The Importance of Ansata Halim Shah in 2025

I don't remember seeing this photo of Ansata Halim Shah (it's gorgeous) and therefore, not sure of whom to credit (photographer). The photo appears to have been taken in Qatar, therefore I am going to say Rik Van Lent, Jr. instead of Jerry Sparagowski, who was the portraitist of the Ansata horses, while in America.

In the blog for NK Amal El Dine, in trying to better understand Dr. Nagel's breeding program, my focus was for the number of lines to Salaa El Dine in the pedigree but then, I got to thinking about Ansata Halim Shah, Salaa El Dine's sire, because every line to Salaa El Dine, is also, a line back to him. He's an extremely significant element in the pedigree, 10 times. Mathematically, because he appears so far back in the pedigree, as a  great-great-great grandsire (6th generation), on both sides of the pedigree; his overall percentage (22.40%) may not be so impressive to you but you need to look past the actual number and accept that his influence, as multiplied in the pedigree as it is, points to his relevance genetically. 

Judith Forbis, his breeder, wrote in Authentic Arabian Bloodstock II, 

"Rarely, however, even in a long-term breeding program, does a single horse stand out within that century who could be called 'a genetic giant', a horse that is phenotypically a magnificent archetype and genetically dominant in passing on an unmistakable 'look'. Like a rare jewel, a great poet, an heroic warrior, or a supreme leader, he establishes a new criterion of excellence and achievement. Such a horse was Ansata Halim Shah - a breeder's dream come true."

Who was Ansata Halim Shah and why the reverence for him, as compared to the other horses in NK Amal El Dine's pedigree, who are closer up in the pedigree? Good question and let me begin the answer by saying that Ansata Halim Shah was a horse whose overall structure was one of uninterrupted smoothness. The outline or rather, the silhouette of Ansata Halim Shah was comprised of circular lines, creating an equality of body that is harmonious, elegant and graceful. There are no sharp angles, there are no abrupt interruptions to redirect lines that are gently flowing from one, into the next. He was not a horse of bits and pieces, rather, Ansata Halim Shah was a living sum of all his parts. Nothing was too short or too long; everything was perfectly suited for his body. 

For these reasons which focus specifically on his balance and overall smoothness, Ansata Halim Shah has become for me, the standard, against which all other horses are measured. Ansata Halim Shah will always be for me, a timeless representative of classic Arabian Horse type. He continues to be relevant in the present day, as we see in NK Amal El Dine. If Nazeer was historically significant as a catalyst for modern Egyptian Arabian Horse breeding, then Ansata Halim Shah will be equally remembered for revolutionizing classic breed type, underscoring the liason between type and balance. You really can't have one, without the other.