A GENETIC SUPER BOWL

There are a few milestones that remain personally important, as I think of my life relevant to Arabian horses, for example, finding and buying Judith Forbis' The Classic Arabian Horse, spending time with Gail Hoff and Serr Maariner and visiting Usamah Alkazemi at Ezzain Arabians in Kuwait. These profound experiences are at the core of who I am today.  As significantly impactful as these events were to my development, one event remains a life-changing experience. In 2001, I found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada with a free afternoon to do anything I wanted. I had been exchanging emails with Fernando Poli, as I sought his help in making arrangements to visit Aramus Arabians during this time. I had always wanted to meet WN Antigua in person and realized that this trip may be the only chance that I would ever have to do that.  Little did I know, what this visit would mean for me personally and the impact that the visit would have on shaping my understanding of the breed. Here I am, 22 years or so later, and still, I remember.

It was an extraordinary afternoon and the staff at Aramus Arabians were both kind and generous. There were two distinct types of horses at Aramus Arabians; a taller, more upright, English moving type of horse and a rounder, closer-coupled, traditional, shorter-headed type. While I preferred the horses in the 2nd group, it wasn't so black-and-white, as there were also varying types within each group. I remember a Bremervale-bred stallion, who was impressive and when at liberty, was magnificent, his metallic chestnut body accentuating his fabulously muscled body as he trotted about the ring, with ground covering strides. He was like the "poster boy" for the horses in the first group; while the "Queen" of Aramus Arabians, WN Antigua (and her paternal siblings), were representative of the horses in the 2nd group.  While I don't think she was as happy to meet me, as I was to meet her; I will never forget the extraordinary beauty of this mare, even in old age. I think her age enhanced her classic look and made her even more beautiful than any photo I had ever seen. I don't remember at what point I realized that out of all the horses that I saw that day, the *GG Samir horses were my favorites and the cross of *GG Samir with Padrons Psyche was absolutely brilliant. It was a lightning-bolt moment and the horses of this cross made my hair stand on edge, as they were consistently reminiscent of the horse which fits within my ideal of the perfect Arabian. I didn't think such an ideal was possible, outside of the Egyptian Arabian horses I loved so much.

Later that week, on the plane ride home, I started to think of all that I had seen. How was it possible, using a wider variety of bloodlines, to derive such consistency? The more that I thought about it, the more that I understood the impact that selective breeding has in producing horses who not only consistently embody the characteristics important to the breeder but also, to others, who enjoy the fruit of the breeder's vision. The horses that I saw and appreciated at Wayne Newton's farm represented the type of horse that Wayne Newton cherished. I thought about *Aramus, whose photo I carried with me for the longest time, so I would not forget what an Arabian horse should look like and later, the black mare, Shar Gemla (Negem x Sirhabba), a horse that Wayne Newton once owned and who is also, the maternal granddam of my beloved Princeton Maarena. Through these specific horses, we are unified through vision.

*GG Samir was bred by Diego Mendez Moreno. Foaled in 1975, he was a son of Jacio (Tabal x Teorica) and out of Alhaja (Maquillo x Habichuela). Purchased by Jay Stream, shortly after the Spanish National Show, he was imported to America in 1976 and gifted to Wayne Newton, becoming an important sire within the Aramus Arabians breeding program and helping to popularize the Spanish/Polish cross, like WN Antigua (*GG Samir x Naborrs Joy).

Congo (Illustre x Triana), a paternal great grandsire of *GG Samir,  was bred by José Maria Ybarra, La Cascajera Stud, one of Spain's earliest Arabian horse breeders, who felt that Congo was the masterpiece of his breeding program, the most perfect Arabian he ever bred. Purchased by the Yeguada Militar in 1945, Spanish breeders loved the horse but felt he was smaller than desired for a breeding stallion and that his hindquarters were too rounded. While I prefer taller horses, a phenotype comprised of flowing, rounded lines is my heart's desire and the quality that I appreciated in Wayne Newton's *GG Samir-bred horses! I think this is proof of the prepotency inherent of Spanish lines and the characteristics that became fixed within the bloodlines, once the national studbook was closed to outside blood. I think of my mare, Princeton Maarena, a product of a 60 year closed breeding program and the results I would have realized had she been bred to a classically pure Spanish stallion. If breeding horses was like the Super Bowl, which "team" would win the foal genetically - Spanish or Egyptian? Something to think about, as you watch the famous Super Bowl commercials and munch on some chicken wings.

FLY EAGLES FLY!