Early Saturday mornings, while the coffee is still hot, I scroll through my favorite social media pages, like the Facebook group Melissa Huprich created, Fans of Ansata Arabian Stud. This particular Saturday, bitterly cold, gray and surprisingly snowy, was even more quiet than it normally is. When the weather is bad, it's easy to get lost in all the new photos and posted comments. What feels like only minutes, becomes an hour or more. As I made my way through the news feed, my eyes blinked once, then twice. Did I just read what I think I read? An Ansata Sinan son? Out of an Ansata Selman daughter bred by Sabine Von Elm, with a matriline that runs through the El Thayeba breeding program to The Babolna Stud to the Albadeia program and all the way back to Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik's breeding program? All of these great horses, combined in one pedigree? How is it possible? Did I slip in the snow, hit my head on the ground and knock myself out, to find myself in Arabian Horse heaven? Usually, when I find a stallion that I really like, he will create a desire for a mare, just so I can breed to him. However, this time, it's way different because I had 2 mares that given the opportunity, I would have bred to this stallion. So, the delight in finding this stallion is somewhat bittersweet, as it hits me hard, in a tender spot that still, needs more time to heal.
At first glance, one realizes the high percentage of Ansata breeding, over 80%. No surprise there, of course, given the position of the Ansata-bred stallions. Of this number, 50% represents the old time Ansata breeding program, comprised only of its foundational horses (without Prince Fa Moniet). Roughly half of it or 25%, is Ansata Halim Shah. We find Ansata Halim Shah through his get: Ansata Nefara (the dam of Sinan), Ansata Hejazi (the sire of Ansata Selman) and El Thay Ibn Halim Shah ( the sire of Bint Galia). Ansata Sudarra, the dam of Ansata Hejazi, is also the dam of Ansata Nefara. Her sire, Ansata Abu Sudan, although a beautiful, correct horse, was not used as much at stud. His daughter, Ansata Sudarra was a testament to his genetic power and one of the few ways we can tap his genetic influence. In this pedigree, she weighs in at almost 20%! However, the ancestor we find most frequently in the pedigree is Moniet el Nefous, almost twenty times! Keep in mind that Moniet was foaled in 1946, so genetically, she is further back in the pedigree, which is reflected in her percentage of influence of less than 10%.
What I found interesting is the relationship shared between the grandparents of Bint Galia, the maternal granddam of Shafan Ibn Sinan. Her sire, El Thay Ibn Halim Shah, is out of the mare, Mahameh (Ibrahim x Mona III), while her dam, Galia, is sired by El Thay Masoud (Ibrahim x Mona III). These 2 horses are full siblings, which means that everything is doubled: Mahomed, Moheba, Hadban Enzahi, Ghazal, Alaa el Din, Moniet el Nefous. Not to mention that the full sibling mating occurs on the maternal side of the pedigree, the side in which we have learned, through Bedouin tradition, to hold in high esteem.
Dr. Hans Nagel, in both The Arabian Horse: Nature's Creation and the Art of Breeding, and Hanan: The Story of an Arabian Mare and of the Arabian Breed, tells us that Ibn Galal I became a chief sire at Babolna for a period of 5 years, once it was determined that Farag and Ghalion were not working out. Ibn Galal I's consistency as a sire reflected the strong group of females that Babolna had collected. Yet, despite the opportunities afforded to him, his record as a sire was still impressive, having sired several daughters who matured into important broodmares for the program. Think of the Ibn Galal I daughter out of Lotfeia, Ibn Galal I-7, affectionately known as "Gala", who came to America and was named a Reserve National Champion mare in 1986! The dam of Galia, Ibn Galal I-25 (Ibn Galal I x Bint Ghalion) is another of the influential daughters sired by this stallion.
The maternal side of the pedigree holds additional surprises and if you follow the matriline, eventually you reach a mare named El Aziza, a Gassir daughter out of Zabeia. Philippe Paraskevas, in his book, The Egyptian Alternative, Volume II, explained, "Gassirs are routinely deep of girth; they sport wide and powerful chests, and their tail carriage is evocative of nothing but raised flags." Why is Gassir and Zabeia important? Outcross blood. The 2 generations that preceded Zabeia were horses bred by the Inshass Stud: Ghazala I and El Zahraa. The dam of El Zahraa was Zahra (Gamil Manial x Negma), bred by Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik. And for me personally, this is where I find the golden treasure, buried within the pedigree. The significance for any straight Egyptian breeder to have the Prince's program in a form that is so different, as compared to the Babson horses or say, the Egyptian horses with Hallany Mistanny blood is reason enough to celebrate.
More than a few years ago, my friend Tzviah Idan, wrote an impressive article about the role the desert horses played within The Babolna Stud breeding program. In this article, Tzviah wrote, "A Babolna Egyptian prototype was created, known for its great refinement, long flowing lines, extravagant movement, and overall elegance." Studying the Scott Trees' photos within the advertisement, I noticed much of what Tzviah shared. For example, notice the size of Shafan Ibn Sinan's jowl, the roominess in the throatlatch, the fine muzzle, the finely shaped, larger nostrils, the prominence of the bone in his face, including the width of his facial crest bone and the width in his back. Foaled in 2018, he is a six year old, fully mature and in person, will be the breathtaking stallion that his pedigree promises him to be. I encourage anyone reading, who may be looking for that unique stallion for their mare, to contact Dara Fritz, of Shailyx Arabian Stud, for more information.
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