Skowronek Part 2

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By Carol W. Mulder
From The Crabbet Influence May/June 1989 issue and Collectors Vol. 1, 1992
includes Skowronek progeny list at end

Both photos show Skowronek with Lady Wentworth from 1928 Crabbet Arabian Stud catalogue.

Authors Impressions
My own impressions are formed by the study of still photographs and the approximately 1926 vintage movie clip of Skowronek said to have been taken by Rudolph Valentino (the actual source of the movie clip is not known for certain). In the film the snow white Skowronek, probably 18 years old, is led along a path. When he stops he goes over at the knees. His neck sometimes looks a bit short, but his back, loins, hindquarters, and legs, except for the buck knees, seem superb. His neck appears set higher and better on his shoulders than I had previously realized. His head is seen as clean, dry, lean, breedy, and really quite different from the heads he put on some of his sons (as witness *Raseyn and *Raffles); his head is more like a masculine version of the heads of some of his daughters (for instance, *Rossana and *Raida). Still photos corroborate these things and, because we have photos from his prime as well as when he was older, we can discern even more about him. When he was younger, Skowronek's head showed more of the look which he gave to some of his sons (*Raffles and *Raseyn). His face was extremely Arab looking - very wide between the eyes, tapering to a small muzzle. His large eyes were especially fine and dark, but his nicely shaped small ears did not stand up straight enough.
Skowronek stretched

The beautiful quality and naturally arched shape of his neck show in all the photos without exception, but it does look in some of them as though his neck could have been a bit longer. His neck was set on his shoulders high, in a very good manner. His withers were too flat and appeared more so when he was too fat. His shoulders were slightly short, but they were of ideal 450 slope and consistently measure so with a protractor. His back was excellent and his loins and coupling exceptionally good, strong, and smooth. His whole hindquarter area - croup, hip, pelvic structure - was truly superior. It was smooth, powerful, square, and absolutely correct. His tail was set up ideally high and carried in a splendid manner. His hind legs, from both side and rear views. were perfect. His front legs, from both front and side views, would have been perfect except for the buck knees. His feet were excellent as were his bone, tendons, and joints. The proportion and muscling of his legs were ideal. Skowronek was extremely classic in type. He stood 14-2 hands.
The type, quality, and overall correctness of this horse ranked him as superior - a rare rating relatively few of even the most famous and best known modern major show champions and imports deserve. Skowronek's truly outstanding features - classic type, head, eyes, neck, back, loins, coupling, hindquarters, and legs, particularly hind legs - far outweighed his relatively insignificant flaws of ears not standing up entirely straight, flat withers, and buck knees. In the end, perhaps the very best feature of all about Skowronek was his phenomenal breeding power - his ability to so strongly breed on his own extremely classic type and good features for generation after generation.
One can only be puzzled by Mr. Humphries' disparagement of Skowronek's legs. Perhaps the highly visible, but relatively minor, flaw of being over at the knees caused him to quit looking and therefore miss the rare perfection of this horse's legs in every other way. Skowronek's shoulders were also not as bad as Mrs. Humphries' harsh remark about them might lead one to believe; actually the shoulders of Skowronek were quite good and their ideal 450 slope highly desirable.
Skowronek - this paragon among greats - died in February of 1930 at the age of 22. His skeleton was given to the British Museum in London. It showed 17 pairs of ribs and 5 lumbar vertebrae.

**Altogether, Skowronek got 46 foals in England - 23 colts and 23 fillies. Of this total number, 39, or 85%, lived to be named and 27 of them appear in American Arabian pedigrees. The 27 were:**
Offspring name	foal year, sex, dam, breeder
FASIHA	1920 m x Feluka, Clark
RUSKOV	1920 s x Rueyda, Lewis
RANGOON	1921 s x Rish, Crabbet
*RASWAN 607	1921 s x Rim, Crabbet, imported 1926, Kellogg
REVENGE	1921 s x Riyala, Crabbet
ROSSANA 598	1921 m x Rose of Hind, Crabbet, imported 1926, Kellogg
SERIYA	1921 m x Somra, Crabbet
JALILA	1922 m x * Rasima 606, Crabbet, Spain 1930, Veragua
NASEEM	1922 s x Nasra, Crabbet, Russia 1936, Tersk
*RAIDA600	1922 m x Rabla, Crabbet, imported 1926, Kellogg
*RIFALA 815	1922 m x Rissla, Crabbet, imported 1928, Selby
ALMULID	1923 s x Alfarouse, Williams
NASIRIEH	1923 rn x Nisreen, Crabbet, Australia 1935, Maclean
*RASEYN 597	1923 s x Rayya, Crabbet, imported 1926, Kellogg
*RIMINI 973	1923 m x Rim. Crabbet, imported 1933, Selby
NASIFA	1924 m x Nasra, Crabbet, Russia 1936, Tersk
AJEEB	1925 s x Alfarouse, Williams, Hungary 1930, Babolna
*INCORONATA 1200	1925 m x Nisreen, Crabbet, imported 1936, Kellogg
NAX	1925 s x Nessima, Crabbet
NAZIRI	1925 s x Nasra, Crabbet
REYNA	1925 m x Rissla, Crabbet, Spain 1930, Veragua
NAHRAWAN	1926 s x Nessima, Crabbet, Brazil 1930, Noble
*RAFFLES952	1926 s x * Rifala 815, Crabbet, imported 1932, Selby
NAXINA	1927 m x Nessima, Crabbet
REGISTAN	1927 s x Riz, Crabbet, Egypt 1930s, Trouncer
ROSE OF THE SEA	1927 m x Rudeyna, Crabbet
*CRABBET SURA 1199	1928 m x Sardhana, Crabbet, imported 1936, Kellogg

**The 12 named Skowronek get which do not appear in American pedigrees were:**
NAAMAN	1920 s x Nessima, Clark
SHELIFA	1922 m x Selima [11908], Crabbet, Spain 1930, Veragua
KING CYRUS	1923 s x Kibla, Crabbet
RISSAAL	1923 s x Rissla, Crabbet
IRAM	1923 s x Rudeyna, Crabbet
SAKER	1924 s x Consul's Bint
NIRAN	1925 s x Nashisha, Crabbet
AIESHA	1927 m x Astola, Crabbet
NASIEDA	1927 m x Nasra, Crabbet
NAMIRA	1928 m x Nessima, Crabbet, Spain 1930, Veragua
RISHWA	1928 m x Rishafa, Crabbet, Brazil
RIZIANA	1929 g x Riz, Crabbet

Seven Skowronek foals died young, before being named. They were:

1924 c x Harbieh
1925 f x Rayya, Crabbet
1925 c x Nasira, Crabbet
1927 c x Rayya, Crabbet
1927 f x * Rimini 973, Crabbet
1927 f x Rishna, Crabbet
1928 c x Ramayana, Crabbet

In addition, seven mares who did not produce recorded foals were bred to Skowronek; the year listed is the year of breeding:

1919 Soleyma
1920 Kibla
1920 Rakima
1924 Fejr
1925 Rafina - mare went to Australia after being covered
1926 Marhaba
1928 Sardhana

From the above information, it can be seen that Skowronek had an 89% conception rate.

Skowronek was homozygous for the dominant gray factor; all of his foals were gray.

It is interesting to note that Lady Wentworth, who did not usually inbreed, made at least four attempts at close-breeding to Skowronek:
1925 mating of Skowronek to his own daughter, *Rifala 815 Raffles 952, foaled in 1926
1926 mating of Skowronek to his own daughter, *Rimini 973 dead filly foaled in 1927
1926 mating of Skowronek son, Naseem, to Skowronek daughter, * Raida 600 = no conception
1935 mating of Skowronek grandson, Ferhan, to Skowronek daughter,
*Incoronata 1200 - *Ferhanata 1202, foaled in 1936.

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