17 November, 2023

Mouazar - The Rodania Legacy

Mouazar (Lohim x Mateefa) as photographed by his owner, Karsten Scherling

Mouazar is a 2006 stallion, sired by the Ansata Halim Shah son, Lohim (Ansata Halim Shah x Lohelia), and out of the double Farag granddaughter, Mateefa (El Thay Fayez x Moneera Merit). Mouazar is owned by longtime straight Egyptian breeders, Karsten and Sabrina Scherling of Al Tair Stud.

At first glance, I noticed Mouazar's soft expression,  kindness radiating from his luminous, fully black eye. Like smoke from a fire, the energy of the photo surrounds me, filling my senses with both awe and wonder. The prominence and size of his jowl impresses me and I imagine that my fist fits comfortably in the space between his jowls. His throatlatch (mitbah) is clean and fine, not heavy or thick, with length in the poll.  The ridge formed by the facial crest bone is delightfully wide, a sign of purity the Bedouin once called "asalah".  His head is wonderfully short and broad, with large, elastic nostrils. His skin is fine and deeply pigmented, accentuating the dramatic look of the desert horse. Mouazar fits the description of my ideal, that is, the somewhat elusive horse that you search the world over while the self-doubt that such a horse even exists gnaws at you, trying to convince you that you are wasting your time but still you keep searching because you know, you just know that the horse you are searching for is out there, somewhere, waiting for you patiently.


Mouazar traces in his matriline to the elite EAO mare, Moniet el Nefous and therefore, is Saqlawi by strain. Despite the long line of chestnut mares in his matriline, Mouazar is grey in color, as he is double Ansata Halim Shah, double Farag, plus five times *Morafic but it's not the concentration  of these beloved ancestral elements or even, a line to the *Tuhotmos daughter, Tamria; there is yet another ancestor whose influence is cleverly bred within 5 lines, all of them on the maternal side of the pedigree. Our breed traditions encourage us to emphasize the role of the mare, over the stallion, despite living in a stallion-centric society. However, once the role of the mare is understood, we can then acknowledge the impact of the EAO mare, Kateefa (Shahloul x Bint Rissala), who traces to one of the most enduring matrilines within our breed. Kateefa's name means "the kind and gentle one" which actually makes my hair stand on edge, considering that what attracted me to Mouazar's photo was the overwhelming kindness of his expression. Kateefa exerts as much influence in the pedigree, as *Morafic does, maybe more, when you consider the intangible quality of an extraordinary character.  We find Kateefa through Mahiba, an Alaa El Din daughter who produced Ibrahim, the sire of Mahameh, the dam of El Thay Ibn Halim Shah.  We also find Kateefa through 28 Farag, a daughter of Farag (*Morafic x Bint Kateefa).  Mouazar's maternal granddam, Moneera Merit, is also a Farag daughter, while Kaisoon (Nazeer x Bint Kateefa) is the sire of Malinche, Mouazar's maternal great-granddam. Moneera, the dam of Malinche is an Alaa el Din daughter, who contributes the 5th line to Kateefa. 

In the resources that I have available to me, Mouazar appears to have sired a higher percentage of daughters, as compared to sons. I think this fact is also interesting, considering the concentration of the Rodania matriline within the dam side of his pedigree. Given the continuing strength of the Rodania matriline, his daughters and granddaughters, from a breeding perspective, could be very interesting broodmares, in terms of the impact they may also have, upon the Rodania matriline in future years.

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