Like you I'm sure, I received every email update concerning the Menton show. Living in America, the time difference makes it challenging to watch the show live but Arabian Essence TV made it so easy, by posting the videos to You Tube. You can watch the videos any time you want, as many times as you want. Over the last year or so, thanks to a change in my television service provider, I have been able to watch You Tube on a much larger television screen, instead of watching the videos on an itty-bitty, hand-held device. I love it.
Thanks to all the email blasts, I knew that the Ansata Sokar daughter, Nawaal Al Rayyan, the Ekstern daughter, Pepita and the Royal Colours daughter, D Khattafah, a striking liver chestnut, would be competing. Going into the Menton experience, these three mares were my favorites and I was eager to see them again and root for their success. However, I am embarrassed to say that I wasn't familiar with Maisa Al Nasser. She wasn't even on my radar. I don't remember why I clicked on her video. I think it had everything to do with the suffix in her name, "Al Nasser", a breeding program known throughout the world for consistently producing some really wonderful Egyptian horses. So, Arabian Essence does a wonderful thing on their videos, they identify the name of the horse being shown, as well as the sire and dam. I noticed the name of Sinan Al Rayyan, a strong and consistent sire, as well as an Ansata Sinan son, who also traces to Ansata Samantha (through his dam, Al Wajba Al Rayyan). Ansata Samantha was a beautiful chestnut mare, substantial of body, with an ideal topline that was as smooth, as it was strong. Ansata Samantha also possessed a spirit of sweetness which was magnified through her beautiful, large, dark eyes, so reminiscent of *Ansata Bint Bukra.
Maisa Al Nasser's dam, Zenubia Al Nasser, is 100% Imperial Egyptian Stud breeding, sired by the Maar Bilahh son, Imperial Mahzeer and out of the *Ibn Safinaz daughter, Imperial Sanama, whose Saklawi tail female line is interesting. Imperial Sanama, traces through her dam, Imperial Imalana (Ansata Imperial x Amalaa), to an AlBadeia-bred mare named Aminaa, a daughter of Ibn Maisa (Nazeer x Maisa) and out of Rabiaa (Beshier x Rateeba). The stallion, Beshier, is sired by the Dahman Shahwan stallion, El Zafir, who also sired a mare named Shams, the daughter of El Zabia, an El Deree-sired daughter out of El Kahila, the mare gifted to King Fouad by King Ibn Sa'ud and the foundress of the Kuhaylan Kurush strain in Egypt! Why is this tail female line interesting? Outcross blood. The maternal side of Maisa Al Nasser's pedigree and specifically, the mare Amalaa (Mowaffac x Aminaa), are bloodlines that are not generously represented in our gene pool, offering a lot of opportunities for today's straight Egyptian breeder, when utilizing their bloodlines in combination with horses whose influence is plentiful.
In the first few seconds of the video, Maisa Al Nasser turns sharply to the right and falls to the ground. And while this post is not so much about the fall; I am not so sure that I would have paid that much attention to her, had she not fallen to the ground. Prior to falling, she was not showing well, as she was a little on edge and her movement was all over the place, short-strided and a bit erratic. Once her handler got her to stand quietly, while he got the sand off of her beautiful body, she became a totally different mare, confident and a little more composed, as compared to when she first entered the ring. While Glenn brushed the sand off of her, we were all able to bask in the glory of her balanced body. She has a fabulous front end, with a deeper heart girth, nice laid back shoulder, her neck, which is more traditional than it is long, is well-set and flowing nicely out of her wither, she is closer coupled with a strong, smooth topline and great tail carriage. She has excellent skin quality, with very dark pigmentation. Her face is short and wide, accentuated by beautiful black eyes. I really like this mare alot and there is a bonus. She is also a proven broodmare, having produced colts by Ansata Nile Echo (Nhaar Al Nasser) and Shagran Al Nasser (Faraq Al Nasser). That's important to me, that a mare competing in the senior mare class is a proven broodmare, as after all, these are breeding classes and while showy, these are mares who will be incorporated into breeding programs and produce foals who will mature into horses of influence for other breeders.
In watching the Menton mare classes and specifically, the 5, 6 and 7 year old mares; I was overwhelmed with the consistency and the quality of the mares being shown. They were all excellent mares, just lovely. I wouldn't have wanted to be a judge because how do you place mares as good as I was seeing? Any of the mares could have emerged a class winner. Eventually, in the championships, Maisa Al Nasser placed third (Bronze), behind the Silver Champion, Baveira HVP (Marwan Al Shaqab x HB Bessolea) and the Gold Champion, Noft Al Nayfat (Ajman Moniscone x Eagleridge Passionata).
So, here we are, at the end of # 250 and I am totally enchanted by this gorgeous mare, Maisa Al Nasser, whom prior to watching the video was unknown to me and yet, because of one crazy moment, when her world turned upside down, she fell right into my consciousness.
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