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Maratez+/ (Nitez x Imarada) |
In 2024, I added 30 blogs (compared to last year, that's 37 less blogs) and of this number, 27 were brand new blogs, never before published (76% were published in the first half of 2024). Despite a slower writing pace, I am humbled that in return, you clicked on the blog over 50,000 times, with 12,000 of those page views, coming from America. I am grateful! Thank you also to Hong Kong for visiting 10,000 times, Singapore for 8,000 and Germany, 2,000 visits. You encourage me to keep writing! Including the 30 blogs I added in 2024, there are now 550 total blogs available for you to read (check the Blog Archive, located in the sidebar on the right hand side of the page). Despite a reduced level of new activity this year, I did improve my position in Feedspot's list of top Arabian Horse Blogs, from #7 to #5! I want to believe that the archived library of blog material is responsible for the 2024 growth in readership.

So, what were your favorite blogs this year? The 10 most popular blogs of 2024, across the world, are:
It's interesting that #3, A Case of Mistaken Identity, is the only new blog to have made the top ten list for 2024! One other blog,
Ethereal, although failing to crack the top ten, did place in the top 20 and listed below, are what I have termed, the "Honorable Mentions", the blog posts in the 2nd half of the top 20 which were also popular with you this year:
I share many cherished memories within the pages of this blog. Some of these stories are a little more challenging, that is, to find just the right words to explain the myriad of emotions, while honoring the memory of a horse, for example,
Maratez+/, foaled in 1967, bred by the late Everett Shea, Windfall Farm, Pennsylvania and owned for most of his life by the late Sandie Cafritz. He was a son of Nitez (*Witez II x Nafa) bred by Ed Hurlbutt and out of the grey, Imarada (Radamason x Imaja) also bred by Everett Shea. He was extraordinary. I would have to say that his story, now blog #549 was one of my favorite blogs this year.
Another favorite 2024 blog is
the story of Charaff, a 1948 *Raffles son, out of a *Raffles granddaughter, purchased by Federico Castellanos y Batista, to head the breeding program he founded at his ranch, San Cayetano, in the province of Camaguey, Cuba. Charaff was immensely popular among Cuban breeders and received considerable attention, eventually becoming the Cuban National Champion Stallion in 1956. His escape from Cuba to the United States is a thrilling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of story and remains as one of the fun stories I have been fortunate to write.
For many years, the
Bint el Bahreyn horses have been considered to be Dahman Shahwan, by strain. However, further study of the unpublished notes made by Lady Anne Blunt point to a completely different strain, that of Kuhaylah Rabda. As a long time student of the breed, I learned to accept the Dahman strain classification, despite the fact that these horses appeared Kuhaylan. Through mtDNA analysis, will the strain of these horses be revealed to be different from what we previously believed the strain to be? It feels like
a case of mistaken identity, another of my favorite blogs this year.
Sometimes, when looking for information on a particular horse, I'm led in a completely different direction, to discover a horse that is not the one that I was looking for! Such was the case with
Nile, a 1975 stallion by
Mustafa, a Hadban Enzahi son, bred by Marbach Stud. His dam, Nara, also sired by Hadban Enzahi , was bred by Tanya Hawley. David Gillet of Diamond Road Stud in Australia said,
"Nile was known for producing beautiful progeny of extreme type and beauty, and he crossed well with a variety of different bloodlines to become one of Australia's all time leading sires."
And there, you have it, a quick highlight of a few of what I believe to be, the more memorable stories of 2024 but don't take my word for it, there are other stories from 2024 and beyond that, 520 more stories, spanning 19 years of story telling, just for you! Maybe you will discover a new favorite?
In closing, I am compelled to express my gratitude once again to you, dear readers, because you are the reason for why this blog even exists. I hope that each blog will continue to inspire you with a desire to learn more about Arabian horses. And if along the way you receive equal helpings of some good old-fashioned awe and wonder, then my part in all of this has gone well, all for the love of an Arabian horse.
Happy New Year 2025!
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