By Dr. Richard Stoneback

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Amyr Arabians is the home of an Arabian horse breeding farm owned and operated by the family of Dr. and Mrs. Richard H. Stoneback of Strattanville, Pennsylvania in the beautiful Laurel Highlands in Clarion Country. The previous home of Amyr Arabians was Oxford, PA and this is where it all started:

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Many people ask just how we got started in the Arabians horse business, so a bit of history might be appropriate to insert here before we go on to the horses themselves. It covers more than 40 years of dreaming, owning, breeding, showing and loving Arabian horses.

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As a young boy, I had a great love for the breed and put in many hours studying all the books and information I could acquire. I also corresponded widely with many of the early breeders and fanciers of the breed and learned all I could from personal contact and visits to the breeding farms of that era.

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In those days, the Arabian horses were not very plentiful and there were not many shows or even classes in open shows for them. The owners and breeders all pulled together for the betterment and promotion of this great breed to which they were enthusiasts. This, I feel, was a vital factor in the nurturing and development of the breed in its infancy in the United States.

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Today, of course, we have an entirely different situation with an unbelievable scope to Arabian horse oriented activities. However, we should not forget the debt we owe to those foundation breeders.

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During this time, I was really too young and did not have the means to be able to own Arabians, so I was really on the outside looking in with very envious and longing eyes but… I knew my day would eventually come.

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It finally did in the summer of 1950 when I was 17 years old and was in the form of a bay stallion known as ‘Amyr’, hence the name of my farm, Amyr Arabians. Amyr was bred at Travelers Rest Arabian Stud in Tennessee by General Dickinson. As a weanling, he was sold to a young man named Graham Lorimer and brought to Eastern Pennsylvania. Eventually, his owner was to go to school in Mexico City and could no longer take care of his Arabian. Through the efforts of Louis Foye in bringing the two of us together, he sent the young stallion to me.

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I was ecstatic! Amyr was sired by the Polish sire *Czubuthan and out of the Argentine imported mare *Aire so, he had international bloodlines. Looking back now, Amyr was a rather plain Arabian but to me at the time, he was just plain terrific. We were mostly just great companions and we spent many hours together on the trails. Amyr sired a few half-Arabians but never had any purebred get. His name, however, lives on in our herd and is the prefix of all foals born here at our farm. He also brought to life in me the desire to become a veterinarian.