ANSATA BINT MISR

*Ansata Bint Misr (Sameh X Ansata Bint Bukra)

*Ansata Bint Misr, born in 1966, was a big-bodied bay mare with a smooth and strong topline, close-coupled, with a powerfully-built hind end. Smooth over the croup with a nice hip, she was strong where the Bukra horses without the influence of Sameh are weak. Sameh added much substance and power to the line of Bukra, improving the croup and hind quarter of *Ansata Bint Misr. What I like most about the Sameh influence, is the ability that these mares have for reaching way underneath themselves, using the muscles in their relaxed backs (not hollow and stiff) to engage both the front and hind ends and harness the energy to drive their bodies forward. The driving power and elasticity in the Sameh daughters’ hocks remains a treasured memory! The Sameh daughters were also very charismatic mares, with an outward bold expression of joy manifested through the deep snorting that emerged from their expanded nostrils, tails curled over their backs, ears pricked forward and eyes twinkling. They never disappointed and always presented a beautiful image in movement. *Ansata Bint Misr, like her paternal half-sisters *Serenity Sonbolah, *Fawkia, *Deena and *Serenity Sabra, was a living, breathing example of the term often used in horse circles to describe electrifying movement as “poetry-in-motion”.

In Authentic Arabian Bloodstock II, Judith Forbis wrote, "Ansata Bint Misr (by Sameh) imported in utero, arrived as a bay wearing a large white star that illumined her broad forehead and accentuated her big dark eyes. Her head was shorter and squarer than her dam's, but better than her sire and she inherited her sire's excellent body structure and topline. *Ansata Bint Misr (which means daughter of Egypt) didn't have her dam's refinement, but Sameh ironed out the short peaky croup typical of that line, and good toplines carried on through most of her descendants. She became a keystone in the Ansata program, and lines to her have produced some of the most beautiful horses in the Bukra family." Ansata Bint Misr has the substance which I so often find lacking in today's horses. No horse is perfect and while strong of body, her neck was somewhat short, straight and heavy at the base and a stallion like Ansata Shah Zaman was the ideal choice for the next generation.

In light of the new DNA study conducted by Dr. William Hudson, indicating a familial relationship between the mares El Dahma and Roga El Beida; can we look at Sid Abouhom and Moniet El Nefous differently, in terms of concentrating the influence of one family, as Moniet El Nefous traces to Roga El Beida and Sid Abouhom traces to El Dahma? In the horses that were sired by Ansata Shah Zaman, one can see very clearly the qualities of improvement that he contributed (i.e., a longer neck with added length in the throatlatch) while retaining the strong, circular and smooth bodies that the Sameh horses are recognized for having, and not to forget, the very pretty, expressive hallmarks of a noble mare like Bukra.

***Don't miss a wonderful article about the Bukra horses within The Arabian Breeders Magazine, Volume II, Issue II is The Dawning of a New Tomorrow: The Bukra Story***