Long after show titles would be forgotten, Straight Egyptians were breeding
forward in ways that would immortalize the essence of the Egyptian Arabian. The
world was seeing the benefit of the Egyptian Arabian horse, and were also
beginning to understand the absolute necessity of preserving the nucleus that
would otherwise be lost. The Pyramid Society, now known as The Pyramid
Society Foundation, has a long history of educating breeders and enthusiasts
worldwide in the art of breeding Straight Egyptian Arabians. Willis Flick, one of
the founders of The Pyramid Society, talked frequently about the importance of
The Pyramid Society’s Reference Handbooks. Whenever he would see a horse
that he especially liked, or particularly touched his soul, he would frequently refer
to the Reference Handbooks to better understand “the source of their pretty” as
he would put it. Each of us have individual tastes in all works of art…the art which
adorns the walls of our homes, the sense of expression in a beautiful ballet, a
powerful opera, the music of the symphony, all of which transport us, even if just
for a moment, to another world. And it’s no different with the living art which
lives in our barns and runs free in out pastures and paddocks. Just as the works of
the Great Masters became a thing quite recognizable, so it is with breeding great
horses. Patterns emerge, and as we study them, in pedigrees, show results,
personal inspection, journals and herd books of the great masters, and the
Reference Handbooks just mentioned, we’ll begin to see and to recognize them.
And within those patterns a type, a look, emerges: “The Ansata look,” those
“Nefisa eyes.” We soon begin to understand the thought expressed by Ralph
Waldo Emerson in his poem, The Rhodora, “if eyes were made for seeing, Then
beauty is its own excuse for Being…” We come to understand that true Arabian
type exists in a special harmony of beauty, balance, conformation and disposition.
The influence of the Straight Egyptian Arabian on the general Arabian horse
population worldwide is now the stuff of legend, and during the ‘60s and ‘70s it
may have seemed to be something new. But as noted in our February posts, the
pattern had long ago been established. It was not as new as it may have seemed.
1959 U.S. National Champion Stallion, Synbad, and and his full sister, 1964 U.S.
National Champion Mare, High Fashion, were sired by the Straight Egyptian
stallion, Julep (Gulastra x Aziza). Both the paternal and maternal granddams of
Serafix & Silver Drift were Straight Egyptian mares (Razina & Sharfina). This
pattern is a gift of learning and wisdom from the past for the present and into the
future. Join us next week as we consider how this pattern has emerged in our
times and is destined to successfully repeat itself in the years ahead.
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