Deedie Chauncey remembers the
days prior to the auction and the day itself: "Tom had been
a *Naborr fan since 1963 and asked me what I thought about
buying him. I, of course, thought it would be wonderful, and
we speculated about the price. Tom guessed about $40,000,
and I thought that's an awful lot of money. He decided to
bid up to that amount. So we were sitting in the bleachers
in the sale tent and the bidding went past $40,000 very
quickly. When it went to $140,000, Tom turned to me and
said, 'What do you think? Should I keep bidding?' and I
almost fell out of the bleachers. I had no idea he was still
bidding. Several syndicates were bidding, and the members
were having little meetings, but they dropped out, one by
one, and Tom got him. My first thoughts when that gavel
dropped were 'Oh, my God, where are we going to put him?' At
that time we didn't even have a decent barn! Our whole
operation was at Mayer, Arizona. A beautiful ranch, but
nothing to house a valuable stallion. So Tom went to Gene
LaCroix and asked if he would keep him until we got
organized. So *Naborr went straight to Lasma where he got
steamed bran as he did in Poland and was cared for by a
Lasma employee who had known him in Poland. And the
LaCroixes were thrilled to have him."
Before the McCormick auction,
Tom Chauncey had visited with his friend Wayne Newton about
buying *Naborr. The Chaunceys had known Newton since he was
about 11 years old--the days when he and his brother Jerry
were singing and playing banjos at supermarket openings.
Later, the two appeared on Chauncey's television stations,
and the friendship developed. Pre-auction, Wayne had agreed
to go partners on *Naborr at the $40,000 price; however, at
$150,000 Tom Chauncey figured he'd lost a potential partner.
But post-auction, *Naborr and the partnership still looked
good to Newton, and he became half-owner. The Chaunceys had
sold a portion of the Mayer ranch to Wayne where he built a
beautiful barn, and *Naborr was moved there from
Lasma.
At this time, the Chaunceys
had three mares and several Half-Arabians, a part of the
working cattle ranch at Mayer. Deedie had her daydreams
about becoming an Arabian breeder and wasted no time using
*Naborr as a sire. She chose Bint Kholameh (Adibiyez x
Kholameh), bred by her father Philip K. Wrigley at the
family's El Rancho Escondido on Catalina Island, to go to
*Naborr for his first Chauncey-bred foal. (A grey colt was
foaled in October 1970; more about him later.)
Now the Chaunceys followed
the traditional pattern: buy that special Arabian, acquire
more Arabians, and become Arabian breeders. The "more" was
easy. Deedie and her daughter Misdee went horse shopping on
Catalina Island where they selected six mares. Others were
added, and Tom Chauncey Arabians was founded.
By 1971, the Chaunceys had
built horse facilities on raw land on North Scottsdale Road
in Scottsdale, and *Naborr was moved there. The following
year, Wayne Newton decided to relocate his Arabian breeding
operation close to Las Vegas where he spent most of his time
as an entertainer, and the Chaunceys were able to buy back
Wayne's interest in *Naborr. Wayne's zooming career in show
business boosted the *Naborr image during the time he was
part owner. Wayne was called "the ambassador of the Arabian
breed" and he talked about Arabian horses at every
opportunity--in his shows, on television, and in special
appearances. Wayne took *Naborr to the 1970 Nationals at
Oklahoma City, where he was presented as one of the ten
Living Legend Stallions, and where he was seen and admired
by thousands.
*NABORR BECAME the
celebrity-in-residence at Tom Chauncey Arabians, and his
fans arrived in droves. He had been relatively unaccessible
at the McCormick Ranch and off the path at Mayer, and
persons who had never seen him in person wanted that long
satisfying look. Before, during, and after the Scottsdale
show was the time of heaviest traffic, and Deedie finally
restricted the times. "I had it announced at the show that
*Naborr would be shown only twice a day, because that poor
horse was being pulled out of his stall from eight in the
morning until 11 at night. There were people who didn't want
to breed, couldn't afford to breed, maybe didn't even have a
horse, but it was very important to them to see *Naborr in
the flesh." *Naborr put up with the hordes, probably even
liked them. He stood quietly letting people touch him and
pat him, and was very responsive to a camera. Deedie recalls
one lady who very plaintively asked if she might have a hair
from *Naborr's tail for her daughter who could not be there.
"I said, 'Of course, you may, and pulled the hair for her
and put it in an envelope so she could mail it."
*Naborr settled into a
comfortable routine with the Chaunceys. After breakfast, he
was turned out into his paddock from about 7:30 to 11:00 and
then he'd go back into his stall. In the afternoon, he took
a nap. He didn't lie down, but stood with his head in the
corner of the stall and slept for two hours each day. "And
nobody better disturb him," Deedie says."I mean, he was
grumpy. That was his time. At first, when visitors came,
we'd wake him up and bring him out, but I finally realized
it was not good for *Naborr or anyone else. It's like waking
your husband up from a nap when there's company. A definite
no-no. So I just started telling people *Naborr would be up
from his nap later and they were welcome to come back in
late afternoon. That's the way he was. He ran me. He ran the
whole ranch."
Smokey Brazelton, who worked
at Lasma before he came to the Chauncey ranch, took *Naborr
for a walk around the ranch each day. And when Tom Chauncey
came home in the evening, the two had their time alone. Tom
had considered *Naborr perfect the first time he saw him,
just shortly after his arrival at the McCormick Ranch, and
he never revised his opinion. To Tom, *Naborr only became
"more perfect." *Naborr knew the sound of Tom's car and his
footstep and always greeted him with a special low chortle
reserved for their conversations. Tom brought him carrots
each evening, and they had their private talks--high quality
moments for both of them.
Deedie's office at the ranch
adjoined *Naborr's stall, and as she finished up ranch
paperwork late at night, she could hear his every move. He
was the last horse to whom she said her good nights at the
end of the day. Deedie says, "I like to think he liked me a
lot. He was very charismatic, of course, but also a little
aloof. He wasn't the kind of horse who nuzzled you, but he
would turn his head and he loved to be scratched. *Naborr
was authoritative. There was no bluff about him. He was
always totally honest, and you never had to guess what he
was thinking. I was always in awe of him, a kind of mixed
feeling of reverence, fear, and wonder. I also know he had a
sense of humor; he would turn and roll his eyes at me to see
if I really got the joke."
Deedie Chauncey has shared
several stories of *Naborr's days at Tom Chauncey Arabians:
"One day, I was out tending my little vegetable and flower
garden at the ranch when all of a sudden I heard this
frantic "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" from Smokey and a clatter of
hooves, and *Naborr flew around the corner of the barn and
headed out toward the pastures, Smokey hot on his heels. I
had visions of *Naborr making a right turn onto Scottsdale
Road, and that would be all she wrote. Fortunately, every
mare in the pasture threw up her tail and galloped over to
the fence, and a couple of them were in heat. Well, you know
*Naborr screeched to a stop, and we caught him.
"Another time Smokey took
*Naborr out for his daily walk, came back, and was holding
him while he grazed around the stables. I was in my office
and when Smokey called, 'Quick! Help! Come quick,' I went
running out and there was *Naborr with the biggest gila
monster I have ever ever seen attached to his halter. They
are poisonous, and when a gila monster is attached, it's
attached; there's no letting go. Smokey was as pale as a
ghost, and we were both just terrified. *Naborr was
absolutely cool as a cucumber. I ran into the barn, got
another halter, and put it around *Naborr's neck, farther
back, and told Smokey to unbuckle *Naborr's halter and just
let it fall to the ground. Which he did and we got the other
halter on him. *Naborr never turned a hair.
"WHEN WE FIRST got to the
ranch, we used to breed out in the dirt in front of God and
everybody, and I thought *Naborr, of all sires, deserved a
breeding barn. I finally got it built, and I'll never forget
the first day we used it. First, some background: We had an
old brown--not bay but just uninteresting brown--mare who
had had some good foals by *Naborr. She was dull, totally
nondescript, but she turned *Naborr on more than any other
mare he ever had, and she was the only mare he was ever
truly in love with. When we went on A.I. and needed a
collection mare, I combed the country and finally found a
mare that looked like her. She had absolutely no libido, but
I always hobbled her, just in case. So the day we were to
use the new barn for the first time, 'Brownie' was in place.
I was squatted down, putting the hobbles on her, and Doug
McVicker was leading *Naborr in. All of a sudden Doug yelled
at me, 'Mrs. C., look out! Look out!' With Brownie in his
own breeding barn, *Naborr just went wild. I looked up and
all I could see was this giant white apparition *Naborr on
his hind legs, lunging toward Brownie. And me. I rolled out
of the way, and everything was okay, but I was so scared I
shook for an hour. When I asked Dr. Hancock what in God's
name had gotten into *Naborr, always the gentle breeder, the
only thing he could think of was that it was his first time
in the breeding barn and he became the stereotypical old man
getting into a hotel room."
Deedie remembers *Naborr
never had to prove himself to the other Chauncey stallions
or mares. The other stallions challenged each other, but
never *Naborr, and passed his stall with a sense of
deference. When they walked past the mare pastures, they
puffed themselves up, whinnied, and bellowed, an exercise
which usually attracted only the mares in season. *Naborr,
in contrast, was calm, regal, and powerful without any great
macho display, and every mare raised her head from
grazing.
*Naborr seldom left the
Chauncey ranch, a condition he liked and saw no reason to
change. In 1975, Tom Chauncey promised Hal and Arlyne Clay
that he would bring *Naborr to their ranch to be exhibited
at the Clays' sale. Everything was ready. A police escort
was standing by, the van was set up for *Naborr. But *Naborr
wasn't going. No hysteria, no display of temper or bad
behavior, just not putting even one hoof into the van. The
Chaunceys acknowledged they'd been foiled, and *Naborr was
returned to his stall.
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