The Story of Shaheeb

Shaheeb (Ansata El Sherif x  *Waheeba) as photographed by Jerry Sparagowski 

Foaled in January 1975, Shaheeb, a straight Egyptian stallion, offered breeders a unique pedigree, as bred by El Sherif Arabians. His dam, *Waheeba, an EAO mare imported in 1970, was a complete outcross to Ansata El Sherif, a combination of blood that you just didn't find so easily in the eighties.  What's really interesting about the EAO-bred mare, *Waheeba, is the absence of Nazeer in her pedigree, not a single drop. Nada. While Ansata El Sherif is double Nazeer, approx 25%, *Waheeba has Nasralla, Balance, Shahloul, El Sareei, Sid Abouhom, Ibn Rabdan as the sires in the first 5 generations of her pedigree. If anything, *Waheeba shares common ground via the sires of the foundational broodmares in Ansata El Sherif's pedigree, i.e. Sheikh El Arab, the sire of Halima and Rouda, the maternal granddam of Zebeda and Shahloul, the sire of Bukra and El Sareei.

In the May 1981 issue of Arabian Horse World, Rubio Arabians in Ukiah, California offerred the then 6-year old stallion for sale. Not only was he a proven breeding stallion; he was also trained as an English saddle horse.

In the records that I have available to me, he sired the following horses:

• Sheba Shareei, a 1989 bay mare, out of Monshareei, a Shah Nishan+ grandaughter,  out of a Gainey bred mare
• Sultans Kasadd, a 1990 grey stallion, out of AK Mohra
• Eraf Rafeek,  a 1991 black stallion, out of AKMarnah
• Eraf Shahkar, a 1991 grey stallion, out of Al Tahara

While Sheba Shareei produced a son in 1997, sired by a Prince Ibn Shaikh son, he was gelded and this line did not continue further. The 3 sons also do not appear to have sired any get, as Al Khamsa does not record any descendants.

It's bittersweet to discover horses like Shaheeb and wonder over the impact that these horses might have exerted, if only the opportunities extended to them were a little broader.

Ansata El Sherif

"El Sherif  was a very classic, short-coupled stallion with a beautiful short face and large dark eyes." - Judith Forbis, his breeder

Some photos, like this Polly Knoll photo of *Ansata El Sherif, are deeply etched in my memory, never to forget. It's a favorite, as was the trend to photograph these horses portrait-style, against a dark background. No matter how many years may pass, one look and I immediately remember that long-ago summer day at Bentwood, meeting horses that I never believed I would meet in my lifetime. 

Ansata Rhodora

Ansata El Sherif, an *Ansata Ibn Halima son out of *Ansata Bint Bukra, was a full brother to Ansata Rhodora. As a young colt, he was sold to Dr. Clarence Hardin and his wife, Daisy of Placerville, California. Do you know that the Hardins loved Ansata El Sherif so much, they named their farm after him, El Sherif Arabians? Ansata El Sherif spent most of his life with the Hardins. He was purchased as a mature horse by Bentwood Farm. 

Do you know that "El Sherif" is more like a title or surname and less like a first name? Think of the word "El" as the Arabic equivalent of the determiner, "The" and "Sharif" as "Honorable", "Distinguished" or even, "Noble". 

Cynthia Culbertson, a beloved author, historian, straight Egyptian breeder and former Pyramid Society President, once said of Ansata El Sherif, 
"He was quite a 'fairytale' type of white stallion -- very true to his Dahman strain, compact with a lovely head and eye."

Overall, in terms of a particular horse who combined the best qualities of Bukra with the best qualities of *Ansata Ibn Halima; Ansata El Sherif was that beautiful horse. His strong topline, short-coupling, well-sprung ribs and generous heart girth enabled Ansata El Sherif to enjoy an athletic career. There was not much that this champion horse could and would not do. He was talented under saddle, winning many prizes in Native Costume, English Pleasure and Western Pleasure. Unfotunately, in the time period that Ansata El Sherif lived, there was more demand for straight Egyptian mares, than actual mares to purchase. Despite the short supply of Egyptian mares, Ansata El Sherif did cover Egyptian mares but he was popular with non-SE breeders too, as he crossed well with mares of all bloodlines but in particular, mares of Spanish blood. He sired approximately 167 purebred Arabian Horses who in turn, have produced grand-progeny that are spectacular too.

Something About Nazeer

1st Nazeer portrait by Gladys Brown Edwards

Gladys Brown Edwards, a much beloved and respected artist, author and breed historian  painted a portrait of Nazeer, selected as the cover of the 1972 December issue of Arabian Horse World. The original painting was owned at one time, by the late straight Egyptian breeder, Robert E. Cowling. 

2nd Nazeer portrait by Gladys Brown Edwards

Almost 10 years later, Gladys Brown Edwards painted a second portrait of Nazeer, one in a series of 7 paintings she created for the Arabian Horse Association of Southern California, in recognition of her 50+ year career with the Arabian horse breed. 

Nazeer, a masculine name of Arabic origin signifies vigilance, wisdom and guidance, qualities most often attributed to a prophet. While Nazeer, as a living, breathing individual was before my time (he was foaled in 1934); paintings, like the GBE portraits and photos of Nazeer were a good introduction to him. Still, I wish that I had the opportunity to see Nazeer in real life, to stand in front of me, in all his magnificence, as he had for people like Dr. Hans Nagel and Judith Forbis. In all the photos I have seen, I never got the sense that Nazeer was smaller in stature, approximately 14.2 hands. Maybe his significance in straight Egyptian breeding created a "larger-than-life" impression that also carried over to his physicality? 

Do you also know that Nazeer was more than 12 years old, when General Tibor Pettko von Szandtner found him at a private racing stable and brought him to the EAO for breeding? 

In his wonderful book, Hanan-The Story of an Arabian Mare and of the Arabian Breed, Dr. Hans Joachim Nagel wonders why it took so long for someone to recognize Nazeer's value and include Nazeer within the EAO breeding program. Not only were his hocks poor, Nazeer had uneven front hoofs. Could this be the reason?  Dr. Nagel explains that Nazeer's neck was shorter in length than normal and in order to graze, he had to spread his front legs apart, the left front leg placed behind, while the right front leg was placed forward.  While the right front hoof remained flat on the ground; greater weight was borne by the tip of the left front hoof, giving the heel room to grow. As a consequence of this behavior, Dr. Nagel explained, a club foot develops.  So it is important to state that the club foot in Nazeer's case occurred as a behavioral defect, rather than a hereditary defect he can pass onto his get. 

I've owned the Hanan book for many years and have read it several times. It's one of my favorite books and I am sure it is yours too and if you don't own a copy, I strongly encourage you to look online for an available copy.

SYMPATHETIC

The Real McCoy++ (Aarief x Fersara)

There is just something about this photo that gets me. I mean, it really gets me, straight in the heart and all the way up to the back of my throat. I'm not a sissy but this photo pushes every emotional button I've got and yet, the very words to describe what I see and feel, escapes me. That is, until I turn to Carl Raswan for help. 

"The indwelling gentle spirit of Arabian horses finds expression in their intelligent, sympathetic features, the glory of their beautiful countenance and in their soulful eyes."  

Raswan uses the term "sympathetic" to describe the countenance of an Arabian horse, which includes their "soulful eyes." Dear reader, how many times have you read or heard another person express that the horse's eyes were like windows to its soul? A friend of mine, whose opinion I not only trust but also, value, said that Raswan was "bat-shit" crazy. Well, Raswan gets me and if that speaks to my level of mental health, well, I do like bats.

The intelligent, sympathetic features that Raswan refers to are the physical manifestations, the tangibles, those characteristics that support the intangible traits that speak of an emotional depth, unique to the breed. For example, the structure of the Arabian horse's face, which includes the large, dark, luminous eye project wisdom and serenity. A chiseled, concave profile, elastic nostrils which grow in size and shape, sharp, curved-inward ears, attentive to their surroundings and a small, delicate muzzle all work together to enable a wide range of facial expressions. Sympathetic features also suggest an emotionally-aware being, who is highly perceptive and able to read human emotion. When we are at our worst, an Arabian horse will look at you with understanding, empathy and kindness. The horse's desire is for a relationship which reciprocates kindness, cooperation, willingness and trust.

It's like a paradox of sorts because in the greater, all-breed, all-discipline equestrian world; sympathetic features usually refer to the physical and emotional signs we associate with the nervous system and the part of the brain which responds to fear and stress, via a fight-or-flight response. For a breed of horse long-recognized as "hot-blooded" or even, "spirited," much of what I am saying about sympathetic features does not correlate with most people's misunderstanding of the Arabian breed. And yet, sympathetic features are what we know to be truthful about the breed because we live those features every day. Love your breed more by refraining from the trash talk on social media and start spreading the gospel truth about what Raswan calls an "indwelling gentle spirit." Anything less is really bat-shit crazy!

*Fortun

*Fortun (Ibn Bint Inas x Ruala Farha

*Fortun, sired by the Babolna-bred Halim Shah-3 (Ansata Halim Shah x Bint Inas), out of the Dr. Piduch-bred mare, Ruala Farha (Golmoud Al Ahmar x Ruala Farida), was a most interesting horse for several reasons, not the least being the longer length of his muscled forearm, as compared/contrasted to the shorter length of his cannons. Oh my!  He's double Bint Inas (Gassir x Inas) approximately 31.25% of the genetic influence in the pedigree comes from this mare and therefore, intensifies the impact of all of her ancestors including her granddam, the extraordinary *Ghazalahh,  a 1951 grey mare bred by the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS),  who was sired by Mashhour (Shahloul x Bint Rustem) and out of Bint Farida (Mansour x Farida). The matriline runs back to the Ali Pasha Sherif-bred mare, El Dahma. If we believe, as the Bedouin believed, that the maternal line imparts the most influence upon the foal, then Bint Inas' maternal great-great granddam, Farida (Saklawi II x Nadra el Saghira), exerts the most influence upon *Ghazalahh, Bint Inas' granddam. In his book titled, Arabian Horses of El Zahraa, Dr. Erwin A. Piduch, the breeder of *Fortun wrote, 

"Probably the doubling of El Dahma combined with Dahman El Azrak is responsible for the superior quality of the Farida family." 

Ansata Halim Shah, (the sire of Halim Shah-3 and the paternal grandsire of *Fortun), is an *Ansata Ibn Halima son. The mare Ragia, a Farida daughter by  Ibn Rabdan is the maternal granddam of *Ansata Ibn Halima. So, in *Fortun's pedigree, via this additional line, we find the genetic influence of Farida tripled!

*Fortun's dam, Ruala Farha, is an interesting mix of Hadban (Galal, Farasha, Nazeer, Sherifa) and Saqlawi strain horses (*Morafic, Hamdan, Sameh). For outcross purposes, we find the Tahawy-bred Folla and the Kuhaylah Rodaniyah, Amani, as well as the Abeyyan, *Ibn Hafiza. However, I found it clever how the Bint Inas daughter Isis, by Galal, connects the dam side of the pedigree with the same bloodlines on the sire side.

*Fortun was purchased and exported to America by Kimberly McGill, Azda Arabians, Florida. In the records that I have available to me, it appears that *Fortun sired the full siblings, Selim Al Majdi, a grey stallion in 2008 and Ozma BintBahiyaAlNour, a 2011 grey mare. Both horses are out of Bahiya Al Nour, an Imperial Al Kamar daughter out of Almaas Al Sabah (Prince Fa Moniet x Ansata Asmarra). The small number of offspring reminds me that *Ghazalahh, was also not prolific in her breeding career. Bred to Sid Abouhom, she produced Bint Ghazalahh in 1959 and in 1961, she produced Inas in 1961. She had no other progeny beyond her 2 daughters. It is interesting, even in a small way, to witness how history repeats itself.

A Fistful of Bicentennial Quarters

Monadena (*Ibn Moniet el Nefous x Bint Fa Dena), 1976 mare. Bred by Bentwood Farm and owned by Paul & Delma Cotney. Photo by the late Polly Knoll.

 In the Bint Fa Dena blog, I wrote the following:

Like her dam, Bint Fa Dena would find her way to Jarrell McCracken, who bred the mare exclusively to *Ibn Moniet el Nefous, producing a lovely mare named Monadena

Monadena, a rosewater (fleabitten) grey mare, was foaled in 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial, 200 years since the founding of our great nation. Do you remember the special quarter? Monadena was  eventually sold to Paul & Delma Cotney, Wedgewood Farm, Oklahoma City. 

Halim El Nefous

What is really interesting is that the Cotneys bred Monadena to *Ansata Ibn Halima, her maternal grandsire (*Ansata Ibn Halima was the sire of Bint Fa Dena), producing the bay stallion Halim El Nefous in 1980 and his grey full sister, Halimas Legacy in 1982. The percentage of *Ansata Ibn Halima's genetic influence (62.5 %) in these 2 full siblings is a higher percentage than the numerical value (50%) most usually assigned to a sire. 

Halim El Nefous became an important sire for the Cotneys, and later, for Sherry Moseley of Sherbrook Egyptian Stud. Halim El Nefous' lifetime total equals a little less than 80 horses to his credit. What I also found interesting is the bay coat color of Halim El Nefous. When I visited Bentwood Farm in the late eighties, my goal was to see as many of the Babson/IMEN crosses as possible. I already loved the Babson/Halima cross and was interested to see for myself how similar or how different the crosses were from one another. 

Monadena (*Ibn Moniet El Nefous x Bint Fa Dena) at liberty, photographed by the late Johnny Johnston

Some might have complained that the IMEN crosses produced horses who were too chunky but I appreciated their rubinesque-style bodies. Comprised of 3-equal sized circles, much of the body mass was packed within each circle, until the circle could not hold any more mass. The mares were voluptuous and really unforgettable, as they grazed quietly within each field. 

The majority of the Babson/Imen crosses were grey horses. Maybe one or two chestnuts, but for the most part, the mares were visions in white. That's why Halim El Nefous sticks out, he was not grey, he was a bright bay! In his matriline, through the mare Fa Dena (his maternal great-granddam), he traces to *Bint Serra I twice, through Fa-Serr and Fa Deene. But Halim El Nefous also has lines to 6 other bay colored horses, within the first 5 generations of his pedigree: Halima (twice), Bint Samiha (thrice), Kazmeen (twice), Sotamm, *Kasima, Bint Sabah. If you are a believer of coat color predicting the genetic influence of a key individual, then Bint Samiha, Halima and Kazmeen, all of whom appear in multiple lines, would be the horses whose influence I would carefully study.

*Ansata Ibn Halima died in September 1981, leaving the Cotneys to find another stallion who would complement Monadena as well as * Ansata Ibn Halima did. For her next 3 foals, Monadena was bred to Shaikh Al Badi (Eskada Shadeek, 1984 grey stallion) and twice to Ruminaja Ali (Eskada Alicia, 1986 chestnut mare & Eskada Anastasia, 1987 grey mare). I don't believe that she produced any more foals, beyond 1987. Here we are, 50 years since celebrating the American Bicentennial and the birth of this beautiful mare. Today, as we are on the doorstep of the new year and therefore, about to celebrate our 250th anniversary; it's amazing really, to consider that her 5 foals have multiplied to imclude 422 descendants, per Al Khamsa's pedigree roster.

***HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026***

***HAPPY 250TH BIRTHDAY AMERICA***

Are you interested in learning more about the Fa Dena family of horses (see below listed blog links):

• Daaldan
• Fa Daalim & Fabo
• Fa Adorah Mia
• AK Dantilla
• AK El Hassan
• AK El Sennari
• Bint Fa Dena

2025: The Year That Was

NK Hamza (NK Kamar El Dine x Andorra Bint Asfoura), Sandra Stahl photo

Before I get too deep in reporting all the end-of-year statistics, I wanted to highlight the major difference between 2024 and 2025. Last year, there were 30 blogs published, this year there are 80 blogs (including this one). Of this number, 69 were brand new blogs for 2025, never published previously. The first quarter of 2025 was the busiest, 44% of the blogs written and published in 2025 were published in the first 3 months of the year, with March seeing the most blogs ever published within a single month, 13! Believe it or not, the total of 35 blogs in the first 3 months of 2025 is 5 more blogs than I had written in all of 2024!  In return, you clicked on the blog 90,000 times this year! 90,000! The breakdown of the top page views by country are as follows:

1. United States - 31,000
2. Singapore - 11,000
3. Brazil - 9,000
4. Hong Kong - 7,000
5. Vietnam - 4,000
6. Germany - 2,500
7. China - 1,600
8. India - 1,600
9. UK - 1,200
10. Israel - 1,000

I am so grateful to you, dear readers! Your readership encourages me to keep writing, especially on those days when my motivation is almost non-existant! 

Do you know that more of the page visits were made by readers using a Windows computer, on Google's Chrome browser, as compared to the Apple platform and Safari browsers or even Android cell phones! Including the 80 blogs I added in 2025, there are now 621 total blogs available for you to read (check the Blog Archive, located in the sidebar on the right hand side of the web version of the home page). Despite an increased level of publishing activity this year, I dropped to #6 in Feedspot's list of top Arabian Horse Blogs (last year, the blog was #5 on the list)!  

So, what were your favorite blogs this year? The 10 most popular blogs of 2025, across the world, are:

1. The Straight Babson Egyptian Arabian Horse 
2. The Tamria Story
3. AK El Sennari 
4. Dr. Ibrahim Zaghloul 
5. A Fascinating Son: *Ibn Safinaz 1981 - 2008
6. Bedouin Beauty: Jibbah
7. Catalyst
8. Carl Raswan
9. Gazal Al Shaqab
10. Prince Hallany++

Another difference, as compared to last year, is that more of the newly published blogs made it into your top ten list of favorites: #3, #7, #9 and #10! If you will remember, last year, only one of the new for 2024 blogs made it into the top ten!

Honorable mentions? The following list represents the blogs you liked, but not as much as the blogs listed in the top ten. These are the blogs which ranked 11th through 20th, also by page views:

11. Portrait of a King

12. Tammenaa MH

13. He's Gone

14. The Raswan Summer Challenge

15. The Memory of a Bright Soul

16. The Tale of the Golden Stallion

17. Aana, Raswan & John Rogers

18. 1982

19. There Once was a Stallion Named Antar

20. Bint El Bahreyn

This second tier of the top ten is an interesting mix of old and new blogs; the *Tuhotmos and Antar blogs, given a "tweak" here and there, are almost 20 years old! The Story about Antez and W.K. Kellogg, new for 2025, was fun to write, while affording the opportunity to learn a little more about the man named Kellogg, and what was important to him, as he became more involved with the Arabian horse. 

In early spring, I accidentally stumbled upon a photo of the 2011 straight Egyptian stallion, NK Hamza, by NK Kamar El Dine and out of the 2001 Adnan daughter, Andorra Bint Asfoura. A most photogenic individual, I was mesmerized by the horse's beauty. With a profuse forelock and  a red chestnut coat; finding his photo, exchanging messages with his owner, Sabine Klee  who sent even more photos, remains a highlight of 2025. I hope my blog conveys to you dear reader, what a magnificent horse, NK Hamza really is.

Foaled in 1995, Gazal Al Shaqab was the beautiful, more exquisite horse that Al Shaqab had desired to produce, when they purchased Kajora, already in foal to Anaza El Farid (Ruminaja Ali x Bint Deena). Michael Byatt explained that he wanted to take all the great qualities that Kajora had and breed her to a straight Egyptian stallion to produce a more exotic horse that was not only pretty but athletic, a horse that would offer a little bit of everything to breeders. I hope this blog will help you dear reader understand the influence that this particular stallion has exerted within our Arabian Horse community.

Who is *Ansata Ibn Halima+? The legendary straight Egyptian stallion, imported from Egypt by Don and Judi Forbis, was foaled in 1958, sired by Nazeer and out of Halima, a bay Sheikh el Arab daughter out of Ragia (Ibn Rabdan x Farida). Hermann Marsian, shared a long ago photo of *Ansata Ibn Halima. I had never seen this photo before and it definitely was a surprise to find this year.

Long before the Polish State Studs started to incorporate straight Egyptian stallions like Laheeb, the Tersk Stud, through the use of the EAO stallions, Nil and Aswan, had already realized the benefits of using Egyptian bloodlines in its breeding program. In April of 1971, approximately 5 years or so into Aswan's tenure at Tersk, *Mars, an Aswan son out of *Magnolia, was foaled at the stud. This particular cross was so successful, it was repeated several times, yielding, among other horses, the full brothers *Magnificent, an AERC endurance champion and the Dutch National Champion stallion, *Mag, both stallions were eventually exported to America.

This year, I was able to find again a particular photo of Ansata Abbas Pasha, taken by the late Johnny Johnston. Like the Halima photo, some may say that it is not a very flattering photo of Ansata Abbas Pasha and while that may be true, for me, it is how I remember him, when I stood in front of his stall at Bentwood, all those years ago. The enchantment  blog I wrote about him is an old one, possibly one of the very first blogs I authored, almost 20 years ago. It's a little different now, the "tweaks" I made to the blog were inspired by the "new" photo that I found. Along with the discovery of NK Hamza and the rearing photo of *Ansata Ibn Halima, finding Ansata Abbas Pasha's photo again was a highlight this year.

And there, you have it, a highlight of what I believe to be, were the more memorable stories of 2025 (and the most fun to write) but don't take my word for it, there are over 600 more stories in the archive, some of the blogs will celebrate 20 years in 2026! 

In closing, I am compelled to express my gratitude once again to you, dear readers, because you are the reason for why this blog exists. I hope that each blog I write will continue to inspire you with a desire to learn more about Arabian horses. And if along the way you receive equal helpings of some good old-fashioned awe and wonder, then all my efforts and sacrifices will have been worth it, all for the love of an Arabian horse. 

 Happy New Year 2026!