Carrying The Torch

THE STORY OF THE PHARA ARABIAN

Continued ...

To understand the journey, one must start at the beginning - in Richfield, Wis., a small town about 20 miles north of Milwaukee where Annette Peters was born on Nov. 20, 1933, to Helen and Edward Peters. Her parents loved and owned horses throughout their entire marriage so it seemed only natural that Annette must have received a double dose of that equine inheritance since neither her brother Fred nor sister Dorothy shared the same passion.

The Peters family moved to a farm near Hubertus, an area known as Holy Hill, near a Catholic cathedral and Basilica, where her dad raised Jersey cattle and her mother bred and showed Great Dane dogs. Although they owned draft horses, Saddlebreds and other light horses used for riding and fox hunting, the Peters thought Arabians were "too hot." To spunky Annette, already an individualist, there were her dream horses.

After high school, Annette briefly attended college in East Lansing, Mich., and met her future husband, Tom Patti, a musician who worked on Broadway in New York and owned a musical instrument business, at a dog show she attended with her mother. He purchased one of her mother's dogs, and he and Annette started dating. They were married in 1951. During the early years of their marriage, she worked at a variety of jobs, one of which took her temporarily to California. Enamored, she vowed to one day live there permanently. The wheels of destiny were turning.

Annette's dream of owning an Arabian came true in 1955 with the acquisition of the Egyptian / Crabbet-bred colt Selmajor (Umas Al-Khayyam x Selmiana) from Dr. Borman, then president of the Wisconsin Arabian society.

Annette with her stallion Selmajor (Umar Al-Khayyam x Selmiana) who excelled in halter and won 16 championships in various disciplines at some of the Midwest's biggest shows.

"Selmajor was a wonderful teacher," she credits. "In the beginning, we both had a lot to learn. He won a total of 16 championships during his show career at some of the biggest shows in the Midwest. He was a great show animal, but regrettably he wasn't the sire I wanted. I was leaning towards the Egyptian / Babson bloodlines, but at that time, the Egyptian breeding was mostly done by the big farms, and there was no way that I, as a small breeder, could compete. I had visited the Babson Farm and became acquainted with Homer Watson, and was a huge fan of Fa Serr. I even purchased a daughter," she recalls. "I also owned several other mares of various bloodlines, but even before I saw Sun God, I had already arrived at the conclusion I needed to find a different bloodline that would stand on its own merits. When I look at Sun God across that arena, I knew in my heart I had found my true destiny," she says still visualizing and savoring that moment.

Research propelled her to Blanche and Herbert Tormohlen of the Ben Hur Stud in Portland, Ind., owners of Sun God's sire and dam.

"They were very successful breeders and show people," she relates. "I decided they would know if there were flaws in this particular bloodline since Sun God was the product of a full brother / sister mating. They were honest; there were no flaws.

"Their breeding program was comprised of line breeding and inbreeding, and when they sold the entire herd to Lewis, it gave him an incredible advantage. It was a shame that Sun God was born the first year after that transaction, otherwise he would have been bred by Ben Hur Stud."

Sold on Tormohlen's breeding program, Annette decided to continue their strategy. Thus began her quest for the golden horses of the sun.

The *Raffles Influence

Aarah with Aarafa

as a foal

Aaraf (*Raffles x Aarah)

champion under saddle

Aarafa (*Raffles x Aarah)

dam of

Lewisfield Sun God