12 October, 2008

KAMAR-OH!-LICIOUS

My heart started pumping quickly and every hair on my head was standing on end, when I saw these series of Imperial Al Kamar pictures taken by Christine Emmert, at one of the last Pyramid Society meetings, held at Imperial Egyptian Stud.

GOOSEBUMPS...do you know what they are?

"I got chills,
they're multiplying
and I'm losing control
'cause the power
you're supplying
IT'S ELECTRIFYING!"
-John Farrar, from the song, You're the One that I Want

I get them everytime I see one of these pictures. Which is a surprising feeling to experience, as I was not a fan of Imperial Al Kamar through most of his career at Imperial Egyptian Stud. I have to "come clean" and admit this to you, right here and now. I can't even tell you why I was not a fan of this horse. He is one of a few sons of the 1966 stallion, El Hilal (*Ansata Ibn Halima x *Bint Nefisaa) like Mohummed Sadden (out of Akid Fa Mona), Moon Sheine (out of Nafairtiti), RG Hilacious (out of Desert Song RSI), Carousel Hilal (out of Nora Halima) and VP Regal Heir (out of Bint Sammara). So, it is not like the community has an overabundance of El Hilal breeding. We don't. I did not have an opportunity to see El Hilal personally, while he was alive. I relied on second-hand information regarding his conformation and really, there were other horses born in El Hilal's time period, whom I was more attracted to than El Hilal. I also knew that Sheila Varian had tried to use him in her program, without much success. I was being unfair. I had made too many assumptions, which led me to incorrect conclusions about this horse. Maybe, just maybe, he was never bred to the right mare...that is, until Imperial Sonbesjul came along. In 2004, I had the opportunity to visit Imperial again and SUDDENLY came to the realization that every horse that captured my attention, the horses that I would buy, if I could afford to, were all sired by Kamar!!! So, what was I thinking about El Hilal again?????

WOW!!!!!!!!

Imperial Al Kamar is a grandson of *Serenity Sonbolah and I think this blog accurately conveys how I feel about this once-in-a-lifetime mare. For this reason alone, you would think that I would have felt differently about Imperial Al Kamar.

For lovers of the "Dahman" horse, Imperial Al Kamar has two crosses to *Ansata Ibn Halima in his pedigree.  *Sanaa (Hossny's dam) is a daughter of Yashmak (the dam of Rashad Ibn Nazeer), who is also a Sheikh El Arab daughter, as is Halima, the dam of *Ansata Ibn Halima. If you believe in "strain theory", Yashmak also brings in another source of the Kuhaylan Rodan strain, which is the tail female strain of Imperial Al Kamar. So, in this stallion, we have the very dominant presence of the Kuhaylan Rodans and in particular, the powerful Rodania family; balanced by the Dahman sire lines of not only Halima but also Farida (through *Bint Nefisa). The presence of Yashmak in Imperial Al Kamar's pedigree, combined with El Hilal, also brings in another interesting point to consider. El Hilal's grand-dam, Nefisa, produced another daughter by El Sareei, *Bint Nefisa, who was imported to America by Richard Pritzlaff. *Bint Nefisa, combined with the blood of the Yashmak son, Rashad Ibn Nazeer, produced many beautiful horses for the Pritzlaff breeding program, including the lovely mare, Perfecta RSI.

Imperial Al Kamar is 20 years old now. Hard to believe that this amount of time has passed so quickly. As a two year old, he appeared to be the next star in the Imperial show string, winning prizes wherever he was shown: the Egyptian Event, Region 15 championships, the Buckeye. However, it was not as a show horse that Imperial Al Kamar would receive the most acclaim; it was as a sire.

Going back to my Imperial visit in 2004, I met the young stallion, Imperial Amir Kamar (out of the Imperial Imdal daughter and *Fawkia tail female line mare, Imperial Falaah). I was captivated. This horse was everything that I ever wanted in one horse. There, in front of me, was the horse that galloped in my dreams, suddenly come to life, in flesh and bone. If Imperial Al Kamar had only sired this one horse, for me, he would remain an astounding sire but he sired so many more horses.

"Four, tres, two, uno
Listen up ya'll cuz this is it
the beat that I'm bangin' is de-li-cious"-
Fergie, from her song, Fergielicious

I believe that Imperial Al Kamar nicked especially well with two Imperial mares: the Orashan daughter, BB Ora Kalilah, who produced by Imperial Al Kamar: Imperial Bint Kalilah, Imperial Kaleen, Imperial Kabisah and Imperial Kambriah. My favorite of these mares was Kaleen, because when she was bred to *Ibn Safinaz, she produced the mare Imperial Sahleen (who eventually, when bred to Baarez, produced my favorite filly, Imperial Baalena). Which segways me into the other mare, Imperial Mistilll. With Mistilll, Imperial Al Kamar sired the most famous of his sons, the stallion, Imperial Kamill. This stallion was owned up until recently by Donald Duke of England. However, with the Mistill daughter (sired by *Ibn Safinaz) Imperial Safilla, Imperial Al Kamar sired the young mare, Imperial Karee, who is a gorgeous mare. With the Mistilll daughter (sired by Baarez), Imperial Baarilla, Imperial Al Kamar has sired the young mares, Imperial Kabaarah and Imperial Kahleedah. And again, another "seqway" in this article, as the Imperial Al Kamar sired offspring appears to nick well with the blood of *Ibn Safinaz and Imperial Baarez. Some of the best horses that I have seen anywhere, result from this blend of bloodlines.

Imperial Al Kamar is now owned by Jody Cruz of Rancho Bulakenyo and perhaps, this will be the most exciting chapter of this amazing stallion's life. It's like waiting for the next sequel in the Harry Potter film series. You know that it is going to be good, you just don't know how great its going to actually be. However, one thing is for certain, the results are going to be

KAMARLICIOUS!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy your horses,
Ralph

10 October, 2008

Willi Schultheis and an Arabian Horse





"Yes, that is Willi Schultheis on Khofo++. Still remember Willie saying 'tomorrow he will be so tired' after a hard work out. Well Khofo++ would lie down and rest and the next day, came out even stronger. This is when he earned Schultheis' respect and love."-Hansi Heck-Melnyk

Who is Willi Schultheis, you might ask?

I recently read a book, written by Britta Schoffmann, about Klaus Balkenhol. It is a wonderful book, as the reader becomes better acquainted with Klaus Balkenhol and his training philosophy. While I already understood that Klaus Balkenhol is the coach for the United States Dressage team and long time trainer of Nadine Cappelman, there is so much more to Klaus Balkenhol that I did not know. For less than $20 US, you can find the book on Amazon.com and I eagerly recommend it for you to read. You will love it, as I did.

So, who is Willi Schutheis and what has Klaus Balkenhol got to do with it?

In the mid-1970's, Klaus Balkenhol received special permission to take his horse, Rabauke, to Warendorf, so that he could participate in a riding clinic with Willi Schultheis. At the time, Willi Schultheis was the German team coach. Klaus Balkenhol, although familiar with the reputation of Willi Schultheis and his authority over the riding sports in Germany, had never met the man before. Klaus Balkenhol rode Rabauke through a series of movements, including one tempi changes, passage and piaffe, to a silent Schultheis, who watched his every move carefully. After Klaus Balkenhol dismounted, Schultheis asked to ride his horse. As he handed the reins back to Balkenhol, Schultheis uttered one word: "Compliments".

WOW.

Klaus Balkenhol was primarily a self-taught rider, with no formal training. He was virtually unknown, up until this point. He was a mounted police officer in Dusseldorf. Schultheis, who had been skeptical of the police officer's ability, was impressed with his riding and training and considered him one of Germany's best riders. Schultheis was very instrumental in Balkenhol's career, using every opportunity he had available, to promote Balkenhol. He pushed him into competition at the German Championships and other shows. By 1979, Balkenhol's horse, Rabauke was the most successful dressage horse in the world.

Willi Schultheis never personally competed in the Olympics, however, from 1974 - 1979, he coached the German Dressage Team to Olympic Gold, to world championships two times and to three time European champions. Under his leadership, Warendorf, became a world center for the sport of Dressage. Prior to his tenure with the German team, Willi Schultheis coached the Canadian team through two Olympic games, from the late 60's to the early 70's. So, in understanding the background of Willi Schultheis and the enormous influence he had over the sport of dressage; I found it amazing to see him sitting on the stallion, Khofo+++ (*Morafic x *Nabilahh). I actually get goose-bumps just thinking about it. Maybe in the time period of Willi Schultheis, people were more open-minded regarding horse breeds and with proper and careful training, any horse, regardless of breed could accomplish anything. There are so many other things to notice in the picture, i.e. notice that Willi Schultheis is smiling, notice that he has the reins in one hand, notice how relaxed, yet alert *Khofo+++ is? I wonder what Willi Schultheis really thought of *Khofo+++? I wonder what he thought of all Arabian Horses, with regard to their ability to be competitive in the sport of dressage? I bet he thought that these horses, like all horses, could do anything their riders asked them to do, with proper training and careful development of the horse's body and spirit.

Enjoy your horses,
Ralph