01 December, 2013

Death Claims a Queen

That's what I called Rocky...The Queen of the Thoroughbreds. No one else called her a "Queen" nor was she recognized anywhere as a "Queen". There was a time when she was a formidable racehorse but that was a long time ago. Grazing in a pasture, looking more like a backyard pet, someone driving by would see an ordinary  grey horse and thereby, miss her greatness. But to me, she was every bit a Queen and more. I saw a side of her which was positively regal.
"It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it." —Frances Hodgson Burnett,  A Little Princess
It was our LITTLE secret...Rocky's and mine. A daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion, Rock and Roll, she was named Lady Rocker but I always laughed at her name because she was no "lady". She was the ultimate alpha mare, behaving more like a stallion than a mare. She was a huge mare, towering over 16.2 hands, powerfully built, with a big body, including a very deep heart girth. She was enormous. It was a humbling experience to stand next to her. Yet, for all of Queen Rocky's power, she was an elegant horse, possessing all of the characteristics for which this breed is so revered. Nothing was more beautiful than seeing Rocky in motion, stretching her body out, nose-to-tail,  in an earth shaking, thunderous racehorse run. Then, she would take my breath away and I would shout,
"GO QUEEN GO!"
Now, Rocky is gone and there is no more majesty in the pasture. I will really miss the Queen. As a kid, I watched the great Secretariat create history, never realizing that one day I would know his great-great-granddaughter, Lady Rocker, the Queen of the Thoroughbreds.

05 October, 2013

Fakher el Din

The cross of Nazeer and Moniet el Nefous yielded two horses: *Bint Moniet el Nefous in 1957 and *Fakher el Din in 1960.
"The cross of Nazeer on Moniet EI Nefous added the presence, the brilliance, and the tremendous vitality of that extraordinary stallion while at the same time reinforcing the genetic strengths of Moniet EI Nefous herself."-Sara Loken
*Fakher el Din was a sweet-natured stallion, with a gentle disposition and I am amazed over the number of daughters he sired (as compared to the number of sons)  representing a wide diversity of bloodlines including Pritzlaff, Babson, Bentwood and Masada; even the important Davenport mare, Bint Alamein, an El Alamein daughter.

While his full sister, from a breeding perspective, was trapped within the Pritzlaff program; *Fakher el Din, by virtue of his stallion-hood, could rapidly spread his influence across a wider variety of bloodlines, leaving more choices and a wider legacy for breeders to utilize in the future. *Fakher el Din died in 1984, seventeen years after his importation to America. I find myself looking at his picture over and over, while dreaming of the possibilities that a horse like *Fakher el Din offered, in mind, body and spirit.

EnJOY,
Ralph

04 October, 2013

Bedouin Beauty: Mitbah


"Mitbah: Arabic term for the throatlatch or attachment of head and neck. The word means 'the place where the throat is cut' since it is the same for camels, sheep, and goats, and they are the ones for whom it is taken literally. A fine and long mitbah is much desired in an Arabian horse."-from the Arabian Horse Dictionary at arabianhorses.org
Pictured above is the straight Egyptian Arabian stallion, NK Qaswarah. He is sired by NK Hafid Jamil and his dam is the Salaa el Dine daughter, NK Nariman (out of the *Jamil daughter, Amarilla). He is owned by Usamah Alkazemi of Ezzain Arabians in Kuwait and was photographed by the talented equine photographer, Jenni Ogden from Australia. There are many details to notice in the above picture, all of which underscore the extraordinary elegance and refinement of this horse.
"The neck is a model of strength and forms a perfect arch that matches the arch of the tail."-Homer Davenport, from his book, My Quest for the Arabian Horse
His neck is gracefully arched, rising gently to meet the head, at an angle which forms a most beautiful mitbah.

The classic Egyptian Arabian Horse is very harmonious and visually, is comprised of gently curving lines, which flow smoothly from one circular line into another. The angle at which the head and neck meets, forms the mitbah. Look at the underside of the neck on NK Qaswarah, just before it goes into the throat to meet the back of the jowl. Do you see the curve? It's like an upside down "u". Starting here, place your finger on this upside down "u" and slowly, trace your finger along this line. Get acquainted with it. Feel this area with your finger, so that you understand the mitbah better. Remember the length of this area. That's important. You want this area to be long, as opposed to horses who are thick in the throat, as if the head was pushed down onto the neck, with no area of connection between the head and the neck. NK Qaswarah, as refined as he is, gives us reason to marvel over the mitbah. He is beautiful. Use him as a model in order to visually understand the mitbah. A neck with a fine mitbah is very pleasing to the eye, as we see in this stallion; however, functionally, a fine mitbah, allows the horse's head to be flexible, which is important for someone who wants to ride a horse who seeks and accepts contact willingly with the rider.

May the horse continue to inspire you,
Ralph

27 July, 2013

Carl Raswan



Earlier this week, I received a surprise, in the form of a comment left by Mark Miller of Al-Marah. I hope that Mark will not mind that I moved his comment to the front page of the blog, so that more people will enjoy his words as much as I have. 
I did not ever meet Carl Raswan, though I have heard the stories about him so many times I sometimes feel like I must have. He was a friend of my father and mother. 
I've always thought it ironic that his "Raswan Index" has been used to help define the "purity" of the Straight & Blue List Egyptian Arabian Horses. Ironic because the horse that Raswan loved most of all was *Raswan, said to be the best son of Skowronek. Until *Raswan died, Carl Raswan was known as Carl Schmidt. It was when *Raswan died that Carl Schmidt became Carl Raswan. Skowronek, of course, is not considered to be acceptable in "Straight Egyptian" pedigrees.
Raswan was certainly a larger than life character. My father, Peter Miller, told me that when he first met Raswan in Tucson in 1942, Raswan was telling him about his Ruala blood brother, Bedouin Prince Fawaz as-Shaalan. My dad said he believed Raswan was exaggerating when he told his tales of the desert.
My dad, however, was not the horseperson in our family. My mother, then Bazy Miller, was. She had already purchased some horses from the Selby Stud lines (heavy in the Skowronek son *Raffles), it was her that Raswan had come to see in Tucson. 
My parents had bought an irrigated farm on River Road in Tucson, and in the early 40s irrigated farms there were rare. When Raswan arrived on the farm, he turned to my mother and said, "This is a real Al-Marah!" My mother asked the meaning of Al-Marah and Raswan said, "The Oasis!" Thus the most famous Arabian Horse farm of the 20th and 21st Century was named. About eight years later, after my sister and I were born and my parents divorced, my mom remarried "Tank" Tankersley and started along the road of making Bazy Tankersley an Arabian Horse legend herself.
My mother always thought that Raswan loved the same kind of Arabian horses she did: beautiful, athletic and with great endurance. I have always thought of them as war horses. Spirited, athletic and brave enough to go into battle; personable and calm enough to share your tent in a sand storm. And, of course, the most beautiful animals on earth. I believe she learned a great deal from talking with Raswan about the desert horses, and that knowledge was important to her because she wanted to be sure to preserve her band of horses, who trace directly from Abbas Pasha to Ali Pasha Sherif to Sir Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt to Lady Wentworth to her, was not only the right genotype, but also the right phenotype.
My parents moved to Peru, Illinois shortly after Raswan named the farm, and not long after that, Raswan brought his Ruala blood brother to Chicago to meet my parents. After meeting Prince Fawaz, my dad told me he apologized to Raswan for ever doubting him, as Prince Fawaz backed up all that Raswan had told him and also told my father of the great influence Raswan had when he brought many Bedouin leaders together in the late '20s.
I hope your journey helps you find what you are looking for. The search for the perfect Arabian, whether it is a search of finding the existing horse or, in my family's case, trying to produce it, is a wonderful journey that can last a lifetime. 
My journey includes keeping the core Al-Marah herd in tact for my lifetime, as it remains the most unique and wonderful herd of horses in the world in its 199th year. 
Many thanks to Mark Miller for sharing his thoughts and memories. This is powerful stuff.
Ralph

14 May, 2013

Connecting the dots...

Sometimes...I look at a horse's pedigree and suddenly, I become aware of the many people who were involved in creating the horse's history. Think about it for a minute. Do you know how many breeders were involved in creating the foundation which made SR Mista Faaris possible? His pedigree is a living textbook of preservation history, consistently underscoring the vision and wisdom of different people, who demonstrate a tremendous amount of foresight, by preserving different Bedouin lines. Each breeder was really different from the other and yet, through the horse, they shared common ground and a common purpose.  The ability of the past to CONNECT with the future, as it runs through the present, never ceases to amaze me and their horses,  who live through a horse of the present, is the only connection we have back to them. SR Mista Faaris is a  Princeton Faaris son out of Sunnyru Mis Mandy. His pedigree combines straight Babson Egyptian lines, Sa'ud breeding through the mare *Turfa, the Ayerza mare *Aire and more of the Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik horses: *Nasr, *Zarife, *Roda, *Hamida. While not a straight Egyptian horse, SR Mista Faaris is here today because people like Albert Harris, General J.M. Dickinson, Don Hernan Ayerza, the Van Vleets, the Garretts, Paula Fatjo, the Perdue's of Rudalaro, Lois Kinney, Mari Silveus, Gail Hoff-Carmona valued the Bedouin Arabian Horse and chose to preserve him in a variety of forms, so therefore, SR Mista Faaris is 100% Al Khamsa, tracing to Bedouin-breeding in all of the lines of his pedigree.Because the Hallany Mistanny horses are so few in this world and the Babson-Turfas are even fewer, the blood of SR Mista Faaris and what he means for the Asil breeding pool, is precious...very precious. We can't afford to lose a horse like SR Mista Faaris. We need him.

EnJOY,
Ralph

29 March, 2013

Ekramilbari Ezzain

I pulled my car up to the gasoline pump, opened the door and walked to the back of the car, to meet the attendant, as he walked towards me. "Can you fill it up with regular, please?" as I handed him my debit card. He had a ring in his nose, a ring on his lips and a ring on his eyebrow plus an assortment of other jingling, clicking, metal thingies hanging from places that were never meant to have any kind of ornamental metal hanging from them. His fingernails were painted a glossy black and he must have had about twenty fabric and leather bracelets, lined up on one arm. He was a good-looking kid, who didn't need any of these decorations to improve his appearance. I was deep in thought over the vast and sweeping changes in our culture that have made fingernail polish on men's fingers not only acceptable but for most people, not even an eyebrow raiser. I thought of my own father and the explosion of fire emanating from his head, if I had ever walked in, as a teenager, with all these decorations.
"And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes..."-lyrics by David Bowie, from his song, Changes
As other cars pulled into the station, he left the side of my car,  returning when the hose signaled that the tank was full with a loud CLICK. "Are you going far today and do you want me to top it off for you sir?" he asked and at that moment, a nice boy who had been hiding under all the rings, the metal and the nail polish suddenly appeared. He actually cared that I would have enough gas for the trip I would be taking. "I knew you were in there, somewhere." I thought. "Yeah, thanks. I am driving up to Englewood and it's an hour and a half from here." I said and I marveled over a first impression of what turned out to be a really good kid, hard at work, at an early time of the day. 
This is a young black mare named Ekramilbari Ezzain, as captured by the camera of Jennifer Ogden of Australia. She was bred by Usamah Alkazemi of Ezzain Arabians in Kuwait. She is sired by Usamah's chief stallion, NK Qaswarah and out of the Katharinenhof-bred NK Yasmin. Over the last few weeks, we have been talking about the Adnan daughters owned by Usamah. Which Adnan daughters you ask? Well, mares like NK Nada (out of Nashua) who produced horses for Usamah like Nooreddine Ezzain and Yasoob Ezzain. NK Yasmin is an Adnan daughter, bred a little differently from NK Nada. She is out of Dr. Nagel's premier mare, the beautiful and elite Helala (Salaa el Dine x Ansata Gloriana). NK Yasmin is a Dahmah Shahwaniyah by strain, tracing to the Bint Sabah family through Bukra. As a matter of fact, she has five Bukra lines in her pedigree and when bred to NK Qaswarah, her daughter, Ekramilbari Ezzain, has seven additional lines, for a total of twelve Bukra lines. That's a lot of Bukra, a lot of "prima stute", packed into one horse.
So, when I saw her pictures...I felt nothing. I really didn't like her, as much as I liked Hooreyah, Shamsilshmous, NK Nadeyrah and Dorrah. While I believe a good horse comes in any color: I am not really fond of black-colored horses (or so I think). Usamah loves Ekramilbari very much and I could tell from the sound of his voice, that she is special. I even asked myself, "Why?" I didn't understand. So, later, in a rare and quiet moment, free from a much too busy mind; I opened each picture and studied Ekramilbari. I wanted to see Ekramilbari, through the eyes of her breeder. And then, I don't know how it happened, I found this picture and suddenly, the world grew more still, more quiet and the picture of Ekramilbari started to magnify, right before my eyes. "Huh, what is this?" I asked myself. And suddenly,  I realized why Usamah feels the way he does about this mare. I love her very prominent forehead, which we know to call the jibbah. And while her eye does not appear to be as large as Shamsilshmous' eye, they are fully black with no white in them and the energy that radiates from them, tells me that Ekramilbari is a mare who is kind and loving. Notice the fineness in her muzzle and the quality of her skin, like the finest velvet, smooth and accentuating the bones and veins in her face. Together with her black coat color, Ekramilbari presents a very dramatic picture of the ideal desert mare. I also like her lovely, longer neck, so clean in her underline, which appears to be set higher on her chest. I believe this quality comes from the mare, Farida, who appears multiple times in her pedigree, possibly around ten times. In the horses influenced by Farida, I have noticed this more upright self-carriage, which is influenced by a higher set neck and a very strong, smooth and level topline. Farida horses are usually fancier-moving horses, like a jewel that catches the sun's rays to reflect the light and create an almost magical sparkle, for all to see. 
So, as I pulled away from the gas station, I watched this young man, be-bopping from one car to the next, inquiring how he could help a patron in what could be an insignificant, trivial moment. Little did he know, what an impact he had on my life today, an unexpected advisor, counseling me on the wisdom of jumping to conclusions and making unfair judgements.
EnJoy,
Ralph