On September 11, 1999 Arabian horse lovers all over the world logged on to the world wide web to witness the first Arabian horse webcast as Cal Poly Pomona featured Khemosabi, the "Superhorse of the '70s'.
This was just one in a series of events sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library to honor university founder and cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg's wish that the public continue to be educated about the Arabian breed. "Khemosabi Day," which highlighted Khemosabi, one of the oldest living Arabians and sire to over 1,300 descendants, was chosen to be the initial webcast because of the level of interest he generates all over the world.
"This was an incredible opportunity for Cal Ploy Pomona," said Melissa Paul, curator for the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library. "W.K. Kellogg would have agreed with celebrating Khemosabi because he exemplifies all the qualities Mr. Kellogg admired in Arabian."
Ferman Ansel and the Arabian Horse Legacy in Littleton, Colo., were major contributors to the project. In addition, Khemosabi's breeders Dr. Bert and Ruth Husband were instrumental in the success of the day. They provided valuable artwork depicting Khemosabi such as oil paintings, watercolors and comic books. One of the most impressive pieces was an oil painting of Khemosabi by noted sports artist LeRoy Neiman.
At Khemosabi's home in Bonsall, Calif., Ansel filmed a day with the 32 year- old Arabian. That footage and a live lecture filled a four-hour broadcast issued over the web by Cal Poly Pomona's Instructional Technology and Academic Computing division, funded by Ansel.
"We weren't sure how everything would work and what kind of response we would receive." said Paul. "And everything just went beautifully. It's amazing the number of e-mails and faxes we have received since the webcast. We are hoping to show it again at a later date and are working on doing something similar for other events sponsored by the library."
Khemosabi received e-mails and faxes from as far away as Australia, Argentina and Italy. Even the Royal Stables of the Sultanate of Oman sent a greeting card.
The Khemosabi webcast which took place on September 11, 1999
at the W. K.
Kellogg Arabian Horse Library on the California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona campus may now be viewed on the web via Windows Media player
Viewing may be done 24 hours a day and 7 days a week!
It's Windows Media. Unfortunately, the Real Player version isn't working at the moment, but I have asked to have it fixed. Here are the new links to the Khemosabi videos:
These are in MPEG 4 rather than the older MPEG 1.
Here are the links to the Khemosabi videos:
http://video.csupomona.edu/WKKArabianEvents/2001.htm
To get and install the MPEG4 player for Macintosh and PCs:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/software/Playerv7.asp
