*Simeon Sachi

*Simeon Sachi is an Asfour son (Malik x Hanan) out of Simeon Sheba (Ra'adin Royal Star x 27 Ibn Galal V). He was bred by Marion Richmond, of Simeon Stud in Australia and purchased by Anne-Louise Toner of Al Atiq Arabians in Maryland, USA. I liked the combination of bloodlines in Sachi's pedigree, blending EAO blood with Katharinenhof, Babolna, Babson and Sirecho bloodlines. Alaa el Din, Bukra, Hamdan, Yosreia and her daughter, Farasha...all the horses that I love, were here, in one pedigree. I focused on the Babson mare Allah Ateyyah, an Ar-Ra'ad daughter (Faaris x Dahma Al Zarka) out of the Fay-el-Dine daughter, Khamsa, who when bred to Sireff (Fa-Serr x Sirefa), produced the mare Ra'adin Hilal. Bred to *Tuhotmos, she produced a chestnut beauty, Om Khamsa. All of these wonderful old-time horses were part of Sachi's pedigree.

I will never forget meeting Sachi, as he was a wonderful surprise, unexpectedly more typey in person, than in any picture I had seen of him. As Anne-Louise slid open the stall door, I was greeted by a most beautiful, short, wide head, with large, elastic nostrils already working overtime. Crowning the top of his head were smaller, sharp, tippy ears. Huge jowls, looking like they had been chiseled out of the finest marble, were placed on each side of his head, leaving enough room for an extra-large man's fist to fit in the throatlatch comfortably. His eyes were big, round, black and so shiny, they sparkled like fine jewels. "This is Sachi?" I remember asking Anne-Louise. And she smiled. 

THIS IS REALLY SACHI???

Sachi's personality was child-like, as he was friendly, very inquisitive and curious about people, underscoring the breed's history of intimate closeness with man. He wanted to know who I was. As we haltered him and snapped the lead chain and started our walk to an outside ring, I looked over his body, which was smooth, short-coupled, with a nice angle to his shoulder, well sprung ribs and a very round, full, well-muscled hindquarter. His legs were beautiful, with a nice ratio of forearm-to-cannons and lovely pasterns, which suggested to me that this horse would do extremely well in some type of performance discipline. He was a most correct horse and strong. When Anne-Louise let him loose and he started trotting across the diagonal, I could not believe the extended trot I was witnessing. The angle of the shoulder that I had just admired, allowed this horse an incredible freedom, resulting in a powerfully floating gait, which literally ate up the ground in front of him.

I haven't seen Sachi since this day, almost 7 -8 years ago. I wondered how he had matured and if he looked like any one of the other Asfour sons who I also admire like Simeon Stav, Simeon Sharav, Simeon Sadik and Simeon Safsal. I wrote to Anne-Louise and asked for a recent photo of Sachi and when I opened the file, I smiled. Everything that I once loved about this horse and wanted to capture for my own, is still here, alive and well in this magnificent horse.

EnJOY,

Ralph