Om el Saad

It is not possible to speak of a mare like Om el Saad, without acknowledging a desert-bred mare named Rodania, a Kuhaylah Rodaniyah, bred by the Ruala tribe of the Anazeh Bedouins. Rodania was captured by Tais Ibn Sharban of the Saba'ah tribe, from Sheikh Sattam Ibn Shalan in 1880. Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt eventually purchased the mare from Tais Ibn Sharban and imported Rodania to their Crabbet Park Stud in England, circa 1881. Rodania’s daughter, Rose of Sharon, by the desert-bred stallion, Hadban was bred to the Ali Pasha Sherif stallion, Merzuk and produced a mare named Ridaa. In straight Egyptian breeding, the blood of Rodania is found through the daughters of Ridaa: Risala by Mesaoud or Riyala by *Astraled. It is through Risala’s daughter by Ibn Yasmak, Bint Risala, that paved the way for a mare like Om el Saad to be born and underscore the significance that the Blunts would ultimately have upon modern Arabian Horse breeding, forever. Om el Saad, like her dam, was a taller, bigger-bodied, grey colored mare by Shahloul and out of the equally tall Bint Rissala daughter, Yashmak II (by Sheikh el Arab). Yashmak was an incredible producer of horses like Rahma, Rashida, *Sanaa and of course, the Pritzlaff foundation stallion, *Rashad Ibn Nazeer. Perhaps the strength of Om el Saad’s body conveyed the strength that she would have genetically, within the world of straight Egyptian breeding. With the Rodania foundation in her dam line, one cannot be surprised by the success of Om el Saad as a broodmare. If Om el Saad had only produced Bint Om el Saad, by the stallion, Nazeer, her place in history would remain as bright as it is today but she also produced daughters like Rafica (by Nazeer) and Kaydahom (by Azmi). While Bint Om el Saad was not as conformationally strong as her dam; when bred to the Inshass stallion, Sameh, she out produced herself and gave the world a great gift in the form of a chestnut mare named *Serenity Sonbolah, the 1971 United States National Champion Mare.