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Detail of a postcard known as "The Three Graces," showing some of W. K. Kellogg's first Arabian horses. The colt was called "Latif." |
This post shares information about the Kellogg Arabian stallion registered as DEYRAK, foaled in 1925. He was known for most of his life -- before he was registered with the Arabian Horse Club in 1947 -- as "Latif." I wrote an article on him for Arabian Horse Life magazine in 2019, and presented a paper at the 2021 Equine History Conference hosted by Cal Poly Pomona's Special Collections/ W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library.
At the end of this blog post on "Latif"/Deyrak, you'll find some links to historic videos that neither the printed version of the story nor the Conference paper could offer. I also created an online map that shows the locations of the various cities and towns mentioned in the story.
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
The story of the Arabian stallion from California known as "Latif" before he was registered as Deyrak, illustrates that the "value" of a horse is more than just the services it provides or the offspring it produces. Sometimes a horse's value to a human is more intangible.
The story highlights the connections between one horse, several humans, and two very different natural and cultural American landscapes. It takes place between the late 1920s and early 1950s. It touches on aspects of economics, public relations, transportation, agriculture, and interspecies relationships.
It’s also a love story; a young, injured horse traveled from an idyllic, romantic setting in the hills outside Los Angeles, California, halfway across the country by rail in the cold winter of early 1927, to a new home in rural Oklahoma, so he could spend the rest of his life with the human who loved him most.The
Kellogg Arabian they called “Latif” could have been lost among more than
900-thousand horses and mules that lived in Oklahoma at the time. But he wasn’t
lost. More than 20 years later, Latif would reappear on the scene, having sired
many dozens of excellent stock horses who worked the ranches that were such a
famous part of the American cattle industry, the place was known far and wide
as “Hereford Heaven.”
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| Hereford bull on the Turner Ranch, Sulphur, Oklahoma, 1940s-50s |
It’s been said that “the outside of a horse
is good for the inside of a human.” When the horse has a great heart, people
can make a connection with it that can last a lifetime. And thanks to the
collection at the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library at Cal Poly Pomona, we
can learn from the story of the Kellogg Arabian stallion they called Latif –
later registered as Deyrak – and the humans in his life who admired and
supported him.
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
In 1925, W. K. Kellogg began to fulfill his childhood dream. The cereal millionaire from Battle Creek, Michigan sought out the finest Arabian horse bloodlines of the day to start a breeding program at his winter home in Pomona, California, east of Los Angeles.
Kellogg wanted his ranch to be “a contribution to the entire United States, through helping to improve the saddle horse stock of the nation.”
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| Chauncey D. Clarke's ranch, 1925 / Los Angeles Times via Newspapers.com |
Kellogg’s first Arabians came from oil
field developer Chauncey D. Clarke, whose California desert ranch was managed
by a young German immigrant, Carl Schmidt. Among the first Kellogg Arabians were
the desert-bred stallion *DEYR, imported by Homer Davenport in 1906…
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| *DEYR W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
...and JADAAN, foaled at the Hingham Stock Farm in Massachusetts in 1916.
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| Jadaan W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
Kellogg then bought more horses from the Diamond Bar Ranch in nearby Spadra, California, including the multitalented chestnut stallion ANTEZ.
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| Antez Postcard in author's collection |
During this era, when Arabian horses were still something of a novelty in the United States, Kellogg and his advertising agency were highly effective promoters of the breed. A brochure was titled “The Romance of the Pomona Ranch.” It was indeed a romantic place to see Arabian horses, nestled in the hills outside Los Angeles.
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
Photographs of the Kellogg Arabians appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, and were reproduced in postcards that are still collectible today.
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| The colt "Latif," his dam Arak, and Fasal at the Kellogg Ranch, November 1925. The image was published in newspapers all over the world; this example came from the Pomona (California) Progress-Bulletin, November 30, 1925. |
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| The postcard version of "The Three Graces" is a colorized version of the black and white photo. It appears to give"Latif" high white stockings that the real colt did not have. |
One of the most iconic pictures of the Kellogg Arabians is known as “The Three Graces.” It shows two Arabian mares and a colt at liberty, captured in mid-stride as they moved past the photographer in November 1925: the mares Arak and Fasal, and Arak’s colt by *Deyr. They called the chestnut colt “Latif,” but, significantly, he was never registered under that name. And three months later his life nearly ended.
All young horses can be charming, but apparently Latif had an extra measure of personality. He became quite a pet in the Kellogg stables. Then, in January 1926, the young Latif was kicked by another horse while out in the paddock – his leg was broken. W. K. Kellogg’s son, Dr. Karl Kellogg, wrote to his father: “Even if we are able to save the colt’s life, it looks as though we would have a cripple on our hands.”
But all was not lost! A young ranch employee from Oklahoma, Richard B. “Dick” Hunt, had fallen in love with Latif and devoted himself to caring for him. But Latif’s destiny was still not certain. He fades into the background of the story for almost a year, as more of the best-known Kellogg Arabians take center stage.
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
1926 was a seminal year at the Kellogg Ranch: plans were made to build palatial stables for the Arabians, and a large home for the Kellogg family.
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| Architect's rendering of the Kellogg Ranch stables, published in the Los Angeles Times, June 13, 1926 |
Carl Schmidt, who now worked for Kellogg, made a highly publicized trip to England to purchase horses for the Kellogg Ranch from the Crabbet Arabian Stud.
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| The young Carl Schmidt. |
The new horses arrived in California in April, including the stallions *Raswan, *Raseyn, and *Nasik.
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| *Raswan and Carl Schmidt arriving in California from England. W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
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| *Raseyn in the Kellogg stables. W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
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| *Nasik Los Angeles Times via Newspapers.com |
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| Postcard in the author's collection |
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| Jadaan and Valentino |
Jadaan became famous as “the horse Valentino rode,” but *Raswan suffered a serious leg injury while under Schmidt’s care – and he had to be destroyed. Schmidt and Kellogg parted company after strongly disagreeing over who really owned *Raswan and how he had been hurt.
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| *Raswan and Carl Schmidt's photo appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Schmidt often appeared in photos wearing "Bedouin" clothing. |
Shortly after leaving Kellogg’s employ, Carl Schmidt had his name legally changed to Carl Raswan in honor of the horse.
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| News of Carl Raswan's name change was published in newspapers around the US. This clipping came from the Oil City Derrick in Carter County, Oklahoma, 4 April 1927. |
Now it’s his turn to fade into the background, but Carl Raswan will be back -- to play a small but important part in the life of the colt they called Latif.
Sometime in 1926, Richard Hunt moved back to his native Oklahoma, living in the town of Mill Creek in ranch country.
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| Vintage Oklahoma ranch postcard |
There was a new manager at the Kellogg Ranch: Herbert H. Reese, who came from the U.S. Morgan Horse Farm in Vermont.
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| Herbert H. Reese |
Reese recommended that it would be best to
destroy Latif, rather than keep him as a quote-unquote “cripple.”
W. K. Kellogg was always sentimental about his horses, and he strongly disagreed with Reese... but what to do with a lame colt? In late 1926, Kellogg contacted Richard Hunt in Oklahoma to see if he was interested in owning Latif. (Do you think?)
An overjoyed Hunt wrote back to Kellogg in early January 1927, quote: “It certainly will be good to see Latif once again…. Mr. Kellogg, you don’t know how much time I have spent explaining about your ranch and those fine horses, and now just to think that I will have Latif to care for and show my friends….they don’t know what good horses are until they see an Arabian.”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
Latif would have plenty of equine company in Oklahoma. In 1927, the state was home to 930,000 horses and mules, according to the State Historical Society.
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By 1927 Oklahoma farmers, ranchers, and breeders owned 565,000
horses and 365,000 mules, and a vital horse show and breeding industry had
developed…. - Oklahoma Historical Society |
But it's difficult to determine how many Arabian stallions were in Oklahoma during the years Latif lived there. US Army Remount records show 12 Arabian stallions were used as sires between 1920 and 1948, but most of them only stood one year -- 1923 -- in Oklahoma, before being relocated to other states.
Newspaper articles that refer to "Arab" or "Arabian" stallions in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 1930s, are not entirely reliable, because until the 1930s to early 1940s, "Arabian" was a word often used for horses in traveling circuses that were white with large, dark spots all over their bodies -- "Arabian" being a synonym for "exotic" rather than a breed-specific term.
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| Tishomingo, Oklahoma train station |
Latif was sent by rail on February 2; Kellogg covered 100 dollars of the cost. Hunt wrote to Kellogg urging him to make sure Latif was protected from the cold on the journey from Southern California to Tishomingo, Oklahoma:
“…be sure to have a notice put on the crate not to leave him setting in the wind in case of changing cars because that colt can’t stand much of this cold wind now.”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
On February 7, Richard’s brother Fred Hunt
sent a telegram to Kellogg: “LATIF ARRIVED SATURDAY NIGHT IN BEST CONDITION.”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
It was a far cry from the glamour of the
Kellogg Ranch. The Arabian colt they called Latif, who graced the famous
postcard, might have faded into complete obscurity. His story was far from over, but he didn’t
resurface outside that section of rural Oklahoma for 20 years…..
Meanwhile, back at the Kellogg Ranch...
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the
Kellogg Ranch became a popular destination for visitors, including celebrities,
even during the Great Depression. A horse show was established on Sundays to
showcase the versatility of the Arabian horse for local families and tourists.
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| Mark Smith and the Kellogg Ranch Drill Team Arabians. Los Angeles Times, 2 September 1934, via Newspapers.com |
Then in 1932, W. K. Kellogg presented his
horse ranch to the state of California for educational purposes, with the
stipulation that the Arabian breeding program and the Sunday Shows be maintained.
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| The celebration of the Kellogg Ranch to the state of California in 1932 included a speech by humorist Will Rogers (second from left). W. K. Kellogg is second from right. California Governor James "Sunny Jim" Rolf is in the center. |
But the advent of World War Two changed
everything. The use of the Kellogg Ranch property was handed over to the U.S.
Army as a facility for breeding war horses in 1943. It was now the Pomona
Quartermaster Depot.
The return of Latif to our story
Just after World War Two, some things were changing, but others were still the same. W.K. Kellogg was still alive and very much interested in the development of the Arabian horse in America. Old Latif was also still alive and well and living with Richard Hunt and his family near the town of Sulphur, Oklahoma. Apparently he had recovered completely from his injury. Latif was gentle, and was used by the Hunt family for riding and roping cattle.
Richard Hunt worked at least part of the intervening time (much of it during the Great Depression) for automobile parts companies.
His brother Fred Hunt, who had taken delivery of Latif and sent the telegram to W. K. Kellogg, had served as warden of the Oklahoma State Prison at McAlester. Newspaper accounts tell of prison rodeos staged by Fred Hunt, with prisoners and prison officers taking part in the contests. He also supported an all-inmate "cowboy band" that performed music at local rodeos.
The area around Sulphur, southeast of Oklahoma City and north of the Texas border, was an important part of the cattle industry in the post-war era. Better fencing and access to water meant that ranchers could keep scrub cattle off their property and concentrate on purebred animals. Latif’s part of southeastern Oklahoma was so ideal for raising cattle, it was known as “Hereford Heaven.”
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“Cattle raising in Oklahoma during the twentieth century, as
in the rest of the plains, moved toward improved breeds and more scientific
methods of handling… In the first half of the twentieth century the Hereford
was the preferred breed…” - Oklahoma Historical Society |
Back in California, in 1947, the Kellogg
Ranch property was still being used as an Army Remount Center.
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| *Witez II and *Lotnik at the Pomona Quartermaster Depot, shortly after the end of World War. II. W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
In
February 1947, Kellogg’s secretary received an unexpected telephone call from
Oklahoma State Senator Homer Paul, Sr. He had an odd request:
The senator wondered – What would it take,
to have the now 22-year-old stallion Latif finally registered with the Arabian
Horse Club? Senator Paul said the chestnut stallion had become the sire of many excellent stock horses on Oklahoma
ranches, including one of his own horses.
The many owners of Latif’s offspring had
organized an informal Half-Arabian Club with 61 members from the various ranches
in Hereford Heaven. The extended Hunt family had 25 half- and three-quarter
Arabian stock horses on their property, all descendants of Latif.
(Which answers the question of what Latif
had been doing for the past 20
years.)
The owners wanted to register their horses in the Half-Arabian Stud Book, which was operated at the time by the Army Remount. But Latif would need to be registered with the Arabian Horse Club for that to happen.
W. K. Kellogg immediately telephoned Albert Harris, president of the Arabian Horse Club, expressing his own desire to see Latif registered.
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| Albert Harris |
Harris encouraged Kellogg that it would be
possible (quote) “providing certain definite information could be vouched for by
responsible people.”
Next, Kellogg, always the businessman, dictated a letter to the commanding officer of the US Army’s Pomona Quartermaster Depot, Colonel F. W. Koester, delegating to him the responsibility of helping to register Latif.
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| Col. F.W. Koester |
Koester wrote back to Senator Paul; then he delegated the paperwork to Major Cecil Edwards of the Remount. (Cecil was the husband of equine artist and author Gladys Brown Edwards.)
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| Cecil Edwards |
An even more influential and colorful neighbor soon joined the discussion.
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| Oklahoma Governor Roy J. Turner |
Oklahoma Governor Roy J. Turner wrote to W. K. Kellogg to add his enthusiastic support to the effort to register Latif:
“I have a ranch in southeastern Oklahoma and I produce quite a number of horses; it may be of interest to you to know that the best brood mare that I have and the mare that produces the most useful horses for my ranch work is sired by Latif.”
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| Western Livestock Journal |
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| Western Livestock Journal |
Governor Turner was being modest; his 10,000 acre ranch near Sulphur was the home of some of Oklahoma’s best-known and most valuable Hereford cattle. An avid horseman, Turner kept 1200 cattle, 800 sheep, and 40 horses on his property, including Latif’s offspring. Turner supported his local 4H Club, staged rodeos for charity, and even wrote cowboy songs as a hobby. One of his most famous songs, used in a Roy Rogers film, was called “Hereford Heaven.”
A letter from Major Edwards to Hunt summarized Latif’s history: “Old timers here state that…Latif owes his life to your interest and nursing; that he was scheduled for destruction but because of your intercession was spared and that you personally aided in his nursing towards ultimate recovery.”
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| W, K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
Edwards collected information from other people who had known Latif as a colt, then sent Hunt the paperwork to fill out for the Arabian Horse Club. He also asked Hunt to submit “photographs of the stallion bearing your certificate of identity.”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
Hunt responded, enclosing four photographs of his Arabian, with his own name hand-written on the backs of the pictures. An imported Arabian had been registered in 1937 as *Latif, so Hunt chose the new name Deyrak to register his stallion, a combination of the names of his sire, *Deyr, and his dam Arak.
Hunt’s photos of the 22-year-old Deyrak show that the aged stallion had plain but animated face, with the broad white blaze of the foal in the photograph of “The Three Graces.”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
One more critical piece of information was needed to complete the registration. Colonel Koester reached out to Kellogg’s former employee, Carl Raswan, at his New Mexico Arabian horse ranch.
Raswan had been the manager of Chauncey Clarke’s ranch when Arak was bred to *Deyr, so Raswan could sign the necessary Breeder’s Certificate to have Deyrak registered.
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| Carl Raswan |
Raswan’s handwritten letter stated, “I signed the papers and hope it will help to register Deyrak. He certainly deserves [it] (and the owner)!”
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
And on May 6, 1947, the Arabian Horse Club wrote that Deyrak’s papers were in order and they were sending the certificate of registration.
Latif, now officially called Deyrak, did not
sire any purebred Arabians, and even given the testimony of Turner, Paul, and
Hunt it’s difficult to find records of Deyrak’s offspring. This is due in part
to the incomplete nature of half-Arabian registrations in the records maintained
by the Arabian Horse Association, which bought the stud books from the Remount
in 1951.
However, the Appaloosa Horse Club registry does show that Deyrak sired two Appaloosas bred by Fred Hunt: the roan mare Plover, foaled in 1950, and the red roan stallion Wahoo Lep in 1953. We don’t know what happened to the stallion, but the mare Plover was sold to Harold Tyner, the founder of the Indiana Appaloosa Association. There, Plover became the dam of the Appaloosa broodmare Panthea S, who produced the stallions Bonanza Britches, Patchy Britches, and Midas Britches.
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| Bonanza Britches, off side |
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| Bonanza Britches, near side |
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| Patchy Britches |
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| Midas Britches |
The story of Latif, now Deyrak, was almost at an end. In 1949, the property that had once been the Kellogg Ranch became part of the state of California’s university system, which of course it is to this day.
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| The old Kellogg Ranch stables at Cal Poly Pomona are now used as offices for student organizations. |
Much of the part of southeastern Oklahoma called Hereford Heaven is still used for agriculture.
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| Oklahoma ranch horses. Photo by the author. |
The former Turner Ranch is now owned by the family of Bill Jacobs, who taught at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for 17 years, and coached the student Livestock Judging Team there.
Deyrak passed away in about 1953 or 1954;
Richard Hunt died in 1967. Richard Hunt’s only son died several years ago, but
I’ve been in touch with Hunt’s great-niece, who lives in Central California.
She and the cousins are pleased to have all this new information for their
family history.
Richard Hunt never ceased to be proud of his Kellogg Arabian. He wrote to Mr. Kellogg in 1948: ‘I want to thank you again for giving me the colt, as he has been a great pleasure and pride.’
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
With Deyrak, W. K. Kellogg achieved the goal of “helping to improve the saddle horse stock of the nation.” Colonel Koester of the Remount told Kellogg that Deyrak’s story “represents another positive proof…that a good Arabian sire is an outstanding success in contributing to the quality of our national light horse resources.”
We began by asking, “What is the value of a horse?” We will probably never know the full extent of Deyrak’s influence as a sire of half-Arabians in Oklahoma cattle country. But there is no question that he was very much valued by the people who knew and loved him.
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| W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library |
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Sources: W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library, Cal Poly Pomona
https://www.cpp.edu/library/wkkahl/
Parkinson, Mary Jane. The Romance of the Kellogg Ranch: A Celebration of the Kellogg/Cal Poly Pomona Arabian Horses, 1925-2000. Pomona,CA: W. K Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, 2001.
Oklahoma Historical Society links:
Horse Industry https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=HO031
Cattle Ranching https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entryname=CATTLE%20INDUSTRY
Roy J. Turner https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TU021
Here are links to YouTube videos of the Kellogg Ranch and Kellogg Arabians in roughly the same time frame as the story of "Latif"/Deyrak. (Apologies if you have to click past unrelated commercials!)
Archival film footage of the Kellogg Ranch, from the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library collection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JdtSYwB-M
A British film crew visited in the Kellogg Ranch in 1932:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Pq0-sOKjI
Here's a short film from 1925, showing mares and foals W. K . Kellogg had purchased from Chauncey D. Clarke. I believe the foal with the wide blaze running around is "Latif."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX8ToAtXav0&t=35s
A 1922 film of Crabbet Park in England shows many of Lady Wentworth's horses, including the influential SKOWRONEK, sire of the Kellogg Arabians *Raseyn and *Raswan, along with *Nasik, purchased by Kellogg in 1926.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN9nha8XAyY
Here's a very short film -- rare footage of Latif/Deyrak's aged sire *DEYR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etvmBaNUohs
Five seconds of old film showing *RASWAN the horse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa6qWvq31JU
A short film on ANTEZ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFZA84c1YKc
And one on JADAAN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccjjaIANLzM
Here is *RASEYN being immortalized by artist Annette St. Gaudens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyZhqxVdSnI
There are several versions of the silent classic "The Son of the Sheik" on YouTube, with different musical scores.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eruhkz7DTTY&t=3688s
There is footage of a Sunday Show at the Kellogg Ranch property in this home movie from 1942. It starts at about 10:36, after footage of other places the family visited.
https://archive.org/details/10373_brt40con133_hm_california_trips_boulder_dam
More archival footage of the Kellogg Ranch is part of this 1993 public television feature by the legendary Huell Howser, a master communicator with a folksy style. You can see the old Kellogg Stables, clips from an early Sunday Horse Show, and classic footage of Mr. Kellogg feeding some of the Arabians. The video is part of the collection at Chapman University in Orange, CA:
https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1993/12/10/historic-horses-californias-gold-402/
The collection of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has documentary films on Oklahoma Governor Roy J. Turner's Turner Ranch near Sulphur, OK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv7VEGqmitY&t=343s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejnBdlQypWY&t=3s
(It's too bad there's no way of knowing if any of the ranch horses in these videos were offspring of Deyrak!)
This is the 1947 Roy Rogers film "At Home in Oklahoma," filmed on the Turner Ranch. Gov. Turner's song "Hereford Heaven" is sung, starting at 52:59:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJiwNVHvwD4&t=3218s
I created a Google "My Maps" map showing the various locations mentioned in the story. Arabians were well-traveled, in the early twentieth century:
