Ekstern died yesterday, April 25th, 2022. Early this morning, I received an email sent by polskiearaby.com, concerning the Excalibur EA son, Sulaiman EA, who is standing at stud in Poland. There was a Facebook link listed and so, I clicked it. I don't have Facebook, so I am never really sure of where the click will take me but in this case, I made it to Polskie Araby's page and because it is written in Polish, I couldn't read the words that captioned an Ekstern photo but I poked around and found the link to the page of the equine photographer, Ewa Imielska-Hebda, whose photos of Ekstern I have absolutely loved and that's where I noticed the series of broken heart emojis, followed by the letters: RIP. In that most unexpected moment, overwhelmed by sadness; I recognized that life had forever changed, as Ekstern, was no longer part of this world. Will there ever be another just like him?
It was a year ago, when I found new photos taken by Karolina Misztal of Ekstern, age 27. The photos were honest and showed Ekstern for what he was at the time, a mature, aging stallion. He was still the absolutely gorgeous horse that I always admired but the photos reminded me that even great horses, just as people do, age and well, become elderly. Ekstern was 28 years old at the time of his death. A long lived life, yes but when you cherish this horse and wish there were more just like him, I'm sorry but 28 years is not long enough.
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| One of my favorite photos of Ekstern, taken by Anette Mattson |
In my opinion, Ekstern was one of those rare Arabian horses who appealed to a variety of people, regardless of bloodline. He was beautiful and for many people, the type of horse who immediately comes to mind, when you think, "Arabian horse". As a show horse, Ekstern exuded charisma, winning the love of the audience, wherever he was shown. He was the Polish National Junior Champion in 1995, Polish National Senior Champion, All Nations Cup Champion, European Champion and World Champion, all in 2000. In an article written by Monika Luft and published by polskiearaby.com, Jerzy Bialobok, the Michalow Stud Director, was quoted as saying,
"Ekstern always liked to show, it was clear that it gave him pleasure."
Ekstern possessed unbelievable breed type. He was close-coupled with a strong and smooth top line. He was well-muscled, harmonious, with a body comprised of circular lines. His head was short and wide, dry and elegant with eyes that were both dark and luminous. He had great tail carriage, very fine, black pigmented skin, large and elastic nostrils that maintained a beautiful shape when fully dilated and short, tippy ears. All of these qualities came together to create the magnanimous personality that so defined this horse. His inner sparkle conveyed a strong spirit of joy that was both, playful and charming. You see some of this spirit in a You Tube video, taken in August of 2015 at Michałów State Stud. My favorite part remains when Ekstern picked up the potted plant and moved it to another part of the arena. Oh, how I loved this horse! He was photogenic but to experience the full essence of Ekstern, one had to see him at liberty, where his physical beauty, his brilliant movement and engaging personality all came together in a most overwhelming way.
The most amazing thing about Ekstern's life is that it almost didn't happen at all. His sire, Monogramm (Negatraz x Monogramma) did not appeal to Andrzej Kryztalowicz, the Director of Janow Podlaski and an old-time Polish breeder, who did not like chestnut colored horses. If Monogramm were to go to Poland, it would depend solely on the enthusiasm of the highly esteemed master breeder, Ignacy Jaworoski, the Director of Michalow, who together with Izabella Pawelec-Zawadzka had fallen in love with the horse at the 1988 US Nationals. Bill Bishop, who had purchased the horse from Dick and Kay Patterson of Patterson Arabians in Sisters, Oregon, was not interested in leasing him to anyone. What seemed at best to be a very remote possibility, became reality five years later, setting the stage for not only Ekstern, but also, for the return of the *Bask line to Poland, as well as that of Mammona, who was captured and taken from Poland as a foal. Monogramm was used for the 1993 and 1994 breeding seasons at Michalow and was so successful, that he continued to breed mares (through frozen semen) until 1997. Ekstern was born in 1994, one of 29 Monogramm-sired colts in his first foal crop. In the Monika Luft article, published by polskiearaby.com, Jerzy Bialobok, the Michalow Stud Director, also said of Ekstern,
"Already during his first days we could see the great beauty of this horse."
How significant was Ekstern? Despite a very pronounced Saklawi phenotype, in sire line, he traced from Monogramm-to-Bask-to-Witraz-to-Ofir, the Kuhailan Haifi son taken from Poland as a six year old. In tail female line, Ekstern traced through his dam, Ernestyna (Piechur x Erwina) to the *Naborr daughter, Estebna and from her, all the way back to Milordka, bred by the Sanguszko family of Slawuta Stud and foundress of Polish female family number 5. As Monogramm restored the *Bask line for Poland, *Naborr did the same for the Ibrahim sire line and it is especially touching to find both of these horses in what is for me, a unified Polish pedigree (pre-war & post-war), which reads like a celebration of Poland's continuing love for the Arabian horse. It is also interesting to consider that Dr. Edward Skorkowski, who strongly believed in maintaining a balanced breeding program to insure the survival of distinct strain types, considered Milordka a Saklawi strain mare, because she strongly embodied the characteristics of the strain. No surprise that her descendant, Ekstern, would also embody strong Saklawi type.
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| Ekstern, as photographed by Ewa Imielska-Hebda |
In thinking about Ekstern, I am reminded of something I once read by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a popular Indian mystic who was also known by the name of Osho,
“...to help you die to the mundane and to the ordinary so that the extraordinary explodes in your life. ”
A great horse is just that, an "explosion", the beauty of the horse so overpowering to the senses, that it is not possible to continue thinking about horses in the same way. The force at which Ekstern comes into a person's life has the power to turn everything upside down and inside out. I hope that when you think of Ekstern today that you will be inspired by a sense of awe and wonder from what was an extraordinary horse's life. He really was that...EXTRAORDINARY.
***Many thanks to polskiearaby.com, it was only because of their email, that I Iearned of Ekstern's death. There have been several articles written about Ekstern, which you can find online. My favorite article and one of the most comprehensive on Ekstern was written in 2015 by Monika Luft. You can find Ekstern- 20 Years of Success on polskiearaby.com. In closing, this blog is lovingly dedicated to Ignacy Jaworoski, Izabella Pawelec-Zawadzka, Tomasz Skotnicki and Bill Bishop in recognition of all they did to provide Poland with the stallion, Monogramm, making a most wonderful horse like Ekstern possible.***
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