Think Nabiel...Feel Nabiel

Nabiel+/ (*Sakr x *Magidaa) as photographed by Polly Knoll

For most people, there are individuals, places, events, songs, books, television shows or even, scents, flavors and fragrances that become deeply embedded within our psyche and have the power to instantly, take us back to a time period that remains memorable in our lives. When people talk about the seventies, my memories are not of gold chains, polyester pants and Saturday night fever. For me, it is a horse and his name was Nabiel+/, a 1971 stallion bred by Gleannloch Farms, a son of *Sakr, out of the mare, *Magidaa. The name, "Nabiel", is derived from the Arabic "Nabil", which means, "noble" or "high-born" as in "the son of noble parents". World famous author, breeder and noted historian of the Egyptian Arabian horse, Philippe Paraskevas within his significant body of work, The Egyptian Alternative, Volume II, wrote of  the *Morafic daughter, Enayat, the dam of *Sakr, 

"Enayat can be appraised to be 'la crème de la crème' of the Rissala branches, and most of her progeny going forward will go on to become repositories of potential, going beyond what is available anywhere else in the strain." 

In this case, I believe that Philippe has further defined "noble," by underscoring the quality of a mare like Enayat. Nabiel is noble, because the horses that came before him, were also noble. As a child in love with Arabian horses, the monthly magazine, Arabian Horse World, was like a "window" onto this world and as I transitioned to middle school, Nabiel burst onto the Arabian horse scene, through the same door that horses like *Serenity Sonbolah and Ansata Ibn Sudan had unlocked for Egyptian-bred horses. Thanks to Bill and Pat Trapp, his staunchest supporters, Nabiel continued to build upon his meteoric rise to fame, becoming one of the most magnificent straight Egyptian stallions of modern times. 

Do you know that Nabiel+/ was a United States National Champion in 1974?  In a tough, extremely competitive class of up-and-coming young stallions, the judges pinned Nabiel+/ as the winner of the Futurity Colt Class. 

Nabiel+/ came back the following year in his quest for the top prize and was named a Top Ten stallion. He made one more bid for the National Champion title in 1976 and again, went as far as a Top Ten title. Nabiel+/ was awarded the legion of supreme honor, which is symbolized by the +/ placed after his name. The achievement award is bestowed upon the horse as a result of earning 150 points, from competing and placing in AHA recognized events. Eventually, as a sire, Nabiel+/ would become one of the first Egyptian-bred stallions to sire 100+ show ring champions. In an interview with Polly Knoll, published within Desert Heritage Magazine, Joe Ferriss asked Polly to share her memories of Nabiel+/:

"Bill and Pat Trapp went down to Gleannloch and picked out Nabiel out of all the yearlings available. Bill was a great horseman and he picked right because Nabiel turned out to be exceptional. Nabiel grew to be a big horse, with a beautiful head, long neck and good overall quality. He was a big winner in the show ring at the National level but also proved a great sire no matter how you bred him. He crossed well with all lines. He was another horse who worked very well with me in photo shoots."

Nabiel is one of those horses, for whom you need to study and consider his entire pedigree (beyond the tail female line) in order to make sense of what you see physically, versus what you read on paper. An analysis of the first four generations reveals that the majority of strain influence comes from the Saqlawi strain, approximately 75%. The Kuhaylan strain, overall at 12.5%, is equally divided between the Kuhaylan Rodans and the Kuhaylan Mimriahs, 6.25% each.  The reality is that Nabiel is only Abeyyan, as much as he is Hadban Enzahi or even, Kuhaylan Rodan. Each strain accounts for a minimal percentage of 6.25% of Nabiel's pedigree. In studying the entire pedigree (and not just the tail female line), one can better connect Nabiel's airy, longer, stretchier phenotype with that of the Saqlawi strain. With all that said, our breed tradition is to follow the chain of mares in the last line of the pedigree, the matriline or the tail female line, through which, Nabiel, traces back to the root mare of the strain:

Magidaa->Maysa-->Mahfouza-->El Mahrousa--> El Shahbaa

At the time in which he lived, the Abeyyan renaissance in the middle east, driven by the progeny and grand progeny of the elite mare, Hanan, was still 10-15 years from occurring. At this time, the straight Egyptian consciousness was focused on the Dahman and Saqlawi strains. In tail female line, Nabiel traced to the Inshass mare, El Shahbaa, a 1925 mare, purchased by King Fouad of Egypt from Mohamed Ibrahim al-Hajj in 1931.  The interesting thing about El Shahbaa is that we don't know much about her. In the Inshass Herd Book, she is recorded as being sired by a Hamdani al-Nasiri stallion and out of an Abeyyah Om Jurays mare. That's it. She is one of the horses in our gene pool that we have to take it upon faith, that she is who she is written to be, until science through mtDNA can confirm or prove otherwise. 

Through the present day, Al Khamsa recognizes 2,186 asil descendants of Nabiel, with 750+ born from 2000 through 2009. That's more descendants recorded within this decade than any other. What's even more interesting about this number is that Nabiel died in 1995, almost 15 years earlier.  As I skimmed through the roster of his descendants, looking for descendants of Hanan, I found the *Jamil daughter, Ansata Vali Nile, a 1986 daughter of Ansata Nile Dawn (Nabiel x Ansata Nile Queen) especially interesting, because she combines these alternative sources of El Shahbaa together in one pedigree. Ansata Nile Dawn was sold to Jan Van Ness of Flaxman Arabians and was exported to the Netherlands, while Ansata Vali Nile was consigned to the 1987 Pyramid Society Sale and sold to Gary & Gemma Barclay of Ontario, Canada.

Nabiel crossed especially well with the daughters of El Halimaar (*Ansata Ibn Halima x RDM Maar Hala), a Rancho Bulakenyo-bred stallion, also leased by Bill and Pat Trapp. For their program, the Nabiel daughter, Arabest Nabiela, was bred to El Halimaar, producing Arabest Aziz and and Arabest Zahra. The Nabiel daughter, Arabest Nafarah, produced Arabest Halifah and Arabest Aatika. It's also interesting to learn that the El Halimaar daughter,  Arabest Halifa, was bred back to Nabiel (her maternal grandsire) which resulted in the mare, Arabest Halina. Maybe it was the success of these crosses that inspired Rancho Bulakenyo to breed their gorgeous Nabiel daughter, SF Moon Maiden to El Halimaar, producing Kachina MH. One can say that SF Moon Maiden was the foundress of the Moon family at Rancho Bulakenyo, resulting in some of the most  unforgettable horses in the Arabian breed like Abraxas Halimaar, Moon Storm MH and Maar Nabiela. There was also a 1980 mare named Durrak. She was an Ibn Morafic daughter out of Dahma Bel Najiba (Bel Gordas x Jasmyn). She was bred twice to Nabiel, producing the mares: Nadera in 1986 and Ddecadence in 1987. The interesting thing (aside from the fact that a couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Bel Gordas), Ddecadence was bred to El Halimaar, producing the stallion, Shades of Goldd in 1992. The El Halimaar son, Abraxas Halimaar was also bred to Ddecadence, producing Sunddown in 1994. Mention must also be made of the El Halimaar daughter, Maardasa, out of Hadassa (TheEgyptianPrince x Nafairtiti), who was exported to Simeon Stud in Australia. Hadassa, also bred by Gleannloch Farms, figured prominently for the breeding program of John & Joyce Hurd (the breeders of SF Moon Maiden), as they bred Hadassa to Nabiel, producing Binte Hadassa and Nadassa, who was bred to El Halimaar, producing Bint Bint Hadassa. A variation or  "twist" of the El Halimaar cross would be  through the stallion, Halim el Mansour (a full brother of El Halimaar) combined with Nadassa, which resulted in the bay filly, Halim Nada, who remains relevant in the gene pool today. The beautiful chestnut Nabiel daughter, RA Aneesa (out of the *Soheir II daughter, AK Amheir) was also bred to El Halimaar, producing the breeding stallion, WH Bodacious in 1992 for The Pyramid Society former president, Martha Lucas of White Haven Plantation in South Carolina.

One of my favorite horses of all time is the stallion, Akid Geshan, a 1986 Nabiel son bred by Alyce Burgess of the Akid Arabian Stud in Virginia. Akid Geshan is out of Akid Hanalei, a daughter of another favorite stallion, AK El Zahra Moniet and a beautiful mare who blends newer Egyptian lines with older Egyptian lines as found in the Babson breeding program, as well as the *Nasr son, Sirecho.  What is especially interesting is that Geshan has a full brother, Akid Kasim, who has 33 descendants through the present day. When Akid Geshan was crossed with his paternal sibling, RA Amber Nabiel, the cross yielded in yet another beloved horse, Arabest Samir, the 2008 Egyptian Event Supreme Champion Stallion. Actually, RA Amber Nabiel was more than just a paternal sibling of Akid Geshan, as both horses carry the blood of *Moniet el Nefous, through their dam. Akid Geshan through *Ibn Moniet el Nefous (twice) and RA Amber Nabiel through *Fakher el Din and *Morafic. 

Some of the other crosses that I also found interesting are Asasi Mashallah, a 1987 daughter of Qastal, a *Soufian daughter out of the exquisite mare, Neama. Then, there was Nahbelle, the 1986 daughter out of Masada Bellesabah, very similarly bred to Akid Hanalei but without the lines to Moniet el Nefous. Nahbelle matured into a classically beautiful mare, who became a Reserve National Champion mare of Israel. And then, there was Nagda, a 1986 mare, who is a result of Nabiel, bred to his maternal sister, Bint Magidaa (by Shaikh al Badi). She in turn was bred to Alidaar,  Imperial Imdal (resulting in the stallion, Sterling Vision), Marquis I and that's how Nagda primarily remains relevant today. Nabiel was also crossed with the line of Tamria via the Babolna-bred mare, *Pharrah, producing two sons Royal Mikhiel and Royal Pharriel. When Royal Pharriel was crossed back with the line of El Halimaar, one of the most beautiful fillies, Bint Bint Pharrah was born. Tragically, this young mare perished in a fire, before the world could know of her potential greatness.  And of course, I can't forget the Nabiel daughter, Bint Bint Hamama, who was extremely popular, through her daughter, BA Halamet, who in turn, produced treasured mares like Abraxas Habielaa and Abraxas-Halamaa. Exported to Australia, BA Halamet was bred to Saba Arabians' Ansata Halim Shah son, Thaqib Al Nasser, producing a daughter, Al Maha Al Saba.

Although bred in America, Nabiel was a son of imported EAO horses and while many of the mares that he was bred to were daughters, granddaughters or great granddaughters of EAO imported horses, those breedings reflected the bloodlines that were popular and more widely used in America at the time, however he was also bred to a variety of newly imported Egyptian mares of bloodlines that were outside of the Egyptian mainstream at the time. I compiled the following list for your review: 

From the breeding program of Sayed Marei in Egypt:

• *Ameerat Al Badeia (Ameer Al Badeia x Naeema), producing the 1985 stallion, El Lateef
• *Lancers Nora (Kayed x Manal), producing the stallions, Pi Prince in 1985 and Pi-Sultan in 1987
• Nabeelat AlBadeia (Ameer Al Badeia x Meseda), producing the mare, AS Bint Nabiel in 1986
• *Kamar el Zeman (Seef x AK Hamida), producing the 1986 stallion, DW Katar, Shams el Masabar (Madkour x Sabrah), producing the 1987 stallion, El Nour
• *Dananier (Seef x El Amira), producing the 1986 mare, Annabiel
• *Gamalat AlBadeia (Asil AlBadeia x Farida), producing the stallion, Flame Ibn Nabiel in 1987 
• *Shagaret el Dorr (Kayed x Nagdia), producing the mare Shabiela in 1991 and the stallion, Shabiel KA in 1993. It is interesting that the Nabiel son, RA Jahim (out of *Masarra) was also bred to *Shagaret el Dorr, which yielded the daughters Tasharet in 1995 and Shaqaret in 1996 and *Dakilla (Bint Alia), who produced the daughters Nikilla in 1990 and Allikad in 1991. 
• The Kheir Allah (Kayed x El Amira) daughters: *Hafaz Manal (Sasab), produced the stallions, Gasur Ibn Manal in 1985, S Tewa Nabiel in 1986, S Nambe Nabiel in 1987 and S Jemez Nabiel in 1989 and *Dakilla (Bint Alia) produced the daughters Nikilla in 1990 and Allikad in 1991. 

From the EAO:

• ADH Saklawi Rakik (Shukri x Shooani - although the sire was bred by Gleannloch and the dam was bred by James Kline, it's all EAO breeding and the combination with Nabiel was very unique), producing the 1983 mare, Asha Kanille 
• *Gazbeya (Nasralla x Hagir), producing the 1977 mare, Shahliel, 
• *Masarra (*Tuhotmos x Bint el Nil), producing the mare, RA Nassara in 1986 and the stallions, RA Jahim in 1984, Kadin RA in 1985 and RA Kareem in 1987
• *Ramses Rahwana (*Ramses Fayek x El Tahra), producing the stallion, Ramses Cawsar in 1987
• *Dahk Al Rakessa (*Ibn Hafiza x *Barakaa), producing the stallion, Nabaha in 1993

From Germany:

• *Hamasa Samira (Mehanna x Sadya), producing the 1985 stallion, Shaikh Zayed
• *Shams El Ifara (Ibrahim x Shas El Faroussa), producing the 1988 mare, Nabiel Crown Jewl

From Hamdan Stables:

• *Monicaa (Ghalion x Monaa), producing the 1986 mare, CL Moniel 

From Ahmed Sherif:

• *Lubna (Sharaf El Din x Keshta), producing the 1985 mare, Lahib Al Hurriyat and the 1987 stallion, Azrak el Shah

While I am not suggesting that the progeny of any of these mares are more preferable over other horses; what I am suggesting is that these particular horses offer slightly different combinations of blood, which if utilized intelligently, offer outcross opportunities that can help breeders build diversity for future generations of breeders.

Nabiel was incredibly photogenic and Polly Knoll was the photographer who seemed to possess that rare ability to capture his magnetic charisma on film, in order to share it with the whole world. I have never seen a bad photo of this horse, even in casual shots. He was a larger-sized horse, approx 15.3 hands but it wasn't that he was taller, he was also larger, in terms of his substance. He was generously proportioned, well-muscled, with a broad chest, a wide back, a neck that was long but not thin, with very nice crest. Everything about him oozed power and yet, for as big of a horse as he was; he was a balanced individual, elegant and typey, with big, black luminous eyes that had the power to melt even the hardest of hearts. A few years ago, during a lull in the Egyptian Event, the trophies for each class were sitting on a table by the ring. While I had seen photos of Janel Maher's sculpture of Nabiel, it was the first time that I had seen the statue in person. 

Janel Maher's sculpture of Nabiel

For me, art is a physical representation of things that you enjoy most in the world. It can be awe-inspiring, filling you with happiness, just by seeing it and on troubling days, provides a mental escape from all that ails you, even if the escape is only fractions of a second long. You hope that art will give a physical reality to the colorful words that remain on the tip of your tongue or for the image in your mind, that words always fall short of fully describing. Sometimes, an artist's vision, talent and inspiration meld together to create art that not only moves you but comes closer than you ever imagined, to portraying a beloved individual in a lifelike manner, including the very essence that made the individual so unique in our world. As I stood in front of the Nabiel sculpture,  a giant-sized knot forming in my throat, I was impressed by the size of the piece (just like the real Nabiel) but more than that, I was overwhelmed with the living presence that emanated from the sculpture. The bronze metal, formed into a likeness of Nabiel, miraculously captured his spirit in abundance and unexplainably, overpowered me with a realization that perhaps, I was not fully cognizant of the complete horse that Nabiel was, when he was alive. Amazing that a bronze sculpture would inspire such thoughts as these but I don't believe that I am the only one to experience these feelings.  The artist, Janel Maher, was commissioned by Dr. Burt Melton of Rinconada Arabians to sculpt Nabiel in bronze. When Dr. Melton saw the sculpture, he said,  

"Though many have tried to capture the look and spirit of Nabiel, Janel Maher has succeeded! She imbued the essence of his soul, likeness, and legacy in this bronze. Her creation has immortalized Nabiel."

Throughout the history of the Arabian horse, breeders have turned to art over and over again for inspiration. When art strengthens one soul, generating feelings of joy, gratitude, wonder and awe, then art has succeeded as a form of inspiration. A quarter of a century has passed, since the death of Nabiel and while his get and grandget perpetuate his legacy, something has to be said for the touch of an artist, who reaches into the heart, mind and soul of another human being to memorialize the noble spirit of the horse we once knew as Nabiel.

***This blog has been published in The Arabian Breeders' Magazine, Volume V, Issue I***