Equestrian authors are rarely nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, even if their story plunges into the heart of Poland during the Nazi invasion. Horse lovers vote by sharing, however, and this book is still appearing on "most treasured" lists over forty years later. As for the subject of the story, his descendants perform across America in racing, endurance and other sports.



And Miles to Go The Biography of a Great Arabian Horse, Witez II was written by Linnell Chenault Smith, the daughter of populist poet Ogden Nash and Frances Rider Leonard and published in 1967. Her own love of horses enabled her to connect with the guardians of Janow Podlaski, the national stud farm for Polish Arabians as well as many others and extract the details of an astounding survival story.

Poland is no stranger to war. Its borders are formed by rivers rather than impenetrable mountain ranges, yet throughout history, conquering and occupying forces have found it strangely difficult to enforce their will there. After burning off the crops on their fertile land, the Poles would melt before the invaders into the forest -- or so I recall from reading James Michener’s epic Poland many years ago.

This long tradition of resistance was about to be invoked again when a bay colt was born on April 1, 1938. Linnell Smith brings him to us through the eyes of two young people, as vulnerable as the newborn colt to the approaching clouds of war.


Twins Stacia and Stasik Kowalski are allowed six months of joy watching young Witez II, son of prized stallion Ofir and Federacja, the stud’s best broodmare, fulfil his early promise in the pastures of Janow. Then, on September 1, 1938, the ground shifts underneath their happiness when the Nazi tanks roll across the Polish Border.

By January it becomes clear that Janów Podlaski, though far east of Warsaw, is in danger of being overrun. Stasik is sent with his favorite colt Witez on an evacuation march, while his sister Stacia becomes witness to a new regime at the stud farm.

It will be a long while before the siblings see each other again, and the story does not end with their reunion. Unlike many of his herdmates, the bay colt Witez survives several battlefronts and forced marches, liberation as a “prisoner of war” from the German breeding program in Hostau, Czechoslovakia, and after a difficult sea crossing, goes on to make a conquest of his own in California.

Although Polish Arabians have a strong following in the US today, this was not always so. Witez arrived in America as a mature stallion in 1945 but only truly received recognition when Earl and Frances Hurlbutt, a California couple who had acquired him for their own breeding program, sent him into the show ring for the first time at fifteen years of age. The last chapter of the book describes how Witez II overcame doubters to become not only Pacific Coast Champion, but an enduring sire of performance Arabians whose descendants are still celebrated and sought after.

Though written from an American perspective, the book does allude to the fact that while Witez escaped first the Germans and then the Russians, the only claim the U.S. Army had on him was as the spoils of war. I suppose a Polish version might take a different tack, except that in the long run, his loss was their gain. According to the stud farm’s web site, “Since 1960, the Arabians from Janów are sold abroad - most of them to USA.”

Linnell Smith travelled to Poland and Germany to interview the participants in this saga at the instigation of the Hurlbutts. She smoothly blends all the voices into a narrative that revolves around its sturdiest character, the one whose iron feet and strong will kept him alive through a long ordeal.

Witez II is of course only one of many Polish Arabian studs to leave their mark in America, but because of this book, he is better known to the general horse world than most. He had actually escaped my notice until I saw this book on someone's list of favorites.

After reading And Miles to Go, I checked my shelf and discovered that my treasured book of Arabian horse photographs by Zofia Raczkowska, Araber Pferde (published in Germany in 1976), portrayed the horses of Janów Podlaski, whose bloodlines include Ofir, sire of Witez II. As a teenager, I practiced my drawing skills by copying from the black-and-white photographs where the structure and spirit of the horses was dramatized by high contrast. This was also one of the few horse books I possessed which featured horses interacting with each other rather than working or posing. This book unfortunately is out of print and rather expensive used, but I did find a 16-month calendar featuring Zofia Raczkowska’s photographs of wild horses.

Copies of And Miles to Go are even pricier, but as I have returned the book, the Seattle Public Library has a circulating copy again. The book seems to have originally been meant to appeal to young adults through its juvenile protagonists, but there is nothing wrong with adults taking their dose of history with horses to sweeten it.

You don’t need to be an Arabian fanatic to follow the story. If you crave a world in which an obsession with preservation of fine horses is universal; in which there are people of every nationality – yes, even German - who put the welfare of horses ahead of political agendas; and which has a happy ending, at least for the horse, you’ll enjoy this book.

Younger horsey kids might also enjoy Linnell Chenault Smith's other books, like The Auction Pony, which is set closer to her home in the Maryland countryside where the competition for fine Welsh ponies is fierce.

LINKS:

If you crave more immediate satisfaction, here are some Witez II related sites:

The Witez II Wikipedia entry

The
Janow Podlaski Studstill exists.

Some other Janów horses, including Witez II’ sire Ofir, did end up in Russia at the Tersk Stud

Equine Post article by Becki Bell

Breeders network of Witez II descendants

Witez II was an early Breyer model in the 1960’s


NOTES:

If the title of the book has a familiar ring, that's because it quotes the closing line from the Robert Frost poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

A story on the rise and fall of Spendthrift Farm by the staff of the Lexington Herald did in fact receive a Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting in 1988.