Gentle on my mind...

My riding teacher was a natural horseman, long before the philosophy became widely popular. He told me to get down on my knees and ask the horse for permission, before putting the bit in his mouth. After doing this a few times, my teacher promised me that I would be a better rider, fully aware of the responsibility and the gratitude that I owed to this kind and sensitive creature, who was extremely generous, by letting me sit upon his back.

How much is a good disposition worth to you?

For those of us who work closely with our horses, we have learned to appreciate this quality in a horse. A willing and kind disposition is vital, especially in these times of natural horsemanship, when we understand more about the nature of the horse and expect this beautiful animal to function more as our companion, ready to try anything asked of him. In Tom Groneberg's book, ONE GOOD HORSE, we meet an old, tough cowboy by the name of Forrest Davis. When asked what his favorite color of horse is, he says,

"You can trim overgrown hooves and you can put weight on a thin horse but you can't change a horse's disposition....my favorite color is gentle."

"Gentle" makes me thing of *Ansata Ibn Halima, whose name means "son of the kind and gentle mare". Do you know that soon, it will be thirty years since *Ansata Ibn Halima died?

30 years....that's a long time

and yet, we still think about him, we still talk about him and we still adore him.

"For you see, each day I love you more. Today, more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."-Rosemonde Gerard

It's more than just remembering him as an important sire or even as a name, far back in the pedigree of a present day mare or stallion. And it's more than just remembering how he made a significant impact on the breed, single-handily redefining the term "classic" and establishing it as a standard, against which, all other horses are judged. *Ansata Ibn Halima is enduring the test of time...he remains to this day, significant, influential...and highly relevant. He is timeless.

"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."

He was gentle, a kind horse, a sweet horse, a horse who was always willing and generous; always trying what was asked of him, always with a good nature.  I remember a horse that you could let your guard down, relax and enjoy his company.

"There is no fear in love."-John 4:18

You didn't have to worry that *Ansata Ibn Halima was going to bite you, kick you or cause some other kind of pain to your body...directly or indirectly. Judi Forbis, his owner, said in the August 1982 issue of Arabian Horse World,

"...his gentleness was evident, even as a yearling-a time when most colts are rambunctious and sometimes a little difficult to love."

He had every reason to be uptight, anxious, high-strung, as his world dramatically changed, leaving Egypt for America as a yearling. A different climate, a different landscape, different smells and people who used words that sounded dramatically different from the words that he knew and understood. His world was turned upside down but he dealt with it. As a show horse, the pattern of change continued and he was exposed to new sights and sounds, all the while, maintaining his sweet nature. He was stable and sound, in mind, body and spirit. He was adaptable, flexible and lived to please his human, his mistress. Judi. He loved her..I mean, he really loved her.

"Wanting to matter to someone,
Maybe be a reason why,
Be the apple of an eye,
Before my life is done."-lyrics and music by Benjamin Cooper and Gordon Kennedy, from their song, Mosaic

If *Ansata Ibn Halima were a person, he would be the person most of us would seek, when life becomes too crazy, stress-filled and overwhelming. In these moments, you need a person who will say, "don't worry, everythings gonna be alright."

THAT

was *Ansata Ibn Halima. His beautiful color was not flea-bitten grey....his color was gentleness, in all of its radiant glory.

"All the real (intangible) qualities we admire in the Arabian horse today are a result of a long heritage established through companionship and mutual respect."-Judith Forbis

The Bedouins bred a horse of stable heart and mind. The Bedouin horse had to be flexible and adaptable. He just had to...if he wanted to survive. When Lady Anne Blunt wrote about the Nedji mare, Sherifa, she made it a point to say that the mare possessed

"...the sweetest of tempers."

Lady Anne Blunt is considered to be one of the preeminent authorities on the purebred Arabian Horse. The fact that she noticed and appeciated a sweet disposition and felt strongly enough about it, to write it down, tells us how significant this attribute really is. This quality was so important, that the Bedouin bred specifically for it. Out of necessity, for whatever reason, the Bedouin horse had to be tractable, so he could occupy a tent, in the company of his master and escape the challenging desert environment.

"But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment."-John 4:18 

Bedouin life was lived in harmony with the horse, side-by-side, without the horse knocking the tent down, breaking pots, pans or bones.

H-A-R-M-O-N-Y

Thousands of years later, when we meet a horse like *Ansata Ibn Halima, who possessed this intangible quality of sweetness in abundance...well, I can't think of any better way to honor the Bedouin and his infinite wisdom, than with a horse like this.

"Carve my name upon a tree,
A knife into the bark,
Trying to make a mark,
So they'd remember me."-lyrics and music by Benjamin Cooper and Gordon Kennedy, from their song, Mosaic

I can't think of a better way to observe a special day like Valentine's Day than well, thinking about gentle. My favorite color is gentle...no need to carve that in any tree to remember, as that was and will always be *Ansata Ibn Halima...forever.

Happy Valentines Day,
Ralph

Pri Asali Halim

Gail Carmona, of Princeton Arabians, bred her mare, the 1977 Faaris daughter, Princeton Gamila (out of Shar Gemla) to Ansata Halima Son (*Ansata Ibn Halima x Ansata Damietta) twice. The first breeding resulted in a beautiful, charismatic black colt named Pri Gamil Halim, who tragically, died at a young age.
The second breeding produced the above-pictured, impressive chestnut horse, Pri Asali Halim.

 I spoke with Teresa Craig of Gibsonville, North Carolina. She owns Desert Image Arabians. She purchased Pri Asali Halim, as a two-year old and owned him up until 2 years ago, when he died. He was a very sweet horse, who was also extremely versatile. Teresa had broken him to harness, enjoying him as a pleasure driving horse. He was also shown in Show Hack, winning many Class A championships. He was also a Second Level Dressage horse, eventually winning a top ten at Scottsdale, Arizona. Teresa still owns one of Pri Asali Halim's daughters and plans on breeding her next year.

 I found eleven recorded daughters and five sons, of which only twelve of these horses are Al Khamsa recognized. Of these twelve horses, only nine qualify as straight Egyptian, 7 daughters and 2 sons. His straight Egyptian daughter, DIA Shailinnar (out of the Imperial Imdal daughter, Ashiika) has produced two straight Egyptian mares: in 2001, Haliah Surata (by El Shahhdai, a son of The Minstril-sired The Shahh, out of The Egyptian Prince daughter, Latifa Raqqasa) and in 2004, Sha Sinnemon Shai (by a Simeon Shai son named Thee Shai Seducer out of a Minstril daughter named Shir Aviva) giving this stallion, three generations of get.

 His chestnut son, Eh Ahmose+, out of the straight Egyptian mare, Eh Nagidah (*Nagid x Anchor Hill Rudi), has been a successful endurance horse, owned by Claire Godwin, DVM of Maryland. In 2009, Claire and her remarkable horse won the Old Dominion, a 100 mile endurance race, held annually in Virginia, in addition to finishing in the top ten of the grueling Tevis 100 mile race in California and being named a Region 15 100-mile champion.

 Pri Asali Halim was a taller horse, approximately 15.2 hands high. His neck had a beautiful shape, a little longer, more slender and gracefully arched, meeting the head at an angle to form a very nice mitbah. He had a very nice wither, great shoulders, an extra long forearm and nice, straight feet. His overall body is smooth, strong and harmonious. While Pri Asali Halim is sired by a son of *Ansata Ibn Halima, the dominant influence in his pedigree comes from the Babson horses *Fadl, *Maaroufa and *Bint Serra I, who represent over 75% of Princeton Gamila's pedigree. When Teresa told me of Pri Asali Halim's sweet disposition, how willing he was, trying everything that was asked of him, I wasn't surprised, as this is the true nature of Babson breeding and one of the main reasons why people like me, become such devoted fans of these bloodlines.

 Ansata + Babson + Sirecho = a beautiful Egyptian Arabian horse 

 However, the influence of Sirecho cannot be denied, especially as his sire *Nasr was a son of the Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik mare, Bint Yamama, the great grand-dam of both *Fadl and *Maaroufa. It is an opportunity to reinforce this bloodline, through a different source and incorporate the blood of the RAS mare, *Exochorda, who infuses fresh desert breediing into the pedigree. It is as close as we can get to "hybrid vigor" in a straight Egyptian pedigree. Whenever Sirecho is present in a pedigree, you immediately notice a finer quality of skin, accentuating all the details of "dryness", a unique attribute of the desert horse, as well as a stronger and rounder top line and smoother lines throughout the body and a sweet and lovng disposition.

 The combination of Ansata, Babson and Sirecho bloodlines yielded beautiful horses, who in turn produced even more beautiful horses. It is hard to believe that today, the Babson Sirechos face a reduced level of interest, as do the other equally important groups like the Babson Halimas, the straight Babsons and the Babson Turfa horses. A reduced level of interest, results in a fewer number of horses. A reduced number of horses results in a reduced number of choices for the straight Egyptian breeder.

EnJOY,
Ralph

Blooms from the BUTTERFLY garden...

In my post about Farasha, I mentioned the*Farazdac daughter, Bint Farazdac, out of *Lamees, a mare sired by the Sid Abouhom son, Karoon and out of the Antar daughter, Looza. Both Karoon and Looza were bred by the EAO, as was their daughter, *Lamees. Looza was an Antar daughter out of Abla, a mare who nicked particularly well with Antar.When Bint Farazdac was bred to MFA Saygah (The Egyptian Prince x RDM Maar Halima), she produced the mare, SH Say Anna, who in turn, produced the above mare, Ansata Aniq (sired by Ansata Manasseh).

FARIDA BLOOD ALERT!

In tail female, Ansata Aniq traces to the mare, Farida, as Abla was a great grand-daughter of this mare. This explains alot, as we see the evidence of Farida's influence in Ansata Aniq's body. She has much substance, with big hips, strong, deep and smooth. Not only do I love her hind end but her front end, with her well muscled shoulders and her deep heart girth is phenomenal. With Ansata Aniq, she has 5 lines to Farida, including her tail female line. She is lovely, elegant, refined and with so much lightness in her movement.

Ansata Aniq was bred to the handsome, chestnut-colored Thee Desperado son, Thee Gambler and produced the very nice stallion, Thee Halima B, owned by Dr. Jan Alexander of Crooked Creek Arabians in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

I found it interesting, that the grey-colored Ansata Aniq (by and out of two grey colored parents) when bred to another chestnut colored stallion, Ahsen el Serag, produced a similarly colored daughter, for High Tor Arabians in England. named HT Annatto. Pictured above, as a yearling, she is a beautiful mare, typey but not lacking substance.  She combines the best qualities of both her sire and dam. Her breeder adores her.

In Dr. Hans Joachim Nagel's book, Hanan: The Story of an Arabian Mare and of the Arabian Breed, I found an interesting point that he made about the chestnut color in Arabians,

"The bedouins of that area believed that long ago all horses were chestnut - the colour of all wild animals in that region. Both white and dark horses were alien, being unnatural colours."

One of my favorite chestnut colored straight Egyptian stallions is True Colours. By Thee Desperado and out of the Dahmah Shahwaniyah, Daheda, it would be interesting to see the foal that would be produced by this cross. True Colours offers an additional two lines to Farida, as well as Thee Desperado's tail female line to *Nabilahh, which is complementary to the *Farazdac line present in Ansata Aniq's pedigree. Do you know that True Colours carries six lines to Anter in his pedigree? Anter was a Hamdan son and an Ibn Rabdan grandson. Ibn Rabdan's influence can be seen in a generous amount of circular lines. There are also additional lines to Yosreia, through *Dawlat, as well as Bukra, through Ghazal, which combines with the double Bukra lines in Ansata Manasseh's pedigree, the sire of Ansata Aniq. It would be an exciting breeding and I'll bet you that the foal will be a strong-bodied, curvey, typey chestnut horse. My favorite kind of horse.

EnJoy,
Ralph

Victorious

*Faleh++(Alaa el Din x Farasha)

In BUTTERFLY, we focused on Farasha, primarily through her progeny, *Farazdac and *Nabilahh, however, Farasha produced another son by Alaa el Din, *Faleh, in 1964. I had never seen this picture of *Faleh++ before and a very heartfelt thank you to Judi Parks, who shared this photo with me. I can't help but notice his full and well-muscled hindquarter, strong, round and smooth. From his hindquarter and working forwards, one sees his really nice back, flowing into a most awesome, powerful shoulder and his neck, well, he had a lovely neck, with a graceful and beautiful arch. He has a beautiful shape to his head, short and wide with larger sized jowls and smaller sized ears. His muzzle was not meaty, his nostrils appear large and elastic and he has very dark pigmentation. He was stunning. *Faleh++ would be Farasha's victory in a completely different arena, for that is what *Faleh's name means,"victor". Considering the horse's many championships and his super-athletic prowess, the name was like an omen, predicting the success that *Faleh++ would. achieve in the show ring.

*Faleh++ was imported from the EAO in 1968, by Douglas Marshall of Gleannloch Farms. He was a full brother to *Farazdac. Trained successfully under saddle,  pictures of *Faleh++ with Rhita McNair adorned the covers of our breed magazines. He was a multi-National Champion Native Costume horse, as well as a National Top Ten in English Pleasure and also, Ladies Side Saddle. *Faleh++ was also a 100-mile National Competitive Trail Horse in 1972, as well as winning many Class A championships in halter, western equitation and western trail classes. *Faleh++ is one of the most versatile performance horses in our breed, having proved himself in a variety of disciplines, over and over. He was also a  Legion of Merit winner, that's what the symbols

++

after his name designate.

*Faleh++ as one of the Egyptian stallions owned by Gleannloch Farms, lived in the shadow of the great *Morafic and unfortunately, did not receive the opportunities that his cherished stablemate received. How would our world of horses be different today, if *Faleh++ had been utilized more at stud? As compared to today's most popular Egyptian stallions, *Faleh++ sired only a few horses and yet, out of this small number, several of his sons and daughters, became influential. As athletic and willing as *Faleh++ was, it is no surprise that his 1974 son (out of the Antar daughter, *Dawlat) Asjah Ibn Faleh, the most successful Egyptian racehorse of all time, was named the 1980 Racehorse of the Year. Remember how I said that the Antar horses nicked well with the bloodline of Yosreia and *Dawlat, was a daughter of the Yosreia daughter, Shahrzada while *Faleh++ was a son of the Yosreia daughter, Farasha. That's double Yosreia, in both tail female lines. Asjah Ibn Faleh sired a gold medal winner at the German stallion show, the black stallion, Ansata Exemplar (out of Ansata Jumana), who is also proving to be a good sire. *Faleh++ also sired a very important broodmare for Imperial Egyptian Stud, Imperial Fanniya, out of the Sameh daughter, *Deena. She was a pretty chestnut mare, who in fact, looked much like her sire. Her grand-daughter Imperial Karmah, when bred to Imperial Baarez, produced the very handsome bay stallion, Imperial Baareg, now owned by Tarek and Ahmed Soliman of El Farida in Egypt. On a wintry, cold February morning, when the sun seems to be missing from the horizon, a fiery-colored horse named *Faleh++ steps into my mind and warms my cold heart and soul.

***you can read more about *Faleh++ in the article published within The Arabian Breeders' Magazine, Volume I, Issue II**

DU Hallanys Juyl

DU Hallanys Juyl

DU Hallanys Juyl is a 1990 grey mare, bred by Dan Ulm and presently owned by Lisa Rettke of Rettke Arabians, Crane, Missouri. Lisa has created an interesting breeding program, as she blends Babson lines with those of Hallany Mistanny and Sirecho. DU Hallanys Juyl is physically representative of the type of horse produced by the combination of these bloodlines. When I asked Lisa specifically about this beautiful mare, she told me,

"The first time I saw Juyl was in a video. I had gotten the video from Tom Katona. He is the breeder of her colt, Hallanys Gem Tak. She was amazing! Her movement and grace were unmatched. I said someday she would live with me. Now she does forever!"

DU Hallanys Juyl's sire is the 1985 bay stallion, Fa Chancellor, who is by the black DU Hallanys Ebony and out of the grey Masada Saabellah, a sister to Masada Bellesabah (by Lothar) and Masada Bellisima (by Fabo). DU Hallanys Juyl's dam is DU Sheena, a Princeton Faaris daughter out of Jusera, who is by Julyan and out of Serasabba, a pure-in-the-strain Dahmah Shawaniyah, Serasabba was a Fabah daughter out of Serrasab, a Fay-Sabbah daughter by Fa-Serr.

Fay Sabbah was an outstanding broodmare at the Babson Farm, producing in addition to Serrasab, the mare Fadba by Faddan, who produced the son Faarad, the Babson horse who went to Rancho San Ignacio and sired influential mares in the RSI program like Gita, Bataara and Faara. Fay-Sabbah also produced by *Fadl, the mares Gammousa in 1946 and Sabl. Bred to the black stallion Fa-Serr, she also produced Sheba and Serr Sabbah, who incidentally produced a daughter named Ser Sabar, who in turn, produced a stallion by Ansata Abbas Pasha named Ru Egyptian Day, an important sire for Rudalaro.

In combining the blood of *Bint Bint Sabbah, a mare Babson had purchased from the RAS, with horses from the stud of Prince Kemal el Dine (*Bint Serra I) and Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik (*Fadl, *Nasr, *Zarife and *Roda), as well as another RAS mare (*Exochorda), you multiply a diversity of  sources outside of mainstream straight Egyptian breeding, almost as if the blood is out-crossed. I think a mare like DU Hallanys Juyl has much to offer a straight Egyptian breeder, who is looking for something a little different, something a little rarer,  from today's over utilized and extremely popular Egyptian bloodlines. This blood is an alternative to going outside of the gene pool, for hybrid vigor and the benefit is, you don't lose the all important straight Egyptian identifier.

EnJoy,
Ralph

PS The picture of DU Hallanys Juyl was taken by the talented Clo Nollet.