From the late 1870s, Wilfrid and Lady Anne travelled extensively in Arabia and the Middle East, buying Arabian horses from Bedouin princes such as Emir Fendi Al-Fayez[1] and the Egyptian Ali Pasha Sherif.

Among the great and influential horses they took to England were Azrek, Dajania, Queen of Sheba, Rodania and the famous Ali Pasha Sherif stallion Mesaoud.

[2] Lady Anne was fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Arabic, a skilled violinist and a gifted artist who studied drawing with John Ruskin.

Lady Anne travelled extensively in the Middle East and is particularly noted as the first European woman to ride through the Arabian desert to reach the city of Ha'il.

At times, this meant leaving valuable bloodstock in Egypt under the care of inept managers who neglected the horses to the point that some died of exposure and thirst.

However, in 1906, when his mistress Dorothy Carleton (later adopted as his niece) moved into their home, Lady Anne, unable to tolerate what she termed an "oriental" lifestyle, left him.

Under its terms, Lady Anne kept Crabbet Park and half the horses, while Blunt took Caxtons Farm, also known as Newbuildings, and the rest of the stock.

Following the separation, Lady Anne spent several months each year at her Sheykh Obeyd estate near Cairo, a 32-acre (129,000 m2) apricot orchard the Blunts had purchased in 1882 and set up as a breeding farm for the horses they owned in Egypt.

Finally, leaving the stud under the management of Judith, Lady Anne left England permanently in October 1915 and spent the remaining years of her life at Sheykh Obeyd.

[citation needed] Judith sold Crabbet horses all over the world, including to Dora Maclean in Australia[9] and others in the United States, Spain and Russia.