The Byerley Turk, also spelled Byerly Turk, was the earliest of three stallions that were the founders of the modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock.
The Black Stallion is a 1979 American adventure film based on the 1941 classic children's novel of the same name by Walter Farley. The film starts in 1946, five years after the book was published. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, a boy who is shipwrecked on a deserted island with a wild Arabian stallion that he befriends. After being rescued, they are set on entering a race challenging two champion horses.
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest modern breeds. Although modern DNA cannot trace breed purity in the modern population beyond 200 years, there is archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East with landrace characteristics that resemble modern Arabians dating back 3,500 years. Throughout history, Arabian horses have spread around the world by both war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.
The Hanoverian is a Warmblood horse breed originating in Germany, which is often seen in the Olympic Games and other competitive English riding styles, and has won gold medals in all three equestrian Olympic competitions. It is one of the oldest, most numerous, and most successful of the Warmblood breeds. Originally a cavalry horse, infusions of more Thoroughbred blood lightened it to make it more agile and useful for competition. The Hanoverian is known for a good temperament, athleticism, beauty, and grace.
The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner is a European breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coat is usually gray.
The Oldenburg or Oldenburger is a warmblood horse from the north-western corner of Lower Saxony, what was formerly the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. The breed was built on a mare base of all-purpose farm and carriage horses, today called the Alt-Oldenburger. The modern Oldenburg is managed by the Association of Breeders of the Oldenburger Horse, which enacts strict selection of breeding stock to ensure that each generation is better than the last. Oldenburgers are tall sport horses with excellent gaits and jumping ability. The breeding of Oldenburg horses is characterized by very liberal pedigree requirements and the exclusive use of privately owned stallions rather than restriction to a state-owned stud farm.
Walter Farley was an American author, primarily of horse stories for children. His first and most famous work was The Black Stallion (1941), the success of which led to many sequels over decades; the series has been continued since his death by his son Steven.
Birdcatcher (1833–1860), or Irish Birdcatcher, was a Thoroughbred racehorse and a leading sire.
The Black Stallion, known as the Black or Shêtân, is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the Arab stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay. The series chronicles the story of a Sheikh's prized stallion after he comes into Alec's possession through a ship journey gone awry. Later books in the series furnish the Black's backstory. Shaytan is the Arabic word for "devil".
El Mokhtar was an Arabian horse, and one of three black Arabian stallions used to portray "The Black" in the second Black Stallion film, The Black Stallion Returns.
Kelly Reno is a former child actor, rancher, and trucker. At age 13, he was cast in the role of Alec Ramsey, the young boy who is marooned on a deserted island along with an Arabian horse, in The Black Stallion.
William Ross is an American composer, orchestrator, arranger, conductor and music director. Ross is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, one Daytime Emmy Award, and has been nominated for one Annie Award. He has been nominated twice for the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).
The Black Stallion Returns is a 1983 adventure film, an adaptation of the book of the same name by Walter Farley, and sequel to The Black Stallion. The only film directed by Robert Dalva, it is produced by Francis Ford Coppola for MGM/UA Entertainment Company.
Studbook selection is a process used in certain breeds of horses to select breeding stock. It allows a breed registry to direct the evolution of the breed towards the ideal by eliminating unhealthy or undesirable animals from the population. The removal of individuals from a population is called culling, and does not suggest killing the animal in question. Typically, culls are castrated or they and their offspring are unable to be registered.
The Marbach Stud, German: Haupt- und Landgestüt Marbach, is Germany's oldest state stud farm for horse breeding, has a history that dates back over 500 years. It is located in southwest Germany near Gomadingen in the Reutlingen district of Baden-Württemberg. The annual stallion parade is an internationally known attraction, and the stud hosts over 500,000 visitors per year. The stud also offers courses for those wishing to learn to ride or drive, as well as an instructor training program. Marbach is known for producing athletic horses with good temperaments, and has careful management practices, including that of allowing young, untrained horses the opportunity to grow in a natural setting conducive to their mental as well as their physical development.
The Zweibrücker is a type of German warmblood horse bred in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Traditionally, the breeding of Zweibrücken was centered on the onetime Principal Stud of Zweibrücken but since 1977 has been under the jurisdiction of the Horse Breeders' Association of Rhineland-Palatinate-Saar (PRPS). The modern Zweibrücker is an elegant, large-framed, correct sport horse with powerful, elastic gaits suitable for dressage, show jumping, eventing and combined driving.
Sheila Varian was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in horsemanship by Mary "Sid" Spencer, a local rancher and Morgan horse breeder who also introduced Varian to the vaquero or "Californio" tradition of western riding. She started her horse ranch, Varian Arabians, in 1954 with the assistance of her parents. Raising and training horses was her full-time occupation beginning in 1963. She used vaquero-influenced methods of training horses, although she adapted her technique over the years to fit the character of the Arabian horse, which she viewed as a horse breed requiring a smart yet gentle approach.
Black Allan or Allan F-1 was the foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He was out of a Morgan and Thoroughbred cross mare named Maggie Marshall, a descendant of Figure and the Thoroughbred racing stallion Messenger; and sired by Allandorf, a Standardbred stallion descended from Hambletonian 10, also of the Messenger line.
Naborr, originally named Nabor, was a gray Arabian stallion foaled in Russia at the Tersk Stud. He was sired by Negatiw, a Russian-bred stallion with Crabbet ancestry, out of the Polish-bred mare Lagodna. After establishing himself on the race track and show ring in the former USSR, Naborr was exported to Poland, where he lived for seven years, and from there was purchased for import to the United States by a wealthy Arabian horse breeder from Arizona, Anne McCormick. Upon her death, Naborr was sold in 1969 to Tom Chauncey and Wayne Newton for $150,000, which was at the time the highest price ever paid for an Arabian horse at auction. He went on to become a leading sire of champion Arabian horses in the United States and Canada.
