A Little Piece of Heaven

Twenty seconds into the Arabian Insider video and I was hitting the replay button, over and over and over. It's within that video sequence that I became a fan of the Lawrence El Gazal (Gazal Al Shaqab x Lara El Ludjin) daughter, Celita, out of the Ekstern daughter, Cella. I don't think at the time, I fully realized how special this mare is, not only as an elite member of the Białka broodmare band but as a modern day representative of the rarest matriline in Poland, which exists only at The Białka Stud. When I blogged about the Pride of Poland sale over the summer, I included Celita as one of the lots that I favored, simply because I fell head over heels in love with her in those magical seconds,

When Celita's long forelock is over her face, it's like I melt into a puddle of silly putty. Oh my!

Notice the title of the blog? That's what her name means in Spanish. She is like a living oasis of peace on earth, just enough of a taste of heaven, to encourage me to keep moving forward, despite any challenges I may face. In 20 seconds, everything but the mare on the video screen was forgotten, while my heart was filled with unspeakable joy.  Celita rolls melodiously off my tongue, sounding as sweet as if she were a horse angel sent from heaven. 

The Białka Stud, as compared to Janów Podlaski and Michałów, is a relatively new state farm, founded in 1980. Białka's foundation consisted of broodmares bred by the two state farms already mentioned, plus Kurozwęki Stud. The 1966 mare, Cedrela, by Doktryner and out of the Witraz daughter, Celia, was one of the Janów Podlaski broodmares selected for Białka . Cedrela's daughter by Eternit, Cudna, is often recognized as the foundress of the C-line at Białka. Bent El Arab was a desert-bred mare, foaled in 1880 and imported five years later by The Babolna Stud in Hungary. Cudna, 7 generations later, is the maternal great-great granddam of Celita. 

Today, I was looking at the Facebook page of Erna Polak, an artist and equine photographer. She has a very beautiful photo of the Białka-bred and owned stallion, Celadon, a son of Celita by *Pogrom. I loved the photo, as he looks so much like Celita but in a masculine version, with even the same long forelock, creating the ultimate dramatic desert expression. A thirst for knowledge, fueled by curiosity, found me on a hunt for more photos and Glenn Jacob's most extraordinary action photo of Celadon, which left me so light-headed, as I didn't think it was possible to reproduce the level of type and functional conformation, which allows Celadon to move with those powerful, ground-covering strides. 

A true drinker of the wind, the Bialka-bred stallion, Celadon (*Pogrom x Celita) as photographed by Glenn Jacobs

In this particular photo, all four feet are off the ground, in that moment of suspension when a horse is airborne. The elasticity of his hocks is amazing, allowing him to reach far under himself and drive his body forward. My heart races in this most  thrilling moment, all for the love of an Arabian horse, named Celita and the heaven she brought here, in our space.