The Story Of El Zahraa

[♘امیرحسین♞]

تقدیم به دوست عزیزم سهراب که در زمینه اسب اصیل زحمت زیادی میکشند, امیدوارم مطالعه این متن کمک کوچکی به افزایش اطلاعات در زمینه اصیل باشد

During the 20s Egypt, like many European countries, was trying to improve its agriculture. This included the improvement of livestock through sytematic breeding. As in Europe, it included stallion testing to enable private breeders to make use of exceptional sires. In Egypt this was all seen to by the R.A.S. which has started the project in 1910 with the establishment of a central stud farm at Bechtim.It was decided to use Arabian horses with two things in mind: to breed stock for upgrading local horses that were suited to the climate and to the people’s need; and to preserve an historic breed, the cultural heritage of Arabia, as embodied in the classic, typical horses of Abbas Pasha I.
By 1930 the stables at Bechtim had proved to small and the stud was moved to a ground near Cairo on the eastern edge of the city. Here was founded Kafr Farouk as it was called until the revolution when it was renamed El Zahraa. Well aware that in the long run the environment could change the horses the management decided to keep and feed the horses as near to ‘desert’ principles as possible, a policy that was thought to be supported by the dry climate and sandy soil. The stud was highly successful and became famous even outside the Arab world.

Soon buyers from all over the world came to Egypt to acquire typey Arabian horses, both from El Zahraa and from the stud farms of the princes that had supplied some of El Zahraa’s foundation stock. One of the oldest and most famous studs in the USA, the Babson Farm, bought its foundation stock from these sources. W.R. Brown was also a buyer for his Maynesboro Stud.

Horseracing was very popular in Egypt. This was supported by the presence of Great Britain which had taken over the patronage of Egypt at the end of the 19th century. For the Englishmen then living in Cairo, horseracing was one of the most popular pastimes. They helped to establish an exemplary racing organization whose structure is still in effect today. Thus a third element was inroduced into the breeding programme of El Zahraa which now also had to produce racehorses. The homebred stallion Balance was used and several new sires were inroduced: El Deree, Nabras, Mashaan, and El Nasser.​

photo:The racehorse El Deree

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

All had been successful racehorses themselves and represented the more powerful racing type which had little in common with the Abbas Pasha stallions. Theses new stallions originated in Syria. Apart from their family strain, nothing was known of them, not even their parents. Their identity as purebred Arabians, however, was never in doubt and they were readily accepted into the studbook. It soon emerged that Sid Abouhom, a son of El Deree, and the homebred Balance were among the fastest and best racehorses in Egypt. Racing enthusiasts therefore preferred to use these two stallions for their mares. The priority at El Zahraa, however, remained the preservation of the classic Arabian.This ideal was never in any way neglected.

What exists today is the result of a long process. The first roots reach back into the early 19th century; back to the still unknown circumstances that produced the Nejd Arabian, the only horse deserving of the romanticized term "desert Arabian". Other sources were the Arabians bred by Lady Anne Blunt and given to the RAS, those imported from England plus racing Arabians and gift horses. Blended together they have formed a successful composition. Not one horse today can be traced to only one of these different sources. The breeding history of El Zahraa is old, dating back for nearly 150 years, but also new; the youngest sources were only added 50 to 60 years ago. The influence of these various groups on today’s stock and its development may be summed up as follows:

The initial aim of the RAS was to produce sires for upgrading the local horses and to preserve the typical, historic Arabian. Both aims may be seen as identical. The local people demanded tough, thrifty, and easy to handle horses; excessive size can hardly have been required but stamina was essential. The historic Arabian, not too big and accustomed to make do with little food, was the right choice. This programme has been successful the last 70 years. Furthermore, if the requirement is for horses embodying refinement and elegance, one ends up with the same horse again, the delicate Arabian with its dancer’s grace as a living work of art: the Arabian, justifiable the representative horse of the upper classes and of the courts.This breeding aim was represented by a group of the typiest mares, of which the most beautiful and influential specimens were born between 1935 and 1946 and became the foundation of post World War II breeding:

Moniet El Nefous, a delicate chestnut mare who enchanted many breeders with her feminine charm. Especially through her grandson Morafic, this mare had an influence second to none on Egyptian breeding in the USA. Morafic’s typey head embodied true exoticism.​

photor. Marsafi with the mares Mouna, Moniet El Nefous and Mabrouka

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Halima, a fine, motherly mare who produced the typiest stallion of Egyptian breeding to date in Ibn Halima. In almost every good Egyptian pedigree today, he can be found as ‘Ansata Ibn Halima’. This fleabitten grey stallion was a progenitor of balance and type above all others.


Bukra, tracing back to the same original foundation mare as Halima, was one of themost valuable broodmares. She was the dam of the full siblings Ghazal, imported to Germany, and Bint Bukra, influential in the USA. Certain faults in the legs and the back prevented theses horses from becoming show objects. But where type, refinement and Arabian presence are concerned, they could hardly be bettered.​

photo:Bukra, the dam of the famous Ghazal

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Kamla, through her son Hadban Enzahi, became one of the foundation dams of the Marbach stud. Her daughter Bint Kamla produced Lotfeia and Nazeema, both by Alaa El Din and the best female progenitors of this line.
​

Kamla, influential through her son Hadban Enzahi

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

The fifth mare Yosreia had a considerable influence on the Russian Tersk stud through her son Aswan, as well as proving her high quality through her daughters Bint El Nile and Nabilah.
​

photo:Aswan, the "Ruler of Russia"

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Lust but least, the Inshass mare Mahrousa also founded a worldwide dynasty. Horses like Hafiza, El Araby, Bilal, Bint Magidaa and Hanan came from this family and made history. Many important sires of today, Ruminaja Ali, Ruminaja Bahjat, Alidaar, Asfour and Salaa El Dine, are tail female descendants of this mare.​

photo:Nazeer, the "sire without equal"

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

One sire may be said to dominate breeding at El Zahraa: Nazeer, foaled in 1934 and a sire without equal, especially in the post-war years. He outranked both his half brother Sheikh El Arab and Shahloul. Nazeer and Sheikh El Arab were both by Mansour: their’s is the most important sire line in Egyptian breeding. Both stallions traced to dam lines which may be found in the six mares listed above: Nazeer to the dam line of Kamla and Sheikh El Arab to the ancestors of Bukra.​

photo:Nazeer at the age of 24 years

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Nazeer was an impressive grey, not very tall, standing under 14.3 hh; a dry, correct horse with a fiery eye; very masculine and with fine conformation. He sired stallions of equal quality. His daughters Bint Bukra, Bint Moniet el Nefous and Bint Mabrouka embodied the highest Arabian type and an unequalled refinement. However, it was his sons who were taken more notice of. Those in particular who came from the six mare families above, became his best and truest heirs: Morafic, Ibn Halima, Ghazal, Hadban Enzahi and Aswan. The one exception was Alaa El Din whose maternal descent will be described later. Together they testify to the best genetic quality which has influenced the breeding of Arabian horses all over the world.

At the Inshass Stud, the leading sire was Hamdan, a full brother to Shahloul, both descended from Lady Anne’s precious Bint Helwa and from the breeding programmes of the Egyptian khedives. Hamdan, who was more beautiful and refined than his brother, sired several excellent daughters from mares of the Mahrousa family who were instrumental in establishing this family as a major breeding force. He later became a sire at the stud of Hamza Pasha who named his stud after him. These four stallions – Nazeer, Sheikh El Arab, Shahloul and Hamdan – added Arabian type. They were sires in the tradition of the original breeding stock of Abbas Pasha.​

photo:The stallion Shahloul

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

The second group of the breeding population consists of the stronger, more solid type marked by more height and substance. Stallions and mares who belong to this group can often be traced to the same sources. First there is El Sareei, a bay stallion with an exotic, expressive face; somewhat compact with a powerful neck and body and strong bone. Next Gassir, a grey of rather heavy appearance, correct of conformation buth with little expression and no Arabian profile.​

photo:El Sareei, the sire of world-famous Tuhotmos

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

The second group also includes Anter and Abla, named after the famous lovers immortalized in oriental poetry. Together they produced broodmares conforming to the European ideal: deep, strong horses, broodmares that would be the pride of any stud farm. This Anter-Abla combination still has a positive influence and is an asset within any breeding programme. Anter daughters and Nazeer sons have been a popular and successful nick.

The Mashour son Seef was unfortunately a very inferior representative of Arabian type. It is hard to determine what advantages the directors expected from using him. In short: a basically correct horse but a stallion who was utterly superfluous for El Zahraa.
This group is completed by the stallion Sameh: he was a powerful, big stallion with a nearly ideal topline and magnificent movements, a true picture of masculinity. But his type was inferior, his head heavy, long and narrow, with a small eye. He was a sire of substance, powerful lines and movements. Bred to delicate, refined mares, he offered many possibilities. Sometimes he passed on his positive points while retaining the type of the dam. But sometimes the refinement was lost and an over heavy horse remained, only to repeat itelf in successive generations.
​

photo:Sameh, "a sire of substance and movements"

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Finally, a last group: the racing stallions. El Deree, El Nasser, Machaan, and Nabras all originated in Greater Syria. In addition there was Balance, a horse descended from the breeding programmes of the Egyptian princes and of Abbas Pasha. Machaan and Nabras had no lasting influence either in breeding or in racing. From each, there is one indirect line in existance today. Their results: the family influenced by Nabras tends to be very small, those tracing to Machaan sometimes big, often too big. Neither group shows a special ability for racing. El Nasser had some influence through his grandson Nasralla who was expected to be a great progenitor of athletic ability and consequently covered many mares, both those of racehorse breeders and those at El Zahraa. But the great success never materialized. His descendants were somewhat colourless in every respect.

It was quite a different matter with El Deree, a powerful grey stallion who was said to have been brought to Egypt from Syria by an Egyptian merchant. He first came to the stables of King Fouad as a popular racehorse. Then the RAS acquired him and bred him to the valuable broodmare Layla who produced Sid Abouhom.Sid Abouhom’s influence was to be very great. He was a horse on whose account orient and occident was divided. Nazeer, the Egyptian "sire of the century", was the one everyone wanted as a chief sire. All agreed that he was the uncontested star. Sid Abouhom was preferred by the Hungarian general and by the racing set since he had the best racing record of them all. Dr Ameen Zaher was doubtful whereas General von Pettko-Szandtner regarded him as necessary in order to improve substance and legs. Many Egyptian mares, even the finest among them, needed this. Perhaps he intended to adjust the balance later by using Nazeer and his sons? Who knows? The ten years of breeding that were allotted to him were too short a time; a mere beginning.
Dr Zaher found much to criticize about Sid Abouhom. He lacked essentials, especially refinement and a quiet, calm disposition. He regarded him as too strong and too heavy for the broodmares of El Zahraa. But without doubt he was the most likely candidate for producing racing ability in Egypt. Nerve and power he had in abundance.Finally, there was Balance, not a typey horse. Through his grandson Amrulla his athletic ability was to be preserved for the racing mares in Egyptian breeding. But Amrulla was also a son of Sid Abouhom, providing a deliberate concentration of racing genes: Balance – Sid Abouhom – Amrulla. Amrulla was a good racehorse but that was basically all he could offer. This one isolated reocurrence of Balance’s above average ability was never repeated. Amrulla’s success may not be due to Balance alone but more probably to his sire Sid Abouhom. A representative of this male line was retained in Akhtal, a pretty little stallion who only had a short career.

Some experts feared the eventual collapse of Egyptian breeding through constant inbreeding of Nazeer descendants and believed that it was necessary to introduce outside elements. They should have known that many families of horses are highly resistant to inbreeding, not only among Arabian horses. Others thought along more practical lines. With the overabundance of Nazeer, a Nazeer-free version of Egyptian breeding had to be commercially attractive. Both sides exerted the same pressure and with a view to the commercial prospects, the management yielded. Thus stallions who belonged to the second group were elevated to the role of chief sires: Sameh and his sons and grandsons Sultan, Assad and Aseel; Anter and his son and grandson Wahag and Hafid Anter, and finally Akhtal and Mourad, sired by Amrulla and Gassir respectively. They now appeared at the top of the pedigrees, relegating Nazeer to the second and third row.​

photo:One of the most influential sons of Anter was Gharib

 

[♘امیرحسین♞]

Today the process is being reversed, with the priority once more being given to Nazeer’s descendants. The directors of the nineties have returned to the paths that once led El Zahraa to greatness. The Nazeer-free stallions in Europe and America have lost their appeal. The type that made Egypt famous and found its highest expression in the six mares and then in Nazeer and his sons and daughters, has been rediscovered. It is too early as yet to determine who will step into their footsteps. But a new generation is forming which will correct the deviation and its consequences.

Excerpts from the chapter "The Egyptian State Stud of El Zahraa" of Dr. Hans-Joachim Nagel’s book "Hanan – The Story of an Arabian Mare and of the Arabian Breed".
​

 

[sohrab]

ممنون از لطفت امیر حسین جان

 

[امید زمانی]

ترجمشو بذار اگه ممکنه !