For the Love of the Breed

A Brief History of the News: One Man's Opinion, by Tex Kam

From the August 2008 CAHR 50th Anniversary Issue

Charles Hubschmid, former president of our Canadian Registry, was quoted at a WAHO meeting in Morocco as saying “Canadian Breeders take a back seat to no one.” After reviewing what we have accomplished in this vast country over the years, I can say, “Charlie, you were right on the money!”

Names like *Arwistawa, the first double National Champion Mare in North America, AD Bey Elegance, U.S. Reserve National Champion Mare, *Plastun and *Paluba, early imports from Russia, *Serenity Sonbolah, U.S. National Champion Mare, Zodiac Matador, three time National Champion Park Horse and *Pietuszok, a world-renowned sire from Poland, have all been owned and imported by Canadian breeders. For you newcomers to the breed, did you know that Bert and Ruth Husband, breeders of Khemosabi, were originally Saskatchewan transplants to California?

Canadians went to Russia, Poland, Egypt, England, the U.S. and all points in between to scour the world for great horses. These horses were brought back to Canada and the products from all of their hard work are now what we use in our breeding programs every day. There was one common thread that linked all these horses/breeders together... each and every one of these breeders was a solid supporter of the Canadian Arabian News.

I have heard the phrase “Labour of Love” from close friends many times over the years as it relates to their Arabian horse ventures.

I guess it can be also said in retrospect that the Canadian Arabian News has truly been a labour of love for each of its editors, writers, contributors, and managing CAHR directors over the years.

I personally have had the opportunity to work with every editor from Ted Crooks’ time on up, now counting nearly 30 years. As we sat down over the last few months to work on the CAHR 50th Anniversary issue, I poured over almost every issue since the News' inception in February, 1960. The one resounding theme that has not changed in nearly 50 years is that the magazine has struggled for nearly its whole life. 48 years later... not much has changed.

One has to ask, how does a struggling enterprise stick around for basically 48 years?? If you read the editorials in these old magazines, the answer is very simple. This magazine was never established to create wealth and revenue. It was done for the love of the breed!

Simply put, Merle Stier and Dean Mayberry founded the magazine and set out to bind the country together by sharing the good news stories of the Arabian horse. They realized that even in the breed’s infancy in Canada, the Arabian Horse enthusiast needed a venue to share their stories, advertise their breeding stock, and brag about their accomplishments.

The “typewriter” original newsletter copies of the News from 1960 were just quick bullet points about who showed a particular horse, who imported a particular horse and who sold a particular horse. The newsletter was quickly adopted in the early 1960’s as the official newsletter of the Western Arabian Breeders Association of Canada. In January 1964, the torch was passed from Merle Stier to her partner Dean Mayberry and husband Russ. Under the Mayberrys’ guidance the issues took more of a magazine format, with covers being sold and the issues being larger.

In the fall of 1971, The Mayberrys entered into an agreement to sell the Canadian Arabian News to the Registry. This ushered in a whole new era for the magazine. The registry brought Ted Crooks on to manage the magazine. Under Ted’s direction, the covers went to full color with a heavy gloss stock. A new look for the publication had begun effective January, 1972.

It was during my research that I discovered that Ted Crooks (who was retired from a previous career) never took a salary during his whole time as editor and consultant to the News. That selfless devotion to our cause and the breed again explains how we can still be around 48 years later. Ted retired in his capacity as consultant to the News in 1985.

The 1970 and 1980’s could be described as boom years for the breed in North America. Our advertisers such as Serenity Farms, Willomar, Triple A Ranches, Stonebridge and Quilchena Farms regularly ran full color advertisements touting their new imports. Our faithful American advertisers such as Bazy Tankersly of Al Marah in Arizona, Shelia Varian of California, Dr. Howard Kale of Washington, Jim Ward of Washington, Ron Palelek of Washington, Dr. Bert and Ruth Husband of California and Dr. James Rooker of Michigan also were staunch supporters.

The mid 1980’s saw a couple of new editors: Rob Evans in 1983-84 and Donna McConaghy in 1984-85. A familiar face to the Arabian horse came to the News in 1986 and 1987 in the name of Sandra L. Fischer. Sandy was a long-time respected Arabian breeder. She traveled the world for the magazine, sometimes even at her own expense. Sandy found creative ways to accomplish this travel, many times by selling and arranging tours on which she received a free seat from the tour company for her efforts.

Sadly, even more fiscal restraint was placed upon the magazine, curtailing Sandy’s efforts to travel. With the decision to move the Registry and magazine to Edmonton, Sandy tendered her resignation.

From 1988 until 1999 the magazine saw several changes in editors: 1988-89 Ann Beaque, 1990 Kerry Powell, 1990-91 Linda Roth, 1992 Ann Beaque, 1992-93 Shari Christie, 1993-99 Peggy Arthurs, and 2000 to 2005 Nicole Toren. Our membership owes each and every one of these individuals a debt of gratitude for their contributions to the 48 year history of this magazine.

For me, the magazine is a “labour of love” and has been close to my heart for as long as I have been in the Arabian horse business. Although we do not have the Willomar’s and the Triple A’s any longer, we forge ahead celebrating breeders such as Wunderbar under the guidance of Ed and Laura Friesen, Etaya Egyptian Stud with Jennifer Parsons, Rae Dawn Arabians, Source Arabians, Rideufield Farms of Ontario, and Pomeroy Arabians International.

Although my salary matches Ted Crook’s, I hope our group can live up to the standards and work ethic that have been set by these predecessors. I hope that in 2058, on the 100th anniversary of the Registry and 98th anniversary of the magazine, someone writes “how the magazine was resurrected in 2008 by people who cared about the breed.”

I will close by asking you to read the attached editorial I found from the fourth issue of the News in May 1960. To me, it sums up the meaning of Arabian camaraderie and why this magazine has been around through all its struggles.

Tex Kam
Little Acre Arabians
CAHR President, 2010

(Click to enlarge)