Al Adeed Al Shaqab in 1-2-3

Al Adeed Al Shaqab with Michael Byatt, as photographed by the late Erwin Escher

I have wanted to write about Al Adeed Al Shaqab for a long time but the challenge in writing about superstar horses like Al Adeed is the extensive amount of information which already exists about him. What more can be said without being redundant? And that's when I thought, an Al Adeed story, as told within the context of 3 favorite photos.

One of my all-time favorite photos, is the photo that appears above, taken by the late Erwin Escher, who captured Al Adeed with his camera, circa 1999, at the beginning of what would be his meteoric rise to the top, when he was named Middle East Champion Stallion. You can see so many of the outstanding qualities of this horse, for example, a lovely, arched neck, including a beautiful underline, a strong and smooth topline, well-laid back shoulders, a longer forearm vs. a shorter cannon and beautiful tail carriage. He is smooth-bodied, so harmonious and for me, a living standard, more powerful than any illustration and the image that frequently comes to mind, when horse lovers hear the words "Arabian horse". In those early days, it was exciting to follow him, win-after-win, all the way to his first showing at the World Championships in 2002. I can still feel the shock and disappointment, when he was stripped of his 2002 World Championship win. The following year, Al Adeed returned to Paris and was named the 2003 World Champion Stallion. 

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

If you dear reader, have followed Al Adeed over his lifetime, you are aware of the relationship that Sheikh Hamad enjoyed with Al Adeed Al Shaqab.  In an interview for Arabian Horse Times Abroad, Jeff Wallace had asked Sheikh Hamad one final question, "What characteristic stamps a Sheikh Hamad-bred Arabian Horse?" and before Sheikh Hamad could answer, Jeff further refined his question as, "what is the one characteristic that most have, that you keep and carry forward?" Without any hesitation, Sheikh Hamad answered, "Al Adeed." A few seconds later, Sheikh Hamad further adds, "He's my boy. I don't know why I love this boy. I ride him. I ride him every morning." You can hear the surprise in Jeff's voice over learning that Al Adeed is ridden by Sheikh Hamad every day. Sheikh Hamad reminds us of the unique relationship that develops between man and horse, as a result of consistent training and handling. Recently, I was reading Rania Elsayed's blog, The Horse in Word and Picture and specifically, her newest post which examines the qualities of the Arabian horse, as found in vintage Arabic manuscripts. The following passage, so profound in its simplicity, really impressed me: "The most beautiful of horses which a horseman owns is a horse that embodies excellence in behavior and physical qualities, as our predecessors wrote." The more I thought about it, the more I believed that Al Adeed Al Shaqab, in his earthly life, balanced his physical beauty, with that of his inner beauty. He was a complete horse, a horse who was sound of mind, body and spirit.  Photos such as this particular photo taken by Nicole Sachs, another favorite, helps us to observe and better understand the intangible qualities of the Arabian horse breed, that otherwise, would be invisible to us. 

Al Adeed Al Shaqab, as photographed by Nancy Pierce

When Al Adeed Al Shaqab arrived in America, I was overjoyed to learn the news, as I hoped for the opportunity to see him in person. I don't exactly remember why but unfortunately, I didn't get to see him in real life but I did stumble upon photos taken by Nancy Pierce at Michael Byatt's 2007 Open House, when Al Adeed was officially presented to the American public. Al Adeed would have been 12 years old at the time. I love all the photos that Nancy shot of him in Texas but this particular photo eclipses all the others, as it highlights Al Adeed's extraordinary beauty. It's difficult to narrow the appreciation that I feel for Al Adeed to a specific part of his anatomy, as he is the sum of all parts. And yet, it's the shape of his skull with a pronounced jibbah, together with the broad forehead and defined jowls. The fine quality of his heavily pigmented skin accentuates the prominence of his bones and veins, intensifying the clean and dry elegance of a desert horse. The shape of his well-set ears, the delicately shaped nostrils which are wider at the base than they are on the top and his dark, large eyes, set lower in the head, all work together with his grey coat color, to create a dramatic expression of the proverbial fairy-tale horse come to life. 

A sire of excellence, with many lovely sons and daughters to his credit, I want to highlight Naseem Al Rashediah (out of the Ezzain-bred mare, Nabaweyah) and  Fayad Al Shaqab (out of the Richter MH daughter, Exotic Tremor), as well as the Janow Podlaski-bred, Pilarosa (out of the Fawor daughter, Pilar). Al Adeed is also the grandsire of a noteworthy young stallion, the jet black Atum (out of the Al Adeed daughter Aleah Al Moutribah). While the many articles and videos published about Al Adeed help to memorialize the once-in-a-lifetime-horse that he was; it is through his get and their progeny that Al Adeed Al Shaqab's name will forever live on our lips. He may be gone from this earth physically but he will never be forgotten.

From Perry Poems: A Collection, Bethany A Perry

***Did you enjoy this blog? Don't miss the expanded version of Al Adeed's story, published within the next issue of The Arabian Breeders Magazine***