Shawn Crews and the Egyptian Arabian have been synonymous for the last several decades. Recently, Jeffrey Wintersteen caught up with Shawn during a brief pause in her full schedule at her farm in Waco, Texas.
Before we get into the new, give us a brief history of your beginning in the Arabian industry?
Shawn: By a twist of fate when I was 17 years old, I ended up in Waco, Texas on the largest Arabian horse farm of its time, Bentwood Farm, where I fell head over heels in love with horses! Not only was my time at Bentwood about the best beginning education one could wish for on straight Egyptian horses, but it was there that I met David and Marion Gardner. Without a doubt, my life would be quite different today if David had not taken me under his wing so many years ago.
It was also at Bentwood that I got to know Judy and Jim Sirbasku. Those families helped mold my career, including that of my numerous years at Arabians Ltd., and later as manager of their Thee Desperado-focused breeding and client service programs where I forged many deep-rooted friendships, including those with Mark and Deb Burke, Mike Cimino, Tara Maus and our clients.
Since Spring 2019, AHW has been following SCI and your team, but most of us did not know you have also owned your own farm for quite a few years sounds like you have spent a lot of time working on your place and getting the barn fluffed up for some incredibly special mares, tell us more.
Firstly, it is an old farm, Jeff. The records on the
