BROWN GIRL

In the mid-60's,  when *Ansata Ibn Halima was already 6-years old,  he went to Gleannloch Farms to be shown by Tom & Rhita McNair and also,  to breed the mares that the Marshalls had already imported,  before *Morafic arrived in America. In Judith Forbis' charming book called The Gift, she speaks of the relationship that *Ansata Ibn Halima shared with *Bint Maisa El Saghira (Nazeer x Maisa), "My favorite traveling companion was Bint Maisa El Saghira, who often told me to calm down and relax. She became a very stabilizing influence during my show career. A tall bay mare beloved for her beauty and charm, she won admirers wherever she went. She too collected many halter championships as well as performance championships in English pleasure. Together we were wonderful ambassadors for the Egyptian Arabian horse because we were kind, handsome and athletic.Truly we blazed the trail for others to follow."  Dahmah Shawaniah is the result of the affection that both horses shared for each other. I don't think a greater love story exists in any breed, let alone the Arabian breed, across all bloodlines.  Like her parents, Dahmah Shahwaniah was a very sweet mare. I met her at Bentwood, well before the dispersal of the horses through the Sotheby sale, when she was sold to Count Federico. An aged mare at the time I met her, she was still a pretty mare and one of my favorites at Bentwood, not so much for how she looked; she had one of the best temperaments that I had encountered, in any horse, up until that point in my life. I will never forget how excited I felt to actually meet a living daughter of *Bint Maisa El Saghira, one of my most favorite Egyptian mares. Dahmah Shahwaniah is as close as I ever got to *Bint Maisa El Saghira.

Dahmah Shahwaniah was physically, very Dahman in her appearance. I always believed that Dahmah Shahwaniah should have been bred to one of the best Dahman Horses of our time, Ansata Halim Shah, who was so superb, so typey and so harmonious. However, I think that in the recent past, the decisions that were made for breeding Egyptian horses did not take into account how the individuals complemented each other or for the resulting quality they would produce together; as it was for producing a horse with "big name parents" who could bring a good sales dollar or what did they call "it" in those days?

ROI:  RETURN ON INVESTMENT.

During this visit to Bentwood, having also met Prince Fa Moniet for the first time and many of The Egyptian Prince daughters; I became impressed over The Egyptian Prince's siring ability. The Egyptian Prince was out of *Bint Mona, *Morafic's full sister in blood. It made sense to blend the blood of Dahmah Shahwaniah with the blood of a concentrated Saklawi horse, like The Egyptian Prince, especially because her dam, when bred to *Morafic, produced the influential stallions Shaikh Al Badi and Amaal, as well as the mares Radia, Nafairtiti and Rihahna. So, Dahmah Shahwaniah was also bred to *Morafic, producing the stallion, Shahid, as well as to the other popular Saklawi-strain horses of the day like *Ibn Moniet El Nefous, (AK Shah Moniet) and the *Ibn Moniet El Nefous son, Moniet El Sharaf (AK Salima Sharaf). However, as great as these horses were,  it would be TheEgyptianPrince who would nick well with Dahmah Shahwaniah, producing what my friend Oliver Wibihal called "Dahmah Shahwaniah's masterpiece" - AK Nawaal. Her German-born son by Maysoun, Authentic Ibn Nawaal,  bred by Rosi Kolster, was recently purchased from Al Waab Stud and imported to the United States. He's a fabulous horse, a "total package" having won in 2000, the Reserve Junior Champion Colt at the International Cup in St. Poelten, the Junior Championship at the German Nationals in 2002 and a gold medal at the annual Stallion Show, completing the performance part of the German Stallion Show. It is important to mention that Dahmah Shahwaniah was then bred a second time to TheEgyptianPrince, producing a full sister to AK Nawaal named Dahmah Reshan. 

Dahmah Shahwaniah was bred twice to *Ibn Hafiza producing two bay colts: Ibn Dahmahn and Almawardy. She was bred to *Sakr and produced the colt, Dar Al Salam. Dahmah Shahwaniah was bred to another father and son, her maternal brother Shaikh Al Badi, producing a popular colt named AK Ishmael and Ruminaja Ali's full brother, the stallion named Ruminaja Bahjat, producong a bay mare by the name of ZT Bahshahwaniah, a prolific broodmare who has produced a number of daughters.

Although her children may not have all been consistently magnificent in their phenotype, the legacy of Dahmah Shahwaniah becomes obviously apparent through her many grandsons and granddaughters. It is in this generation that one starts to develop an appreciation for her influence.

Enjoy your horses,
Ralph

Johnny Johnston captured the essence of Dahmah Shahwaniah forever in the first photo. This photo subsequently appeared in the early volumes of the Pyramid Society Handbooks, when Dahmah became part of the Bentwood breeding program.