New Foals Continue 99-Year Kellogg Legacy
This spring, three Arabian foals have been born at Cal Poly Pomona, continuing the 99-year legacy of promoting and breeding Arabian horses in Pomona.
The new foals are:
- Declan, a colt born March 6 by CSP Grand Caymon out of CP Metropolitan
- Julio, a colt born March 27 by Inception out of CP Visionaire
- Sierra a filly born April 11 by Baske Afire out of CP Visionaire
The foaling process is one of Cal Poly Pomona’s signature PolyX opportunities. Live-in students are responsible for monitoring the mares during their 11-month pregnancy and assisting during foaling. Once born, the foals are given an informal “barn” name by students and later a pedigree name that carries the legacy of the W.K Kellogg Arabian Horse Center.
The center was established in 1925 by Kellogg to begin a breeding program, and he sought the finest Arabians bloodlines. The Arabian, one of the oldest horse breeds, is noted for its grace, beauty, intelligence and endurance. Some of the mares at the center can trace their lineage back to the original Arabian horses that Kellogg purchased in 1925.
Cal Poly Pomona has continued the Arabian horse breeding program on the same site, with university mares bred to outside stallions. In 2023, the university’s W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center was named “Arabian Horse Times Reader’s Choice Performance Horse Breeder of the Year.”
In fall 2022, the horse center raised $241,860 with the sale of nine horses during an online auction. The total was the most raised by the center since it began public auction in 2015. One horse — CP Coco Chanel — sold for $100,000, the first time a sale price reached six figures during a Cal Poly Pomona auction.
The sale was aided by the recent success of Cal Poly Pomona-bred horses at the U.S. Arabian & Half Arabian National Championships, the most prestigious Arabian horse show in North America.
In addition to the breeding program, the horse center is an important resource for Cal Poly Pomona students. It provides learning opportunities for students in all majors with an equine studies minor, for veterans in the Horses for Heroes program, and students in the Horsemanship Club.
The Arabian Horse Center is open to the public during the week, and Sunday Horse Shows are generally held the first Sunday of the month, weather permitting.
W.K. Kellogg donated the Arabian Horse Center and his former ranch to the State of California in 1932 with the stipulation that the Arabian breeding program and Sunday horse shows be maintained. The ranch was turned over to the California State University system in in 1949 and became home to what would grow to become Cal Poly Pomona, which was granted full university status in 1972.