12 May, 2014

Farrada


Farrada is a 1986 stallion bred and owned by Marge Rose Klasek. He is a son of Ibn Farah and out of Princess Parada. His tail female is to Dajania, a mare bred by Mohammed Pascha, a Turcoman Chief and  imported by the Blunts in 1878. His pedigree is representative of multiple crosses of the Crabbet-bred stallion, *Raffles with older desert-bred lines like the Davenport horse *Hamrah and the Hamidie Society war mare, *Wadduda. But really, it is not fair to just mention *Raffles, as this horse was a son of Skowronek and combined with the other Skowronek sired get in the pedigree like Raseyn; Farrada has approximately 55 lines to Skowronek! Closer up, you can spot names of the superstars of our breed like Ferzon, Indraff, Azraff, Gai Parada, Dunes, Gamaar, all horses who are representative of the golden era of Arabian horse breeding and showing in the United States of America. This was the time period of breeders like Frank McCoy, Dan Gainey, Jimmie Dean and Bazy Tankersley.
Farrada presents an extraordinary picture of ultimate Arabian horse type, embodying the unique characteristics that are recognized and cherished as hallmarks of the breed. At first glance, one is overwhelmed with the overall balance of this horse. Then, it would have to be the scope this horse presents in all of his 15 hands. He is impressive. His breeder says, "Everyone goes nuts when they see him in person.  He is not that big but throws size. He is a rare CMK stallion and a classic Arabian type. . He doesn't act or look his age and still gets excited when his daughter comes in heat. Would love to see more babies by him."
A closer look at this horse and it is in the details, that one finds abounding elegance and grace. The pigmentation of Farrada's skin is amazing. His skin is jet black with no pink spots and serves a dramatic contrast to his sparkling white coat. The quality of his skin is so amazingly thin, that it accentuates the prominence of the bones in his face, as well as the veins.
His eyes are of a very nice shape, larger, fully black, set lower in the head with so much width between them. The width of the facial crest bone is also very wide. This is the area below the eye and right the jowl. The Bedouin believed that the wider this flat area is, the more authentic the horse. His nostrils are elastic, clean and of a beautiful shape. His ears are short with a beautiful shape, ending in sharp points.  His neck is beautiful, with much length and set well on his powerful shoulders, connecting with the head to form a fine mitbah. It reminds me of a Homer Davenport quotation, "The neck is a model of strength and forms a perfect arch that matches the arch of the tail."
When I look at Farrada's pictures, I am reminded of what Jimmie Dean once said about Dan Gainey's breeding program, "He established quality and refinement as the Gainey trademark. He fixed a type." In Farrada, those words, said so long ago, ring true. He is a living celebration of all the treasured qualities one can find in the Gainey-bred horse.