all for the love of a horse...: Go Deep or Go Home

08 April, 2023

Go Deep or Go Home

There are other places on the internet that are devoted to the analysis of conformation. My blog is not one of them. However, that doesn't mean that I won't share with you the parts of a horse that are very important to me, for example, the deeper heart girth that you can see in this photo posted by Brittany Thompson on an Imperial Egyptian Stud fan page. When I accidentally stumbled upon the photo, I couldn't take my eyes off of the horse's heart girth...WOWOWOWOWOW!

The horse is Imperial Na Malis, a Moniet el Nafis son out of *Malekat el Gamal. I believe the photo was taken at Delaware Park racetrack by Denise Hearst and was published in the May 1987 issue of Arabian Horse World.

Okay, let's discuss the heart girth.

I drew a black line from the wither to the bottom edge of the chest floor to indicate the length of the heart girth. For comparison, the yellow line starts at the bottom edge of the chest floor and runs to the ground. A deeper heart girth will measure equally in both lengths of the black and yellow lines. The blue line indicates the depth of the flank and the black line of the heart girth is a longer line, as compared to the length of the blue line of the flank depth. The red circle indicates how the bottom edge of the barrel runs deeper, as the line runs towards the chest or front of the horse. I think it's one of the most beautiful things to see in a horse when you encounter a deeper heart girth. Alttafilbari Ezzain (NK Qaswarah x Ajmal Ibtihaj) is another deeper heart-girthed horse whom I fell "head-over-heels" in love with, 10 years ago.

Why is a deeper heart girth important? A deeper heart girth indicates the capacity of the body to house the heart and the lungs of a horse, thereby, "heart" girth. Remember Secretariat? His heart girth was amazing. When Secretariat died in the late eighties, the veterinarians performed a necropsy and found his heart to be significantly large in size (21-22 pounds) vs. the 8-9 pounds of an average Thoroughbred horse. I'm not a veterinarian and therefore, I can't say with any certainty that a deeper heart girth = a larger size heart but in Secretariat's case, it did.

When Imperial Egyptian Stud started to experience racing success with Moniet el Nafis-sired horses, Barbara Griffith, along with Howell Wallace of Valour Arabians committed to sending more horses for race training. Imperial Na Malis was one of the Moniet el Nafis sons sent to the track. He repaid Imperial's commitment by winning a few races and furthering the legacy of Moniet el Nafis as a race-horse sire.

Moniet El Nafis, the sire of Imperial Na Malis, is a 1976 stallion bred by Bentwood Farm, sired by *Ibn Moniet El Nefous, a *Morafic son and was out of the mare, *Hoyeda, a *Morafic daughter. His pedigree represents the influence of primarily 3 horses: Nazeer, Sid Abouhom and Moniet El Nefous. I never saw a photo that conveyed the true beauty of Moniet El Nafis. In person, he was surprisingly different from his photos. He was very much a Saqlawi horse, with longer legs, longer back, longer neck and a head very much like his sire, a little more narrow, with a little more length. His body was impressive, with a wide chest, very powerfully muscled shoulders and a strong, well-defined wither. I was not surprised that Nafis turned out to be a consistent sire of racehorses, because I always felt he looked like a racehorse himself. He certainly had the powerful structure for racing.

His dam, *Malekat El Gamal, was a 1968 grey mare imported by Imperial Egyptian Stud. She was bred by Sayed Marei of AlBadeia Stud in Egypt and was sired by the Nazeer son, Waseem and out of the Nazeer daughter, Nagdia. She was an impressively built horse and even though she was not a very tall horse, I always got the feeling that I was standing to "alot of horse." Her body mass or rather, her substance, which she possessed in abundance, gave her a somewhat masculine appearance. She was broad of chest and equally wide in her haunches. No matter where I stood, whether by her head or with my arm draped over her hindquarters, she was wide, deep and powerfully muscled.

With both parents combined genetically, Imperial Na Malis' Nazeer influence remains at 40%, a higher percentage, considering he was foaled in the early 80s. Through Moniet El Nafis, Imperial Na Malis carries a little more than 25% of Shahloul blood. Genetically, his pedigree includes the cross of Mansour and Shahloul, which was practiced with much success at the EAO. Together with the fact that he was a stakes winner, I don't understand why he did not sire any get. In the resources that I have available to me, there are no descendants recorded. Forty years later and I am still filled with wonder over this horse!

***If you are interested in reading more about the great Secretariat, please read the Sports Illustrated article written by William Nack.

The University of Georgia Extension provides a great article for Evaluating the Confirmation of a horse. This blog would not be possible without the information provided by either article.***

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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.

08 April, 2023

Go Deep or Go Home

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