Do you know the mare Daheda? Daheda was foaled in 1987 at Stonebridge Farms in Canada and is a daughter of the United States National Champion Futurity Colt, Dalul and out of the German mare, Nahed. Daheda has two lines to Anter, through Dalul's dam, *Dawlat and through Nahed's dam, Noosa, a Gharib daughter. However, what is exciting and connects this mare with the horses profiled recently, is her tail female line. Noosa's dam was Nadja, a daughter of Nefisa (Balance x Helwa). Nefisa not only produced Nadja, she also produced Bint Nefisaa by Nazeer, who went on to produce some really famous and much loved horses in our community: the stallion El Hilal and the mares Negmaa and Nourah by *Ansata Ibn Halima. By Mohssen, she produced the stallion Nefisaan and the mare, Moynese. By *Morafic, she produced the mare, Nama. And by the stallion Moftakhar, she produced the mare, Narjisa. Nefisa also produced the mare Bint Nefisa by El Sareei, who was imported by Richard Pritzlaff and produced stallions like Snowlion RSI and the mares Perfecta RSI by Monietor RSI and Alfisa RSI by Alcibiades. Nefisa also produced the mare Fayza, who when bred to Nazeer, produced the stallion Ramses Fayek. Nefisa also produced the mare Fatin, by Nazeer. Fatin produced the mare Jehan by Anter. Jehan produced daughters by Tuhotmos, Sultann, Ameer and Nasralla. She also produced sons by Seef and Sultann. So, the great-grandmother of Daheda, Nadja, is a full sister to these mares: Bint Nefisa, Bint Nefisaa, Fayza and Fatin. What a powerful family, when you stop to consider all of the horses that stem from this branch of the Dahman family!!!
Cathy Schaffer owned Daheda (and her daughter, Darada) at one time. She once shared in 2003:
"Daheda is an incredible mare...She is a sweet, gentle mare but does she love to show! Put her in front of people and she will snort and blow with motion that is so powerful (I believe that is her German lines showing) it really does knock your socks off."
Daheda was bred to Ali Valentino and produced the stallion, Ali Romeo. For her next three foals, Daheda was bred exclusively to the stallion, Thee Desperado, to produce the mare Ombre Rose, the stallion True Colours and the mare Darada. Had Daheda only produced True Colours, she would be remembered forever, for this stallion is EXCEPTIONAL. Bred by Fred Waring and foaled in 1997 at Source Arabians in Canada, by the time he reached maturity, the beauty and charisma of True Colours was confirmed and underscored in the show ring: Regional Champion Stallion (region 18), at the Egyptian Event (World Champion of 1997, Reserve Supreme Champion Stallion, Reserve Senior Champion Stallion) at the World Championships at the Salon du Cheval in Paris he was in the top five of the Elite Senior Stallions and World Champion for Most Beautiful Head. At the famous Scottsdale, Arizona Show, True Colours was named a Reserve Champion Stallion of 1996 and 1997.
WOW!
17 judges and an adoring public were mesmerized by a horse who exudes so much quality: in his type, in his structure and in his movement. It will be interesting to watch True Colours' influence grow as a sire, now that he is owned by Fontanella Magic Arabians in Italy and has access to some of Europe's finest Arabian mares.
As special as she is, Daheda is not an easy mare to breed and went from home-to-home, always with the hope that wherever she went, she would bless that owner with a foal, equivalent to the quality she produced in True Colours.
Alison Mehta of Talaria Farm is very partial to mares who carry the blood of Dalul, fairly close in their pedigree. Daheda, a daughter of the chestnut *Morafic son, has the good movement that Alison expects from this particular bloodline. Alison shared the following comment with me about Daheda:
"I think she is a very nice mare, although phenotypically, not exceptional (certainly not elegant nor exceptionally typey). However, she has a wonderful "round" profile, and is a fantastic blowy, snorty mover. I think True Colours' head definitely came from Thee Desperado--but his show-ring charisma and movement, he inherited from his dam, back to Dalul I would venture. Plus, he's not as 'angular' as many of the Thee Desperado horses, and Daheda definitely has a great rib-sprung body and substantial bone."Alison bred Botswana (who has one of the highest fertility rates that I know of) to Daheda and she settled three times, however, it was not meant to be, as she reabsorbed each pregancy by the third or fourth month. I am a little disappointed, as Botswana's tail female line goes back to Bint Nefisaa and it would have been really interesting, actually, it would have been EXCITING to produce a foal with a very concentrated source of Bint Nefisaa blood, with the added *Morafic and *Ansata Ibn Halima lines. Plus, we know that Thee Desperado was a good cross with Daheda, as evidenced by the three foals she produced. From Talaria, Daheda went to Texas, to the farm of Hank and Sandy DeShazer. The DeShazers had recently imported a young stallion from Qatar, Amaar Al Rayyan and after visiting Talaria, Hank had fallen in love with the mare and wanted to try and breed her by embryo transfer, to his new horse. The pedigree of this stallion is interesting, as it is a heavy Ansata pedigree, with Katharinenhof lines. A lot of Bukra and a lot of Hanan. Again, the DeShazers, after trying for a long time, were not any more successful than Alison Mehta of Talaria.
Daheda has finally found a place to call home, in Fredericksburg, Texas, USA, with Al and Judi Parks of Abbasiyah International. Al and Judi had the Ruminaja Ali son, RA Ali Halim at their farm. This stallion is a son of the *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter, Halima El Hamra. The tail female of this stallion is Moniet El Nefous. One of my favorite articles that Arabian Horse World published, was an article by Dr. Ibrahim Zaghloul about the Influential mares at the EAO. Moniet El Nefous was the first mare he named. I like the statement he made concerning Moniet El Nefous and 20 years later, his words still affect me deeply:"Moniet's soul was exposed through her kindly eyes and she was proof that the beauty of the universe is indeed 'unfolding as God meant it to'. Her loveliness transcended time."
What I like about this cross, is that we already know the success of combining Daheda with Ruminaja Ali, as we have her son, True Colours as proof. However, the interesting part for me are all the lines to Ibn Rabdan that come through this stallion, the majority of which come through Hamdan, one of the horses that Judi Forbis named as "the fabulous four". I really hoped that this cross would succeed in producing another stellar female replacement for Daheda. However, Al and Judi were not successful in flushing a viable embryo from Daheda. RA Ali Halim left the USA this past spring, for his new home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I really enjoyed what Judi said about Daheda:
"She is such a beautiful soul that I would love to just turn her out with a stallion and pray that Allah decides that she should have one more foal."
This is the really fun part of studying Egyptian Arabian Horses, even for a few seconds respite, away from the day-to-day worries over the ups and downs in the financial markets, the rising costs of almost everything we purchase, and the job security that is no longer as secure as we believed it was. It is a nice gift, to be able to enjoy such beautiful thoughts. And all because of a grey mare named Daheda and the legacy that she has built for all of us in the straight Egyptian Arabian community. When you meet a mare of this quality, well, you just spend a lot of time wishing that there were more of them. Enjoy your horses,
Ralph
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