Bel Gordas

Bel Gordas (Sirecho x Habba)

Bel Gordas was a 1956 grey stallion, bred by Mrs. John Ekern Ott, who had purchased his dam, Habba (*Fadl x *Bint Bint Sabbah), from the Babson Farm in 1954. Bel Gordas' sire, Sirecho, foaled in 1939, was also purchased by Mrs. Ott, from Clifford Lodwick, in the same time period of the Babson Farm purchase. Bel Gordas was the first foal that Sirecho sired for Mrs. Ott and eventually, he became a herd sire for her program. The interesting thing about Habba is that a maternal line, in straight Babson Egyptian form, no longer exists. Horses like Bel Gordas and his descendants, remain the ways in which we can incorporate the influence of Habba within a breeding program. 

In the Spanish language, the name, "Bel Gordas" translates to "beautiful fat ladies" however "beautiful" in this sense, does not refer to an outwardly physical beauty but rather, an in-born beauty, like a spiritual beauty. For most people who have been involved with Asil or Egyptian horses, they are familiar with Mrs. Ott and her daughter, as both ladies are largely responsible for developing awareness and appreciation in America for the preservation of the Bedouin-bred Arabian horse, as catalogued within their famous publication, The Blue Arabian Catalog. The Otts were passionate about the horses and their communication style, reflected the passion they felt. I have always wondered if the name of Bel Gordas was like an "inside joke" for Mrs. Ott and her daughter. Needless to say, whenever I see Bel Gordas' name, I always chuckle, thanks to the Otts. 

One of the stories that I heard about Bel Gordas involved Richard Pritzlaff, who owned the mare, Rabanna (Rasik x Banna). Richard loved the mare and because of her dam, Banna, Richard was also enamored of the stallion, *Nasr (Rabdan el Azrak x Bint Yamama). He desired to incorporate more *Nasr blood within his program, so he contacted the Otts, in the hope that he could lease Sirecho for breeding. However, Sirecho was an aged stallion by that time and it wasn't in the horse's best interest to ship him all the way to New Mexico. So, instead of sending Sirecho to Richard, Mrs. Ott sent Bel Gordas to Jackson Hensley instead. Bred to *Bint el Bataa, Bel Gordas sired the mare, Naszala for Richard but he also sired RA Leila, out of the *Bint Moniet el Nefous daughter, RSI Rara Del Sol, for Jackson, among other horses.

Bel Gordas sired a little less than 20 horses and of those horses, 3 were out of the Sirecho daughter, Faarecho (out of Faara by Faddan x Fa Aana), 3 were out of Jasmyn (Fa-Rousse x Dahlya), who incidentally, was a granddaughter of Dahma Al-Zarka, who also was bred to Bel Gordas in 1965, producing the daughter, Belle Dahma, who was later exported to Germany. Bel Gordas was also bred to the mare Zahlya twice. Zahlya was by Zarlan and out of Dahlya, the dam of Jasmyn! The Sirecho daughter, Sirulla (out of Drissula) was also bred to Bel Gordas, as was her daughter, Zarrulla.  For a smaller number of get sired, the Bel Gordas family has prospered over the years and Bel Gordas has 963 descendants through the present day, with approximately a third of those descendants born in the years 1990 through 1999. 

I was born in the sixties, so Bel Gordas, as a living individual in the physical world, was a bit before my time. It would be through his daughter, Belle Echo (out of Faarecho, also by Sirecho) and her daughters: Masada Bellesabah (Lothar), Masada Saabellah (Saafaddan) and Masada Bellisima (Fabo) that I learned of Bel Gordas. These were very pretty and really sweet mares, who produced equally sweet horses. Sirecho, a curiously intelligent horse, was remarked to have a wonderful, easy going personality that he passed onto his sons and daughters as well as a voluptuous phenotype, like an "old world" type, their bodies comprised of flowing, circular lines, just as if they had stepped out of a museum painting. Many, many years later, to illustrate how small the world can be, I would have the opportunity to own Princeton Maarena, a great-granddaughter of Sirhabba, who just happens to be a full sister to Bel Gordas! It would be this experience which has left me a forever fan of this particular bloodline.

***I published this blog earlier this year, on March 13th. Bel Gordas is one of my favorite horses, one of my favorite lines in straight Egyptian breeding. If you missed his story the first time, here's another opportunity to read his blog.***