The Horse Who Would Be King

Ikhnatoon (*Farazdac x Bint Om el Saad)

"And for me, there is always Ikhnatoon. He had a presence and a character like no other stallion I knew. The day of that first show at El Zahraa, when I had to announce that he had died, that morning was something that does not leave me, even now." - Dr. Ibrahim Zaghloul

For straight Egyptian enthusiasts living outside of Egypt, it seemed like Ikhnatoon was everywhere, including places that one normally, would not find a connection to or even, a reference to horses. In this time period (the 1980's), if the subject was Egypt, sure enough, Ikhnatoon was also part of it.  I  remember a desk calendar that I received as a business gift from a NYC bank, with photographs of various Egyptian travel destinations, like the Valley of Kings, an open air market in Cairo, sandy beaches in Alexandria and...yes, somewhere within those dreamy, colorful pages was the mighty Ikhnatoon, trotting with his head held high, chest puffed out and tail carried proudly. He was like the National horse of Egypt, a modern day symbol of an Egypt that was trying to remain relevant in this new age and yet, Ikhnatoon's name reminded people of the historical Egypt; a land of pyramids and Pharaohs.

A son of *Farazdac and Bint Om el Saad (yes, the same Bint Om el Saad who produced *Serenity Sonbolah by Sameh), Ikhnatoon became an important sire for the EAO. Philippe Paraskevas, in his brilliant work, The Egyptian Alternative Volume II, felt that the EAO rushed Ikhnatoon into a significant breeding role, before determining that the horse could deliver the results expected of him. The EAO had not planned well for the loss of *Farazdac, as the breeding program included a very small number of his daughters. As the most compelling son of *Farazdac, the EAO's plan was to use Ikhnatoon, to restore the influence of his sire. It's not that Ikhnatoon was not a good sire for the EAO; he was a stronger sire of daughters, than he was of sons. Aside from the stallions Adl, Adawy and Mohab (from Enayah and her dam, Adaweya); it would be the Ikhnatoon daughters who matured into not only beautiful but influential broodmares as well. Over time, breeders in the future will look back at Ikhnatoon's siring record and credit him as a noteworthy broodmare sire, if they haven't already thought of him in this manner. Philippe Paraskevas, within The Egyptian Alternative, explains that Ikhnatoon was not a sire that could be bred across a wide variety of mares. He needed to be matched very thoughtfully, carefully and strategically, as he sired differently than what and how his pedigree intimated. Many times I have heard breeders say, consider the generation of the grandparents or the great grandparents, when breeding the foal. However, in the case of breeding with Ikhnatoon, expecting the influence of an ancestor like Nazeer to impact the foal, would lead to disappointment. As Philippe Paraskevas has said in The Egyptian Alternative Volume II, breeders really needed to understand Ikhnatoon, as far as his genetic contributions, in order to determine which mares were better suited to him, as compared to others. What kind of mare was better suited to Ikhnatoon? Philippe tells us that mares without Nazeer in their pedigree, produced better results and he cites the mares, Ifrag and Kot El Koloob as examples.

In the summer of 2017, Dr. Chess Hudson published the results of his long term mtDNA study, to determine the reliability of the dam lines used in the EAO breeding program. The individuals tested within the families of Venus, Rodania, Hind and Bint Karima were found to share the same haplotype, pointing to a single, common ancestress within these four historical families. Within the context of this blog post, it is interesting to note that Ikhnatoon traces in his tail female line to Rodania (which he also does through the tail female line of his paternal grandsire, Alaa El Din). Also, Ikhnatoon, through the two crosses to Nazeer, traces to Venus, reinforcing through four lines, (two lines on each side of the pedigree), the common ground shared by his ancestors.

Ikhnatoon (*Farazdac x Bint Om el Saad)

Ikhnatoon was a robust stallion, substantial in build, conveying great power and strength in his body. He was built wide up front and wide in the hind end. He had a lovely neck, in proportion with the rest of his body and very well-set. Philippe says that he was,

"slightly heavy in bone structure"

which is how Ikhnatoon will appear, if judged against the standard established by his grandsire, Alaa El Din, a most refined stallion. In his marvelous book titled Hanan, Dr. Hans Joachim Nagel revealed a somewhat controversial philosophy concerning the phenotypical differences between the Arabian horse of the north versus the Arabian horse of the south. To this day, people still find this concept challenging to accept but personally, it makes a lot of sense to me and explains verbally, what I see with my eyes. I find it extremely interesting that the conformational qualities we observe in Ikhnatoon, visually underscores what Dr. Nagel has said about the northern influence:

"a bigger, stronger, more athletic type of Arabian in Syria and Mesopotamia."

What I have also observed over the years with regard to the phenotypical characteristics that are unique to the Rodania-line horses, is of their prevalence among the chestnut-colored horses of this family, as compared to horses of other coat colors. The Rodania influence is so strong, so dominant (to the point of exclusion) of any conformational attributes outside of the Rodania family. Ikhnatoon, as a grey-coloured horse, in my opinion, does not embody the Rodania type; rather, with his  heavily-muscled body, Ikhnatoon resembles more the phenotype of strong horses like El Deree and his son, Sid Abouhom, both of whom appear in Ikhnatoon's pedigree through Farasha (Sid Abouhom x Yosreia). In Authentic Arabian Bloodstock II,  Judith Forbis offers one of the more complete appraisals of the conformational and breed type attributes of Ikhnatoon:

"He had a very refined head with somewhat high eye placement, long foreface nicely tapered and a refined muzzle; good mitbah and good length of neck, good depth of shoulder and high withers, soft back and rather long underline, decent croup and good tail set, good carriage and good movement."

Within Judith's description, you will notice the comment she makes about eye placement, which is also a flaw mentioned by Philippe Paraskevas, not only in Ikhnatoon but also in his get, as he says

"eye size and eye expression also were issues with a few of his progeny."

However, Ikhnatoon was also credited with siring favorable characteristics, which Philippe also explains,

"Ikhnatoon had a knack for siring foals, mostly gray, that were free of white markings and that more often than not gave four black hooves."

Ikhnatoon (*Farazdac x Bint Om el Saad)

In all that we have available to read concerning Ikhnatoon, whether written by Judith Forbis, Philippe Paraskevas or as quoted by the late Dr. Ibrahim Zaghloul, on one point, they all agree and that is Ikhnatoon's presence. As Philippe pointed out in his book, Ikhnatoon was very distinctive in his personality and once you met him, you would never forget him. Ikhnatoon was not afraid to assert his masculinity and show the world that he was a king. In Judith Forbis' description of  Ikhnatoon, she mentioned specifically his self-carriage, which I believe is the end result of self-confidence and in Ikhnatoon's case, personality. You didn't even need to see him with your eyes, his presence was so strong, that you were able to "feel" him, well before you saw him. Ikhnatoon's powerful, ground-covering movement, with that air-borne suspension that made him appear to float above the ground was like "poetry-in-motion" or, in Ikhnatoon's case, he was like an entire orchestra playing an epic piece of music. When Philippe used "ceremonial" to describe Ikhnatoon's presence, I remembered another horse who was also described as "ceremonial" and that was the 1941 mare, Zaafarana (Balance x Samira), a beloved and an important mare in our gene pool community. I believe this "larger-than-life" personality is the main reason why Ikhnatoon endeared himself to so many people. Not only was he unforgettable, he embodied all that was good in Egypt, inspiring Egyptians to be more like him and celebrate all that enriched their culture, heritage and history with as much pride as Ikhnatoon possessed. They crown kings for less than that...and King Ikhnatoon would not want it any other way.

****this post is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Dr. Ibrahim Zaghloul, a former Director General of the EAO and a great champion of the Egyptian Arabian horse.****