Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Janow

A while back Melanie commented that she liked the name Janow, she thought is was Polish. She's right, its Polish.

I'll tell you what I know about Janow's name, off the top of my head, without going back and checking sources or doing new research.

Janow, my horse, was foaled in January 1989, bred by Laura Leafgren in Southern California. Laura had recently lost an older Arabian horse named Janow to the ravages of time. They had enjoyed many rides together and she missed him terribly.

A short time after her loss, the new foal was born. On his first morning out, a hawk circled the paddock and landed on the fence, looking at the foal. This seemed an omen that the new foal, though not Arabian, should also be named Janow.


I bought Janow from Carol Swangler of Los Osos in 1993.

About ten years ago, an old cowboy told me that Janow was a popular line name in Arabians a long time ago. Judging from the possible age of the cowboy, the foaling date of my horse and the possible age of Laura's original Janow, this was probably in the '60s.


Then I read in a book from my friend Peter that Janow is the name of a big Arabian stud farm in Poland. My guess here is that the Janow line so popular in the states was based on stock imported from Poland.

Janow is registered with the United States Lipizzan Registry as Siglavy Destina I

2 comments:

Amanda said...

he's beautiful. i want a horse.

i love thepioneerwoman.com's horse pictures too. some are simply breathtaking.

Melanie said...

Oh yes...I forgot that Janow was also the name of a huge Arabian stud farm in Poland. Thanks for the reminder :)

Oh and I think that the author of the book that stars Janow, is James Mitchell. It's one of those epic novels, that is about four inches thick, but if my memory serves me right, it was an interesting read.

It included a lot of info about Polish Arabian horses. I will have to look at Amazon.com, and figure out which one it is.

How cool that you have had Janow for 15 years!! Do you ride him a lot still?