all for the love of a horse...: Tamria in 2023

26 June, 2023

Tamria in 2023

Tabatah (Authentic Ibn Nawaal x Tabanya), as photographed by her breeder & owner, Karsten Scherling

So, it is Saturday morning and well, it's been one heck of a week. What to do? Think...h-o-r-s-e-s. I say it all the time, no matter how things may change (or don't), horses remain the constant for me and from where I derive the most pleasure (and peace).

It's Menton weekend and I was looking forward to the show, it is one of my favorite events on the annual European show calendar. I had read somewhere that the Ansata Sokar daughter, Nawaal Al Rayyan, would compete at the show but unfortunately, she was absent. She was to compete in class 5, for mares 8 years old and older.

I think that is the reason why I found myself on the Ansata fan page on Facebook, looking for information on Nawaal Al Rayyan but instead, I found Sabrina Scherling's post, which included Tabatah's gorgeous photo. A 2005 mare, it is her large, fully black eye that grabbed my attention and helped me to escape the challenges of the past week, for just a little while. I also noticed the size of her well defined jowl, followed by a fine throatlatch and a very nice underline to the neck. I checked to see if she had produced any progeny but the records available to me did not yield any results.

The 2013 stallion, Al Tair Tamoun (Taras x Taagirah) as photographed by Karsten Scherling, his breeder & owner

However, her full sister, Taagirah, produced a daughter (Al Tair Tabanya) and son (Al Tair Tamoun), both sired by Taras (Mounaz El Din x Tabanya), who just happens to be a maternal sibling to both Tabatah and Taagirah! That's doubling Tamria, by using her genetic influence on both sides of the pedigree.

Early Sunday morning, I received a notification from the Arabians at Home app. As I scrolled through the various discussion topics, one stood out from the rest, Ajmal Tameen, whom I recognized as one of the horses produced by Tabanya, the same mare who produced gorgeous Tabatah and her full sister, Taagirah! A coincidence? Imagine my surprise, when poking around You Tube for the Arabian Essence videos from Menton, to find a beautiful tribute video to the mare, Tabanya. Why all of a sudden, over the course of 48 hours, are all the paths leading me to this particular family?

What do Tabatah, Taagirah and Ajmal Tameen have in common besides Tabanya? The matriline of Tamria, passed onto them by their mother. Tamria, a 1967 EAO-bred grey mare, was a daughter of *Tuhotmos, a Moniet el Nefous son, sired by El Sareei and out of Kamar, a Nazeer daughter and great-granddaughter of Bint Sabah (Kazmeen x Sabah). Dahmah Shahwaniyah by strain, she is of the same branch as Sid Abouhom, Bukra, Sheikh El Arab and *Bint Bint Sabbah. In Authentic Arabian Bloodstock II, beloved author Judith Forbis said of Tamria,

"The first time we saw Tamria she was a vision in white lying against the golden straw in her stall at Babolna. She didn't rise; her feet hurt too much from laminitis. Beauty crowned her sculptured face. Her big black eyes gave only a hint of the pain she bore with dignity but she nevertheless enjoyed having visitors admire her."

Can we focus on 2 things from Judith Forbis' quote?

Sculptured face
Big black eyes

These are also the attributes that we observe in Tabatah's photo. Five generations separate Tabatah and 9 Tamria and yet, her qualities remain vibrantly relevant in the present day, no matter the gender, mare or stallion. For example, her great-great-great grandson, Ajmal Tameen, an Ansata Hejazi son bred by Mr. Mohammed J. Al Marzouq, exhibits the same prominent jowl, as well as a pronounced facial crest bone, plus a large, fully black eye. Not to mention that he is close-coupled, with depth of heart girth, a beautiful neck that is not only well-set but gently arching upwards with a nice crest. He is robust, balanced and elegant, as you would expect a pure-in-strain Dahman horse to be. For me, he is the living embodiment of a 3-circle horse, the smoothly balanced horse that Raswan spent an entire lifetime searching for in his travels.

Ajmal Tameen (Ansata Hejazi x Tabanya), as photographed by Wojtek Kwiatkowski

It was interesting to watch the siring consistency of a breeding stallion like Fa El Rasheem dominate the Menton show, as more of his get (D Shihanah, D Jawaher, D Seraj, Mazyoun Al Bidayer, D Arghad, Ash'al Al E'zz, D Thariah) made it into the championships. And I smiled when Raphael Curti grabbed a flower as he prepared the Ajman Moniscione daughter, Aijana, for the presentation in front of the judges but I feel the most exciting (and memorable) part of my Menton show experience this year, happened far from the Menton show ring, to remind me of the continuing influence of a long ago mare named Tamria.

***Many thanks to Arabian Essence TV for their coverage of the 2023 Mediterranean and Arab Countries AHC - Menton.**

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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.

26 June, 2023

Tamria in 2023

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