In 1938 Dr. Urton
Munn moved to Atlanta and brought with
him his Arabian mare, Gazara, and her
colt, Ganarro, by *Nasr. These are the
first Arabians known to this section of
Georgia in recent times. Gazara was by
Bazleyd who was by Abu Zeyd and whose
dam was Guemura. These horses are
familiar to all students of modern
Arabian pedigrees. About that time, Mr.
Moore, who resided in southeast Atlanta,
purchased S.S. Byron, a colt born at sea
on the ship by the same name. Also, Mr.
Ray Fouche of Albany owned the stallion,
Mac Arthur by * Fadl, and a mare.
In the middle
fifties Berry School, Rome, Georgia,
acquired Katun by gift from Mr. Robert
Woodruff and he was sent at stud largely
to non-Arabian mares. He was later
acquired by Judge Eugene Gunby with whom
he spent his last years.
Mr. Willard
Strain of Dalton established a stud of
Arabian horses and among others has
owned Zutez, Bandar and Amir Al Sahra.
During the next few years the Shamblins
at Summerville and the Proctors at
Cedartown acquired Arabians; Rex Bigelow
moved to Hemp from California and
brought with him the stallion, Zinraff,
a gelding and some brood mares and other
stock.. Halali Farm was established at
Evans by Janice and Frank Rust and they
imported the stallion, *El Mudir, and
the mares, *Egeria, *Fortunka, *Egreta
and her colt, *Emaus, from Poland.
Judge Gunby acquired some purebred brood
mares. Don and Bev Craighton brought a
stallion and some other horses to Pine
Mountain and the Cummings of Macon
acquired the stallion, Melzar. Miss
Leewood Wilhoit, now Mrs. Jim Avary,
moved to Atlanta bringing with her
several purebred Arabians including the
stallions Beau Saber and Mac Fieh.
There were also some purebreds in
Savannah. Soon there were Georgia-bred
Arabians sold throughout the state and
many of these young Georgia-bred horses
were the foundation stock for new
Arabian farms.
In February,
1965, Mrs. Donald Craighton ran an
advertisement in the Atlanta paper
suggesting a meeting of persons
interested in Arabian horses with the
thought of organizing an Arabian horse
association. An organizational meeting
was held in Hamilton, Georgia.
From this
beginning has grown the present Georgia
Arabian Horse Association which now has
approximately 200 adult members and 60
junior members scattered throughout the
state with the largest concentration of
members located in the Metropolitan
Atlanta area.
The Georgia
Arabian Horse Association presidents
have been: (Partial List) Rex Bigelow,
Val Beaty, Frank Fuller, Jim McIntyre,
Janice Rust, Mary Jim Lester, William E.
Green, Jr, , Dr. A. Evan Boddy, Jack
McNerney, Lee Leverette, Tom Bachan,
Claire Boyd, Allyn Perkins
According to the
Arabian Horse Registry of America, the
sex and ownership statistics as of
December 31, 1974, for Georgia are:
Stallions – 222, Mares – 345, Geldings –
116, or a total of 683 Purebreds, with a
total number of owners of 258. Horses 4
years and under – 228, horses 5 – 12 –
23, horses 13 – 25 years – 4, horses 26
and over – 3.
Club Colors:
Purple = Imperial or regal rank or
power-exalted station.
White = Free from spot or blemish.
