Ibn Sirecho

Ibn Sirecho was a 1961 chestnut stallion, a son of  Sirecho (*Nasr x *Exochorda) and out of the Babson-Turfa mare, Turfara (*Fadl x *Turfa). Originally registered as Esperanzo Asil Sir-Turf,  Ibn Sirecho was bred by Raymond and Jane Davis, of Cassville, Missouri. I liked his original name, "Esperanzo" which means "hope" in Spanish. For a young colt, with a whole future ahead of him, I could not think of a more appropriate way to start life than with a name so full of hope. In Ibn Sirecho's lifetime, he sired sixty-four registered Arabian foals. Through the present day, this particular horse has 410 recognized Asil descendants.

In 1964, Hodie Maxwell contacted Carl Raswan. Hodie and her husband Pres, had moved to Colorado from Texas and owned Arabian horses. Hodie had been studying the Arabian Horse, purchasing books about the breed and learning of their Bedouin roots. She was enchanted by the rich desert history of the horses. The more she read, the more she realized that she wanted to dedicate her breeding program to breeding and raising authentic Bedouin-bred Arabian horses. Carl Raswan had devoted his life to the Arabian horse breed and had more experience, a majority of which came from living among the Bedouin tribes. Carl Raswan suggested to Hodie that she contact Mrs. Jane Ott, which she promptly did. After months of conversations with Mrs. Ott, Pres and Hodie Maxwell purchased the stallion, Ibn Sirecho, in 1964. He was three years old. Pres and Hodie also purchased the mare, Fanistar, a Fanifeh daughter, out of the *Turfa granddaughter, Blue Star, whom they bred to Sirecho, producing the mare Sifana, who with Ibn Sirecho, would become an important foundation of the Maxwell breeding program and eventually lead them towards creating a program of Blue Star breeding, focusing on horses of the Hamdaniyah strain. While the Maxwell's mission was to breed authentic Bedouin horses; they did show Ibn Sirecho in English Pleasure classes and he did well but he was a breeding stallion first. His greatest success in the show ring would come later, with his sons and daughter.

Ibn Sirecho (Sirecho x Turfara)

While the Maxwells proved the excellence of Ibn Sirecho as a sire, what happened next would prove the athletic excellence of Ibn Sirecho, as a sire of working western performance horses. Ibn Sirecho was sold to The Searle Arabian Horse Farm in Chandler, Arizona and very quickly, became an important sire for Bill and Kris Searle.  Ibn Sirecho, authentic to his desert heritage, sired agile, willing and intelligent working ranch horses for the Searles, who did well at the Nationals and also at the famous Scottsdale All-Arabian show in the western stock horse classes.

Anchor Hill Serfa (Ibn Sirecho x Serida)

In 1983, Ibn Sirecho's daughter, the 1980 mare, Jezail (out of the double Ibn Fadl grand-daughter, Al Asmaje) won Champion Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure with Kris. In 1984, the Ibn Sirecho sons, Al Hajal (out of Sakkara, a daughter of Al Asmaje sired by the Sirecho son, Muhairon) and LeEncore (out of the Al Asmaje daughter, Ibn Fadls Finale) won 4 top tens. In 1985, LeEncore won a Reserve Champion Hackamore Stock Horse at the Scottsdale show. In 1987, Le Encore went to Scottsdale again and was pinned top ten in open stock horse. It is interesting to consider the amount of *Turfa blood in all of these horses, as the line to *Turfa, on both sides of the pedigree appear 4 and 5 times. Is the fact that these horses did so well in performance attributable to a mare who enchanted all who knew her with her amazing movement? I think this is a fact worth considering.

Gail Hoff-Carmona, at the urging of Mrs. Jane Ott, purchased two Ibn Sirecho horses from the Maxwells. The double Sirecho mare Samoohah (Ibn Sirecho x Sifana) and the stallion El Hamdani Bey (Ibn Sirecho x Fanistar) became part of Gail's breeding program at Princeton Arabians, both in her small Blue Star breeding program and also combined with her straight Babson Egyptian horses.  Gail said

"...these horses are among the very best when you consider disposition. They tend to be very easy to train and quick to learn."

Ibn Sirecho (Sirecho x Turfara)

Like the horses bred by the Searle's, these two horses were also rich in the number of crosses to the mare, *Turfa. Gail crossed these bloodlines with her horses like Serr Maariner, whose Babson lines nicked remarkably well with the *Turfa blood and increased the percentages of Prince Mohamed Aly breeding, present in Sirecho's pedigree. The progeny of these Ibn Sirecho horses became part of the Los Alamos Dressage Center's training program, helping Gail to teach dressage to children.

PS Many thanks to my friend, Diana Johnson of Bint Al Bahr Arabians, who helped me find so many photos of Ibn Sirecho. I am so grateful for her friendship. Also, I need to publicly thank and credit Ms. Karen Stalmann, whose Khamsat article, THE MAXWELL CONTRIBUTION helped me quite a bit in trying to understand the influence of Ibn Sirecho. Also, Ms. Kris Searle wrote an article titled THE MAKING OF A WESTERN HORSE which I also need to credit, as I learned about her horses like Jezail, Al Hajal and Le Encore.