This article first appeared in the September 2022 digital edition of Equestrian Life. To see what’s in the current issue, click here. 

Rudolph Valentino and Jadaan. 

Rudolph Valentino’s Arabian affair 

By Suzy Jarratt 

The world’s most famous matinee idol of the silent movie era owed much of his screen success not only to the man who created All-Bran – W.K. Kellogg – but also to his eye for good Arabian horses.

Cereal millionaire, W.K. Kellogg, was an Arabian horse breeder in Pomona, California. One of Kellog’s stallions had caught the attention of Rudolph Valentino who wanted to ride him in The Son of the Sheik, a sequel to The Sheik which had catapulted him to international fame in 1921.

The horse’s name was Jadaan and he was to outlive the silent movie star by 19 years.

Born Rodolfo Guglielmi in southern Italy, Valentino, as he became known, was a hyperactive and handsome boy who would tame donkeys and ride horses around his hometown of Castellaneta. His mother idolised him while his strict father, a veterinarian and former cavalry captain, found him an annoying nuisance. He was sent to agricultural college, later travelling to Paris and on to America. He learnt the tango, became a professional dance partner in a night club and went on to score some bit parts in movies…

Click here to read the full article FREE in the September 2022 issue of Equestrian Life magazine.

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