From Russia with style and grace. Breeders of Arabian horses from all over the world should take not of Russian Arabian horses. The Russian nation is well known for the great pride they take in striving to be the first and to be the very best in everything they do. It is this great desire for perfection that drove Russian breeders of horses to seek outstanding individuals to produce better horses, originally using Arabians to enhance their own local bred horses, only much later, after realizing the true greatness of the Arabian horse, did they breed purebred Arabians. Even with a small insignificance such as breeding horses, the great Russian nation was not prepared to sacrifice, they searched the world, seeking only to obtain truly the very best available at the time, outstanding individuals, great examples of the Arabian breed. In doing so they ensured that some of the finest Arabian horses were brought together, expertly blending their bloodlines to breed truly superior Arabians of immaculate quality. The Russians maintained that the perfect Arabian does not yet exists, but that within each outstanding individual they selected, does exist a small piece of perfection. The great significance of the Russian breeding program lies in their philosophy to take the best from each individual and blend all those outstanding qualities together to breed better Arabian horses to create better horse. The original foundation stock came from France, England, Poland and Egypt. Selection on these original imports progeny was fierce and severely strict, selection was done on conformation, movement, soundness of legs and athletic ability, taking this selecting process to the ultimate when all offsprings were first tested on racetracks before being allowed to reproduce. In 1936 the most influential importation came through importing 25 purebred Arabians from the famous Crabbet Park stud. This was the beginning of creating the perfect Arabian horse for Russian breeders. The great Naseem, along with the famous mares, Rissalma and Rixalina amongst them. Naseem was brought in for his elegant front end with his huge expressive eyes and his extremely stylish charisma. With World War 2, in 1939 came the next influential importation, this would be the largest number imported at a single time into Russia. Over 60 purebreds were taken ( stolen) from the famous Janow Padlowski stud of Poland and marched over 1000 miles to the Tersk stud, amongst them the legendary Ofir, along with his famous filly, Mammona and the mare Gazella 2, showing the tremendous endurance these horses must have had to survive the Russian winter. Ofir is well known for his excellent conformation, his nice deep chest, good legs and strong hindquarters with a well coupled back. The Russians also chose Arax, also a Polish, for his great strength and length of hindquarters, good legs and huge black eyes. The Nazeer son, Aswan was a gift from Egypt, he added great size, his exotic head, flashy style and high tail carriage. Kann was obtained from France, chosen for his excellent structure, sound legs, a deep shoulder with a long, fine, well set on neck and a long croup. By adding Kann, the Russians persisted into not sacrificing good structure for prettiness. In 1942 the famous Piolun was brought from Poland, he produced Prijboy, out of the famous Rissalma. Born at Tersk, Prijboy became the most successful stallion at Tersk, he is well known for his handsome head, his well muscled shoulders, his good legs with excellent hind, making him truly an extremely functional athlete. Mammona is the Polish word for treasure, who ever named her could not have foreseen just how appropriate that name would be, she can be found in almost all the pedigrees of prominent Russian horses. Mammona, as a foal, made the 1000 mile march from Poland to Tersk with her legendary sire, Ofir. She had 18 offspring, her most famous daughters being Nomenklatura, Monopolia, Metropolia, Malpia and Magnolia. Nomenklaturas daughter, Neposeda and her subsequent daughters Naturshita and Nariadnaia and Malpias sons, the fullbrothers, Muscat and Moment and Magnolias sons Marsianin, Mags and Muslin are world renowned and much sought after in modern day pedigrees, the world over. Nariadni, by Nabeg, out of the beautiful Nariadnaia and Muscat, by Salon, out of Malpia, a daughter of the famous Mammona are amongst the most notable Russian stallion in the world. Both these stallions are widely respected by breeders of Arabian horses. Muscat, born at Tersk in 1971, was the youngest stallion ever utilized for breeding at Tersk. It took a great deal of negotiation for Howard Kale Jn. to convince the Russians to part with this magnificent stallion. Muscat led the way in the breeding of modern day Arabians in more than one way, in 1980 he became the first stallion in USA to wear the Triple crown by being US National Champion, Canadian National Champion and Scottsdale Champion, all in one year! He has sired over a 1000 foals, with over a 100 international Champion sons and daughters. Muscat is famous for his incredible beauty, his great athletic ability, his beautiful shaped long neck and correctly balanced conformation, but he will most certainly best remembered for his exuberant trot ! He definitely taught the world just how an Arabian horse should trot. In 2000, 3 years after his death, he still held the 4 th place on the All-time American Leading Sire list Nariadni was another great import by Howard Kale Jn. , he was imported as a 2 year old, along with his beautiful dam, Nariadnaia in 1976. Nariadnis sire, Nabeg is a son of Arax. Nabeg is known for his excellent conformation and his magnificent huge black eyes.Nariadnis dam is considered to be one of the most beautiful mares ever bred, she is by Aswan, out of Neposeda, a Prijboy daughter. Nariadni most definitely brings together the best of Russian breeding, he has extreme type, excellent conformation and extraordinary movement, making him a very successful show horse, both In-Hand as well as in English Pleasure riding. Nariadni sired over 500 foals, with plenty international Champions, his daughters are highly prized, much sought after and it seems as if he blended well with Muscat daughters, bringing together what must surely be the cream de la cream of Russian genetics Unfortunately not many pure Russian Arabian horses found their way to South African shores, quite a few imported horses do have a percentage of Russian blood in their pedigrees. True Russian greats like Marsianin, Menes, Mag, Nariadni, Muscat, Plakat and Kapron are represented here in South Africa. The Nariadni son, TR Scarlet Scorpion, out of a Muscat daughter is a well known show horse, both In-hand as well as under saddle, although still a young stallion , with few offspring he has already made his mark in the breeding barn, by siring amongst others Sidi Exclusive, 2001 South African National Supreme Champion colt and 2002 Namibian Supreme Champion Stallion and Sidi Nabeg, 2004 South African Junior Champion stallion. Bay Oaks Beystone, a Reserve Junior Champion Stallion is a double Marsianin grandson and has sired horses like MH Madonna , MH Onyx and MH Beystones Melody. Tehama Rasputin, another Russian, well known in the showring, was imported with his dam , Magnesia, by Menes,. Machelka, a Palkat daughter, with her brilliant movement, was a show stopper a couple of years ago, now producing stunning foals. Kapronaz, a Kapron son , sired horses like Sadat Dashar, a Reserve Junior Champion stallions and multiple ridden Champion and Vidiko Gizmeh, a Junior Champion & Reserve Supreme Champion mare. TR Veritas, a three-quarter brother of TR Scarlet Scorpion, was imported to Zimbabwe, his full brother TR Victor is a famous stallion in France. Space does not allow to mention all the true great Russian horses in just one short article, this is just some, there are much more truly magnificent specimens, hopefully this article will inspire breeders to do some research of their own on the very versatile Russian lines and to utilize the Russian nations efforts in bringing the few horses in South Africa, that does have Russian ancestors together, so that we can enhance our own breeding programs in our strive to breed truly magnificent Arabian athletes, with exquisite type, excellent conformation and extraordinary movements. Russian horses offers good outcrosses and are known to blend extremely well with a wide variety of bloodlines , they will most definitely enhance any breeding program, adding type, quality, length of necks, good conformation, especially hindquarters with well coupled croups, sound legs, size and athletic ability with extraordinary movement . Great many thank yous to Paula , Rick and Isaac of Taylor Ranch, Utah for supplying many of the info in this article. By Zandri Reynolds
Exclusive the black pearl of South African Arabians, courtesy The Arabianmagazine In 1979 the first Black Stallion movie with Cas Ole ( Al-Mara Cassanova x La Bahia ++ ) was an instant family hit, 1983 saw the release of the second movie, Black Stallion Returns and again turned out to be a huge favorite. Years later both these movies still stays crowd pleasers. How many times in a life time does a movie about Arabian horses gets made in South Africa, but even more significant, how many times does a South African bred Champion Arabian colt gets to play the only young black stallion in a movie? Nearly 20 years after the first two movies, towards the end of 2001, cast and crew gathered in the harse Namib desert , near Walvisbaai and Swakopmunt in the middle of summer , with temperatures as high as 40 degrees , to film Young Black Stallion. The movie is the prequel to the other two movies, showing the birth of the black colt, growing up alongside his dam and then his dam painfully taken away from him at an early age. An amazing story of this young colt Sired by the night sky, born from the sand and kissed by the South Wind, who befriends a lost young girl, called Neera, when she offers him water to drink. She bonds with this wild colt, naming him Shetan, who helps her get back to her family. Neera then devises a daring plan to race the wild Shetan , at live threatening speed, staking her precious Shetan in a grueling race to restore her impovert grandfathers reputation and to claim back their precious broodmares. To cast and crew and the Australian trainer , Sidi Exclusive must have seem like just another grey colt, but in actual fact in real live, Exclusive is not just a purebred Arabian , but also 2001 South African National Supreme Champion Colt , 2002 Namibian Junior & Supreme Champion Stallion , the only South African bred Arabian stallion to hold a In-Hand Supreme Championship in two countries! The blood of real live legends, icons and epitomes of the Arabian breed flowing thickly through his veins , with a pedigree second to none. It is no surprise that he was chosen to be the yearling in the movie, besides being stunningly beautiful, the Australian trainer said that in his entire career training horses, Exclusive is the cleverest horse he has ever work with, learning all his tricks quickly and always wanting to please the humans around him, always doing 100 % of what is asked of him . Exclusive is a true authentic Arabian classic, with extremely exquisitely type, excellent conformation and extraordinary movement , truly resembling his ancestors. His pedigree boosts real life greats like Nariadni, Muscat , Salon, Aswan, Maistro , The Minstril , Ruminaja Ali , Morafic , Darius , Ghazal, Hadban Enzahi and Nazeer. Although proudly South African bred and born, Exclusives roots traces back to just about every country in the world and his relatives can be found in any showring in the world. His sire TR Scarlet Scorpion ( Nariadni x HK Kuzata by Muscat ) was born in USA, but through his sire and dam traces back to Russian breeding. Exclusives dam , Sidi Istasha ( Maistro x Vidiko Isanina ), born in South Africa is by Maistro (The Minstril x Amiri Sanaa ) born in USA, but a Straight Egyptian. Her dam, bred from two South African bred horses, traces , through their dams back to Crabbet breeding and through their sire Darius (Ghazal x Darsi by Hadban Enzahi ), born in Germany, traces back to Egyptian / Polish breeding. With the releasing of the movie Young Black Stallion , Exclusive crossed all continents, all boundaries, all religions , all nations, conquering the world with an exquisitely beautiful face and a personality unmatched. Exclusive , a Champion purebred Arabian stallion has a pedigree so uniquely blended that he could have been born anywhere in the world, could have been a Champion anywhere in the world , making him truly a stallion from all nations ,through the most beautiful story of the greatest friendship ever told uniting all nations . He is by far not just another lucky happening but every bit sculptured to perfection, through generations and generations of careful, selective and dedicated breeding, with a very promising future to breed true to what he was bred from, giving any breeder anywhere in the world the opportunity to draw from a past rich in legends, to sculpture one step closer to perfection, their very own future champions. Exclusive is proudly owned by the Reynolds family of Bloemfontein and Doppies Nel of Augrabies, their willingness to make Exclusive available for the launches of the movie in South Africa ensured that thousands of South Africans had the privilege to see, truly the very best of the best of South African Arabians, in a most spectacular way, never yet displayed, unlikely to be repeated or matched, larger than life itself. Although only 5 years and Exclusive has achieved more than what most horses do in a life time, his life is far from over, for his owners chose that for as long as Exclusive lives, he will help the Reach for a Dream foundation to turn childrens dreams into realities. They are the future of this world & of Arabian horses It goes without saying, South Africans can lift their heads high and put their hands together for this local bred, larger than live , world class colt, born in the Kalahari desert There is only one Exclusive, through his unique pedigree & the movie the entire world can relate to this amazing stallion and we can all enjoy the renewed interest , appreciation & admiration for Arabian horses, from millions of people the world over , that Exclusive has earned for the Arabian breed, especially South African Arabian horses , with their exquisite beauty & natural affinity to humans, that we as breeders have come to know & love. We trust & believe that throughout his life, Exclusive will remain an exceptional ambassador to Arabian horses and that fellow South Africans will be just as proud of this one of a kind treasure, where ever he is presented. To our Heavenly Father all the glory for sculpturing this amazing stallion, the privilege to share in his life is all ours. We share him with you all in the spirit of love for what must surely be Gods most precious creations of all, the Arabian horses walking this earth by Lynda Free & Zandri Reynolds
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