In Memoriam:
KHARBEN
(1986 – 2011)
by Linda White presence,” says Rory O’Neill, who first Kharben (Ben Bask x Khara Mia met Kharben when he was working for Mine, by Bay El Bey) was beautiful, Greg Gallún years earlier. but his appeal went beyond those silken good looks. Whether in the “Every year we would present Kharben public spotlight or at home, Kharben at our open house, complete with his had a dignity and composure that four blankets of roses, signaling his four made him irresistible to judges, national championships—three in halter audiences, mare owners and anyone and one under saddle. In 2006 some who ever handled him. One look into 350 admirers came to celebrate his 20th those huge brown eyes brought people birthday and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to up short—someone very aware was him. He was a true show horse, and in there behind those eyes, looking would always step up to presentations and open houses. He back at them. His unique, “Drinker of the Wind” personality loved attention, but he always behaved like a true gentleman. helped earn him the 1993 Arabian “Triple Crown:” United States National, Canadian National and Scottsdale Champion “I have trained several of his offspring,” continues O’Neill, Stallion titles in the same year—a crown only a handful of “and they all have been very trainable and athletic, with a loose, stallions in Arabian breed history have worn. open shoulder and good rear engagement. They were so solid and dependable that quite a few of them became family horses. Competition at the Ohio Buckeye Sweepstakes too is always One of Kharben’s daughters was a national champion, and deep, yet Kharben is still the only stallion to win the Ohio his daughters are excellent producers. I believe that he will be Buckeye stallion championship three years in a row. Being known as a great broodmare sire.” selected the 2001 Canadian National Hunter Pleasure Champion eight years after winning his last halter national Sharon Chauncey Siar, Tom Chauncey’s daughter, has been championship further set him apart. He remains the only understandably devastated by Kharben’s passing. For many Arabian “Triple Crown” winner ever to have also won a years, the personable, bay, show ring superstar was her national championship under saddle. This truly was a stallion favorite horse. for the ages. Kharben, foaled in May of 1986, was a son of halter and English pleasure winner Ben Bask (*Bask x *Maska, by Negatiw), whom Tom Chauncey Desert Arabians had purchased in May of 1980 as a foal at foot. Kharben’s dam was the Bay El Bey daughter Khara Mia Mine, whose own dam, Khara Mia, won U.S. National Top Tens in English pleasure and pleasure driving. Don DeLongprè showed Khara Mia to her national honors. She was a Khemosabi daughter out of Carinosa, the much heralded *Serafix daughter (x *Caliope, by Witraz) that Khemosabi’s breeders, the Dr. Burt Husband family, had bought from John Rogers in 1963.
“Sharon taught him a trick,” O’Neill recalls. “Whenever he saw her, he would come right up and offer her his withers to scratch. She would scratch him on one side, and then circle her finger. When he saw her do that, he would circle around and let her scratch the other side.
Kharben was bred by Double A Farm, Inc. Suzanna Shilosky bought him from Double A as a long yearling in December of 1987 and sold him to D’Arshon Arabians three years later. Tom Chauncey Desert Arabians purchased him in January of 1992, and owned him for the rest of the stallion’s life.
“He lived out his last years happily, kept his top line and good looks until the end, and thoroughly enjoyed (and came to expect, but always with dignity) the peppermints his visitors gave him. He will truly be missed.”
Kharben lived six of the last eight years at O’Neill Arabians in Scottsdale, Ariz. “We were honored every day to be in his 216 | A R A BI A N HOR SE T I MES
“I rode Kharben bareback, as did some of Sharon’s friends when she brought them out to meet him. He was always kind and patient with them, as he was with young children, the elderly, and anyone physically or mentally handicapped in some way. He was so intelligent and so intuitive!
Kharben sired 134 foals, seven of which were Half-Arabians. Numerous Kharben offspring became halter and/or performance champions. n