In 1945, Preston Dyer, Jr. became manager of San Simeon Stables and believed new blood was
needed for the San Simeon breeding program. He was convinced that an expedition in search of
horses was necessary, and William Randolph Hearst readily agreed.
Dyer met with Prince Fouaz of the Rualla Bedouin Tribe at a U.N. meeting in San Francisco and
enlisted his help. Dyer also arranged for John Williamson, grandson of W. K. Kellogg,
to come with him as official photographer, and Dr. Pulling as the veterinarian.
George Hearst, son of William Randolph Hearst, represented the family interests.
They flew to England, spent several weeks looking at horses, and then proceeded
through France on to Cairo, leaving son George in Paris to prepare documents and organize
shipping arrangements and, as Mrs. Hearst comments in her book The Horses of San
Simeon: "...look over the fillies on the Champs Elysées." (p.184).
From Cairo, Dyer spent almost six months traveling and looking at horses
from among those
owned by various Arab princes, sheiks, and tribal Bedouins, but he did not encounter horses of
the quality he was seeking. This was not due to the customary emaciated condition of
the animals, but simply because of utter lack of Arabian type and quality, along with poor
conformation and a conglomeration of unsoundnesses.
Eventually they went to Beirut, where Dyer met Henri Pharoun, the former French foreign minister to Lebanon, and from Pharoun's horses
at the Beirut Racetrack, Pharoun's stud farms, and from tribal desert sources in this
immediate area, Dyer selected six stallions and eight mares.
These fourteen horses, ranging in age from two to eleven years old and all bred in the desert of Syria, were:
The stallions: *Arkane,
*Bourhane, *Ghamil, *Mounwer, *Snounou,
The mares: *Bint Rajwa, *Layya,
*Nouwayra, and *Rajwa.
After unbelievable difficulties, including 28 days at sea
confined to specially constructed crate stalls, a 48-hour hurricane,
a cholera epidemic, a train trip trip across the United States, and a
rugged journey by truck from San Luis Obispo up California's old coastal
highway to San Simeon, those 14 desert-bred horses arrived in good health ~
quite a testimony to their great powers of endurance and stamina.
The total cost of the expedition in 1947 was about $100,000 (or about $7,000 per horse)
and the party traveled over 25,000 miles through England, France, Italy,
Tripoli, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Iraq, the northern Arabian Desert, and
Mrs. Hearst and Mr. Conn both cite the
February-March 1948 issue of The Horse Lover magazine
which described this importation as "...one of the greatest shipments
of Arabian horses ever to reach the United States....San Simeon
is now in a position to assume national as well as world
leadership in the breeding and preservation of the noble,
ancient, and world-esteemed Arabian horse, and horsemen
everywhere will rejoice to know that in America there reposes a
goodly supply of that 'eternal beast ~ the Arabian horse' not
only a good horse in himself, but one whose blood has made other
breeds great....America and the world owe a debt of gratitude to
the owners and management of the San Simeon Stables for their
most worthy contribution to the end."
Unfortunately, William Randolph Hearst died shortly after this
(1951) and the executors of his estate sold many of the horses. But William
Randolph Hearst, Jr. and his wife Austine were able to purchase from the estate
*Zamal, *Mounwer, and *Rajwa, along with Mounigha and
Rahas, and it is from these very same select horses that we constructed our
own foundations for the breeding program of Arieana Arabians.
~Suzi Morris (10/19/03)
(Photo copies of Bedouin tribesman, Preston Dyer with Henri Pharoun, and
The Horses in Transit courtesy of Windwalker).
Updated with Strain Information courtesy of Kristi
Johnson, D.V.M., June 13, 2005.
Conn, George H., "Pure-Bred Arabian Horses
Imported Into The United States (1879-1948)," The Arabian
Horse in America. A. S. Barnes and Company, New York, New
York. 1972. pp. 183-186.
Edwards, Gladys Brown, The Arabian War Horse to Show Horse,
Arabian Horse Trust, Denver, Colorado. 1980. p. 107
Hearst, Denise. "Hearst Breeding", Arabian Horse World, July, 1982, Palo
Alto, California. pp. 396-407.
Hearst, Jr., Mrs. William Randolph, "Chapter 11/The
Arabians," The Horses of San Simeon, San Simeon Press, San Simeon,
California. 1985. pp. 180-201.
The Horses of San Simeon. Arabian Heritage
Video Library. Arabian Horse Trust, Denver, Colorado. 1988.
Personal Interview with John Williamson, May 22, 1999, W. K. Kellogg Library,