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From
our Arieana Notebook: *Rodan, imported in utero by Spencer
Borden in 1905, will long be remembered as one of the very first
Arabian stallions to be purchased and serve as a sire in the Remount
program. The son of Harb (a son of
Mesaoud) out of *Rose of Sharon,
a mare who finally after several years of
negotiations with Lady Anne Blunt was imported by Colonel Spencer
Borden and arrived in foal at his Interlachen
Stud in October 1905, *Rodan was born the
following January 1906, the 12th foal of his dynastic dam. It was
reported to Lady Anne Blunt by Spencer Borden that *Rodan was
difficult to
handle as a youngster, but eventually this phase must have passed for
with time and training his reputation became that of a tractable
driving and riding horse suitable for even ladies to ride side-saddle.
In 1913,
Colonel Spencer Borden and the Morgan Horse Club sponsored a
long-distance weight-carrying test trial, a distance of 154 miles in
two days with speed alone to count, and of the nine entries, *Rodan placed fourth
overall with a time of 30 hours, 40 minutes, and carrying a weight load of 160
pounds. What was more remarkable
was that *Rodan, without prior conditioning, trekked all the way
to the test from Interlachen and back to the starting point for a
total of 507 miles in 10 days (including some rest time). Condition: Excellent.
It has also
been noted by Carol W. Mulder that sometime during the period of 1909-1919 *Rodan
was ridden by Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth
President of the United States.
On October
29, 1918, W.R. Brown purchased Colonel Borden's remaining horses, and *Rodan
was among those who went to W.R. Brown's Maynesboro Stud in Berlin, New
Hampshire. *Rodan was used by Brown at stud for two seasons, then sold to
the Remount for $750.00 on October 14, 1920. After three seasons
serving to sire half-Arabians for the Remount program, *Rodan
went back to Maynesboro where in 1925 he sired his last crop of
purebred Arabian foals.
Altogether *Rodan is noted as the Sire of
22 registered purebred Arabian foals (9 colts and 13 fillies) for which we at
Arieana Arabians most appreciate his mid-pedigree influence through his
three Maynesboro-bred
daughters: Gulnare, Bazrah,
and Raaf.
Another foal of special interest to us at Arieana Arabians, though not in
our pedigrees, is his daughter Fath who
was listed in the Supplemental Section of
Volume I of The Register of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders Association, published in 1939, and therefore eligible as Foundation Breeding Stock.
Sources:
Maynesboro Arabian Stud: Catalogue for Season 1927. Berlin,
New Hampshire, U.S.A. 1927.
Mulder, Carol June Woodbridge. Imported
Foundation Stock of North American Arabian Horses Volume 2 (Revised
Edition). Borden Publishing Company, Los Angeles, California. 1993. pp.
228-238.
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*Rodan 