Images from El Rancho Poco

El Rancho Poco sign

When the Monrovia-Duarte, California Community Book was published in 1957, the portraits of the featured, notable local citizens were taken in professional portrait studios. Head shots of humans.

All except for one: horse rancher Merle H. Little (1906-1975) had posed in front of  a hay barn with his chestnut Morgan stallion, Lippitt Morman.  Merle autographed his own copy of the book for both of them.

Lippitt Morman and Merle Little

Merle Little passed away far too early, in 1975, leaving behind a treasure trove of photographs and memorabilia of a horseman's life in Southern California between World War I and the end of the Vietnam War.  His wife, Edna May, died in 2004.  I never had the chance to meet either of them.

But during the course of my equine history and model horse history research over the past few years, I have had the honor of meeting, and becoming friends with, Merle's children. And when his older daughter died earlier this year, she left me "Daddy's horse stuff" with the understanding that she wanted it to have a permanent home at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library's Special Collections unit, which includes the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library. WKKAHL already holds some of Merle's other papers, given (through me) by his younger daughter. 

I am grateful to the Little family for the opportunity to be the temporary custodian of this treasure trove of local and equine history. It's an honor to have the opportunity to organize the photographs, correspondence, and ephemera, making it easier for other researchers to use the archive once it's in a public collection. And I can write about what's in the collection as I work my way through it.

Merle Little on his Morgan stallion Kandy King

To summarize: Horses were an integral part of Merle Little's life. His papers include materials dating back to the 1920s from a wide variety of regional equestrian activities: the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. 1930s Rancheros Visitadores trail rides in Santa Barbara County. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Posse activities over several decades, including horseback search and rescue. The Monrovia Mounted Police. The post-World War II activities of the Morgan Horse Association of the West, of which Merle was a co-founder. The Kellogg Ranch property in Pomona. Horse shows for children and adults. Duarte 4-H club activities. The Monrovia Day parade. 

Merle Little's Pinto stallion Tesoro (right)

And there are photographs of Merle and his family and their horses at home: El Rancho Poco, which used to occupy several acres near what is now the busy intersection of the 210 freeway and Mountain Avenue -- retail stores, car dealerships, restaurants.  Their horses were well-known participants at horse shows and parades: Pintos like Thunder and Lightning, Apatche, and Tesoro. Morgans like Sun Down Morgan, Senor Morgan, Senorita Morgan, Betty Joaquin, Lippitt Morman, and Kandy King. And so many more. Merle's donkeys and hinnies (a cross between a male horse and a female donkey) afforded his family and the neighborhood much joy. El Rancho Poco itself was a gathering place for family, friends, and community groups. My model horse collector readers know that some of Merle's horses inspired ceramic horse figurines designed by artist Maureen Love and produced by the legendary California pottery Hagen-Renaker, Inc.

Hagen-Renaker "Lippet" designed by Maureen Love,
inspired by Lippitt Morman

These days of the horse may be in the past, but because Merle took so many pictures and saved so much paper ephemera, we can revisit them, appreciate them, and learn from them. I hope you'll have a chance to follow along with this blog over the next many weeks, as I share highlights from the collection.

"The Horse with the Proud Tail": Chestnut Arabian by artist Rich Rudish

This is the story of The Horse With the Proud Tail.

Every so often a piece of a horse's history will find its way to me, demanding to be told, reminding us of just how important the horse was to the humans who loved him. That happened to me again today, when my Horse Radar went off as I drove towards an antique mall.

When I went inside, I quickly spotted a very special original painting. The first thing I noticed about it was the horse's brilliant chestnut color with white markings, sparkling eyes, and flying tail. He looked like an Arabian.

The second thing I noticed was the artist's signature:

 "RUDISH '65."  

The artist was Rich Rudish. Sold.

But I wondered: Was this a portrait of a real horse? And if so, how could I find out? There were no other identifying marks on the painting, front or back, so I looked for clues from other sources.

Rudish was born in 1941; the painting is dated 1965. So he was only 24 when he painted it.  A Kansas City newspaper article said that Rudish joined Hallmark Cards as an illustrator in 1964, so we know he was active as an artist as a young adult.

With those dates in mind, I started looking for connections between Rudish and Arabian horses. Newspaper articles told me that Rudish rode and trained Arabians in the Midwest in the 1960s. Later, he would serve as an officer in his area's Arabian horse club and as a judge of Arabian classes at horse shows.

After a few minutes' searching online I came up with the name of a horse ridden in a show by Rudish: the chestnut Arabian gelding Zartai, foaled in 1954.

The Clinton, Missouri Eye newspaper,
July 19, 1966.

My friend and fellow researcher Dee Adkins found this photo of Zartai ridden by Rich Rudish from 1966, in an old Arabian Horse World magazine. 

I kept looking, and found a photo of Zartai from 1967, again ridden by Rich Rudish. Zartai belonged to Triangle "C" Arabians (the Campbell family), and had won a Top Ten Award at the Arabian US Nationals. 

Belton, Missouri Star-Herald, August 24, 1967

The photos are not great quality, but we can see that Zartai had an oddly shaped blaze on his face...

So does the horse in the painting.

Zartai had two white stockings on his forelegs, and a white sock on his left rear leg...

So does the horse in the painting!

So I think it's highly probable that the horse in the painting is indeed Zartai.  

A search of the Arabian Horse DataSource shows that Zartai, foaled in 1954, was sired by Ibn Nusi; his dam was Zatai.

Here are his sire Ibn Nusi and his dam Zatai, from Dee Adkins' extensive collection of images from vintage horse magazines.

Zartai's pedigree reads like a Who's Who of Arabian horses in the late nineteenth and early to mid twentieth centuries; many of his ancestors were owned by the likes of the Crabbet Arabian Stud, Homer Davenport, W. R. Brown, Spencer Borden, and J. M. Dickinson. As a Top Ten stock horse at the US Nationals, Zartai did his ancestors proud.

It's difficult to single out a few of the important Arabian horses on Zartai's family tree, but here are some. It's interesting that some of these horses were the subjects of other artists' work.

Zartai's great-grandsire Gulastra, a chestnut stallion, was bred by W. R. Brown, and later owned by William Randolph Hearst, J. M. Dickinson, and Bazy Tankersly of Al-Marah Arabians.

And this signed print is labeled as Gulastra's portrait by artist Elizabeth Bell. You used to be able to buy prints of her work through the mail. (As one reader has pointed out, Gulastra's markings were different than the horse in Bell's drawing.)

Zartai's great-great-great-grandsire Mesaoud -- also chestnut -- was purchased in 1889 by Lady Anne Blunt and her husband Wilfrid. He had an enormous influence on the Arabian horse.

Mesaoud was immortalized in this portrait by Gladys Brown Edwards:

Another of Zartai's ancestors was the great and beautiful mare Mahroussa.  Here's a head study photo by Carl Raswan:

A print of a painting of Mahroussa by C. W. Anderson:

And another by Arizona artist Nancy Strowger, reproduced on a greeting card:

Another female ancestor of Zartai was the influential mare Bazrah, who lived out her days in California. W. R. Brown sold her to William Randolph Hearst; she later went to Roy L. Jackson of Orange, California, and died in 1948. (I couldn't find a painting of her, so equine artists, here's your chance.)

Rich Rudish had a varied career. He worked for many years at Hallmark Cards, creating several popular animal characters. My favorite of his greeting card images is a Christmas card with Arabian horses. 

Here are two more examples of Rudish's greeting card designs with horses:

A Hallmark card

An Ambassador card

Rudish served as Director, Art Director, and in the Animation Department on several films in the 1980s, including many of the "Rainbow Brite" animated movies.

Among horse lovers, he is well known as an illustrator of horse books such as Marguerite Henry's Our First Pony, and the 1975 edition of her book The Little Fellow.

Here are some horse stickers Rich Rudish designed for Hallmark.

Rudish's art appeared on coffee mugs and playing cards. He also illustrated a pop-up book called Dancer and a calendar for Hallmark, as well as a book on the Old West.

Rudish illustrated Arnold R. Rojas'  book These Were the Vaqueros.

He also designed model horses for Breyer, including "Sham" and "Lady Roxana," and also for Enesco.

Cincinnati Enquirer, May 10, 1987

Starting in the 1970s, it was common to see illustrations by Rich Rudish in Arabian horse magazines and horse show programs. You can see his style evolving over the years.

Rudish's sense of humor is obvious
in this illustration in an advertisement.

Rudish's stylized color ads depicting real Arabians are unmistakable.

*Tamarlane and Taktika

*Padron and Bint Padron

The chestnut Arabian gelding Zartai died in April 1972. Arabian Horse World ran an obituary under its "Green Pastures" heading, written by his owner. Jane Campbell.  She said his nickname was "Hoppi." His story underscores the importance of the horse in the life of a family and their friends. 

The article reads, in part:

"After sharing our home and a place in our hearts for nearly ten years, our 18-year-old gelding, ZARTAI met with a fatal accident in April of this year [1972]... Our liver chestnut friend was shown by our son...our daughter...and by friend and Hallmark Card artist Rich Rudish. At age 13, Hoppi, ridden by Rich Rudish, was among the Top Ten Stock Horses at the U. S. Nationals. At ages 15 and 16, he qualified for the Nationals again in stock horse, English pleasure, and halter. Last summer Hoppi, at age 17 and [her son] Jeff, at age 18, qualified for the Nationals in costume, but a conflicting college schedule did not permit participation. We were thrilled with his achievements.

"Whether in the ring or just in a paddock out for an afternoon romp, Hoppi's tail was always held high, his neck proudly arched.... [We will be] forever grateful and will not soon forget our horse with the proud tail."

Rich Rudish died in Glendale, California in 1989, which may partially explain how the painting of Zartai made its way from Missouri, where he lived for so long, to an antique mall in Ventura County, California. 

Where the painting was in the meantime, we may never know. Perhaps Rudish himself saved it, sold it, or gave it to someone else. 

Belton, MO Star-Herald, May 25, 1989

Because it lived for who-knows-how-long at an antique mall surrounded by thousands of other used decorative objects, the  painting of "Hoppi" could have ended up in the home of someone who had no idea of its story, or (God forbid) it could have been damaged or painted over.  Instead, I was drawn to it like a magnet -- which I can't explain. 

However this example of Rudish's early art came to me, I like to think that somehow its story needed to be told, if only to remind us again just how important horses, our love for them, and our memories of them, are to us. 

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Because I'm such a fan of the Kellogg Arabians, I want to mention that Zartai was related to the great chestnut Arabian stallion Abu Farwa, foaled at the Kellogg Ranch, through their mutual great-grandsire Gulastra. Here's Abu Farwa.

This previously unpublished black and white head study photo of Abu Farwa is owned by Melanie Teller:

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Many thanks to equine history researchers Tobi Lopez Taylor and Dolores "Dee" Adkins, and to Arabian horse enthusiast Melanie Teller, for their assistance in preparing this blog post.