Once Upon An Island...

 …Lived a small group of Arabian horses. They arrived from the East, their descendants traveled the West and eventually all over the world!

In 1963, trainer Joe Dawkins won the first National award for Catalina Island Arabians in Dallas, Texas. No one knows for certain how that trophy traveled back to the Trophy Room at El Rancho Escondido, but what I can tell you is that the newest trophy coming from an Arabian National Championship show was hand carried from Tulsa to Catalina Island on the Catalina Express!

Today, everyone can follow their favorite barns on Facebook to follow their journey as the rigs head to the Arabian National Championships. Unfortunately, we don’t have many photos of the journeys of the Catalina Island Arabian Horses as Joe Dawkins began what became a legendary career. In fact, I only know of three photos that show the big trailer that took Joe and his show string up as far north as Idaho and as far west as Texas and up into the mountains of Colorado.

One image is this one showing Joe Dawkins, with Helen and Philip Wrigley in 1955 with Kamsar.

While this photo does show the trailer in color, it doesn’t really do justice to the images that they featured on the trailer. Images that turned the truck and trailer into an amazing rolling billboard advertising Santa Catalina Island and El Rancho Escondido. Featured in the oval towards the back of the trailer is a portrait of Wardamar Alla, a stallion that Helen Wrigley purchased in 1946.

Philip Wrigley never passed up an opportunity to promote Catalina Island. He created El Ranch Escondido primarily as a tourist destination and the ranch was included as a stop on Catalina Island Inland Tour as early as October of 1951. From the newspaper clipping from the Las Angeles Mirror you can see that the chance to view Arabian horses was considered the highlight of the tour!

#teamtrox #catalinaislandarabians #arabianhorses #arabianhorsehistory #lovecatalina #californiahistory