The Conformity of the Rhino

My favorite photo of *Lancers Sahm

Do you know that when Sheikh el Arab was alive, he sired less than 20 get and of this number, the larger part were fillies? Despite siring a very small number of offspring, General Von Szandtner believed him to be outstanding as a sire. Sheikh el Arab, foaled in 1933, was a Mansour son out of Bint Sabah. Dr. Mohamed El Marsafi believed he was more elegant than Nazeer. Sheikh el Arab possessed a strong and smooth croup, good legs and excellent tail carriage. His daughters matured into legendary broodmares, founding multi-branched, vibrant families of their own. Rouda, the maternal great-granddam of *Lancers Sahm was not only a Sheik El Arab daughter, she was one part of the 3 pairs of full sisters (Medallela, Fasiha & Bint Rissala): 

• Yashmak, 1941 out of Bint Rissala (full sister to Hafsa)
• Wanisa, 1941 out of Medallela (full sister to El Bataa)
• Hafsa, 1942, out of Bint Rissala (full sister to Yashmak) 
• Mahasin, 1942 out of Kasbana
• Kamla, 1942 out of Samha
• Yosreia, 1943 out of Hind
• Wadida, 1943 out of Fasiha (full sister to Rouda)
• Rouda, 1944 out of Fasiha (full sister to Wadida)
• Halima, 1944 out of Ragia
• El Bataa, 1944 out of Medallela (full sister to Wanisa)
• Sodfa, 1944 out of ZamZam
• Zeina, 1945 out of Kateefa
• Fadila, 1946 out of Zareefa

Knowing that General Von Szandtner preferred to cross the Sheikh el Arab daughters with Nazeer, it is interesting that Rouda was bred to Sid Abouhom instead. This cross yielded the mare Galila, who in turn was bred to the Nazeer son, Alaa el Din, producing Aziza, the dam of *Lancers Sahm. It is also interesting to note that Alaa el Din provides the only Nazeer line in the entire pedigree. 

"Like all Rabdans, Gassirs can certainly move and when they do so in earnest a charging rhino is hardly more intimidating." - Philippe Paraskevas

The mare Aziza, was bred to Sabeel, a Gassir (Kheir x Badia) son, out of the Inshass bred Shahbaa (Hamdan x Shahd), who traces in her matriline to El Kahila, the only source of the Kuhaylan Kurush strain in straight Egyptian breeding. Philippe Paraskevas, in the 2nd volume of The Egyptian Alternative wrote, "...Sabeel, a superb Gassir, true-to-type and quite acceptable in the back, with good croup attachment and with an interesting and masculine expression. Regrettably, this is a stallion that was not much noticed and consequently little bred." 

Despite siring 146 get over his lifetime, I still find myself wishing that *Lancers Sahm had been bred to select, key Egyptian mares of the time, significantly multiplying the outcross potential in the straight Egyptian genepool. Considering the growing dominance of the Nazeer influence at the time, we needed an alternative source(s) in our gene pool before we "painted" ourselves into a corner, with no way out. Philippe, within the same book, further wrote about the strength of the Gassir influence and used correctly, of the functional  impact that Gassir could have upon the phenotype, "Gassirs are often the heaviest and most powerful of all Rabdans, if not always the tallest...Taking into consideration these characteristics, you can imagine the Gassir potential for your breeding program - beneficial or harmful - according to whether or not you understand his use. Gassir was a Dahman of the peripheral Bint El Bahrain strain, inherently one of the most Kohalian-in-type of all strains, an outcross strain." Knowing what we know today and given the same opportunity,  why as breeders are we not incorporating more individuals like *Lancers Sahm to build more diversity within the genepool of straight Egyptian breeding?

***If you are interested in straight Egyptian Arabian horses, then Volume II of Philippe Paraskevas', The Egyptian Alternative is a book you must have in your library. If you can only purchase one book, I strongly recommend this one. Many thanks to Judith Forbis for the photos of Sabeel and Aziza. Many thanks to Sheila R. Cone for posting the photo of *Lancers Sahm in the Facebook Group, Photos and History of the straight Egyptian Arabian Horse***