Maymoonah to Messaoud

So, this is how my story begins, not so much a "once upon a time" or even, a "many moons ago" but a simple exchange of messages between 2 friends and a photo of the EAO-bred stallion, Amgad (Shadwan x Insaf), who was owned by Smaroel Arabians in the Netherlands. The conversation eventually steered towards another stallion, the Kaisoon son, Maymoon and then, his dam, Maymoonah, a Hadban Enzahi daughter out of Malikah. Naturally, in discussing Maymoonah, sooner or later, the attention shifted to *Messaoud and photos that Betty Finke had recently posted on her Facebook page. You know, I really loved *Messaoud. Actually, let me take that back. What I meant to say is that I really loved *Orashan and his paternal sibling, *Madheen, who was more of a baby at the time when I first met him and then, witnessed his metamorphis into the extraordinary horse he became. The common denominator between both horses was *Messaoud. So, I loved *Messaoud, because I loved his sons, first. Imagine my surprise, when I learned that Imperial Egyptian Stud had attempted to purchase *Messaoud initially and when they could not buy him, purchased two of his sons instead! I can still close my eyes and see Madheen trying to get my attention, as he danced from side to side of his stall, while I lavished all of the attention *Madheen felt belonged only to him, on his brother, *Orashan.  I was enchanted, as they were both friendly, happy horses who clearly enjoyed interacting with people.

Then, life, or rather, the consequences of the decisions I made happened and soon, thoughts of *Madheen, *Orashan and *Messaoud vanished, like the morning fog does, when the sun rises and starts to heat the day. 

This morning, I stumbled upon Denise Hearst's Facebook page, only to find photos of her astride Imperial Madori, a *Madheen son and surprise, surprise, a *Messaoud grandson! True to the meaning of *Messaoud's name, I was happy and fortunate to find the photos.

I don't remember how I found the digital copy of the advertisement that Erich Hagenlocher placed in the early 90s, once he had leased *Messaoud from his breeder, Günter W. Seidlitz. I'm thinking the ad was posted by Julie Koch in her awesome Facebook group, Reliving Arabian Horse History. When I saw the ad, it took me back, to a long ago time when I opened my copy of Arabian Horse World, to find the same ad and learn that *Messaoud was in America!

*Messaoud's sire was Madkour, a *Morafic son out of the Shahloul daughter, Maisa. In Madkour, we can observe the power of the successful EAO breeding formula for top-crossing Mansour (*Morafic)  onto an Ibn Rabdan son, like Shahloul (Zareefa). Keep in mind that *Morafic was himself, a result of the same formula, that is, Nazeer top-crossed on a Shahloul (Moniet el Nefous) daughter! In fact, one can argue that all of *Messaoud's pedigree represents this formula; as Nazeer's influence figures prominently (3 lines & over 30% genetic influence) but so does Shahloul (4 lines & almost 30% genetic influence). 

On the dam side, there is Maymoonah, an elite broodmare bred by the Filsingers, whose progeny included celebrated horses like the previously mentioned Maymoon, by Kaisoon, and Jean Kayser's Masouda, a full sibling to *Messaoud, as she is also by Madkour. Maymoonah was by Hadban Enzahi (Nazeer x Kamla) out of Malikah, the granddaughter of Moheba, herself a daughter of Halima. The matriline traces back to Farida, and from there to El Dahma and thereby, a connection Maymoonah shares with one of the most classic horses of our time, *Ansata Ibn Halima.

Time has a way of altering perspectives or the way in which you remember your past, good and bad. And for me personally, I have difficulty remembering that my eyes are on the front of my head and not on the back! Why did I not breed to a stallion like *Messaoud, when I could have done just that? At the time, I am sure that there were many practical reasons for not doing so but now, who knows? I find myself older and wondering about all of the missed opportunities over my lifetime, like for example, incorporating the blood of this stallion and creating a mini-program focusing on him, combined with other Egyptian ancestral elements. It seems so logical, so obvious of a thing for me to have done but sadly, I didn't and now, my life is like broken glass, scattered over many years. And therein is my challenge, to take these broken glass pieces and fashion them into something more beautiful, more radiant than what the glass was originally part of. Do I still have enough time to do this? That is my hope, all for the love of a happy horse.

***Thinking about Maymoonah, who was bred by Dr. Erwin Filsinger, makes me a little sad, as she also reminds me of the late Irina Filsinger. I loved her photography! And so, I dedicate this blog post to her memory and for the joy that her photos brought to all of us.***