Simeon Shifran

Simeon Shifran (Asfour x Simeon Shavit) as photographed by Stu Vesty

When I googled "Simeon Stud" last week and found the Stuart Vesty photo above, not only was the photo surprisingly unexpected, I was utterly dumbfounded by it. Simeon Shifran? I had to sit for a few seconds to compose myself and collect my thoughts, while I struggled to remain focused on the task at hand and for the reasons why I was searching for information on Simeon Stud in the first place.  All of that aside, really, it's a stunning photo,  memorable in its simplicity, focused only upon the horse. No wonder why Stuart Vesty is so successful as a photographer. Actually, scratch that, the man is not just a "photographer", the man is an artist. There are no special effects, flowers or people to compete with the horse in the photo. The expression of the horse is so powerful, I personally find myself thinking about the photo, long after I turn off the computer.  Maybe others will feel the same way too, as Stuart Vesty somehow, successfully captured THAT horse which lives deep within our subconscious mind. You know, the horse of our dreams.

I originally wrote this blog in January of 2011, having become aware of Simeon Shifran the previous summer, thanks to my friend Anne-Louise, who had met the colt in person - underscore the word, colt, because in my mind, up until last week, Simeon Shifran still looked more like a colt than a stallion.

Simeon Shifran (Asfour x Simeon Shavit), as photographed by Jenni Ogden

Ten years? How? How has that much time passed so quickly and where have I been, to have missed the metamorphosis of what once was a cute, charming, full-of-potential colt, into the take-your-breath-away, proven, mature Egyptian Arabian stallion photographed by Stuart Vesty?

At the time, I was impressed with all that Anne-Louise told me (she's really smart) and also, all that I saw in the Jenni Ogden photos,  like the deliciously curvey and harmonious body and his longer, well-arched neck, forming the sought-after angle that results in an airy, roomy throatlatch. Although I feel he is more correct in body than his sire was, possibly because of his dam, Simeon Shavit (sired by the Shaikh al Badi son, Anaza Bay Shahh and out of the 27 Ibn Galal V daughter, the incomparable Simeon broodmatron, Simeon Safanad). However, in the Stuart Vesty photo, one cannot miss the haunting similarity to his sire, Asfour (Malik x Hanan). Simeon Shifran, in his maturity, really favors his look.

Asfour (Malik x Hanan)

In the blog for Damess Albadeia, I mentioned a great interview done by David Gillet of Diamond Road Arabian Stud, titled 60 Years of Simeon, which was published within the 2017 issue of Arabian Studs & Stallions. If you are a fan of Simeon Stud as I am, I recommend it to you dear reader, you will enjoy reading the article and all of the thoughtful questions and answers. One of the questions that David asked Marion Richmond concerned the selection and introduction of home-bred stallion prospects into her breeding program. Marion responded that it was actually the late Nasr Marei, while visiting her, who asked, 

"Where are your colts? To which I, probably quite stubbornly replied, I don't keep colts, they are annoying, they need their own paddock and so on. But then Nasr reminded me that like all of us, my boys were getting older and perhaps I should start thinking of a succession plan...and so I did. That first year we kept a son of Asfour, Simeon Shifran."

While 27 Ibn Galal V, the Babolna-bred mare,  is crucially important in the Simeon Stud breeding program (and the maternal great-granddam of Simeon Shifran), Marion Richmond has blended her strong, continuing influence with that of Dr. Erwin Filsinger's Malik (Hadban Enzahi x Malikah) and the EAO's Hanan, bred together by Dr. Nagel to result in Asfour, as well as adding Anaza Bay Shahh, bred by Les and Lois St. Clair and the stallion, Sankt Georg who combines Ansata breeding with the horses of Richard Pritzlaff.  While it is a much easier task to select beautiful horses and create a "collection"; it is quite another thing to select horses who complement each other and then, to combine these horses genetically to create an individual who is better, than the horses that Marion started with. It's that unique place which few breeders ever reach, that is, where science and art come together. It is a testament to Marion's breeding expertise, her knowledge, her instinct and artisitic eye, to have blended all of these influences together, resulting in the magnificent horse we know today as Simeon Shifran.

Another interesting point to make about Simeon Shifran, is that while he is 25% Hadban Enzahi including the tail female line through 27 Ibn Galal V; he carries a higher percentage of Dahman influence than he does of Hadban, approx. 37.5%, combining multiple sources of Dahman strain bloodlines through mares like El Dahma and Bint el Bahreyn. 

In the resources that I have available to me, he has 37 total get listed and of that number, 30 are fillies, 7 are colts, which also points to the possibility that Simeon Shifran's legacy will be expressed from the mare side of the pedigree, as compared to the sire side of the pedigree. With each foal crop he sires year-after-year, this may change but his filly production record is enough of a phenomenon right now, that I felt important to point out to you dear reader. He is definitely a horse to watch, as he may prove in time to be a modern day broodmare sire! Personally, I took notice of the 2017 filly he sired, Simeon Marei, out of Wed Albadeia (Farid Albadeia x Momtazat Albadeia). She, like her sire, is one to watch.

The classic Arabian lives, even in these worrisome days of the new COVID variants like Delta, Delta Plus, Alpha and Lambda, in addition to the impact that the virus has had on reducing average life expectancy by 2 years. I think the New York Times referred to this period in time as "the age of despair".  A stallion like Simeon Shifran helps you to escape all the "bad news", that is, all the worries and and anxieties, even for only a moment. Such is the power of beauty, in the form of a quintessential Arabian stallion, to soothe our mind, heart and spirit.

***In case you missed it, the influence of Nasr Marei is everywhere, even in this horse named Simeon Shifran. It's really hard to separate the Egyptian Arabian horse and Nasr Marei and therefore, the man is really missed.

As mentioned in the blog, the opening head shot of Simeon Shifran was taken by Stu Vesty and the body shot of Simeon Shifran, while a colt, was taken by Jennifer Ogden. I don't know who took the photo of Asfour***