Hope Ellis-Ashburn

Kimbrook Arabians Hope Ellis-Ashburn

Nothing about Bill and Joanne Gutknecht's history indicated that they would one day breed an Arabian national champion. He was ex-military and, among several careers, owned and operated a pet boarding and cemetery business. She worked in a clipper-manufacturing factory. Neither came from a rural background. Instead, both bred, trained, and showed German Shepherd dogs. The saga of Kimbrook Arabians features an unlikely couple from the Midwest who not only founded a small breeding program during the Golden Age of the Arabian horse but also bred a number of champions. Kimbrook's influence has continued for over fifty years, and descendants of the farm's foundation stock can still be found throughout the United States. The Gutknechts' program is one of the few Arabian breeding programs that started in the late 1960s and survived into the 2000s. Kimbrook Arabians reveals the improbable influence this unusual couple had on an ancient breed.