Arabian stallions have been introduced into the herd several times—like Al Marah Sunny Jim, who lived on Assateague in the 70s, and Skowreym, an endurance racer who was leased to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department for two years in the 60s. Plenty of other stallions and their donors have been erased by time, but Stanley White’s contributions have left a very clear mark upon the breed.
Stanley White got his start with Chincoteagues at a young age, as he grew up attending Pony Penning. In fact, his first horse was a Chincoteague: when he was seven, his foster father brought him a black mare named Doll Baby and told him that if he could ride her, he could keep her.
White grew up to work for Al-Marah Arabian Horses, then he moved on to Lancer Arabians in Ocala. Eventually, he started his own operation, Grandeur Arabians, in Citra, Florida. It was a family affair on the 200-acre farm, as his children were heavily involved in training and showing.
Though he built his career on the Arabian horse industry, White still had a great fondness for Chincoteagues. He attended Pony Penning regularly and rode in the roundups several times.
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| Stanley White (right) riding in the roundup. |
“These horses are really survivors and very intelligent,” White said in 1993.
In 1988, he bought four wild half-Arabian, half-Chincoteague fillies from the pony auction because he knew the Arabian stallion the CVFC had on the refuge at that time. He bred his Arabian stallions to these Chincoteague pony mares to produce flashy offspring.
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| Grandeur Rose A Bell, a 2001 half-Arabian, half-Chincoteague mare. Photo. |
In 1995, White donated the four year old
Premierre to the CVFC. The young stallion was a son of Premis and Kleopatra.
His dam (Kleopatra) was was out of Our Cleopatra, who held titles in western pleasure. Kleopatra was by Khat, who earned several national titles and was shown in pleasure driving, English pleasure, and western classes. and Khat’s own sire Khemosabi won the 1973 US National Champion Halter Stallion, 1976 Canadian National Champion Halter Stallion, 1976 US National Champion Western Pleasure, 1976 Canadian National Champion in Western Pleasure titles.
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| Kleopatra |
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| Stanley White on Khat |
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| Khemosabi |
Premis’s sire, Promotion, was the ‘81 US National Reserve Champion Park Horse and a ‘81 Canadian National Top 10 Park horse. Promotion was the offspring of two National Champion Park horses, Bask and Prowizja.
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| Advertisement for Premis |
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| Promotion |
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| Mudia on right |
If this sounds repetitive, it’s because Premierre came from some solid stock. In 1995, he was bred to a variety of Chincoteague pony mares from the island, and in 1996 some of those foals were sold to private homes and some were kept as buybacks.
For a while, a large proportion of the wild stallions on Assateague were half Arabian, and their elegant offspring were quite popular for buyers. Many were chosen as buybacks themselves.
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| Leonard Stud, son of Premierre. Photo by Sarah Boudreau. |
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| Leonard Stud. Photo by Sarah Boudreau. |
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Lorna Dune, a 2013 Leonard Stud daughter and Premierre great-granddaughter. She was selected as a buyback and has produced foals herself.
Photo by Sarah Boudreau. |
In the mid to late 90s, an elderly wild mare named Mappy was removed from the island and brought to live at Grandeur Arabians. Around 1998, several wild Chincoteague pony mares were brought to Grandeur Arabians and then returned to Assateague, though it's unclear if any of them returned in foal.
White passed away in 2017. As for Premierre, he was set free on Assateague in 1996 and disappeared around the year 2000. Many think that such a valuable horse was stolen. Regardless of his fate, the legacy of Stanley White and Premierre lives on in the wild ponies.
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Arabains introduced I believe is a great mix with the wild ponies, an the wild ponies from the West.
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