597 Intangible Glory

Sometimes, a horse will touch you emotionally, in a most unexpected way. The horse will catch your attention long enough, that this exchange between the horse and you will remain forever etched in your mind. This moment can become like a point of transformation, where mind, heart and soul intersect to push you forward into new growth, despite the discomfort of change. In this particular story, Shanghai EA, in the summer of 2019, in Menton, had just made one of the most riveting presentations that an Arabian horse could ever make, for the intangible breed attributes which make this breed so unique in the world of horses.  Yes, Shanghai is really beautiful on the outside but it's the inside of Shanghai, the invisible Shanghai, the thinking, feeling, willing and generous Shanghai that charms everything out of you, to engage you on a very personal level, causing you to fall deeply head-over-heels in love with him. That's what happened to me, Menton 2019. My summer's greatest lesson, after spending many summers chasing Carl Raswan looking for that one thing that he spent so much time searching for, only to discover that I would find it in Menton, a steady gaze combined with the licking and chewing of an Arabian horse. 

Hercules EA (Excalibur EA x Electra EA), as photographed by Javan Schaller

All these years later, that Shanghai experience comes to mind, when I stumbled upon his grandson, Hercules EA a 2016 stallion, also bred by Shanghai's breeder, Albert Sorroca of Equus Arabians. Now owned by Manny Vierra of Valley Oak Arabians in California, Hercules EA is a 2016 son of Excalibur EA, out of Electra EA.

Nazeer

Hercules EA's pedigree is interesting, as it is a full brother to sister mating. Both Excalibur and Electra share the same horses: Shanghai EA crossed with Essence of Marwan EA. The Egyptian elements we noticed in Shanghai EA's pedigree are still there but now are doubled, such as lines to Aswan, Shaker el Masri, El Hilal, Ansata Sinan and Mohssen plus, through Essence of Marwan, he carries a line to Anaza El Farid via Gazal Al Shaqab, as well as additional lines to Hadban Enzahi (via his son Malik), the EAO stallion, Hindi (Korayem x Hindia) and of course, Shaker el Masri, the sire of *El Shaklan. The similarity to Nazeer's phenotype still exists, no surprise, due to the ancestral connection to Nazeer that the Egyptian horses possess. However, there was something else just under the surface that kept nagging at me, like deja vu. I had seen this horse before but where? I searched and searched and searched and that's when I recognized the similarity in phenotype to the world champion maternal siblings out of Navarrone-P: Eternity and Escape. Try as I may, I could not get past the resemblance that Hercules EA shares with them! One can also say that this familiarity in the silhouette extends to Khidar, who is in the pedigree of Shanghai EA, as well as Ansata Sinan, Khidar's sire. Perhaps, Nazeer is the common denominator in all of these horses, and the resemblance, is only a visual representation of the genetics involved, meaning, the resemblance among unrelated horses has more to do with one individual who serves as "common ground" for all. Makes sense?

 

It is also important to recognize the matriline, which goes back to the 1835 mare Sahara, who was purchased in Saudi Arabia by Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki, as a replacement for Zulejma, who had become injured and would not be physically able to make the long trip back to Poland. Sahara would eventually become the foundress of a significant line in Polish Arabian horse breeding. 

Hercules EA (Excalibur EA x Electra EA), as photographed by Javan Schaller

In the past, I have written about straight Egyptian stallions who have created a desire within me to own a mare, just so I could breed to them. Egyptian horses have been my life experience; it's the bloodline I understand best. When I visited Ezzain Arabians in 2013, I felt that I had reached the similar place of understanding that Raswan had reached, when he recognized Ghazal as the authentic horse he had been searching for. The Ezzain horses had turned me upside down and inside out, inspiring me with a new standard for beauty previously unknown to me. Hercules EA creates a similar desire to breed, however, with mares who complement him, regardless of bloodline. That's the difference this time, these particular horses are pushing me to consider the world of Arabian horses without borders, far outside of Egyptian lines. If the name of Hercules means courage, then it is somewhat courageous for me, to consider the full palette of colors available in the community of Arabian horse breeding, to paint a physical masterpiece, sound of body, mind and spirit. This is all thanks to a long ago thinking stallion, who stood upon the sandy beaches of Menton, licking and chewing, as he focused his attention on his person, standing before him.