Hi, I’m Lois Selby Perry. Welcome to this celebration of Raffles and the Arabians imported by my father, Roger Selby, from the Crabbet Park in England to the Selby Stud in Ohio. It is a celebration that has flourished throughout the United States of America these 80 years, in the nature of the animals and the hearts of the people.
So many parts of the story have been written in articles about this famous son of the great Skowronek, as a heading progenitor of the Arabian horse in America, and of the Selby Stud throughout its years of production and the ensuing generations of progeny. I offer my book on this website for a comprehensive, accurate history of that data, as well as a personal account of the 80 year journey.

Living the dream from the bottom up - - a firm foundation

My story begins, as I remember, not with dolls, blocks, or marbles (we did not have computer games in those days), but skipping around in the wide long aisle of the barn that housed the imported stallions, playing at the feet of *Mirage who would so carefully stand as long as needed, or as I grew, climbing over the high tile walls into the stalls of one or another, encouraging them to come over to the manger with a little handful of oats, and sliding on their backs. Tiny legs squeezed, and they patiently walked around the stall. As my courage and desire grew, I sneaked into the stall of *Raffles, closed the door to his outside paddock, knowing how he loved to run, and he was not people friendly, and very slowly slid onto his back – that He “tolerated” me was enough.

The spirit that built Selby Stud

For Roger A. Selby, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and He sought it everywhere. The farm was an extravaganza of local and exotic flowers and animals, but his eye and heart were stolen when he discovered Arabians at the Crabbet Park in England. With a beauty that inspires artists and viewers alike, and a history unique and exotic, His vision became solidified.

Success is a process

How many imports is enough? In the beginning when my Dad was bargaining with Lady Wentworth – not an easy matter – He sought a group that would be enough fodder for developing a substantive breeding program in America. And in one case, in order to be allowed to buy the great desert-bred white stallion, Mirage, He had to agree to a package including several others. He imported 30 in all. As a vision for look, style, and blood developed, He sold all that didn’t fit our template. All were good animals, but breeding is not a potpourri, and we honed in on a nucleus.

A horse named *Raffles

This barely 14 hand on tiptoe stallion was considered vicious, unmanageable and sterile by Lady Wentworth. - - What to do - - I opine L.W. was glad to find a place to put him with a group being bought by a rich American businessman, making a handy excuse he was for the kids. That story has circulated so long it is considered the truth. But let me ask you – what sense does it make to give a vicious unmanageable stallion to kids – was he to eat us for breakfast?

Becoming “Raffles”

The small size of this stallion was completely overshadowed by the magnitude of his presence. Extraordinary classic beauty was propelled at you by the dynamic spirit he exuded. He was not one you were inspired to walk up to pet, but rather to stand back and marvel admiringly from afar. He was profoundly magnetic. Raffles arrived a terror. Seemingly having been badly managed, He trusted no one, and no one but our 6’4” 240 lb. manager, Jim Dean, tended Him for many months. Eventually, his wife, Thelma (“Buck”), joined in and over many more months, succeeded in saddling him. Buck spent up to 6 hours a day riding him. Time became a friend and he slowly calmed.

Sealing our fate

Jim Dean’s curiosity if his sterility was associated with his prior handling, bred him to 2 mares. It took, they foaled, and the path became clear. This gorgeous dynamo could pass it on with a purity of genes you could depend on for inbreeding, line breeding, outcrossing, improving cold bloods. - - - Raffles kids galloped across America. Inbred to the famed Skowronek (His equally famed daughter, Rifala, was bred back to her father to produce Raffles), He had a prepotency beyond the expected degree. You always recognized his imprint, even generations later.

The others

Others of the importations, perhaps sadly, lived in the his shadow. And there were those who were of great value in their own right. The wonderful mares – Rifala (the dam of Raffles), Indaia, Kareyma, Nisa, Selmnab, Rose of France - and especially the pure white desert-bred Mirage with the style and elegance that personified the beauty and quality of the ancient desert elite, with a disposition known as gentleness itself. From the Arabian desert, to the stable of a king, to the parades of England, to America, Mirage was gentle enough for a child, magnificent enough for a king.

The rest of the story

So much has been written about the Selby Stud through its years in production and the ensuing generations of progeny. I refer you to the my book being offered on this website for a comprehensive history of that data as well as a personal account of the 80 year journey.

Breeding

Inbreeding – pooling the genes to test the purity of blood, strength to pass on qualities More dependable, fewer throwaways, focus
Line breeding – preserves the stock quality, style, look, strength using various lines of the same blood
Outcrossing – using usually a stallion of another bloodline on a proven linebred mare line often produces a good show horse (even though not your breeding stock).
I basically line bred, using the various proven lines of Raffles blood, selecting constantly for the style, type, and quality of my vision. I inbred when it was appropriate to concentrate that gene pool and set the type, tried an occasional outcross for a specific purpose, but did not include it in my ongoing basic program. A full accounting of the program is in my book offered on this website, article “Why I Did What I Did”, and other related articles.

Raising - - Nurture by Nature

Environment counts? - - naturally! Large open pastures with sheds and trees, and abundant green grass – like for the best racehorses of the neighboring Kentucky bluegrass country, the nourishment was in food, not pills. The closest smoke stack was the occasional river boat chugging down the Ohio River from Port Cincinnati on its way to the Mississippi. The water was from wells offering up the earths vital minerals. Hard, yes. Good, definitely. The Ohio River overflowed its banks every year to bring rich fertile soil to the bottomlands of the farm. There we grew our own corn, oats, and hay, rotating to preserve the nutrients. Offer animals the ingredients to reach their full potential – the soil, the air, the water, the space, and watch them thrive! - - Me too! Every vet knows horses and people use the same nutrients and medications, just in different amounts (unless you weigh as much). All these decades later, I am still “healthy as a horse”. No high blood pressure medicine, no cholesterol, no heart, no arthritis or tranquilizer meds. Mother (Nature) knows best.

Ancient Becomes Modern – Again

Looking for a healthy choice for that stiffness, lameness, tightness, stress, that treats the cause, with no side effects, restores the health, and does no harm? Acupuncture is a treatment with proven qualities and results as old as Arabians themselves. Your horse will appreciate and respond to your care. I am fortunate to have a daughter who is a gifted acupuncturist. I learned first hand the value of this 5000 yr proven method of keeping your body in optimum functional form. I have even seen her restore those who traditional doctors have given up on. And for the horses - the racing folks know well the value of acupuncture in maintaining the optimum fitness essential to their success.

And Yet One More

The latest in pure ease of use and response, though not yet as familiar, is essential oils. What a drop can do seems near magic! Lift spirits, calm nerves, strengthen, energize – it’s all upside.

Working with Arabians, the original people horse

Why the reputation? Too hot to handle? Folk lore and paintings are rampant with depictions of rearing, charging stallions, carrying their masters to conquer neighboring tribes with their athleticism and wit, escaping to gallop endlessly, tirelessly across desert sands. Yet Arabian mares and foals shared the tents with the Bedouins, with the best of care and attention. Unique bonds for these highly intelligent animals. In early America, the “cowboy mentality” of throwing, keeping down, forcing until their spirit was broken, and they became beasts of burden, did not set well with Arabians. They were tagged by the misinformed, as being fractious and difficult to handle. To the rest, there is no more willing and bonded companion. They listen and respond to those who care for them. Show them what you want them to do, correct with understanding, praise the progress, and trust the bond – at home, on the trail, with the kids, and in a pinch they will “go through fire and carry you home”.

growing up great