Perhaps you missed her at Menton, Bruges, Chantilly or even, Aachen this year. 2019 has been a great year for this mare, taking her far from Qatar, as she conquers many hearts all over the world. Do you know who Maisa Al Nasser is?
Sinan Al Rayyan, the sire of Maisa Al Nasser is an Ansata Sinan son whose genetic influence comes primarily from 4 individuals: Ansata Halim Shah, *Ansata Ibn Halima, *Ansata Bint Bukra and Moniet el Nefous. The outcross blood in the pedigree of Sinan Al Rayyan comes by way of Dr. Nagel's program (Hanan) and Babson breeding (Fada). Sinan Al Rayyan is predominantly Dahman in strain, as 62.5% of his pedigree is influenced by horses of this strain. You will also observe the Dahman influence in Maisa Al Nasser, as she is balanced and harmonious, meaning, if you were to divide her body in thirds, each third is of equal proportions.
Maisa Al Nasser's dam is Zenubia Al Nasser, by Imperial Mahzeer (Imperial Madheen x Maar Bilahhh) and out of Imperial Sanama (*Ibn Safinaz x Imperial Imalana), through whom, we find a very interesting Saklawi tail female line. Imperial Imalana is a daughter of a strong-bodied 1974 bay mare named *Amalaa, herself a daughter of an AlBadeia-bred mare named Aminaa, by Ibn Maisa (Nazeer x Maisa) and out of Rabiaa (Beshier x Rateeba), a 1951 chestnut Inshass-bred mare. Her dam Rateeba is sired by El Moez, the sire of Sameh. *Amalaa's sire, Mowaffac was a *Ramses Fayek son out of a mare named Ayda, a Nazeer daughter out of Lateefa (Gamil III x Salwa). In Maisa Al Nasser, you can also see the Saqlawi strain influence, as she has a little more stretch in the poll with a finer mitbah and her neck, while not long is not heavy and has a very nice shape. We also observe a little more length in her back and I appreciate the ratio of her longer forearms to shorter cannons. She is truly a traditional mare, with much elegance.
Blending the Dahman and Saqlawi strains, as we see in Maisa Al Nasser's pedigree, is a formula that has been employed by several straight Egyptian breeders with much success. One of the most celebrated breeders of our recent past, the late Walter Schimanski of Masada Arabians, once said,
"incorporating the Saqlawi type brings length back to neck and leg, which can be lost with intense use of Dahman and Kuhaylan strain types. It also yields finer bone structure and produces flatter and less prominent muscling. Too much Saqlawi can produce a long back and ears. Dahman type brings back an overall balance and harmony, including more dished heads and larger eyes, and shorter backs, but also has the tendency to produce shorter necks and legs, heavier muscling, and more bone."And yet, there's a hint of something else too, something in the hind ends of the Sinan Al Rayyan-sired horses. The hindquarters of these horses are wider, rounder and muscled, all the way down into the gaskins, enabling them to drive their bodies forward, in a powerful way. I saw her very lovely swinging walk, as Maisa was led away from the judges in center ring. I watched the judges studying her and I wonder if they were thinking the same thing. Do you know the meaning of the name "Maisa"? Arabic in origin, Maisa is a woman who walks with pride and confidence in her step, attracting attention wherever she goes. I can't think of a more appropriate name for this beautiful mare. There are multiple lines in the pedigree to the Saqlawi stallion, Sameh, primarily through his extraordinary daughters: *Ansata Bint Misr and *Ansata Bint Sameh. Over the years, I have found that when you see a horse who is able to use the muscles in the back to influence better movement, look for Sameh in the pedigree, by way of his daughters. Maisa Al Nasser has four lines to Sameh, plus the additional lines to El Moez, through Shahd and Rateeba.
In the Senior Mare Championship on Sunday, Maisa Al Nasser was named the Bronze Senior Champion Mare. With nine judges adjudicating this prestigious show, Maisa Al Nasser was placed in one of the top three spots by five judges. Two judges named her the Gold Champion, one judge picked her as the Silver Champion, while two judges selected her as the Bronze Champion. I was overwhelmed by the quality of the mares participating in the Senior Mare Class. How to pick a winner from a class full of winners? It was not easy to be a judge on Sunday and have to make this decision. Noft Al Nayfat was named the Silver Champion Senior Mare and Baviera HVP took the top spot, the Gold Champion Senior Mare. In a special award sponsored by El Farida Stud in Egypt, Maisa Al Nasser was also recognized as the Best Straight Egyptian Female at the show.
Maisa Al Nasser is a proven broodmare, having produced colts by Ansata Nile Echo and Shagran Al Nasser. For me, it is exciting to consider the future for her, as she returns to Al Nasser to fulfill her greatest legacy...her progeny. How many beautiful horses will come, with Maisa, as a vibrant part of their history? Congratulations to Sheikh Nawaf Bin Nasser Al Thani, on breeding such a wonderful mare and sharing her with the world of Arabian horse loving people.
***I apologize profoundly to everyone who visits my blog, as my original post on Maisa Al Nasser was accidentally deleted yesterday. I still don't understand how I did it. All I was trying to do was correct a simple spelling error. It's been rough trying to recreate my post and still, not really happy with it, as it falls short of celebrating this exquisite mare's huge win.****
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