A Farewell to Curt Westley

Curt Westley’s involvement with Arabians began when he bought a share in the colt Botswana (Thee Desperado x The Minuet). He didn’t have an interest in horses … but he had an interest in Allison Mehta. And somewhere along the way he became a lover and breeder of Arabians.

“I met Curt on a job. He came to do an installation on one of our projects,” Allison says. “We were both married to other people at the time, and we were friends for 10 years before we finally got together as a couple.

“Horses were my thing. I had already purchased, with a partner, Talaria farms. Curt would come out to the farm with me, and we’d go riding from time to time. Somewhere around the year 2000 I discovered the young stallion Botswana. He was very expensive for the time, and I knew A Farewell to Curt Westley if I wanted him I would have to syndicate him. Eventually, I had one share left, and I ran into my ex-husband. His brother was an industrialist in India and wanted to make some investments in the U.S. for fun. They thought this would be an interesting thing to do.

“I was all excited when I got home, and told Curt, ‘I just sold the last share in Botswana.’ I told him my ex-husband and his brother were going to buy it. Curt said, ‘And you saved one for me?’ I reminded him that he hadn’t wanted anything to do with it. He replied, ‘Allison, I am your mate now. And I’m telling you I want one of those shares.’ Of course it had nothing to do with love for Botswana!”

So Curt bought the share, but didn’t do much with it. About a year later, Roxann Hart was shipping two Bey Shah daughters west and they overnighted at Talaria. “They were typical Bey Shah daughters – big, airs-above-the-ground mares,” recalls Allison. “Curt had come down to the farm on Saturday morning. That’s when the shippers opened the stalls to lead them out, and those girls came out like Bey Shah daughters – tails over their backs, dancing down the aisle, snorting. Curt was mesmerized. ‘What is that? Who are they?’ I explained that they were sired by Bey Shah, a stallion famous for siring that kind of charisma, and that these mares were very typical daughters of his. And he said, ‘I want a Bey Shah daughter for my Botswana breeding.’”

Those mares were the catalyst that Curt needed. He wasted no time finding a Bey Shah daughter to lease, Rohara Shahblee (x Fire Serenity). Bred to Botswana, she produced TF Afrikhan Shah, aka “Teddy.” A year later he bought her, and she produced several other nice horses