Sheykh Obeyd (a.k.a. Egypt-Blunt) 
Sires for the RAS/EAO
by J. Byfield

What do Ibn Rabdan and Nazeer have in common?   They both qualify as Sheykh Obeyd Arabians (a.k.a. Egypt-Blunt ancestral elements).  They both trace in tail female to Venus of the Hadban Enzehi strain.  Their tail female lines meet at Hadba, the daughter of Venus. Both stallions were bred to the broodmare queens of Egyptian breeding.  In each case the Arabian breeders of their time journeyed from around the world to behold their foals.  In addition, their foals were to come to the United States and create a dynasty.  They were foaled almost 30 years apart, Ibn Rabdan in 1917, a big, handsome dark chestnut and Nazeer in 1934, a refined elegant grey.  Each was a leading sire of Sheykh Obeyd foals in their own time.  The all time leading sire of Sheykh Obeyd foals is Nazeer with a total of 70, while Ibn Rabdan weighs in with 45 Sheykh Obeyd foals.  Third place belongs to Ibn Rabdan’s Sheykh Obeyd grandson, Anter (Handan x Obeya), another handsome chestnut renowned as a broodmare sire.

As best we can determine from the records, the earliest RAS/EAO Sheykh Obeyd stallion to sire more than 10 Sheykh Obeyd foals was the grey 1912 stallion Mabrouk Manial (Sakalawi II x Tarfa).  Mabrouk Manial sired his first foal as a four-year-old in 1916 with his last in 1933 at 21 years of age. This is also the year he is listed as deceased.  Of special interest to current day breeders among those 15 foals of Mabrouk Manial are Baiyad (x Bint Gamila), Mahroussa (x Negma), Bint Radia (x Radia), Bint Gamila (x Gamila Manial), Jasir (x Negma), Saada (x Mahbourba) and Awad (x Bint Obeya).

Each of the Mabrouk Manial sons Baiyad, Jasir and Awad, became influential sires in their own right.  Jasir was exported to Weil Stud, Germany in 1930 where he remained as the primary herd sire for many years.  Baiyad and Awad are both excellent examples of stallions who did not sire large numbers of foals; (both sired only five foals), yet Sheykh Obeyd breeding would not be the same without their influence.

Bayiad's place in the history of Sheykh Obeyd breeding was assured by two of his daughters.  His first foal was the lovely Babson import, *Bint Bint Sabbah (x Bint Sabah).  His last foal was Samha out of Nazeer's dam, Bint Samiha.  *Bint Bint Sabbah is currently the leading damline within Sheykh Obeyd and influential in breeding programs around the world - Sheykh Obeyd and otherwise.  Samha was the dam of  *Mamdouha (by Kheir) who was imported to the USA in 1946 by Daniel Gainey.  *Mamdouha's blood through Anchor Hill Hamla was later used by Glorieta Farm of Texas to produce a number of popular and lovely siblings by the now deceased Sheykh Obeyd stallion Ansata Abu Nazeer (*Ansata Ibn Halima x *Ansata Bint Zaafarana).

Awad's middle foal Medallela (x Khafifa) established her own influential family through the lovely produce of her Sheikh El Arab daughters, Wanisa and El Bataa.  Wanisa bred to Shahoul produced Moniet El Nefous while El Bataa’s influence is via her Nazeer daughters - Pritzlaff import *Bint El Bataa, Marshall import *Binte El Bataa and Ansata import *Ansata
Bint Nazeer.  The influence of Moniet El Nefous has become so treasured by modern breeders that "line breeding Moniet" has become their quest to recreate her eternal beauty. 

In addition the Mabrouk Manial daughters have contributed significantly. Sabrah (x Bint Obeya) produced the lovely *Bint Bint Sabbah (a breeding resulting in two close crosses to Mabouk Manial). Mahroussa (x Negma) was the dam of the full siblings, *Fadl and *Mahroussa, imported by Henry Babson.  Bint Radia was the dam of the four full siblings (sometimes referred to as the Fabulous Four), Shahloul, Hamdan, Samia (RAS), and Radwan.

Both Mahroussa and Bint Radia were bred to Ibn Rabdan to produce these last six outstanding individuals.  So while Mabrouk Manial did not sire a large volume of foals, this limited number was a significant influence within Sheykh Obeyd breeding.

An interesting side note: An often-repeated quote about Ibn Rabdan is that he always threw his chestnut color, except when the mare was stronger than he. In the case of these six offspring, they were all grey as were their dams and Mabourk Manial.

From the other end of the spectrum, the Sheykh Obeyd stallion who sired the most Sheykh Obeyd progeny would be the legendary Nazeer (Mansour x Bint Samiha), a 1934 grey with 70 Sheykh Obeyd foals to his credit.  Most of us have heard or read the story about General von Szandtner locating Nazeer in a remote stallion station at the age of 17, and returning him to the EAO where his foals brought the world to Egypt's door.  The following is an elaboration of the first couple of years of Nazeer's EAO breeding career.  He sired his first Sheykh Obeyd foal at the age of 16, Dahma II (x Fotna), foaled April 10, 1950.  It was Dahma II, who in 1956 produced her first Sheykh Obeyd foal, famous to us as the Pritzlaff import, *Bint Dahma (by El Sareei).  His second foal was a non-Sheykh Obeyd colt out of the Registran granddaughter Afaf (Balance x Badr) in 1951.  Then in 1952, Nazeer’s foal crop grew to six out of such Sheykh Obeyd mares as Malaka, Zaafarana, Lateefa, Helwa, and Kamla.  Five of  the six were sold by 1955, with four of those selling as weanlings/ yearlings in 1953.  At this point with eight Nazeer foals and the oldest being a four-year-old, General von Szandtner must have been delighted with Nazeer as a superior sire, because in 1953 he doubled Nazeer's foal crop to a dozen.

The 70 Sheykh Obeyd Nazeer offspring bred by the EAO resulted in only 16 direct Sheykh Obeyd offspring exported to North America with a total of 31 other imports tracing to Nazeer in the sireline. The distinction of being the first Sheykh Obeyd Nazeer foal registered in the United States belongs to Richard Pritzlaff’s import, Rashad Ibn Nazeer (Nazeer x Yashmak). The mares *Bint Moniet El Nefous, *Bint Nefisa, *Bint Dahma and *Bint El Bataa were registered at the same time. According to the Arabian Horse Registry registration records, the Pritzlaff imports were registered in early 1958 with the second wave of Nazeer offspring imported by Don and Judith Forbis registered in late 1959.  The initial Forbis imports were *Ansata Bint Zaafarana and *Ansata Ibn Halima. Also included in this early Forbis importation was the lovely *Ansata Bint Mabrouka, who qualifies as Al Khamsa under the Egypt-Blunt-Inshass ancestral element.  She was one of an additional 30 or so Nazeer offspring tracing in at least one line to the Inshass ancestral element who became so popular as the dominant bloodline within the Pyramid Society’s Straight Egyptian breeding.  So while Nazeer had a significant number of offspring, in this case, importation acted as a constricting force upon the availability of Nazeer on the Sheykh Obeyd gene pool. 

Ibn Rabdan was active as a sire from 1923 through 1940, fathering 50 foals, making him the second leading Sheykh Obeyd sire of RAS/EAO foals.  Ibn Rabdan fathered his first foal as a 5-year-old and continued to sire foals each of the next 17 years except for 1924 and 1928.   The leading broodmares of the era were Bint Durra, Saada (MNL), Negma (MNL), Mahroussa, Bint Sabah, as well as Bint Rustem, Bint Radia (RAS), Bint Rissala, Zareefa(RAS), and Bint Riyala.  Ibn Rabdan’s first foal to be registered by the American Horse Registry (AHR) was Ibn Nafa, imported by Henry Herberman in early 1930.

The remaining three Ibn Rabdan offspring imported to the United States were in the Babson 1932 importation.  They were *Bint Bint Durra, in addition to the aforementioned *Fadl and *Maaroufa. 

Ibn Rabdan’s influence has not been limited to his direct offspring imported to the United States during the 1930’s.  After the Prtizlaff and Forbis imports came a wave of Egyptian imports, many with the influence of the Ibn Rabdan sireline.  In all, a total of 34 Ibn Rabdan sireline imports were to be imported to America. Unfortunately a majority of these excellent 
individuals were never replaced within Sheykh Obeyd.  The third leading sire of EAO Sheykh Obeyd horses is Anter, grandson to Ibn Rabdan via his son, Hamdan (x Bint Radia).
Anter’s USA imported get included *Dawlat, Hekmat, Kahramana and his Abla daughters (a breeding often referred to as a Golden Cross) *Somaia, *Nagat, *Eman, *Ein and *Rashika. Ibn Rabdan’s influence also comes to us via Hamdan’s full brother, Shahloul. The Shahloul son, El Sareei sired the outstanding exotic *Tuhotmos, the enduring Pritzlaff import, *Bint Dahma and Marshall imports *Bint Nefisa, Salomy, *Bint Maisa and the sweet, beautiful and athletic *Bint Maisa El Saghira. In addition the Shahloul influence is seen in the produce of his daughters, Moniet El Nefous, Bukra, Futna, Kateefa, Maisa and Om El Saad. Last but not least, Samira, the full sister to Hamdan and Shahloul when bred to Balance produced Zaafarana. This Zaafarana influence comes to us via *Ansata Bint Zaafarana and her famous racing full brother, *Talal.

Also active during the reign of Ibn Rabdan were Ibn Samhan, Mabrouk Manial and Mansour. Just a quick look reveals Saada (MNL) bred to Ibn Samhan produced another Babson import *Bint Saada. Negma (MNL) bred to Mansour produced the Brown import *Roda. In addition to her above-mentioned Ibn Rabdan offspring, Mahroussa (MNL) produced *Zarife when bred to Ibn Samhan. Farida (MNL) bred to Ibn Samhan produced Balance and bred to Mansour produced Bint Farida (RAS). When *Bint Bint Sabbahs dam, Bint Sabah was bred to Ibn Rabdan, she produced Layla. When Bint Sabah was bred to Mansour she produced Sheikh El Arab.  Whew!

One observation I would make is that volume of foals will guarantee a certain degree of illustrious position in history, but there is always that one exceptional breeding that can change the course of  breeding for a preservation group, i.e. Mabrouk Manial’s sons for Sheykh Obeyd.  We preservationists are not known for following a crowd.  It is perhaps this very characteristic that will produce a great breeding.  Maybe a unique breeding, the single produce from an endangered mare and/or the only offspring from an endangered stallion will become a welcome and unique addition for future breeders. 

While it would be a wonderful experience, we cannot interview Dr. Branch or General von Szandtner to understand the rational for their breeding decisions.  General von Szandtner went to a remote stallion station and bet his reputation on an unknown stallion instead of utilizing the then most popular stallion.  Yet, at the same time General von Szandtner demonstrated a prudent caution in his initial use of Nazeer by watching a few Nazeer foal crops before committing the EAO program.  Perhaps it is this blend of following your own drummer balanced with risk taking and prudent analysis of the results that is the hallmark of a great breeder.  So the next time your heart and eye tells you a breeding is the right one for your mare and/or stallion and lots of people question your sanity - think again before you disregard your heart and eye!  A hyped breeding of today may put money in somebody's pocket, but the real judge will be the opinion of future breeders of Sheykh Obeyd arabians.