Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Hard Day's Night


"It's been a hard day's night,
and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night,
I should be sleeping like a log..."-John Lennon & Paul McCartney, from their song, A Hard Day's Night
It's raining very hard today and nothing seems to be going right....well, I feel as gloomy on the inside as it looks outside. How to chase the blues away you might ask???

Give
me
more
Savanna,
straight up,
no ice.

AHHH...I love horses, don't you?

EnJoy Savanna...I know I feel better already!

Friday, May 7, 2010

The Moon Family


Some of the most beautiful horses ever bred by Fantasia Arabians are members of a family known by the name of "Moon"; a designation Marilyn Lang has given to this group of horses because they carry the blood of Bukra, with the added influence of RDM Maar Hala, a grand-daughter of Maar-Ree.

Fa Savanna Moon is a daughter of an*Ansata Ibn Halima son, the late Halim El Mansour, who was owned by Fantasia right up until his death. Her mother, who is also deceased, was the gorgeous mare Fa Bukra, out of the Ansata el Sherif daughter, SF Khala Zahra (out of the Babson mare, Sabrah, a Fabah daughter).

In addition to the Bukra line, Fa Savanna Moon has 4 lines to the mare Farida, who is found in the pedigrees of the most influential horses to ever leave Egypt. I can't help but notice the overall smoothness and the strong hind-ends which these horses have. The Farida horses are close-coupled, deep through the heart girth, with well sprung ribs supporting a strong top line, flowing into bigger hips, strong and smooth croups with generous and round, almost voluptuous hindquarters. A phenomenon that I have been noticing in some of our Egyptian horses has been the loss of substance and a more narrow built horse. Not so with the Faridas. They are wider and well-muscled, when viewed from behind! When the Faridas move, their hocks are so elastic, giving them the ability to drive powerfully off their hind end. I watch them closely and notice the strength these horses have in their backs and how they are able to reach far, far, far under themselves, generating huge force and a lot of power. It is as if these horses can curl the hind end down and forward, under themselves. Its amazing! All of the Faridas share common ground in this ability and even at an early age, the Faridas know how to use their backs to deliver this electrifying movement. WOW! Having seen so many horses with multiple crosses to Farida, I have arrived at my conclusion and I appreciate Farida's influence, which results in these qualities.

What I also appreciate in a mare like Savanna are the qualities that we know come from Maar Hala and cherish this most wonderful family for; that is, a well-defined bone structure in the face which gives the horse very prominent and chiseled features, including a larger-sized jowl, large and lustrous deep black eyes, teeny-tiny ears, which are wider at the bottom and sharp at the top, overall balance and charming personalities. These horses want to love you and be your friend. And to me, the only way to honor the Bedouin, as we move forward in these very modern times, is to produce horses who are able to live in close proximity with the humans who love them.