Why Do We Continue to Breed and Keep Arabian Horses at Cpp
The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly, Pomona) location has long been associated with the Arabian horse breed. The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center was established in 1925 by the cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan. In his quest to fulfill a childhood dream, he sought out the finest Arabian bloodlines of the day to begin a breeding program at his winter home in Pomona, California.
He purchased 377 acres for $250,000 as the site of his Arabian Horse Ranch. Mr. Kellogg acquired only the best of stock, many coming from Lady Wentworth's historic Crabbet Stud in England.
His ranch quickly became a popular destination for Hollywood stars and well-known celebrities who came to visit the Arabian horses. Mr. Kellogg's horses appeared in several films. The ranch became so popular that a horse show was established on Sundays in order to better showcase the Arabian horses.
By 1932, the ranch had grown to nearly 800 acres, when Mr. Kellogg donated it and 87 Arabian horses to the University of California, with the stipulations that the Arabian breeding program, the horse shows would be continued, and students would receive equine training there.
During World War II, use of the ranch was given to the War Department as a facility for breeding war horses, for the Army Remount Service. From 1943 to 1948 the Kellogg Ranch became the Pomona Quartermaster Depot (Remount). The Army Remount Service, under the control of the Quartermaster General, was responsible for the procurement of animals and animal feed for the Army; the control over the care, training, and issue of animals at the remount depots, and the supervision of the Army Horse Breeding Plan.
Arabians were especially advanced in the Plan after the fall of 1943. Other than the Pomona Quartermaster Depot, which became the U.S. center for the furtherance of the Arabian breed of horses, the depots were operated mainly for the purposes of receiving remount animals from the purchasing boards and maintaining them during the periods of their processing, conditioning, and training prior to issue to mounted units and organizations.
One of the most notable events from this period was the acquisition of horses that were rescued ahead of the advance of the Russian army at the end of the war. The daring mission by the U.S. 2d Cavalry Group (Mechanized) to rescue the horses from behind enemy lines, herding them across 130 battle-scarred miles, is detailed in the book The Perfect Horse by author Elizabeth Letts.
For their own safety, U.S. Army personnel decided that most of the horses needed to be shipped to the United States. Food was in short supply in the immediate postwar period, and those who had brought the horses to safety were worried about their ability to survive on a war-ravaged continent.
In the fall of 1945, 151 of the world's most beautiful horses were loaded onto the Liberty ship S.S. Stephen F. Austin, docked at the German port of Bremerhaven. All of the horses, survived and even thrived. The ship had left Bremerhaven with 151 stallions, mares and foals and arrived in Newport News, Virginia, with 152 horses nearly a month later; the horses went to the military's Pomona Quartermaster Depot. Later, the most prized steeds were sold to breeders.
The U.S. Army ceased breeding horses in 1948, and the Kellogg Ranch was transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During this time, a majority of the ranch's best stock was dispersed around the country. The future of the ranch seemed uncertain, and envoys from both the Kellogg Foundation and the Kellogg Company went to Washington to lobby for its continuation. In 1949 the ranch was deeded to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Later in that year when the title to the ranch and the horses was passed to the State of California with the provision that the herd of Arabian horses must be maintained. The ranch was turned over to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo as their southern branch in 1949. This venture by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo joined forces with the Voorhis School, a men's agricultural college, which was located in nearby San Dimas.
All instructional programs were moved to the present campus in 1956, and the Cal Poly Voorhis-Kellogg Campus admitted its first female students in 1961. The newly co-educational college separated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1966, and attendance had grown large enough by 1972 for Cal Poly Pomona to be granted university status. Today, Cal Poly, Pomona has an average enrollment of 22,000 students in programs within nine different academic colleges.
The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, located in the heart of the Cal Poly Pomona campus, is a showcase facility that houses approximately 100 purebred Arabian horses. The Center's current breeding philosophy was established in 1964 when Norman K. Dunn was appointed as Manager of the Horse Department. Professor Dunn surmised that the Arabian breed was surpassing the insular breeding program at Cal Poly, and proposed that Cal Poly mares be bred to outside stallions. Some of the first outside stallions recommended for breeding to Cal Poly mares were Bajram, Bask, Fadjur, and The Real McCoy. The breeding program continues in this tradition today, breeding to the top stallions from all over the United States.
Weather permitting, shows are generally held at 2 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month during the academic year. Shows are held in an outdoor arena, so rain any time the week before may affect scheduling. The center is generally open for self-guided tours from 8-4 seven days/week, excluding major holidays.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/arabian-horses-cal-poly-pomona-mark-olinger
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