Simeon Sebedee, a 2006 stallion, sired by Imperial Madaar (Imperial Madheen x Ansata Nile Mist) and out of Simeon Sehavi (Asfour x Simeon Sheba) was shown over the weekend at the 24th Qatar National Arabian Championship. You will remember that I blogged about him in February. He was shown Friday night, in Class 14, Stallions 11 years and older. I stumbled upon his video, while writing yesterday's blog about Invictus. Last year at the 23rd Qatar National Arabian Championship (actually held in January, 2021 because of Covid), Simeon Sebedee had placed 2nd to Gazwan Al Nasser (Gazal Al Shaqab x Ftoon Al Shaqab) who also won the same class this year (24th Qatar National Championship). It's interesting to learn that 10 months later, even with 2 of the same judges (Tamas Rombauer & Tomasz Tarczynski), the results are similar and I still feel, despite showing signs of advancing age, that Simeon Sebedee, as he powerfully marches into the show ring, is the kind of horse who captures my attention and makes my hair stand on edge.
22 November, 2021
Déjà vu
Simeon Sebedee, a 2006 stallion, sired by Imperial Madaar (Imperial Madheen x Ansata Nile Mist) and out of Simeon Sehavi (Asfour x Simeon Sheba) was shown over the weekend at the 24th Qatar National Arabian Championship. You will remember that I blogged about him in February. He was shown Friday night, in Class 14, Stallions 11 years and older. I stumbled upon his video, while writing yesterday's blog about Invictus. Last year at the 23rd Qatar National Arabian Championship (actually held in January, 2021 because of Covid), Simeon Sebedee had placed 2nd to Gazwan Al Nasser (Gazal Al Shaqab x Ftoon Al Shaqab) who also won the same class this year (24th Qatar National Championship). It's interesting to learn that 10 months later, even with 2 of the same judges (Tamas Rombauer & Tomasz Tarczynski), the results are similar and I still feel, despite showing signs of advancing age, that Simeon Sebedee, as he powerfully marches into the show ring, is the kind of horse who captures my attention and makes my hair stand on edge.
21 November, 2021
UNCONQUERABLE
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." - Invictus, by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903)
It was this particular thumbnail that came up in my YouTube subscription feed. The expression and position of the horse's body speaks volumes without saying a word. Invictus has moved left, placing the outside of his body closer to his handler. In a situation where he is bombarded with new sights, scents and sounds, his comfort is with the person on the other end of the lead. It is within these moments, if you are paying attention, that one catches a glimpse of the unique intangible characteristics that define the Arab horse breed. So, I clicked and proceeded to watch Invictus, a 2014 stallion by Cavalli (DA Valentino x Aspyn) and out of Althea (Ajman Moniscione x Naama Della Vigna).
The YouTube video is from Class 14, 7 - 9 year old stallions at the European Championships in Verona, Italy. A later email blast from Tutto Arabi would confirm that Invictus not only won his class; he was also named the 2021 European Champion Stallion. One can say that Invictus fulfilled the prophecy held within his name!
As I watched the video, I couldn't shake the feeling that Invictus has Egyptian blood coursing through his veins. A quick check of his pedigree confirmed my suspicion. He has almost 30% Egyptian blood. He has multiple crosses to Aswan (Nazeer x Yosreia) and Shaker El Masri (*Morafic x Zebeda) but he also carries lines to Egyptian horses like *Soufian, Dalul, Mohssen, Ruminaja Ali, Salaa El Dine, Mohafez, Halim Raquim, *Ibn Moniet el Nefous, *Fadl and *Maaroufa, two of the horses that Henry Babson imported from Egypt in 1932. As I dug around looking for the sources of Egyptian blood, I slowly realized that Invictus also carries pockets of Spanish breeding, on both sides of his pedigree. As a matter of fact, his tail female line, through Amiranda (Algebi x Lagunita) runs through to Yeguada Militar breeding, ultimately reaching Farja I, a Hamdanieh Simrieh mare imported from the desert by the Yeguada Militar in 1908. She went on to found an important family in Spanish breeding. Combined with the multiple sources of *Estopa, A Fancy Miracle (the dam of Magnum Psyche) and the stallion AN Malik (Galero x Ispahan), Invictus carries almost 15% Spanish blood. In this day and age, when Spanish blood seems to be scarcely represented, I choose to celebrate every drop.
I also found it interesting that he is linebred to the stallion, *Padron (Patron x Odessa) through his son, Padron's Psyche (out of Kilika), grandson Magnum Psyche (out of A Fancy Miracle) and daughter, Padron's Ghibli (out of Santana's Dalight). Invictus carries as much influence to *Padron, as he does in Spanish blood. You can see the *Padron influence expressed in his phenotype, although he bears a stronger resemblance to Padrons Psyche than *Padron himself, even down to his red chestnut coat color.
I learned that Luca Oberti, who showed Invictus, is also his breeder and owner and that, explains the connection between horse and man that I noticed throughout the video. Naturally, a relationship is established with the horse, as a result of consistent training and handling. However, in this case, that relationship already existed between man and horse, as Invictus has known Luca Oberti all his life. One can say that the consistency of training and handling further deepened the relationship that was already in place. In the old days, the show ring included many owners who showed their own horses and very successfully too. I'm thinking of people like Stanley White, Bill Trapp, Paul Polk, Don Forbis and Sheila Varian, to name a few people off the top of my head. Watching Luca Oberti show his beautiful horse, as well as observing the trust and affection that Invictus has for Luca Oberti, remains a wonderful reminder of the way things used to be and how it can be again, if more owners got a little more hands on with their horses.
In the Al Adeed blog, I included a quotation that I read in Rania Elsayed's blog, which I feel is also applicable to Invictus, as it was the beauty that he holds inside which attracted and motivated me to click on his YouTube video:
"The most beautiful of horses which a horseman owns is a horse that embodies excellence in behavior and physical qualities, as our predecessors wrote."
This quote remains like a compass for me, within a world that sometimes can be overwhelming and a bit confusing, by reminding me what is really important and in this case, it is a preference for those horses who possess the tangible and intangible characteristics unique to the Arabian horse breed. Many congratulations to Luca Oberti and his team, for presenting such a wonderful horse to the world.
***with many thanks to Arabian Essence, for making these videos available on YouTube. You can't imagine what it does for people like me, in love with the Arabian Horse, as he exists, all over the world.***
20 November, 2021
Apple Hill Angel
Apple Hill Angel (Ansata El Nisr x Rose Halima) as photographed by Judith Wich |
Apple Hill Angel was a 1981 grey mare, not straight Egyptian, as she traced through her maternal great granddam, Kadorzah (Kahar x Dorzah) to non-Egyptian but Al Khamsa recognized horses bred by Paula Fatjo, Albert Harris, WR Brown, the Van Vleet Arabian Stud, Hernan Ayerza and the Hamidie Society, among others. The majority of Egyptian influence in Apple Hill Angel's genetic fiber came by way of her sire, Ansata El Nisr, an *Ansata Ibn Halima son out of *Ansata Bint Zaafarana. Her dam, Rose Halima was a paternal sibling to Ansata El Nisr, as she was also sired by *Ansata Ibn Halima. The influence that *Ansata Ibn Halima exerts upon Apple Hill Angel is 50%, a percentage usually attributable to a sire and not a grand sire. I feel that his influence is unmistakable, as you study the phenotype of this beautiful mare.
14 November, 2021
Al Adeed Al Shaqab in 1-2-3
Al Adeed Al Shaqab with Michael Byatt, as photographed by the late Erwin Escher |
Al Adeed Al Shaqab was a son of Ansata Halim Shah and out of Sundar Alisayyah, a Ruminaja Ali daughter out of Imperial Sayyah, an Albadeia-bred mare, imported in utero by Imperial Egyptian Stud. Al Adeed Al Shaqab was Hadban Enzahi by strain, as he traced over the course of 11 generations to the chestnut mare, Venus, an 1890 mare purchased for Khedive Abbas II and considered by many historians as the root mare of the strain. However, if you study all the horses within his sixth generation (great-great-great grandparents), you get a much different impression over the strains of influence, as Al Adeed is 37.5% Hadban but he is also 25% Kuhaylan (he is impacted by 3 Kuhaylan strains: Mimrah, Jellabi & Rodan), 21.875% Saqlawi, 12.5% Dahman and just a little touch of Abeyyan at 3.125%. I am reminded of a passage that I read within The Blue Arabian Horse Catalog, created by Miss Jane Llewellyn Ott, "A breeding-prospect should always be judged on its bloodlines first and its own merit afterwards. The reason for this is that an animal can transmit from any or all of its immediate progenitors, not just from those it happens to resemble itself."
Al Adeed Al Shaqab with Sheikh Hamad bin Ali Al Thani, as photographed by Nicole Sachs |
From Perry Poems: A Collection, Bethany A Perry |
06 November, 2021
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.
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.