Remembrance: Polly Knoll

*Aramus (*Nabor x Amneris) as photographed by Polly Knoll

On Monday, I learned the very sad news that Polly Knoll had died. For most people enamored with Egyptian Arabian horses, a mention of Polly Knoll's name is instantly connected to iconic photos of the stallions, *Morafic or Ruminaja Ali. So, it's interesting that for me, as a lover of Egyptian horses, that my connection with Polly Knoll is not through a straight Egyptian horse but rather, a Pure Polish stallion named *Aramus. I had received a complimentary copy of Arabian Horse World when I was ten or eleven years old and I discovered this Polly Knoll photo, deep within the issue. Amongst the thousands of beautiful photos published in the magazine, it is interesting that one single photo would exert as much of an impact upon me as it has, for all of my life. While a more formal education, through the pages of Judith Forbis' The Classic Arabian Horse would come a few years later, it was this Polly Knoll photo that inspired the great love that I have had all my life for Arabian horses. I remember hours spent studying this photo, tracing his silhouette with my finger, while every curve, every line was etched deeply within my heart and mind. Little did I realize at the time, of the significance that *Aramus' morphology would have, against which I would measure all horses from this point onwards. Such is the continuing power of Polly Knoll in my life.

One of the more interesting equine behavior observations I have made was through Polly's photos of the stallions *Tuhotmos and *Soufian. While both horses were sons of Moniet el Nefous, *Tuhotmos was sired by El Sareei and *Soufian was sired by Alaa el Din.  It was interesting to see that both horses, while they looked differently from each other, behaviorally, they acted similarly, as both horses lifted a hind foot and held it off the ground, in anticipation.

*Soufian (Alaa el Din x Moniet el Nefous)

*Tuhotmos (El Sareei x Moniet el Nefous)

If you have been in the breed for a while, then you will understand the power that the breed has in bringing people together, who if not for the Arabian horse, would probably never have the opportunity to know each other. Polly Knoll was from Wisconsin and old enough to be my mother. I was young enough to be her child and from New Jersey. We could be from other planets, that's how different our worlds were. And yet, through the Arabian horse, Polly was a super hero, a champion of the breed and through her camera, I became connected to her, as she made horses like *Farazdac or Nabiel, that much more real in my life. One could not ask more from a hero than that.

Serr Maariner (Ibn Fa-Serr x Maarena)

So, you can imagine my excitement when Polly came to New Jersey, to photograph Serr Maariner at Princeton Arabians in the mid-80's. It was a shining moment in the life of this great horse, to be captured in the glory of his dressage career and what the training had done for his body. Not to mention the relationship that Serr enjoyed with Gail. Polly caught that too. I don't think Polly fully understood how her photography impacted the lives of others. For her, it was less about "her" and more about the horse. And that's the significance that Polly held in my life and your life; she continually gifted all of us with a beauty so powerful, that it caused us to stop whatever we were doing to take notice of it. She really was an artist, whose canvas was intangible, a soul, not only of the horses she captured on film but of people like me, who, after witnessing such extraordinary beauty, could never go back to being the same people we had been. Polly had shown us the potential that exists in all things, creating in our souls a burning desire to live a life that is worthy of the beauty that she observed through the lens of her camera.

Polly Knoll, as most people saw her

 "We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." - Thornton Wilder