The composition of a pedigree is not just a list of names. It is more than that – it is a structure of genetic traits, presented by individual animals. To read and understand a pedigree, it must be done in such a manner that the “whole” picture can be seen and appreciated.

This article aims to discuss individual animals that had a significant impact on the pedigrees of their offspring – first and subsequent generations. We will look at the influence of the “Egyptian” horses.

For the purpose of this commentary we will use a broad term for “Egyptian” horses. In order to simplify the matter, we will consider the “Asil”, “Pure”, “Straight”, “Babson” and other Egyptian horses (like Tuwaisan) all under the term Egyptian. The finer discrimination between these definitions is not important in this context.

The Egyptian horse

A first remark is that the only Egyptian horse that completed Fauresmith in a top ten position, was Joni Shamon (Arabest Shaam X Rechar Montasirah). Others have performed well in local 80 km rides, but the basis for this discussion is, as you all know, Fauresmith top ten!

The Egyptians that had a notable impact, started with the offspring of Zahir (Ibn Fayda IV X Zahra). Here Gordonville Ziyadan, Robdon Zingari and Vlinkfontein Night Call are noted. Even in the second, third and further generations this is still evident, with the sons of Charmante Ibn Ziyadan (Gordonville Ziyadan X Rosina) as example, and their offspring doing well in rides and making a name for themselves abroad.

Another stallion that comes to mind is Anchor Hill Omar. This Babson Egyptian left his mark through a number of studs, namely Aboukir, Nabilah, Shareef and the Whitehouse stud, to name a few. One example is Shareef Smayha (out of Vlinkfontein Rabijah), then bred to Ahir, which produced Sidi Echo – a legend in his own time.

The Nazeer name keeps coming to the fore when looking into these Egyptian pedigrees. As we all know, Nazeer had a profound influence worldwide – not only in the Egyptian environment, but also in Russian and Polish breeding through his son Aswan.

No direct Nazeer progeny was imported to South Africa, but a number of important individual imports are progeny of Nazeer sons and one of his daughters. Kaisoon (Hamasa Ibn Kaisoon), Foze (Bint Foze), Hadban Enzahi (Sabdan), Morafic (Ahir), Gazal (Darius) are examples.

One generation further, the horses that came into South Africa are a remarkable source of Nazeer blood. Raafeek, Lar Malika, Hamasa el Fagr, Majesty, AK Bint Gamila, AK el Bashaar, Shah Jahan and Omar el Shaker are but a few of them.

When one looks further and takes a few examples of imported animals who show strong Egyptian influence, names such as Niyashin el Shaklan (Shaker el Masri as the sire) and Crystal Shah (a Babson-English cross) come to mind. The Egyptian influence cannot be disregarded and it is found to be present in the majority of pedigrees of horses that have performed well over the years,

With Crystal Shah, other non-Nazeer horses must also be mentioned. Here it is natural to start with Barakah and Nabilah. These two mares have left a legacy in South Africa that is very hard to beat or even match.

Tuwaisan must also be mentioned as he has influenced breeding in this country, even to modern day breeding, where his bloodline is sought and preserved by a few, who recognise his importance. Fadni (Fadjur x Dad-Tissie) is an example of a horse that only had five purebred offspring, but a strong influence in some breeding programmes.

The more modern Egyptian imports such as Arabest Shaam and Shams-el-Farin (sire of Charlandre el Sharif, who recently broke the world record over 160 km) are starting to make their mark. There are a number of new imports that show promise. To name only some would not be fair to the owners of the other stallions, as it might suggest that the mentioned ones would be more suitable to use in endurance breeding or that they are favoured by the author.

Furthermore, it will be evident that no specific stud has been mentioned as the number of horses that need to be mentioned will not make for good reading. Smaller studs have proved themselves to be breeders of excellent riding horses, using careful selection and not being led by show results.

It must also be cautioned that the appearance of any of these Egyptian names in a pedigree surely does not “guarantee” anything, except that the horse is a registered purebred Arabian! The total pedigree and the combination of a number of factors will determine success in competition.