Branches of the Silver Maple Farm Equine Family
by Christie Metz
Flanking our house in Iowa were two huge Silver Maple trees approximately fifty years old; these sentinels became the inspiration for our farm’s name. Their huge trunks and the spread of their branches were truly impressive and they created an enormous canopy that cast a huge area of shade. Please keep this image in your mind’s eye as I tell you the SMF story of our SMF equine family tree, and one special branch whose roots go all the way to a mare named El Dahma.
As the generations of horses grow, the different branches of these equine families extend outward as well. It is a bit humbling, but also an epiphany, to see this growth and realize that Henry and I have created this SMF multi generational equine family tree. The roots of our equine family tree were established in Egypt where those root horses for the straight Egyptian Arabian were first assembled and recorded. Fortunately, we had mentors when we began the SMF business that encouraged us to look in this direction for our foundation breeding stock. We were advised to explore the mare families because all the resulting foals will carry that mare’s strain name. The “foundation mare line” for Silver Maple Farm is through the mare Glorietasayonaara (Ansata Abu Nazeer x Glorieta Shalima by Ansata Shah Zaman). If you count backwards to the “root” mare El Dahma then “Sayo,” (Sigh-o) as we call her, is an eleventh generation female.
Ever present with the horses are of course the people who have insured these horses continue into the future. So to a degree we have “foundation” humans as well; among ours was the legendary Ali Pasha Sherif because El Dahma resided at his stud in 1880. And according to Lady Anne Blunt of Sheikh Obeyd and Crabbet Stud this same mare also may have been at the stud of Abbas Pasha. El Dahma was gifted to Khedive Tewfik, a ruler of Egypt at some point. It was there she had her first daughter Nadra El Khebira (also referred to as Nadra) and her production continued under his son, Khedive Abbas II.
In order to become a branch of the tree at
SMF a mare must breed forward better than herself; continually evolving and improving with each succeeding generation. In this way we insure a natural progression with each foal crop. Although we concentrate on mare families that are rare, they are first and foremost chosen for their unique qualities. One of those qualities is of course their pedigree; we look at the horses (pictorially) within the pedigree to tell us about their ancestor’s strengths, physical traits and qualities. From past treasures come future jewels.
Secondly, it is our intent to choose mare families that produce both good fillies and colts. It is essential to be able to rely on bloodlines that give you a product that is marketable whether male or female. Right now at SMF there are many superior quality young stallions and colts available for purchase! Henry and I proudly claim that these colts owe their superior quality in great part to the mare families.
Our straight Egyptian foundation mare, Glorietasayonaara was the first straight Egyptian mare added to our broodmare band. “Sayo” became the SMF ideal; she brought to our breeding equation the physical characteristics of a very high set neck with clean throatlatch, laid back shoulder, big dark eyes, extreme tail carriage, charisma, dynamic movement and the cherished ability to pass these traits on! Her character was captivating; she was a very entertaining and human interactive horse. Sayo traces to this very famous strain on her tail female side (the bottom line of the pedigree) through the mare Bint Bint Sabbah who traces to the second daughter and branch of the family of El Dahma, named Obeya. Bint Bint Sabbah was a bay mare that Henry Babson imported from the Royal Agricultural Society in Egypt in 1932. This is one of the most prolific strains in straight Egyptians today on a worldwide basis; it is also the most prolific one at SMF. Not really surprising as this family has been there the longest!
Sayo also has her roots in the mare of Ansata Arabian Stud fame named Sabrah born in 1964 and owned by Donald and Judith Forbis. It was this mare that gave them Ansata Sabiha in 1968 by the stallion Ansata Ibn Halima. Ansata Sabiha added another branch to the El Dahma tree founding a dynasty of her own within the United States and internationally. She was later sold to Mike and Kiki Case of Glorieta Ranch in 1976; in her lifetime she had twelve foals. Ansata Sabiha produced Glorietasayonaara’s dam, Glorieta Shahlima (1978) by Ansata Shah Zaman. Shah Zaman’s sire, Morafic boasts ten crosses to the mare, El Dhama. Ansata Ibn Halima, sire of Ansata Abu Nazeer who is the sire of Glorietasayonaara has seven crosses to El Dahma. It is easy to make the case that from great dams come great sons when one notes the famous stallions of this strain that specifically trace to El Dahma many times over within their pedigrees. It would seem too that Henry and I are connected through our horses’ dam side to Henry Babson, Donald and Judith Forbis, the Glorieta Ranch plus all those who came before and the ones who will come afterwards. Alas, I cannot claim this makes us great breeders but I may state we humans are linked by our horses and this is a special connection, a global one.
At SMF, Sayo produced a black stallion named Shaikeel in 1993 by *Simeon Sha+ that we sold to Germany as a two year old, and he has produced over one hundred twenty six foals. Her son Ali Saroukh by Ruminaja Ali (Shaikh Al Badi x Bint Magidaa) is the first home bred stallion retained by the farm, producing forty two registered foals. At seventeen years old Saroukh is used on SMF mares yearly; his daughters have proven to be “golden” in their production. However, we also have a son coming along named Sidon SMF out of Shaboura. Additionally, Sayo gave the farm two daughters that we retained; Sahbine, a full sister in blood to Ali Saroukh and Samura by Anaza El Farid by Ruminaja Ali. Sahbine’s first daughter, the mare Shaboura by PVA Kariim gave us Symbolic SMF by Majestic Noble SMF, Seraphina by *Simeon Shai+ (now owned by Al Thumama Stud of Qatar) and Sidon SMF by Ali Saroukh. Unfortunately, we lost a beautiful bay colt by *Simeon Shai+ as a yearling out of Shaboura. The second daughter of Sahbine is the mare Sahbrina by *Simeon Shai+ and she is bred this year to Ali Saroukh.
Samura, the second daughter and branch of the Sayo family adds another mare line through Bint Deenaa that also traces to El Dahma through the Farida family branch; originating with Nadra El Saghira out of the direct El Dahma daughter, Nadra. Samura gave us four colts by Ali Saroukh and three daughters by three different stallions. SMF retained two daughters of Samura; Princess Samaria SMF by PVA Kariim (almost a full sister in blood to Shaboura) and Bint Bint Sayo by Ali Saroukh (definitely tight in the genes). Samura’s daughter, Bint Bint Sayo by Ali Saroukh (third generation to Glorietasayonaara at SMF and first generation of all SMF breeding) has given us two foals so far -- the filly Shalah SMF by Ansata Nile Pharaoh owned by El Salayel, of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a bay colt in 2010 by Makhnificent KA (Makhsous x Star Bint Hafiza). This colt provides a great outcross of strong mare and stallion lines adding the wonderful breeding program of Kehilan Arabians in the USA. Sahran also provides another sire line to Sameh. The third Samura daughter, Sybella SMF by Majestic Noble SMF is now owned by Mohammed Al Qatani of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. BB Sayo is in foal for 2012 to Symbolic SMF out of Shaboura, who is of the Sahbine branch of the Sayo family. Over the years we have added other mares of this same strain, but from diverse branches that are now establishing their own SMF families. But this is another chapter in the SMF story for another day.
If you visit the Mideast and the farms of Qatar, Kuwait and the KAS you will see this El Dahma family well established there through such stallions as Ansata Hejazi and Ansata Murtajiz, a Hejazi son who traces to Sabah. Also, who could forget the ethereal stallion Ansata Halim Shah, a wonderful horse that substantiates the role El Dahma males have played in the history of the straight Egyptian Arabian horse. Additionally, many of the female families representing the lines of this famous El Dahma family have returned to the Mideast. The Nile Mist, Nile Queen, Bukra, Farida, Helwa and Futna family branches maintain a strong global presence even today.
El Dahma’s daughter Obeya, through her daughter Sabah in the fourth generation, founded the branch our mare Glorietasayonaara came from known as the Bint Bint Sabbah family (fifth generation) until Glorietasayonaara came to us as an eleventh generation mare. Now SMF has added three more generations and four branches through her daughters Sahbine and Samura and her sons Ali Saroukh and Shaikeel. One hundred thirty one years later in 2011 SMF continues this line from the mare El Dhama in 1880.
Please enjoy the pictorial history of this family at Silver Maple; it includes some of the sons and daughters of this treasured family. We invite you to visit Henry and me at Silver Maple Farm and meet our equine families.
