14—Ljmatter Farming, Saturday. November 25,1972
Quality Pays Off for Arabian Horse Breeder
Concentrating on quality
rather than quantity has paid off
in the show ring for Doreen (Mrs.
John) Christensen. Mrs.
Christensen is an owner and
breeder of Arabian horses, and
last week her eight-month-old
weanling was named junior
champion filly at the Keystone
International Livestock Ex
position Arabian Horse Show.
“It’s very unusual for a horse
that young to be a junior
champion,” Mrs. Christensen
said. “I’m very proud of Silver
Phoenicia, and I think she’s going
to be an excellent horse for us.”
The Christensens are relative
newcomers to the area, having
moved to Manbeim R 4 just this
past March. They bought a 19-
uureen unribiensen nas an enormous appreciation of the
Arabian breed. Mrs. Christensen is shown here with Silver
Phoenicia, a prime example of the breed and already a prize
winner at eight months of age.
.acre farm formerly owned by the
Loose family when Mr.
Christensen’s company tran
sferred him to the area from
West Virginia.
“We were very fortunate to
find this place,” Mrs.
Christensen said. “It’s just
perfect for raising horses and it
has an excellent set-up for riding
classes.”
The horse barn is about 200 feet
long, has a number of stalls, a
tack room, heated wash room
and office. A 25-foot aisle running
the entire length of the
building provides an indoor
exercise area for the horses.
At the moment, the Christensen
herd consists of an excellent four
year-old foundation mare, Rose
Silver Phoenicia, a eight-month-old
weanling, surprised many of the Arabian
horse breeders by taking junior champion
filly honors at the Keystone International
Livestock Exposition. Her owner and
Araby, and two of her fillies.
“When we started in the horse
business, we decided we’d rather
concentrate on breeding a few
top-quality horses than a lot of
average animals,” Mrs.
Christensen said. “Naturally you
pay more for good horses, but
once you’ve got the animal, your
feed and veterinary costs aren’t
any more than they’d be for an
ordinary old hay burner.
“Rose is carrying her third foal
now, and we’re having her bred
only to top stallions,” she added.
Rose Araby is quite a show
horse herself, having won a
ribbon for being a top five East
Coast mare at the 1970 Quentin
breeder, Mrs. Doreen Christensen of
Manheim, said it's very unusual for any
horse under two years old to take a junior
champion prize.
Horse Show.
Arabians are the oldest
recognized horse breed, Mrs.
Christensen pointed out. They
were first bred by nomadic tribes
in the Middle East who used them
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