great early American breeders using Crabbet lines. We honor him by
reprinting this article from our Crabbet Influence July 1991 issue.
As a player on the Iowa State University Polo Team in 1940, Bill was approached by Garth Knox (later Mrs. Buchanan) to work for her at her Bonny Croft Stables in Boone, Iowa. Little did he and Garth realize at the time that this would be the beginning for both of them of five decades of Arabian breeding and friendship. When he was at Bonny Croft, Garth purchased her first Arabian, the stallion Ragin 1284 (*Mirage x *Indaia), from the Selby Stud in Portsmouth, Ohio. Bill broke Ragin to ride and it was later, while riding Ragin, that Bill nearly lost his life and the horse drowned.
In 1942, as a graduation present from veterinary school, Garth gave Bill a trip to the Selby Stud. This trip lasted for nearly five days as Garth negotiated the purchase of Ibn Mirage 1763 (*Mirage x *Kareyma) to replace Ragin. Mr. Selby was reluctant to part with lbn Mirage as he was being kept as a replacement for his great sire, *Mirage. During their stay, Jimmy Dean, the Selby Stud manager, offered Bill the weanling colt, Selmage 2189 (Image x Selmnab). Bill was hesitant to purchase the colt as World War 11 was in full swing at this time and he felt he would soon be drafted, but Garth offered to keep the colt in the event Bill was drafted. Terms were arranged by Jimmy to meet a young veterinarian's budget. Selmage was the first Arabian Bill owned and his purchase established a friendship between Bill and Jimmy which lasted for nearly fifty years.
Later that same year, Cambridge, Illinois, became the new home of Dr. William Munson, D.V.M. and the Shalimar Stud was founded. In 1944, Bill and his new bride, Mae, were yet to become Arabian breeders as they were unable to acquire a mare. In those days there were less than 3,000 Arabians registered in the U.S. and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get a breeder to part with a top mare. Enter again Jimmy Dean. Jimmy had Margaret Shuey's mare Rihani 1015 (*Saoud x *Muha) in to be bred to *Raffles. Since Margaret already had atop *Mirage filly, Joharah 1620, out of Rihani, Jimmy convinced her to sell the mare to Dr. John Reardon, a friend of Bill's, so that Selmage could have a mare to breed.
SHALIMAR FOUNDATION STALLION, GARAFF
Through Jimmy Dean, Bill was later able to acquire the *Raffles son Garaff 5021 (x Woengran) and the *Raffles daughters Rafgida 4981 (x Imagida) and Wadeya 5016 (x Bambina). Garaff would prove to be the cornerstone of Shalimar, siring most of their top broodmares. Rafgida and Wadeya both produced influential daughters by Garaff. Rafgida eventually was purchased by Lois Selby Perry. Wadeya was sold to Federico Castellanos, of Cuba, in the shipment of great horses that included Rodetta 1972 (Agwe x *Roda), Julie 4804 (*Raffles x Rodetta), Charaff 5019 (*Raffles x Charmeen) and Sunny Acres Tequila 8473 (Ibn Hanad x Aeniza).
PURCHASES FROM THE DISPERSAL OF SELBY STUD
Late in 1949 postcards were mailed out from the Selby Stud announcing the dispersal of the major portion of their broodmare band. Bill and Mae were still struggling to get established at this time, so Bill went to all of his friends in Cambridge and raised the funds to purchase a group of these mares. He and Mae left the morning after the postcard arrived and were the first to get to Selby's. A deal was soon struck with Jimmy and the mares Flaia 3378 (*Raffles x Indaia), her full-sister Rafla 2073, Ylla 5020 (*Raffles x Nabima) and the aged *Kareyma 811 (Naseem x JuInar) were on their way back to Illinois. This group of mares, along with the later purchases of Collette 7703 (Rapture x Cassandra), Rose of Raswan 7154 (*Raffles x Zareyna) and the Crabbet import *Salinas 12883 (Grey OwI x Shamnar) would form the nucleus of Shalimar's mare band.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Garaff's get out of these fine
mares proved the foresight of the Shalimar breeding program. The Shalimar horses were consistent winners in the show ring, brought top dollars at sales and were sought after by many of the country's finest breeders. Prominent breeders such as Garth Buchanan, Bazy Tankersley, Margaret Shuey, Albert Ehnle and Dr. James Rooker all used Shalimar breeding in their programs. Countless newcomers to the breed were fortunate enough to start their breeding programs with Shalimar-bred horses. The Munson children, Beth, Trudy, William (Bordy), and Brad also played an important part in all phases of Shalimar operations, from cleaning stalls and feeding to showing in all categories of halter and performance classes. Bill and Mae's greatest personal loss was their daughter Trudy to cancer in 1985.Pictured right: Dr. Bill Munson and Rose of Raswan taking Reserve National Champion Mare.
THE STALLION ORBIT ARRIVES
By 1960, Bill was in need of a stallion for his Garaff daughters. The search for a horse worthy of the Shalimar mares led him again to Alice Payne's Asil Arabian Ranch at Chino, California. Several years earlier, Bill had purchased from Alice the filly Rose of Raswan, who later became U.S. Reserve National Champion Mare in 1959. At that time she had the most intensive line-bred and in-bred *Raffles based breeding program in the country. The colt Bill chose was the bay Orbit 12950 (Rafferty x Raffleeta), one of four famous brothers (Asil Apogee 16307, Syzygy 11802, Asil Ecliptic 14548, and Orbit). In the ensuing years, Orbit would be used extensively on Garaff daughters and the daughters of those matings, in turn, would often be bred back to Garaff. The result of this inbreeding strategy brought Bill one step closer to his ideal horse, which represented correct conformation, true breed type, and a sound disposition.
Continued on page 2.
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