BRILLIANT

One of the treasures at Ezzain Arabians is Moneerah, a filly sired by Nooreddine Ezzain and out of Ajmal Ibtihaj, the dam of Altaafibari Ezzain. Moneerah is a half-sister to Zweena! our July black beauty. Actually, Moneerah and Altaafibari are more than half-sisters, as Nooreddine's dam, NK Nada, is an Adnan daughter, as is Ajmal Ibtihaj. I like her pedigree a lot, as it is full of all my favorite horses, especially the Ansata horses, who are present throughout  the pedigree but especially so on both sides, the sire line (Ansata Almurtajiz) and the tail female line (Ansata Justina). Together, these horses make a strong impact on Moneerah's phenotype, as this filly has a little more substance, which you can see in her wider chest and in the muscling of her shoulder, her forearms and her neck. I like her...alot. She is a most balanced horse, with much harmony flowing in her classic body.

Moneerah is a little more compact in her body; strong and smooth over her croup. I like her well-sprung rib cage, a bit deeper in the chest than behind, which speaks loudly of a horse who is just waiting for you to jump on her back and GO! Her tail carriage is excellent, matched by her equally expressive and very beautiful head, which is shorter and wider with a deep black (no white at all!) eye, placed lower on her head, accentuating the prominence of her jibbah. Her neck, which is set higher on her chest, could be a bit longer, as you will find in the NK Qaswarah-sired horses but I like how her neck connects with her wither, flowing into a powerful shoulder and then, a nicer forearm.You can use your imagination to place your hand behind her forearm, to discover enough room in this area, to suggest that this filly has the freedom to fly! I can  imagine the feel of the wind in my face and the tremendous joy in my heart, as I sail across the desert, astride on the finest Bedouin mare named Moneerah. She really is BRILLIANT!

EnJoy,
Ralph

EYE on a Desert Princess

"And she'll tease you
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush..."-lyrics from Bette Davis Eyes, written by Donna Weiss and Jacki DeShannon

Azhaar Ezzain, a full sister of the handsome stallion Suror Ezzain, foaled a filly approximately one year ago. Her name is Badrilbadoor and she is a full sister to the mare whose name reminds one of the sun, Shamsilshmous Ezzain, my favorite horse of all the Ezzain horses. Sired by the NK Hafid Jamil son, NK Qaswarah, this filly is already so elegant, so refined at nine months old. Look at her...she is a desert princess! The translucent quality of her skin accentuates the bones and veins in her head. At a young age, there is a "dryness" in her head, which highlights every detail made by God's hammer and chisel. She is still so young, this "dryness" we already see in her face, will only get more dramatic as time passes and she matures...from a princess to a queen. Like her full sister (and the majority of the NK Qaswarah-sired horses) her eyes are amazing. This is one quality which I have noticed in Usamah's breeding program. The consistency of an ideal eye. They are large, round and fully black (with no trace of white in them). That's what captivated me most about this filly...her beautiful eyes. In Dr. Nagel's book, Hanan: The Story of An Arabian Mare and of the Arabian Breed, he explains the ideal eye of an Arabian horse as

"A large, dark, almost round eye is typical for the Arabian horse. Longish or oval eyes are not acceptable. One necessary condition for a perfect eye is a particular shape of the upper head tending to broadness. In other words, a relatively wide forehead with eye sockets clearly directed outwards. These prominent eye sockets allow the basically round eyes to emerge clearly from the socket. All this together makes for a broad appearance of the upper skull with the eyes clearly visible from the front and even from behind."

In the last ten-to- fifteen years, I have noticed more and more horses with white in their eyes. I don't know what shocked me more, the degree of white in the eye of popular breeding horses or the fact that breeders have become more accepting over what I believe to be a serious flaw. What has happened within our community to make white in the eye acceptable? Maybe, as Dr. Nagel explains in Hanan, the ideal eye has become so rare,  that breeders don't understand what an ideal eye looks like anymore. What will it take to turn this trend around? How do you feel about white in the eye?

Happy Labor Day,
Ralph

PS I must give credit to Jennifer Ogden for the beautiful pictures of Badrilbadoor Ezzain

EXTRAORDINARY

This is one of my favorite pictures EVER and I wanted to share it with you dear reader. This is the one month old colt, Hermas, whom you will remember as our Boy of the Summer, our Royal Colt, Got Nostrils and A Brand New Baby. I love the energy that oozes out of every pixel. It's calm, it's supple, it's forward and it makes me so happy.

BUT

I love his topline and how the line goes uphill from back to front, with his hindquarter curled under, towards the front end, pushing his body...ZOOM...across the ground. This is a future powerhouse in the making. I like the elasticity in his hocks, I like the reach of his front end...I like, I like, I love this colt.

HE IS ONLY 1 MONTH OLD!!!

What will he be like 2 years....5 years...7 years from now?

Already, I am dreaming of a refined, elegant, Ezzain-bred super athlete and stallion extraordinaire.

EnJOY,
Ralph

The boy of the summer

The summer is slowly winding down...the days are growing shorter, leaves will soon be falling and warm, sunny days will be a memory.

"Nobody on the road
nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
the summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets,
the sun goes down alone..."-from The Boys of Summer, lyrics by Don Henley and music by Mike Campbell

At the very beginning of this beautiful summer month, we met Hermas, a new colt sired by NK Qaswarah and out of the mare, Alamirah Ezzain. Remember him? He is our boy of the summer, as we admired his HUGE nostrils.  I even went as far as calling him a future king. As the month of August comes to a close, I thought it would be very nice to see Hermas one more time and celebrate an extraordinary colt, as we make a transition from summer to autumn.

Happy Labor Day,
Ralph

THE IDEAL EYE

"A large, dark, almost round eye is typical for the Arabian horse. Longish or oval eyes are not acceptable. One necessary condition for a perfect eye is a particular shape of the upper head tending to broadness. In other words, a relatively wide forehead with eye sockets clearly directed outwards. These prominent eye sockets allow the basically round eyes to emerge clearly from the socket. All this together makes for a broad appearance of the upper skull with the eyes clearly visible from the front and even from behind."-Dr. Hans Nagel

And then, Usamah sent me a picture of his new colt, Qazalle, sired by NK Qaswarah and out of Anwaar Ezzain to further underscore all that we have learned from Dr. Nagel. I am amazed over the consistency of Usamah Alkazemi's breeding program for producing straight Egyptian Arabian horses with ideal eyes.

EnJOY,
Ralph

ROYALTY: A Horse for Kings

"Let those eyes sparkle and shine,
Never a tear,
Baby of mine."-from the song, Baby Mine, written by Frank Churchill & Ned Washington

Hermas is a very new baby and yet, I am stunned over the level of refinement, present in such a new, little life! I like his round and full hindquarter, anchoring a very nice, level top line. He looks strong! His shoulder angle looks nice and I already see a very generous wither. Look at his lovely neck, more upright and I noticed the length of his poll where the neck and the head meet, to form the mitbah. I will be honest and tell you that it is challenging for me to evaluate a baby's body, because there is still so much change to happen! Hermas needs to stretch and grow and grow and grow! Still, his large, black eyes (and the placement of the eyes, on his head, as Tzviah Idan pointed out yesterday) have me transfixed, as well as those KING-SIZE nostrils. I think everyone will agree that Hermas is a very nice colt, one of the most promising colts bred at Ezzain and time will tell if he grows into the new king of Ezzain.

EnJoy,
Ralph

NOSTRILS

While I focused yesterday on the eye, I hope everyone is amazed over this little colt's nostrils! They are large, elastic and well, I love the shape of them. It makes me want to jump in the picture and grab a little nostril, as I smother him with kisses. What a gorgeous colt! Maybe tomorrow, God willing, I will treat you to a body shot, as his little baby body is equally incredible.

EnJoy,
Ralph

Hooreyah's Baby

Do you remember Hooreyah Ezzain? Her dam, Alamirah Ezzain (Ansata Almurtajiz x NK Alamirah) foaled a stunning colt on July 21st. Hermas Ezzain, as he was named,  is a full brother to Hooreyah. When I saw this picture, my attention went directly to this colt's face. I am captivated. He's a real, live beauty. What do I like most about this colt? I love his full, large black eye....with no white in the eye at all!!!!

WOW!
Ralph

Her name is Jureiah

When Usamah Alkazemi purchased the young mare, NK Jurie from Katharinenhof, little did he know at the time, how this purchase would impact the future of Ezzain Arabians. NK Jurie was the first foal sired by NK Hafid Jamil, out of the Salaa el Dine daughter, NK Nariman, who is a daughter of the *Jamil-sired mare, Amarilla. The more he saw NK Jurie, the more Usamah felt that crossing NK Hafid Jamil with NK Nariman produced a horse that is closest to his ideal. He made it a priority to purchase all of the offspring produced by NK Hafid Jamil and NK Nariman. So, that is how Jurie's full sisters: NK Alamirah and NK Lolowah plus Jurie's full brother, NK Qaswarah, the chief sire at Ezzain Arabians, became part of Usamah's life and for the roles these horses are playing in the future of this very bright breeding farm. NK Qaswarah is the sire of this precious filly, whom Usamah has named, Jooreiah.

"I was hoping that I would get fillies from Jurie, Alamirah and Lolowah to breed back to Qaswarah and God destined Alamirah and Jurie to be bred to him and the result, thanks be to God,was Hooreyah and Jureiah, two of the best of NK Qaswarah's fillies."

The pedigree for both NK Qaswarah and NK Jurie is fascinating, concentrated as they are in the bloodlines of two of the most important foundation mares in Egyptian Arabian Horse breeding: Farida and Bukra. Already at a very young age, Jooreiah is extraordinary!

FARIDA AND BUKRA BLOOD ALERT!

In NK Jurie's pedigree, Farida appears six times, while Bukra appears seven times. When bred to her full brother, NK Qaswarah, the lines to Farida and Bukra are doubled, twelve and fourteen lines respectively, in this filly's pedigree! I don't believe that there are horses who have as much or more concentration of either mare in their pedigree. It will be interesting to watch Jureiah grow and mature into an elegant and dazzling Dahmah Shahwaniyah, as her bloodlines predict that she will.

EnJoy your horses,
Ralph

PS I must give credit to Jennifer Ogden, who somehow managed to capture the beauty of this exquisite filly on film. Many thanks to Usamah and to Jenni for this picture.

His name is Nooreddine

This beautiful stallion is Nooreddine Ezzain. He was bred by Usamah Alkazemi of Ezzain Arabians. With so many beautiful horses calling Ezzain "home", it is difficult to choose one horse as "favorite", when what I really want to say is that all the Ezzain horses are my favorites.  In July of 2006, Nooreddine Ezzain was my favorite Ezzain-bred horse. He still is.

Living so far from Kuwait, I have missed seeing this colt mature and blossom into the most pleasing stallion that he is today. Why should I be so surprised? As a son of Ansata Almurtajiz and NK Nada, beauty is written in his genes. Nooreddine Ezzain is now owned by Alward Arabians. Prior to leaving Ezzain, he sired 6 foals: Mayyas Ezzain out of Dhuha Al Nakeeb (NK Hafid Jamil x Sabha Bint Ibn Halima), Nasseirah Ezzain and Omneyah Ezzain out of Moniet Ezzain (Salaa el Dine x NK Momtaza), Moneerah Ezzain out of Ajmal Ibtihaj (Adnan x Alijamila) and Aaleiah Ezzain and Albaheiah Ezzain out of NK Nakeebya (NK Hafid Jamil x Nabilah), who are pictured, right and left, respectively.

When Usamah shared the pictures of Nooreddine's progeny, I was stunned. The beautiful stallion, my favorite stallion, is an excellent and highly favored sire. His progeny are elegant, refined and consistent in their correctness and classic type. Of the six Nooreddine-sired horses, my personal favorites are the full sisters out of NK Nakeebya, who is a NK Hafid Jamil daughter out of Nabilah (by Nahaman, and out of Nashua).

STOP....NASHUA????

Nooreddine is out of a daughter of Nashua, NK Nada!  NK Nada is sired by Adnan, while Nabilah is a Nahaman daughter.  To further underscore how closely related these mares are, both Nahaman and Adnan are Salaa El Dine sons.

What's the difference?

Nahaman is out of Ameera, a Madkour I daughter out of Hanan, while Adnan is out of Ghazala, a Ghazal daughter out of Hanan. So, the difference in pedigree between NK Nakeebya and NK Nada are two horses: Madkour I and Ghazal.

BUKRA BLOOD ALERT!

While Nooreddine is of the Hadban Enzahi strain, physically, he resembles the type of horse that we have come to associate with the Dahman strain. Why? Well, he is harmonious and a balanced blend of Kuhaylan and Saqlawi type, as you would expect in Dahman type.

(ELEGANCE + SUBSTANCE)x SMOOTHNESS = NOOREDDINE EZZAIN

However, the main reason, I believe, is the continuing influence of just one horse. Nooreddine Ezzain is sired by Ansata Almurtajiz, who traces to Bukra, in both of his tail female lines. In Nooreddine Ezzain's pedigree, there are six lines to Bukra. His daughters, Aaleiah and Albaheiah have thirteen lines to Bukra, as their dam NK Nakeebya brings in seven additional lines. WOW! NK Nakeebya is sired by NK Hafid Jamil, who offers additional lines to Bukra, through Salaa El Dine, Ansata Gloriana and Ghazal.

Almost 70 years from her date of foaling, the influence of the RAS grey mare, Bukra, can still be seen and felt in today's Egyptian Arabian Horses. She remains extremely relevant in our gene pool and one of our most precious and critical foundation horses, as she is a primary source of classic Egyptian Arabian Horse type.

Sunny Weather

In February 2008, I wrote about the son of Ansata AlMurtajiz, Suror Ezzain. Do you remember this beautiful horse? Suror's full sister remains at Ezzain Arabians. Her name is Azhaar Ezzain. Like her brother, Azhaar is uniquely bred,  having only one line to Hanan, through the tail female line of her dam (Hanan is her great-great grandmother). Her dam's ancestors are horses that are rapidly disappearing in today's Egyptian Arabian Horse bloodlines: There is Gharib, there is Tuhotmos, there is Hadban Enzahi, there is Galal and there is Ghazal, as well as the complementary influence that her sire offers through Sameh and all the imported Babson horses (except for Bint Bint Durra).

Bred to NK Qaswarah, this wonderful mare produced one of my favorite fillies at Ezzain, Shamsilshmous Ezzain, the best of all suns. I love the extreme tail carriage on this filly. She has retained all of the wonderful qualities that come from Azhaar's pedigree like her substance, her smoothness, her balance and harmony, and yet, she has been richly influenced by the elegance and refinement that comes from NK Qaswarah. Her neck is a little longer, with a little more length in the mitbah. Her head has a sharply defined, very prominent bone structure, with a larger sized jowl and the quality of her skin is so fine, that her veins look like they are popping out of her face. Her muzzle is fine, not thick and the desert look is accentuated by nostrils which are large and delicate. However, did you see her eyes? They are beautiful and completely black, round in shape and luminous, as if they are deep pools of sparkling obsidian-colored water.

For me, it is personally challenging to identify my favorite Ezzain horse, because of the consistency that this program is producing, over and over and over. However, if I could commit to writing such a list, Shamsilshmous would be at the top, with Hooreyah Ezzain and Dorrah Ezzain closely behind her. These 3 mares would help me to capture that mystical horse, who gallops all day in my mind, looking for a way out into the wide, wide world.

Still dreaming, Still hoping, Still wishing and always living.
Ralph

PS Usamah's son, Jaber, took this fantastic photo. I wanted to make sure to credit him, as he is an excellent photographer.

GLOW

This super-refined bay filly is a full sister to Annesilnefous Ezzain. For me, she is a living standard for what the ultimate in feminine elegance should look like. Her brother is equally refined, with a sculpted look made extreme by the translucence quality of his skin. There is no fat to blurry the definition of his bone structure. We see this quality also in his sister. Like her name, her femininity glows, in the same way that a most precious pearl would glow.  She is sired by NK Qaswarah and is out of NK Momtaza, a tail female line Saqlawiyah Jedraniyah, tracing to Moniet el Nefous. Her name is Dorrah Ezzain. Her face is short and wide, with round, full, lusminous, deep black eyes. The definition in her face, highlights both veins and bones, is dramatic and conveys the translucence of her skin. Once, I tried to define quality and I experienced a difficult time trying to find the correct meaning. I thought of quality, expressed in the quality of the horse's hide, almost as if there wasn't enough skin to cover the entire horse and while stretching it taughtly over the horses body, resulting in a very tight fit, which accentuates every curve, every bump, every line in the horse's body. That's quality and that is what I am thinking, when I see this filly. Her muzzle is fine and tapered. It is not meaty or thick and yet, her nostrils, with a delicate curve are large and add to the powerful impression of classic type overall. Her ears are smaller, and very sharp, the points curving inwards. I love smaller sized ears and they complement an already outstanding filly.

Sometimes the light of heaven appears here on earth, if only for a brief second or two. It can be a manifested as a rainbow, a delicate flower, the melodic song of a bird or even in the ethereal beauty of a horse like Dorrah. I always wonder if this is a blessing sent our way, to remind us that as beautiful as this world may be, there is something more incredible waiting for us, so beautiful that we can't comprehend it. Sometimes, we miss this fleeting glimpse of heavenly beauty but if we work at it, to sharpen our awareness, how encouraging and inspiring will our lives become, when we realize how abundantly blessed we really are?

Keep wishing, keep hoping, keep dreaming, keep living,
Ralph

I must give credit to Jaber Alkazemi, Usamah's son, who took this beautiful picture of Dorrah.

Yaasoob Ezzain

"Then in his beautiful eyes, stood the tears of appealing,
words inarticulate.
If he had learned our men's language, then had he called to me:
if he had known our tongue's secret,
then
had he cried to me."-from The Ode to Antara, www.poemhunter.com, 2004

Yaasoob Ezzain is sired by NK Qaswarah and his dam is NK Nada (Adnan x Nashua), a double Salaa El Dine grandaughter, as both her sire and her dam claim him as their sire. In tail female, NK Nada traces to Kamla, through her daughter by El Sareei, Bint Kamla. This is the same line that has given our community a stallion like Shaarawi (*Morafic x Bint Kamla), the Alaa el Din daughters, Lutfia and Nazeema (who bore the stallion, Ibn Nazeema by Ameer, who in turn, sired one of the most beautiful stallions, the chestnut El Thay Mameluk). The remarkable fact about Nashua, NK Nada's dam, is that she produced daughters, not sons: four mares by Adnan and three mares by another son of Salaa El Dine, Nahaman. NK Nada has three full sisters: NK Nasrin, NK Nadirah and NK Nadeerah.

I was fascinated over the beauty of the mare, NK Nada. I think that Yaasoob favors his mother, as he is very strong in his physical look for NK Nada. I really like this horse.

“Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see Life with a clearer view again.”-Alex Tan

If NK Nada's name means "the misty water on the flowers", then this special water, suitable for only the most precious flower, flowed from the eyes of angels, who cried when they bore witness to the beauty of NK Nada. She is that beautiful, that extravagant, a delicate and rare flower, feminine and graceful, a celebration of elegance and splendor. And now, my eyes sting and the water flows, as suddenly, NK Nada's flower begins to bloom...

YAASOOB EZZAIN

the son of the delicately beautiful flower of Ezzain and now, the promise of the future for Ezzain, as Usamah continues to breed the celebrated horse of his desert fathers. May God be forever praised for all the wonder and beauty He blesses upon the earth.

Zweena!

“Behind closed eyes, colors fade and blend into beautiful new creations. Fate is left at the shaking hands of our imaginations. How, then, does our heart feel as if racing in the anticipation of a dream?”-Nicholas

Altafilbari Ezzain is sired by NK Qaswarah and out of Ajmal Ibtihaj (Adnan x Alijamila). Her delightful joy is manifested in her action, as if she is shouting at the top of her lungs, "Zweena! Zweena! I'm beautiful!  I'm beautiful!" I look for a poem or even a song, which celebrates the freedom, the exuberance, the joy that Altaafibari has for life but I find none that can express this heavenly feeling, made glorious by a little filly. She was bred by Usamah Alkazemi of Ezzain Arabians in Kuwait and captured on film by Jenni Ogden.

We have talked of Usamah's super stallion, NK Qaswarah. I marveled over his mitbah in Bedouin Beauty. As a son of NK Hafid Jamil, NK Qaswarah is a most elegant horse and certainly, one of the most refined Egyptian Arabian stallions in our community. At a young age, he has already surpassed the quality that horses much older than he have yet to achieve.

When Usamah shared the pictures with me, I was caught off-guard. The beauty of Altafilbari is so unexpected. Usamah is a very excellent breeder and has bred horses that have made me lose my breath in wonder. So why the surprise? Never, have I seen a picture that has made me so intoxicated and light-headed, the beauty of this filly pushing me off the edge of any rational thought. I shared her picture with Shawn Crews of Arabians Ltd., who said,

"There is no question who this baby looks like and it is not just the color. Looks just like Grandma!!!"

WHO IS ALIJAMILA?

The *Jamil daughter, Ansata Justina, when bred to Ruminaja Ali, produced a rare black pearl: Alijamila.

Alijamila was foaled in 1987, bred by Hank and Phyllis Browning and was later sold to Mr. Mohammed Bin Jassim Al Marzouk of the Ajmal Stud in Kuwait. She has produced a number of sons and daughters, i.e. Al Baraki, Thee Atticus, Bint Bint Justina, Bint Alijamila, Ajmal Jumanah, Ajmal Jamila, Shabab Jamal to mention a few of the outstanding progeny she has produced. I envy Mr. Usamah Alkazemi for the great blessing that God has made in his life, with a daughter of Alijamila in his breeding program. In Alijamila's tail female line, she traces through Ansata Bint Sameh to Farida.

FARIDA BLOOD ALERT!

This lovely black filly, with a super-smooth body, a strong connection of hip, croup, loin and hindquarter PLUS the longer, more upright set neck; captures within her physical body many of the qualities that I have learned to appreciate as coming from Farida. When she matures, she will be an outstanding broodmare.

There is a dreamy quality about Alijamila. I will never forget this about her. When she was in America and you looked at her, it was almost like you wanted to focus your vision but somehow, her beauty was so overpowering, so extreme, you just couldn't do it. She overwhelmed all of your senses. She was ultra-feminine, delicate and fine, ethereal, maybe even a character which stepped out of one of the Black Stallion books, a mare worthy of being bred to The Black, because he only bred the best. Now, it appears that her look-alike grand-daughter, Altafilbari Ezzain, will carry the legacy of this beautiful mare, Alijamila, so that another generation will be enchanted by a black pearl. Now I can suddenly focus, now I can dream, now I can only imagine what may happen next.

Keep dreaming, keep hoping, keep wishing, keep living,
Ralph

Hebatilbari Ezzain

I saw this picture of the NK Qaswarah-sired daughter, Hebatilbari Ezzain, out of the Ibn Nedjy daughter, NK Hebbattollah (out of mare NK Hallah, who is by Adnan and out of Asfoura) and I went crazy. I mean really crazy! I couldn't think of anything else for more than a little while. Really! Again, like NK Nadeyrah, I love a mare who can S-T-R-E-T-C-H her neck out...POP...and relax her back, using those back muscles to really utilize her body more efficiently and not killing her joints...ouch! In addition to her strong topline, what I like about Hebatilbari the most is, her overall smoothness and the harmonious balance of her body. She has a very old-world look about her, which makes me think of the court of King Louis XV,  in Versailles and this mare, with a beautiful woman astride, executing the classical movements of a high-school trained horse. It's this baroque quality that I see from time-to-time in these horses that remind me why I love the Egyptian Arabian so much.  A 3-circle horse...I think Raswan came up with this term. It's the fullness of the hindquarter circle, matched by the fullness of the barrel circle, matched by the fullness of chest circle...everything matches...ahhh, harmony, the roundness, the curvey lines, as if someone was suddenly inspired with the concept of a circle and tried to insert as many circles as possible, in this mare's body. No kidding. No surprise to find Ansata Halim Shah, still very relevant, still influential and still at work to create this look in this super nice filly. I love her.