a son of *Deyr, while his dam was a daughter of *Wadduda. Kellogg was immediately smitten with Antez, who was destined to become Kellogg's personal saddle horse.
Initially, when Kellogg had first met Raswan at the Clarke ranch in Indio, he expressed interest for a saddle horse that he could enjoy, considering the limited experience he had with horses.
"I know so little about horses that my better judgement indicates that I ought not to get into this deal, but providing that all conditions are satisfactory, I think I might become interested."
Kellogg, known to work long hours, felt that by introducing horseback riding regularly into his schedule, he would be managing his health a little more effectively, while doing something that he not only looked forward to but an activity that was actually, fun. He had a contentious relationship with his brother, John Harvey Kellogg and he needed an outlet to diffuse some of the stress he internalized, as a result of the relationship.
In the spring of 1926, while Raswan crossed the Atlantic ocean with the Crabbet horses Kellogg had purchased, Kellogg was enjoying Antez, while engaging with the California outdoors. Kellogg had turned to his guide to question the footing, as he felt the ground was too soft from recent rains. He could feel the horse's effort as he climbed up the steep, sandy bank. No sooner had he expressed his concerns, when suddenly, Antez lost his footing and Kellogg was thrown from the saddle, his foot in the stirrup and unable to move and stand on his own feet. Meanwhile, Antez, sensing that Kellogg, was in danger, stood perfectly still until help arrived and pulled Kellogg out from underneath the horse. Kellogg, although in pain from the incident, was not seriously injured. However, Kellogg was in his sixties, and he remained under a Doctor's care, for observation. at the hospital, until almost the end of March. Already a fan of the horse, Kellogg was in awe of Antez's intelligence and generosity. He would forever refer to the incident as the day Antez saved his life. While someone else may have thought that the experience would have soured Kellogg's interest in horses, the mishap only deepened the affection that Kellogg felt for Antez.
Visually, a striking horse, Kellogg made sure that Antez was photographed alongside many of the celebrities who visited the Kellogg ranch, hoping to exploit the photo opportunity, to improve their chances for a starring role in someone's movie. It was good PR for the ranch and yet, despite Antez' role in raising public awareness for the business and Kellogg's deep affection for the horse, in 1930, Kellogg's farm manager, Herbert Reese did the unthinkable; he sold Antez for $5,000.00 to General J.M. Dickinson of Travelers Rest in Tennessee. General Dickinson's daughter, Margaret Dickinson Fleming, in Mary Jane Parkinson's book, The Kellogg Ranch - The First Fifty Years shared, "I well recall Antez' arrival at Travelers Rest. He traveled in a box car as was then the custom. A rain barrel at one end furnished his water and he was supplied with hay, it being too dangerous to furnish grain as someone might have overfed him. I don't think he lost over 175 pounds, but that was alot for him when you consider that he never weighed over 925 soaking wet! Daddy let me have him for my personal mount and he was truly a delight, a real eye-catcher."
Eventually, General Dickinson would discover the talent and superior athletic ability that Antez possessed for racing, even tying the world record for the half mile, at a track in Nashville, Tennessee! Word of Antez's impressive speed traveled far from Travelers Rest and in 1934, Antez left America for Poland, standing at stud for 1935 at the Count Potocki stud and in 1936 at the Count Rostwordwski stud. Unfortunately, many of the foals he sired in Poland did not survive the destruction wrought by WWII, however 2 of his get were imported to America: Sielanka, a bay mare out of Lilliana ( Linkoln x Czapla) and Latif, a chestnut colt out of Lassa (Koheilan I x Zulejma). Antez sired approximately 52 foals in America 30 fillies and 22 colts, of which 4 were gelded. Despite Herbert Reese's previous experience as Director of the Government Morgan horse farm in Weybridge, Vermont, I still found it interesting that Antez is a key ancestor within the Morgan Horse breed (the Morgan breed kept their studbook open until 1948). You will find Antez in the Morgan breed gthrough his daughter, Pontez and her son, Antman by Mountcress Sellman. Antman was a highly regarded California bridle horse, meaning he was started in a hackamore, then progressed to the spade bit. He spent his life as a working stock horse, owned by Syd Spencer.
In 1938, the Lanteen Foundation re-purchased Antez and brought him back to America. W.K. Kellogg never lost the fondness he felt for Antez and late in 1939, he expressed a desire to bring Antez back to the ranch. In July of 1942, Rufus Riddlesbarger of the Lanteen Arabian Foundation in Arizona contacted W.K. Kellogg that Antez was available for purchase. "On August 5th, he weighed 889 pounds. He is just as virile and as high-spirited as a youngster, sound and in good condition. Though I hate to part with this lovable fellow, I am entirely satisfied and happy to have him in your hands, as I am sure that you must love him the same as we do." He was returned to W.K. Kellogg, whose intention was to then gift the stallion to W.H. Vanderploeg, the President of the Kellogg company, however, after much discussion concerning Antez's advancing age, Kellogg decided to let the horse remain with Herbert Reese, at his farm in California, rather than to make the long trip to Michigan. Antez lived out the remaining years of his life comfortably with Herbert Reese in Covina. One can say that Kellogg's golden stallion became forevermore a part of the golden California sunset, as Antez, died in 1944.
***Mary Jane Parkinson's articles in Arabian Horse World Magazine were significant resources of information, at a time in my life when I was hungry for knowledge of the Arabian horse. Growing up in a non-horse family, her articles were like windows that I could open to reveal the wonderful world of Arabian horses. so elusive to a chubby Cuban kid in an urban northeastern city. And here I am, 50 years later, still significantly impacted by Mary Jane Parkinson! This time, through her book, The Kellogg Ranch - The First Fifty Years which I strongly urge you to purchase. It is fascinating with so many details of the ranch history, the individual horses and characters, plus the book has a ton of pictures, many that I have never seen before. I prefer Mary Jane Parkinson's version over Herbert Reese's version and he was part of the story! Without Mary Jane, this blog about Antez would not exist. Many thanks to you Mary Jane and all the inspiration you provided to a long ago kid, crazy in love with Arabian horses. I also need to thank Linnea Sidi for her breed research article, X Rated and Crabbet.com, particularly the article, Antez 448: The Versatile Arabian. They were all important to the writing of this article.***
No comments:
Post a Comment