The Great Genetic Mystery

Thee Desperado (The Minstril x AK Amiri Asmarr), as photographed by Javan 

El Araby (*Morafic x Hafiza), as photographed by Judith Forbis

One of the most extraordinary horses ever produced by the EAO was El Araby, a 1962 *Morafic son out of Hafiza. He inspired all who saw him with his incredible scope and outrageous beauty. Judith Forbis said of him, 

"Tall, elegant, long-necked, and very extreme of head, he had naturally brilliant park-horse action and carried himself as a mount of kings."

Tragically, in an unfortunate accident, El Araby was killed and Egyptian breeders, perpetually enchanted by his memory,  tried to reproduce another El Araby by crossing the bloodline of Hafiza, with that of *Morafic. Many wonderful horses resulted from this cross but never, a horse quite like El Araby. And so, in the not so long ago, it really made sense to outcross the mare, Asmarr (*Zaghloul x Nagliah) with a very concentrated source of Moniet el Nefous and Nazeer blood, as found in the stallion, TheEgyptianPrince. The result was the beautiful grey mare, AK Amiri Asmarr, who in turn, when bred to The Minstril, foaled a once-in-a-million bay-colored and extremely influential stallion, recognized globally as Thee Desperado. However, on this beautiful weekend, when we celebrate the greatest miracle ever, I must ask, what if, Thee Desperado was actually that long-desired reincarnation of El Araby? 

***photo credit to Javan for Thee Desperado and Judith Forbis for El Araby. Also, this blog was originally published as "El Araby...Then and Now" in November 2018***