NK Nabhan

NK Nabhan portrait created by the talented artist, Katja Sauer, and presented to Dr. Hans J. Nagel for his 90th birthday 

Earlier this month, I received an email from Tutto Arabi with an embedded link for the latest issue of Desert Heritage Magazine. Inside, you will find an article written by Dr. Hans Nagel: The Noble Mares of Katharinenhof, which I intended to read, until I turned to page 143 and found a photo of the stallion, NK Nabhan, taken by equine photographer, Joanna Jonientz. I was so surprised, that from that point on, my concentration was severely tested and I was challenged to finish reading the article, when all I really wanted to do was stare at the photo of this horse! NK Nabhan is an incredibly typey, elegant and super-refined bay stallion, foaled in 2013.  He was sired by NK Nadeer, a son of the late NK Hafid Jamil and out of NK Nerham, a NK Hafid Jamil granddaughter. And this is where it starts to get really interesting, as NK Hafid Jamil represents 37.5% of the pedigree; while Lotfeia, through her daughter by Salaa el Dine, Nashua, provides the matriline for both sire and dam (which by the way, makes NK Nabhan pure-in-strain Hadban Enzahi). NK Hafid Jamil and Nashua, combined as they are in the pedigree, dominate the majority of the pedigree, approximately 62.5%! The balance of 37.5% is divided among 3 horses: Adnan, Nahaman and Ansata Ken Ranya. At first glance, you may not realize how closely related these 3 horses are to each other (as well as NK Hafid Jamil and Nashua) and that's what I find so interesting, as these 3 horses are all sired by Salaa el Dine, an Ansata Halim Shah son out of Hanan or in other words, they are paternal siblings. Furthermore, if you study the influence of Salaa el Dine within the pedigree, you will find that he is a vital ancestor of NK Nabhan, appearing 8 times, approximately 43.75% of the pedigree. However, Adnan and Nahaman share additional blood ties to each other, beyond Salaa el Dine and that is, through their dams, as both stallions are out of Hanan daughters; while Ansata Ken Ranya is out of Ansata Prima Rose, a Jamil daughter, who is a full brother of Ameera, the dam of Nahaman. I remember reading an article written by Monika Savier some time ago, which included an interview with Dr. Nagel. NK Nabhan is living proof of the development of the breeding program over the years, or rather, "experiment", the term which Dr. Nagel uses frequently, when he refers to his breeding efforts. In NK Nabhan's pedigree, we observe the use of the imported root mares, bred to carefully selected stallions over the course of 5 generations, to result in a horse of the caliber of NK Nabhan, a masterpiece of Dr. Nagel's program. And he is bay, a tribute in the present day to the continuing influence of the Alaa el Din daughter, Hanan.