Ferial

Ferial (Anter x El Ameera)

The 1961 mare, Ferial, was an Anter daughter out of the Zaafarana (Balance x Samira) daughter, El Ameera, by Nazeer. This photo, published in Arabian Horse World Magazine, which is not a very good photo of her and did not accurately portray her as she appeared in real life, especially when she was freely moving, full of Arabian horse presence with her nostrils dilated, eyes opened wide and tail held high. Instead, the photo (which is only a captured moment in time) generated unfair criticism, even though she outproduced herself many times over! Ferial's photo reminds me of a story I recently read about a young woman, who was asked to go on a dinner date with a young man she had not met before. She got all dressed up, went to the restaurant to meet him and waited and waited and waited for her date to arrive. Finally, she decides to leave, figuring that her date saw her from a distance, thought she was ugly and and left.  Not only was she disappointed; she did not have a good self-image of herself. On her way out, she overheard a little boy ask his mother if she were a princess! That little boy changed her life and saved her from a night of self-hate! I have always believed that a great mare is one who produces offspring that are consistently equal to or better than her level of quality, which by-the-way, is the case with this chestnut colored mare! She really was a princess, an elite mare, a dam of distinction, as she was an extremely prolific broodmare for the Albadeia breeding program. You know what I found really interesting about her? In her breeding career, she produced an overwhelming amount of fillies - over 70% and yet, the way in which Ferial remains relevant in the modern-day American SE gene pool is primarily through the male gender! One of her daughters, a gorgeous grey mare named *Haniya, sired by the *Morafic son, Kayed, was imported to America by Les & Lois St. Clair. *Haniya was bred to *Ibn Moniet El Nefous, Shaikh Al Badi and *El Mareekh, however, when bred to the *Ansata Ibn Halima son, Halimm, *Haniya produced the mare, Jaliya, who would take the influence of Ferial farther than anyone ever imagined, for Jaliya is the dam of The Elixir, who sired the extremely influential sire for Arabians LTD, Alixir, who is now owned by Al Jood Stud in Qatar. Alixir is the sire of many wonderful horses at Arabians LTD, including one of the most visually striking stallions of our day, Bellagio RCA, a Prince among horses.

Bellagio RCA