Magidaa Al Rayyan

Have you seen the new Arabian Insider video of the 6-year old straight Egyptian mare, Magidaa Al Rayyan? She is sired by the 2002 stallion, Hilal Al Nakeeb (NK Hafid Jamil x Bint Bint Hamamaa) and out of Furat Al Rayyan (Ansata Nile Echo x RN Farida). In one pedigree, many of the ancestral elements that I have written about previously, come together, resulting in this beautiful mare. For example, Nabiel is the sire of Bint Bint Hamamaa, the dam of Magidaa Al Rayyan's sire. Nabiel is one of those horses, for whom you need to study and consider his entire pedigree (beyond the tail female line) in order to make sense of what you see physically, versus what you read on paper. An analysis of the first four generations reveals that the majority of strain influence comes from the Saqlawi strain, approximately 75%. The Kuhaylan strain, overall at 12.5%, is equally divided between the Kuhaylan Rodans and the Kuhaylan Mimriahs, 6.25% each.  The reality is that Nabiel is only Abeyyan, as much as he is Hadban Enzahi or even, Kuhaylan Rodan. Each strain accounts for a minimal percentage of 6.25% of Nabiel's pedigree. In studying the entire pedigree (and not just the tail female line), one can better connect Nabiel's airy, longer, stretchier phenotype, with that of the Saqlawi strain. 

RN Farida, her beloved maternal granddam, was foaled in 1995, a daughter of Salaa el Dine, an Ansata Halim Shah son out of Hanan. Her dam, Noha, was a Hadban Enzahi daughter, out of Nadja, a Nazeer daughter out of Nefisa (Balance x Helwa). From Nefisa, the tail female line runs through Farida to El Dahma, an Ali Pasha Sherif-bred mare, long considered to be the root mare of the Dahman Shahwan strain.

RN Farida matured into an important broodmare for Al Rayyan and for breeders around the globe. Bred to Ansata Nile Echo, she produced Furat Al Rayyan, who like her dam, has become a significant broodmare. 

NK Hafid Jamil, her paternal grandsire, took my understanding of straight Egyptian breeding to another level, well beyond a traditional understanding of selection, based on key conformational traits. I was not a fan of his sire, Ibn Nejdy, namely his pigmentation issues. Ibn Nejdy had a fabulous front end, which included a beautiful neck, well set, with a flowing line that ran gracefully from his wither (with no dip) and all the way to the poll. He had well-muscled shoulders that many horseman would consider ideal. NK Hafid Jamil, conformationally, was like his sire, a front-end horse and a celebration of all the breed characteristics that we cherish. However, from behind, the muscling was not equal, his croup was high and his hind legs were straight.The curvey, upward, gently flowing line of his neck was outrageously beautiful but so was the underline, resulting in a neck that was not heavy, it was elegant, more so than any stallion that I had ever seen before. However, the angle at which his head connected with his neck, also contributed to this look of lightness, by creating an extra-fine throatlatch. The features of his head were equally dramatic, with large, black eyes, placed lower on a head that was clean and dry, with fine skin that accentuated the prominence of bone and vein. His head conveyed what he was, a son of the desert, whose influence is now found in this daughter of the desert, Magidaa Al Rayyan. Congratulations and best wishes to the Doha Stud, her owner and to Arabian Insider, who created this beautifully moving video.

***Many thanks to Arabian Insider for making videos like the video of Magidaa Al Rayyan, available on their You Tube channel.***