Echo Hill Jemma

Echo Hill Jemma (*Alaa Jabbar Ma'Absha x MB Jamillsa)

Echo Hill Jemma is a 2009 grey straight Egyptian mare, sired by the Miri Berger-bred stallion, *Alaa Jabbar Ma'Absha (NK Jamal el Dine x El Waha Martaba) and out of MB Jamillsa, a double *Jamil granddaughter. In tail female line, she traces to the *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter, Monisa Halima, who when bred to *Jamil, produced the mare, Bint Jamilla, the maternal granddam of Echo Hill Jemma. However, if you follow the tail female line even further back, past Moniet el Nefous, Dalal al Zarka and Om Dalal, eventually you reach the 1882 mare, Roga El Beida, a flea-bitten Ali Pasha Sherif-bred mare, descending from the Saqlawi Jedran horses that were collected by Abbas Pasha from the desert Bedouin tribes. Roga El Beida is considered a root mare for the Saqlawi strain in straight Egyptian breeding.  However, Dr. William Hudson, in his mitochondrial DNA study of the matrilines within straight Egyptian (EAO) breeding, found that Roga El Beida and El Dahma (the root mare of the Dahman strain) belong to the same haplogroup (a group of similar haplotypes, where each haplotype is made up of alleles, inherited from a single parent) which suggests that while both mares were of different strains, they share a common ancestress. Furthermore, I found it interesting (from a strain perspective) that the majority strain influence within Echo Hill Jemma's pedigree is Dahman Shahwan, approximately 44%; while the percentage of Saqlawi influence is considerably smaller, less than 10%.  And yet, I remember watching her video, mesmerized as she turns to face the camera and draws a line in the sand, head held high and feet firmly planted, chest puffed out, while emitting one of those deep chested snorts that seems to pull all of her courage from deep within her and out through her large nostrils, all of that despite a small percentage of Saqlawi influence.

To underscore Dr. Hudson's mitochondrial DNA study which revealed the relationship between El Dahma and Roga El Beida, genetically, *Bint Moniet el Nefous (Echo Hill Jemma's great-great-great-great granddam) and *Ansata Ibn Halima (great-great grandsire, who also appears in 4 other lines in Echo Hill Jemma's pedigree) were more closely related in blood than most people realize, sharing not only Nazeer as a sire but also, their dams were similarly bred, being a blend of Sheikh el Arab with the influence of Ibn Rabdan. Most people, when thinking of Moniet el Nefous, will immediately think of an elegant, dry, desert-type Saqlawi mare, however, you will be surprised to learn that in her pedigree, she carried the blood of El Dahma multiple times, as did *Ansata Ibn Halima, who traces through Farida to El Dahma in his tail female line.

I also found it interesting that the maternal granddam of Alaa Jabbar Ma'Absha was a Babolna-bred mare named El Waha Hadissura, a daughter of the mare 11 Hanadi (Alaa el Din x Rahma), who was imported to Babolna from Egypt. 11 Hanadi is a mare of great significance, as she also produced Ibn Galal I (by Ibn Galal), who is the sire of the mare, Bahila (out of the Gharib daughter, Bakria). When bred to Ruminaja Ali, Bahila produced the influential stallion, The Minstril, the sire of Thee Desperado, who has impacted the world of straight Egyptian breeding like no other stallion has, since the time of Nazeer.

Echo Hill Jemma is a generously bodied mare but yet, elegant and refined. Her longer neck is set higher on her shoulders and chest, with a bit more length in the poll and fineness through the throatlatch. Her topline is smooth and strong. Her hind end is well-muscled, right down through the gaskins. She has a high degree of elasticity in her hocks, allowing her to get under herself and drive her powerful body forward. With as many lines as she has to the Dahman strain and specifically the five lines in her pedigree to *Ansata Ibn Halima, no surprise that she is a very balanced individual. When you dig into the details of type, those attributes which make our breed unlike many others, there is much to appreciate, like a larger, fully black eye, set lower on a head that is classic, dry and clean, with a facial crest bone that is prominent, made more dramatic due to her excellent skin quality and dark pigmentation. Her nostrils are elastic, growing to a large size, while maintaining a delicate and beautiful shape. She is, like Carl Raswan said so many years ago, "a drinker of the wind."

Fa Tiaa Nasreen (Shaheen Al Waab x Echo Hill Jemma)as photographed by Trace and Lisa Moffatt.

Echo Hill Jemma is a proven broodmare, having outproduced herself with an extraordinarily beautiful daughter sired by the late stallion, Shaheen al Waab, and named Fa Tiaa Nasreen. Echo Hill Jemma also produced a son, sired by Nebras Al Rayyan, named Fa Amir Ibn Nebras.  Both horses are bred and owned by Marilyn Lang, Fantasia Arabians, Sealy, Texas, who is also the owner of Echo Hill Jemma. With a laugh, Marilyn says, "we call Jemma the Queen and her daughter Tiaa, the Princess," and she continues a bit more seriously, "Jemma is surrounded by an aura of some kind. There is no doubt that she is the ruler, regardless of the pasture that she occupies. That fact remains unspoken. She can be aloof to the other horses but no one ever challenges her. All her herd mates seem to know that she reigns supreme and, is very special. This is what I mean by an aura, it just oozes out of her." The future looks bright, as Marilyn is planning to breed both mother and daughter this year and further the influence of this marvelous family of horses, well into the future.

****Originally published in February 2020. Lovingly dedicated to Marilyn Lang, with many thanks.***