EGYPT BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT

In these troubled times for all human kind being faced up with the spread of a deadly unknown virus, the purebred Arabian horse international sector is undergoing profound and extensive changes: many of the show-competitions, which do not always promote the most deserving Arabian specimens, are cancelled; the use of the Arabian horse in public races as well as the number of participating riders is considerably reduced, whilst in the endurance events that may have taken place, the subject remains sensitive. For the time being, the most affected European countries by the economic downturn are tackling the pandemic by limiting the number of friendly events that are organized outside mandatory organizations, but able to bring together true enthusiasts of the Arabian horse. Since 2016, the Event organized by Horsmunity has been representing a strong encouragement for those breeders who keep defending horses with pure Egyptian bloodlines that have not yet been affected by fashion or commercial trends of the day. The two previous sessions of the organized visits took place in Egypt and hosted Mrs. Claudia Darius in 2017 and Mrs. Christine Jamar in 2018, each one talking about their own personal experience as a professional breeder by also giving reasons for their own judgments in competitions; truly an important experiential background which arouse strong interest by all attendees joining this interesting platform that clustered mainly local Breeders, but addressing the handlers and the judges as well. The 2020/2021 Egypt Farm Tour was jointly orchestrated by Arabian Horse Magazine which is strongly involved in the promotion of this Event with an aim of making Egyptian breeders better known in the world because they know well how to preserve bloodlines of exceptional sires inside a breeding sector in which not always the criteria of the breed-standards are fully met; as well as in the few Straight Egyptian competitions in Europe where you do not always see specimens with the original 'type' and 'conformation'. The visit onto the Farms selected by the 2020/2021 Farm Tour puts the purebred Arabian horse carrying 'Asil' Egyptian bloodlines back where it belongs; all the guests expressed their admiration for horses full of pure blood, natural type, lean and well-balanced bodies with steel limbs well- planted on the ground in all their gaits. In Egypt, traditional breeding has been preserved for a very long time by the local authorities as a 'national treasure' inherited from the Royal Stables owned by King Farouk I, Head of the Royal Agricultural Society. For many decades, his successors did not allow imports so to avoid contaminating a precious pure blood that the world has long venerated. Luckily enough, only few specimens from particular outside strains have been introduced to this thousand-year-old land which intends to safeguard its own values. The establishment of this Farm Tour is an important initiative to show the entire world industry what remains still 'beautiful' in a country willing to remind us that horse trade is not all, and that the freedom to breed exceptional horses with no outside interventionism must be protected in Egypt more than elsewhere in the world. A very big thank you to Albadeia Stud, Albidayer Stud Egypt, Al Rawasy Stud, Al Sheikh Arabians, Al Wakeel Stud, Al Waly Arabians, Donato Stud, El Farida Stud, El Sayad Stud, Ezzaman Stud, Kiriazi Stud, MF Arabians, MN Arabians, NTK Arabians and Sahara Khan Stud, for their extremely warm welcome that brings hope for better days in future, but, above all, for giving us a unique opportunity to see extraordinary horses that keep offering a Vision of Beauty that cannot be forgotten by those enamoured of the genuine purebred Arabian horse. An Interview with Mohammad Waly AL WALY ARABIANS 1.Hello Mr. Mohammad Waly. Welcome on board! Let's start from the very beginning. Please, introduce yourself to our readers. Give us some background to you and your family. 1.With origins in Agriculture and Building Construction, currently our main bread and butter are in Real Estate Development. I am the 3rd generation in the family business going back to 1958. 2. When were Al Waly Arabians founded? What's your philosophy? And your breeding strategy? 2. The Stud Farm was officially founded in 2007, but our equestrian activities stretch back to the early '90s. We aim to have a small herd yet of high quality. Our focus is on form and health first, highlighting type and character with our herd being a strong selection of special bloodlines that are bred without prejudice. 3. Who is/are the most important breeding stallion(s) at Al Waly Arabians at the moment? Why? 3. Our choices of stallions are purely based on quality and compatibility with our mares. We do our best to select strong outcrosses to our mares while sticking to our philosophy and vision. 4. Which of your mares are you mainly using to improve or evolve your breeding program? 4. Our current herd consists of 3 foundation mares which are the backbone of our breeding program, and are being supplemented by our fillies each year. 5.Who are the latest and most important additions to the Al Waly Arabians breeding program? 5. Our first new filly to enter the breeding program, Farah Al Waly, is by Bariq Al Shaqab and out of Farida Al Baydaa. She is truly an embodiment of the attitude and character we love to see. 6. Where did your passion for morphology competitions arise from? Please, tell us something about the most recent victories in the show environment. 6. Being an animal lover and a young equestrian, my love for horses, particularly the Arabian horse is long-lived. Morphology competitions highlight our fascination with the animals we love. We have managed to claim first-in-class prizes with our previous stallions, however, we do not breed for competitions, we breed for passion and the love of the breed. 7. What are the objectives you would like your breeding program to reach in the future? 7. Our vision is to breed the best examples of our beloved breed that are not only beautiful but also amazing animal companions as they were in their desert origins. 8. What's the best way for a potential client to reach you? Our Facebook and Instagram pages are available and open for contact: www.facebook.com/alwalyarabians 9. Will you please leave a final message to the readers of AHM? 9. Our home is always open for visits and always welcomes fellow admirers. Thanks a lot, Mr. Mohammad Waly. It was an honor to talk to you. Best wishes on behalf of the whole AHM Team. An Interview with Maha Ibrahim Ezzaman Stud ******** 1.Hello Maha Ibrahim. Welcome onboard. Let's start from the very beginning. Please, introduce yourself to our readers. Give us some background to you and to your family. 1.Thank you Arabian Horse Magazine for this opportunity, it is a pleasure to introduce Ezzaman Stud to your readership. I am the only child of an upper middle class family, born and raised in Alexandria, the famous metropolitan city on Egypt Mediterranean coast. I went to a French School and I graduated as an Architect Engineer from Alexandria University in 1999, the graduation project was an Equestrian Games and Activities Village in Gouna on the Red Sea. My love for horses and horseback riding started early in my childhood. In addition, I have over time developed my own artistic taste by travelling, exploring different cultures, arts and architecture, attending musicals and concerts. I like photography, I enjoy playing Tablah (oriental drums) and as a Scorpio, one of the water signs, I love the sea with all its activities including kitesurfing. 2. When was Ezzaman Stud founded? What's your philosophy? And your breeding strategy? 2. My passion for the Straight Egyptian Arabian horses started in 2003, at the dressage competitions, when I met Nicole Knoth and Sultan Sharbatly. We became close friends and I did some architectural work at Al Sharbatly stud. Thanks to them, I started building my knowledge about Arabian horse breeding, bloodlines and got in contact with many breeders from Egypt and abroad. After good four years of intensive observation, Ezzaman Stud was founded in 2007. As I learned that a strong foundation of broodmares is the base for a successful breeding program, I chose carefully the bloodlines I would work with, studied the dominant characteristics and developed a critical eye and my own taste. To create my own equine family, I followed my feelings as well as my knowledge. In my understanding, breeding is about achieving a higher level of beauty and charm, while maintaining a good body structure, correct movement, attitude and presence. This requires a close follow-up of different breeding programs both on the national and international levels. Love is the secret spice for breeding, a loving atmosphere is very important for the stud team and it reflects on the herd well being too. We are all one family called Ezzaman. 3. Who is/are the most important breeding stallion(s) at Ezzaman Stud at the moment? Why? 3.Let's first agree that every stallion with a clear good stamp on its offsprings is an important one. It is very important for every breeder to know what is somehow expected when breeding to the stallion. Our main stallion at stud Malik el Nil al Sharbatly is a DF Malik Jamil son out of a Ghazal sakr daughter. Malik joined us as a weanling colt with a very distinguished look, strong movement, compact body, beautiful head with fine features and lots of charm in his big black eyes. As a stallion, he stamps his look and good qualities. He produced high quality offspring at our stud, among which the National Gold Champion Filly of Egypt 2018 Sana Ezzaman and National Gold Champion Colt of Egypt 2019 Majd Ezzaman. Malik sired many other good quality fillies and colts for many other breeders. Together with NTK Arabians and Seso Stud, we are blessed to have Mahmoud Al Jazira on lease for the third breeding season. He is by Sinan Al Rayyan out of a Messaoud daughter. A leggy balanced refined stallion with fine bones, nicely shaped neck with a good set and deep shoulder. You can't miss his nicely placed dark eyes, well set small ears, and squared muzzle. His special pedigree reflects the good genes he carries. He turned out to be an excellent representative of Al Jazira Stud and proved to be a very good producer in Egypt. 4. Which of your mares are you mainly using to improve or evolve your breeding program? 4.Well, that is really an interesting question! Some very successful breeding programs were built on one broodmare from a certain tail female line, but my concept was to have different strains and different bloodlines to work with. DF Riyah is a Sabah, Dahman Shahwan family; Sharuby al Sharbatly, and Majara al Qusar are Om Dalal, Saklawi Jedran line; Sara al Sharbatly is a beautiful Hanan, Abbayan Um Jress mare. And our very special Majeda goes back to Samiha/ Venus, Hadban Enzahi line. When I started, I was keen on having different lines yet with common main characteristics such as well defined heads, solid bodies, refined bones, strong movement. Time flies, we have already reached Ezzaman's third generation, but still my very first mare, DF Riyah by DF Malik Jamil out of Glenglade Rofira, has a special place in my heart, she is a free spirited bay mare with an amazing impulsive floating movement. She is very typey, with lots of charm, she stole my heart with her elegance and power. DF Riyah has very dominant genes and passes her character onto her progenies over the generations. 5.Who are the latest and most important additions to Ezzaman breeding program? 5.We were truly blessed with a beautiful group of fillies sired by Mahmoud Al Jazira in the last few breeding seasons, his first daughter born in October 2018, Reema Ezzaman out of Razan Ezzaman, Dahman Shahwan family, is a superb flea-bitten filly. We couldn't be luckier as her full bay sister Rihanna Ezzaman was born in January 2021. As well as Mahy Ezzaman from the Saklawi Jedran family, she is a very special filly with attitude. Every breeding season, I pick up a couple of mares for outside breedings so to maintain an open gene pool. Sharuby Ezzaman is a successful example for the cross breeding of Ansata Hejazi bloodline with Maydan Madheen, she is out of Shaza Ezzaman by Imperial Madori and sired by Jamil Adam by Jamil Al Rayyan. An elegant correct filly, soon will become a solid broodmare. From an architect perspective, breeding is like building. So, a new star has joined us in December 2020, Al Qusar Latif, a very promising young colt, bred by Robert Schlereth, Al Qusar Arabians, Germany. Latif is by NK Lotfy out of Pamira al Qusar by NK Hafid Jamil, he has a very special pedigree and he definitely represents it. I trust - I am confident - he will become a successful breeding stallion. 6. Where did your passion for morphology competitions arise from? Please, tell us something about most recent victories in the show environment. 6.When you are still on the learning stage, the show gets to be of a great interest for you. At every possible show - both local or international - you get the chance to see a group of high quality horses all gathered in one place. You learn about the pedigrees and you get an idea about successful breeding combinations. The role of the judges is very sensitive and has a big influence on the understanding of new breeders as their marks are sort of a guideline. When I started my breeding career, I was keen to compete with my horses, to learn and get a professional evaluation of my progress. I was very happy with any placement achieved. Till one day in April 2018, I went back home with three Gold Champion titles - two of them are my own breed - a yearling filly Sana Ezzaman and a promising yearling colt Moez Ezzaman. The third went to Mahmoud Al Jazira as a Gold Stallion Champion. Afterwards, it gets to be an addiction, you want to get a title every time you compete. In 2019, Sana Ezzaman won Silver Junior Filly Champion at Rabab show. Also in 2020, Reema Ezzaman won Silver National Junior Filly Champion of Egypt. On the international level, Moez Ezzaman - owned by Al Wakeel Stud - won Bronze Junior Colt Champion at Milan Straight Egyptian World Championship 2020. 7. What are the objectives you would like your breeding program to reach in the future? 7. The real challenge is not just to produce a champion, but to maintain in most of the offsprings the balance between a good level of beauty with correct proportional body structure. My aim is to manage to produce high quality offsprings with an exquisite look that represents Ezzaman breeding vision. I am glad that some of Ezzaman horses are part of other breeding programs in Egypt. And I am honored to have few ambassadors at Al Wakeel Stud in Iraq, to take part in the restoration of the Iraqi Arabian Horse heritage. Still, I am looking forward to having more Ezzaman representatives in different breeding programs all over the Arabian horse world and winning at Salon de Cheval, the World Championship in Paris is a dear dream, I hope to manifest it one day. 8. What's the best way for a potential client to reach you? 8. I can be reached at Ezzaman website: www.ezzaman.com, or by Email: mahaadelibrahim@gmail.com, and as well on my Facebook page: @ Maha Ibrahim (mahmouz@hotmail.com ). 9. Will you please leave a final message to the readers of AHM? 9. With no past there is no future, and if it wasn't for the effort of the great older breeders who worked hard to hold the Arabian horse heritage together and built upon it, we wouldn't have reached the quality of the modern Arabian horses. I was lucky to have met many of those famous breeders, observed their programs closely and learned from them and I was blessed to have found those who have helped me and guided me honestly through the path. They all have my gratitude. As for my advice to all the new beginners, knowledge is the best base to start with, not only about bloodlines and genetics, but as well about the well-being and welfare of the horses. Keep learning along the road, don't underestimate any breeding program as there is something to learn from every breeder. Love what you do and believe in your dreams. Thanks a lot for your contribution Maha Ibrahim. It was an honor to talk to you. Best wishes on behalf of the An Interview with NTK Arabians 1. Hello Nicole! Thank you very much for accepting our interview. Let's start from the very beginning. Please, introduce yourself to our readers. Give us some background to you and to your family. 1. My Name is Nicole Tatjana Knoth, I am German and I have been living in Egypt since 24 years. I am a Clothing Engineer - my work is what got me to Egypt, but my passion - the Arabian horses - is what made me stay. I am living happily in the outskirts of Cairo with my husband and his four kids, three dogs and two cats. As you can guess, I am a crazy animal lover. 2.When was NTK Arabians founded? What's your philosophy? And your breeding strategy? 2. In 2016, I founded my own stud NTK Arabians, after already 15 years of breeding Arabians under the name of my former husband's farm - Al Sharbatly Stud. I come from a riding background, so a functional horse physically and mentally is essential for me. In my breeding program, I am looking for a special charm in the horses, which should not be mistaken by breeding for a head. It's the whole magic way a horse can take you. That is my main focus point in breeding and, at this point, I can look over mistakes in my horses as long as I am aware of these mistakes. I try to focus on one or maximum two main things I want to improve in my mares and then choose accordingly. Laterj, the ultimate goal is for sure to breed this charm in all my horses on top of a perfect confirmation. 3.Who is/are the most important breeding stallion(s) at NTK Arabians at the moment? Why? 3. We have together with Ezzaman and Seso Stud, Mahmoud al Jazira that has been standing with us on a lease since 2 years now from Al Jazira Stud of Kuwait. I have believed in him since I first saw him, so I intensively used him over these last two breeding seasons and he proved me right. Mahmoud produces very balanced foals and always improves the mares. He conveys this charm I was telling you about, on top of beautiful heads and eyes, good shoulders and neck. He also increases a bounce in the movement, which is special. In addition, he gives beautiful sweet characters in all of the foals - just like him. I really love this stallion and I am very grateful to his owner Mr. Talal AlMehri who gave us the chance to use him in our programs. 4. Which of your mares are you mainly using to improve or evolve your breeding program? 4. I have ten broodmares on my farm going back to three families and strains. All of them are bred by myself, some of them reaching the third generation of my breeding program. " Hadban Enzahi - Malak al Sharbatly (Simeon Sharav x Zizi) this mare herself was Gold Champion as a yearling filly. She produced several show champions and her show attitude and strong character are passed on in her 4 generations that she gave me. " Saklawi - I have a couple of mares going back to Bint Saemah of Peter Gross. I call these my German straight Egyptian horses and they all have an extreme refinement and type. " Dahman - Abeer el Nil al Sharbatly (by Ansata Murtajiz) and Angham el Nil al Sharbatly (by Hilal el Nakeeb) are my representatives of the Nile family going back to Arousat el Nil Rahim by Imperial Madori, one of the most beautiful mares ever. 5. Who are the latest and most important additions to NTK Arabians breeding program? (Latest crops of foals) 5. Last year I was blessed with a beautiful filly out of Mahmoud al Jazira - NTK Shaya by Shadwana al Sharbatly She is for me very close to my ideal and I hope and pray she will continue her development as I expect and wish for. My other big addition came by fulfilling a dream I had since very long, which is to own a stallion from Dr. Nagel's breeding program. I love this man and his horses and their type. NK Nadirah is a mare which took my breath away and gave me goosebumps - this year I managed to acquire her grandson by NK Nabhan. NK Nemir is still only 11 months old, but I believe he will make me proud as the future sire of NTK Arabians. 6. Where did your passion for morphology competitions arise from? Please, tell us something about most recent victories in the show environment. 6. I always liked shows and competitions and I was never afraid of getting judged. Even with the politics going on in the shows sometimes, I believe at least the first and second places are usually the right picks. I think it is important to see your horses in a class with direct comparison to others, you can and should learn by this, it is not just about winning. I had horses shown in Europe and Egypt over the last 10 years with several champion titles. With the change of my life and building up my new farm, I stayed away from the show scene for the last years, concentrating on breeding and building up my farm. Just last year I decided I am ready to show again and entered the Rabab Championship 2020 with 4 horses, which were all placed. NTK Maya placed first in the class of the three years old fillies. NTK Aya el Nil was placed second in the two years old fillies and later in the championship she was awarded the Bronze Champion. This was a very special win, as I showed her myself in the championship. 7. What are the objectives you would like your breeding program to reach in the future? 7. I wish that one day one of my own production will have the quality to be shown and winning internationally. Don't get me wrong, I am not breeding for the show, but I have my own vision of the look I like, which I am breeding for and I don't follow a fashion look. But, I believe the Straight Egyptians should and can compete with the other Arabians too. 8. What's the best way for a potential client to reach you? 8. Sure, by phone: # 002 01222129311 or email: nickiknoth@gmail.com 9. Will you please leave a final message to the readers of AHM? 9. I am grateful for AHM to give me the opportunity to talk about my passion, the Straight Egyptian Arabian horses and I hope more and more people will get interested and fascinated about this special breed. These animals have so much to give, it makes you forget all the lows and losses we as breeders have to go through. Keep it up eventually they will pay you back in their own way. Thanks a lot for your contribution Nicole Knoth. It was an honor to talk to you. Best wishes on behalf of the whole team!