If I were a mare owner...

*Hadban Al Shaqab (Ashhal Al Rayyan x Sundar Alisayyah) as photographed by the amazing April Visel, a true artist who "paints" with her camera

There are many living stallions in this community that catch my interest and attention. However, there are fewer stallions, who hold my interest long enough, to inspire a more serious level of contemplation, that is, to study them on a deeper level and that, of the role they exerted in siring their get. For some of these beautiful stallions, the interest soon fades, while for a fraction of these horses, the interest in them escalates and their presence dominates my heart, mind and soul. It's odd, to reach this point in my life, not having established the breeding program that I once believed that I would, as these stallions fit perfectly in the plan for creating the horse that I see in my mind's eye.  Time, if lived recklessly, without discipline, is a significant adversary whom I underestimated (there aren't that many mañanas as you think there are) and for some of these horses, I recognize that time is fading and the probability that I can move as quickly as I would need to move, is highly unlikely. Those are the perils of getting older and losing hope in dreams. But I digress, as this is not really about me but rather, this is about a most amazing horse whom I not only admire; I also really believe in him to affect the kind of change we need, for perpetuation of the straight Egyptian Arabian horse into the future. He most definitely is in that fraction of horses that I mentioned a few sentences ago. And want to hear the most amazing thing? I wasn't a fan of the stallion, Ashhal Al Rayyan. I can't really tell you why I felt this way, as he is beautiful, incorporating the blood of horses who are favorites of mine. However, it took his son and the amazing hind end (so round, so voluptuous, so powerfully muscled) that he passes onto his get, to convince me of how wrong I was about Ashhal Al Rayyan. 

*Hadban Al Shaqab is a 2001 stallion, sired by Ashhal Al Rayyan (Safir x Ansata Majesta) and out of Sundar Alisayyah (Ruminaja Ali x Imperial Sayyah). He is a maternal brother to the late Al Adeed Al Shaqab, as both horses were out of the same dam, sired by different stallions. However, what is interesting is that while Al Adeed Al Shaqab is sired by Ansata Halim Shah, Hadban's sire, Ashhal Al Rayyan, carries 50% of Ansata Halim Shah blood, through both of his paternal grandparents (Salaa el Dine and Aisha) in addition to his dam, Ansata Majesta. So, I consider both horses to be genetically closer than maternal siblings, when you factor Ansata Halim Shah's genetic influence in both horses. 

In his tail female line, dam-to-grand dam-to-great grand dams, *Hadban Al Shaqab traces to the Albadeia-bred mare, *Malekat el Gamal-> to Nagdia-> to Zahia, a grandaughter of Bint Samiha. Think of what I just wrote. This mare, Zahia, maternally, traces to Bint Samiha in 2 generations. Her daughter, Nagdia, is sired by Nazeer, a son of Bint Samiha. The breeding combination of Nazeer and Zahia, both Hadban strain horses, resulted in a pure-in-strain Hadbah, double Bint Samiha, who was named Nagdia. And yet, despite this, what I found really interesting, in terms of calculating the percentage of influence by strain, is that  while *Hadban Al Shaqab, as his name suggests, is Hadban Enzahi in strain,  that's not what the total pedigree says, in term of the strain of influence. Hadban, by percentage of influence is actually only 25% Hadban, including his tail female line. By comparison, he is 15.625% Kuhaylan Rodan and an equal percentage of Abeyyan. A smaller percentage,12.5%, is representative of Hadban's Saklawi influence. However, the strain which impacts the greatest influence (no surprise, since we understand the role that Ansata Halim Shah plays in the pedigree) is the Dahman strain, at 31.25%! So, the larger question becomes "Is*Hadban Al Shaqab really Hadban or is he Dahman"? My opinion is that this question must be answered individually, by you, dear reader, after thoroughly studying (comparison/contrast) the stallion and mare families that make up the genetic fiber that results in *Hadban Al Shaqab. 

Binte Romaana MH (*Hadban Al Shaqab x Romanaa Maara MH)

 *Hadban Al Shaqab is a proven breeding stallion, having sired a number of foals for Dr. Jody Cruz, of Rancho Bulakenyo in Los Osos, California, in whose care and leadership, Hadban's meteoric rise to success exploded globally.  *Hadban Al Shaqab's daughters have matured into the farm's most esteemed broodmares, as well as the mares who have become significant for other breeders. What are Hadban's siring strengths? Jody answered,

"He has proven to be a consistent sire of smooth bodies, excellent movement and correct conformation. His foals all have beautiful faces with big, black eyes and beautifully shaped and well placed ears."

Jody has retained a son, Aziz Ibn Hadban MH, out of his premier broodmare, Binte Aziza MH, in addition to the exquisite Binte Romanaa MH (out of Romanaa Maara MH) and her daughter, Romanaa Princess MH. Truly, in the company of these fine horses, you will begin to understand the esteem that Jody feels for his *Hadban Al Shaqab sons and daughters. 

*Hadban Al Shaqab, the Champion, as photographed by Darryl Larson, one of the most powerful visual storytellers of our time

As a show horse, *Hadban Al Shaqab was electricifying and all who saw him competing in the halter main rings eight years ago, were dazzled by his brilliance and overwhelmed by his abundant presence and charm. He was then, and continues to be, for many people, the quintessential image of a classic Arabian stallion. In 2012, *Hadban Al Shaqab was named a Gold Champion Stallion at the Egyptian Event, a Region 2 Champion Stallion, a US National Top Ten Stallion and a US Reserve National Champion Stallion, 8 Years and Older. 

*Hadban Al Shaqab "unplugged" at home...unwashed, untrimmed...living in his pasture and just happy to be a horse

Since 2018, *Hadban Al Shaqab has been owned by Robin Lee of Aleah Arabians in Deming, New Mexico, who told me,

"you cannot imagine what it is like to ride this magnificent grey horse in the desert or on the mountains. I can't even tell you how much I love this horse. I think he knows he has his forever person now!"

Hadban is very happy in his home with Robin, living in a pasture together with his mares, which helps to keep him youthful in appearance, as well as his demeanor.  He is siring with an amazing level of consistency for Robin. His daughter, Pharralayla, is a gorgeous mare, as are the upcoming fillies born in 2019 (Aleah Naamah H), 2020 (Aleah Farasha H) and a very striking colt (Aleah Prince H). I asked Robin, what she feels *Hadban Al Shaqab contributes to her program. Robin answered,

"A beautiful head and face including tight, little ears, extra length in the poll, great shoulders, a shorter, smoother and stronger back, tail carriage, superb legs and a very eye-pleasing overall structure throughout the body."

Robin is expecting eleven foals by Hadban in 2021, seven of those foals will be foaled out of Robin's mares. 

*Hadban Al Shaqab on left, Maariyah RAF (Richter MH x Bint Kachina MH) is on the right.

No horse lives forever and the reality is that *Hadban Al Shaqab is not getting any younger and is quickly, approaching his senior years. This is why I titled this blog post, "If I were a mare owner" because on a personal level, *Hadban Al Shaqab makes me wish that I owned a mare, just so I could breed to him. No kidding. He is that good, no, wait, scratch that, he is CONSISTENT in siring his outstanding type onto the next generation. Plus, history will reveal that *Hadban Al Shaqab sires mares who become influential broodmares, by establishing vibrant families of horses. In this community, I have seen too many stallions die, only to read breeders quickly express their "if only...". Well, here's a "heads-up" from me to you dear breeder...NOW IS THE TIME. Take action before it is too late and you run out of mañanas, because regret, well, that's not so easy to live with. I personally know that.