all for the love of a horse...: Wahg Albadeia

06 November, 2022

Wahg Albadeia

My favorite class at any horse show is the mature mare class. It is my opinion that it takes this amount of time for mares to evolve and finally embody their classic desert destiny. At the Egyptian Event, held in Cairo this weekend, I was thrilled to see the 10-year old mare, Wahg Albadeia, an Al Maraam daughter out of Badeea Albadeia (Magd Albadeia x Hekayet Albadeia). Why do I say thrilled? Seven years ago, as a 3-year old, Wahg Albadeia was shown at the Berlin Cup International Egyptian Arabian Horse Show where she was named a Silver Junior Champion Filly. I was excited to find an Al Maraam daughter in a competition and all these years later, I am still excited to see her! In 2009, Al Maraam stood at Albadeia for one breeding season. Wahg, along with her paternal siblings: Dorrah Albadeia (out of Zaghroudat Albadeia) and Asalah Albadeia (out of Kenooz Albadeia) proved the wisdom of the late Nasr Marei's decision to incorporate Al Maraam within the Albadeia breeding program.

Wahg Albadeia (Al Maraam x Badeea Albadeia) as photographed by the late Erwin Escher

While Wahg is very much her father's daughter (look at that shoulder), her maternal granddam, Hekayet Albadeia, is an Anaza Bay Shahh daughter out of Simeon Safir (Asfour x Simeon Safanad). In September 2016, in an interview with Samantha Mattocks of The Arabian Magazine, Nasr shared how he felt about Simeon Safir:

"I also bought two beautiful mares who have added wonderfully to the programme: Simeon Safir (Asfour x Simeon Safanad by Sankt Georg) and Ansata Majeeda (Ansata Hejazi x Dal Maharia by Dalul). Both mares continue their extraordinary grace and classic looks as they become long-time residents at our farm." - Nasr Marei

As I watched Wahg Albadeia walk into the ring with her handler, I was once again reminded of the 1821 lithograph, An Arabian Horse, by the French artist, Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault.

In studying the 6th generation of Wahg's pedigree, you will find that of the 32 horses who populate this section of the pedigree; Wahg is equally influenced by the Saqlawi strain, as she is by the Hadban strain, and of lesser influence is the Dahman strain. However, in Dr. William Hudson's important mtDNA study of the EAO matrilines, we learned that the 1882 mare, Roga El Beda and the 1880 mare, El Dahma, share the same haplotype, suggesting that both mares shared a long ago ancestress. They are more related than we ever believed them to be. If we think along these lines, that of common ancestry, more than half of the genetic influence is driven by the combined influence of the Roga el Beda/El Dahma horses. Judith Forbis in her classic work, Authentic Arabian Bloodstock (the blue book) wrote that despite being a substrain of the Kuhaylan strain, the contemporary Hadban strain horses physically resemble the type we associate with Saqlawi horses. Philippe Paraskevas, within Chapter 6 of The Egyptian Alternative, Volume II, also wrote,

"The way Venus was bred is noteworthy, as this line was immediately infused with original Saklawi Gidran blood: her daughter Hadba was by Saklawi I himself. Hadba's daughter Bint Hadba El Saghira was by a Saklawi I son, El Halabi. What we have here is a very high concentration of added-on SGIS blood at a very early stage of Hadban Enzahi development in Egypt."

However, with all that said by the two authors, let us not forget the relationship between science and strain theory, as Dr. Hudson shared within his monumental study,

"these data confirm that modern mtDNA haplotyping does not correspond to the traditional strain designation based on Bedouin breeding traditions that depend on maternal lineage."

Rather than focusing on whether Wahg conforms to the traits and characteristics associated with one strain over another; maybe the way in which to reconcile the type expressed by this beautiful mare is to celebrate the combined genetic power of all the horses who came before her, to perpetuate the Nejdi horse into the modern day.

***Many thanks to Arabian Essence TV for their coverage of the 2022 Egyptian Event Cairo, held at the Pegasus Equestrian Center, Giza, Egypt.***

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MY FAVORITE WEBSITE

If you want to understand the desert Arabian horse on a deeper level, then you will want to visit Daughters of the Wind, a blog maintained by Edouard al-Dahdah, since 2008. It's my favorite place to visit, on a regular basis. For me personally, the information that Edouard presents is at times so profound, that I find myself weeks, even months later, still thinking about what he has written. I consider him a treasured source of inspiration and for the times that I don't feel like writing anymore, a significant source of encouragement. In one place, you will be able to read of the horses, their heritage; as well as the culture, traditions and the geography of the land, from where they originated. I strongly encourage you to visit his blog to broaden your understanding and deepen your appreciation for the Bedouin-bred horse.

MY FAVORITE WEBSITE X 2

The Horse In Word and Picture is the blog of Rania el Sayed, a very talented photographer, whose equine photography is second-to-none. I still remember when I first learned of Rania, it was all because of the late Dr. Nasr Marei. At the time, Nasr published an article that featured Rania's photography. I was thrilled by the photography and later, "meeting" Rania was one of the highlights of my horse life. I loved her photo of Mangooma and Rania, in an act of kindness never to be forgotten, let me use her photo in my blog. Thanks Rania for all of your support. You'll love Rania's blog and all of the equine topics she covers, including the straight Egyptian Arabian Horse. She really pushes me to think deeply about things that I haven't thought in a while. And you don't have to join Facebook, to read her posts. .

MY FAVORITE BOOK

One of the questions that I am asked most frequently is which book(s) do I recommend? Judith Forbis', The Classic Arabian Horse, published in 1976, is MY FAVORITE BOOK...EVER. Prior to the publication of this book, we really didn't have anything that compiled the history, the bloodlines & breeding practices and conformation (including breed type) of the straight Egyptian horse in one volume. You had to dig through multiple sources, sometimes in languages foreign to one's own, to try and develop an understanding of the Egyptian Arabian horse. So, this is my recommendation to you today, especially if you are just starting, this is the most important book you will ever own. You can find the book on Amazon, previously owned, at a very affordable price.

A NEW FAVORITE BOOK

Many times, I have heard other enthuiasts say, "if only I could get into the mind of this breeder and understand the Arabian horse as he or she does!" Dr. William Hudson, a long-time breeder, weaves together his lifetime of experiences including the latest developments in equine genetic science with the history, art and culture of the Arabian horse. This is not the type of book that you will read, cover-to-cover, in one sitting. You will find yourself turning to this massive 1,500 page, 2-volume set, over and over. If you love Arabian horses and want to understand the breed intimately, on a deeper level, this is the only book you will ever need to own. If you are breeding Egyptian Arabian horses, I urge you to purchase this 2-volume set before you breed one more horse!

MORE FAVORITE BOOKS...

One of the questions that I am asked most frequently is which book(s) do I recommend? Previously, I mentioned Judith Forbis' THE CLASSIC ARABIAN HORSE which is a great introduction to the breed and to Egyptian Arabian horses specifically. But now, you have read that book and are ready to go deeper. So, this is the book that I recommend reading (VOLUME II ) without hesitation. It's fantastic. The depth of this book, within tail female lines, sire lines and strains found in Egyptian (EAO) breeding is not found anywhere else. If you are serious about the Egyptian Arabian horse, whether a breeder, student or enthusiast, you must read this book, at least once!

STILL MORE FAVORITE BOOKS

In the Preface, Dr. Nagel wrote, "Since it is claimed that the Arabian horse breed is one of the oldest on earth, one has to accept that it is also in the crossfire of many opinions which sometimes clash vigorously. There are obviously many doubts and errors, and the advocates of different concepts seem to be not ready to settle on a common stance. It should encourage the reader to think...The refreshing variety of thoughts surrounding this noble member of the great family of horses should not be lost." Whether you agree or disagree with Dr. Nagel, is not what is important but rather, the resulting thought that this book will inspire. I can't even tell you how many times I have read this wonderful book cover-to-cover. It's one of the more provocative books that I have ever read and each time I have read it, a part of the book that had not impacted me previously, will cause me to think deeply for days, weeks and even months at a time. So, dear reader, I recommend this book to you, in the hope that it will inspire you to think deeply about our breed and examine why, you feel the way you do.

"The ideal Arabian type is recognizable at sight to the experienced horseman and novice alike. It falls short of the ideal if it reminds one of another horse or breed. It falls short of the ideal if it is so plain and uncertain of type as to require a sign: 'This is an Arabian horse.' It falls short of the ideal if it is so coarse and masculine as to remind one of a small Percheron, at one extreme, or so highly animated and elf-like as to remind one of a gazelle at the other extreme. The ideal type stands out alone. You know it immediately when you see it."-Ben Hur, from his 1951 Western Horseman article, Type in the Arab

In the summer of 2006, when I discovered Blogger, the last thing on my mind was creating a blog. At the time, I had been participating in a popular Egyptian Arabian horse website and desired to find a website that would allow me to "cut-and-paste" the posts that I had written for future reference. From those humble beginnings, this blog was born. I'm not a professional writer and although I want to say that writing is a hobby; I think it is better to say that I write for the love of the breed. I've had the good fortune to meet a number of horses who are now considered legendary, as well as some really wonderful people, who are equally legendary. Over the years, people have suggested that I charge a subscription fee or pursue paid sponsorships but you know how money changes everything and this blog, after all, is a labor of love. So, there you have it, the story of the blog. Many thanks to the people who make this blog doable, for example, where would I be without any of the photographers, the "visual storytellers" of our breed, who allow me to post their pictures and to the authors of the many books and magazine articles that I have read over the course of 45 or so years, helping to educate a long ago kid, crazy in love with Arabian horses. And finally, an overwhelming amount of gratitude for you dear readers, for coming here to this place, to read, discover and celebrate this common ground we share, all for the love of an Arabian horse.

06 November, 2022

Wahg Albadeia

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