Photo: Doris
Melzer
Loubna (Imperial Imdal x Imperial Kalatifa),
owned by Ariela Arabians and
Jackie Ware was named Senior Champion Mare
and "Best Egyptian of the Year"
Click
the photos to enlarge!
It's
hard to put the excitement and the thrill of a horse show to paper -
or should I say to the computer screen? Can you imagine how funny
it was to witness the face of Ariela's farm manager Chen Kedar during
the presentation of the wonderful Loubna? How can I share with you her
joy and relief when Loubna finally was announced
as "Best Egyptian Horse of the Year"?
Photo: Erwin
Escher
Loubna (Imperial Imdal x Imperial Kalatifa)
It is not easy to catch that special moment when a stallion like DF
Malik Jamil, nostrils flared and mane tossed, arched his neck and paraded
in front of the judges and all the tiny hairs at my neck began to raise...
Photo: Doris
Melzer
DF Malik Jamil (NK Hafid Jamil x Amouva)
Nearly
impossible to explain the remarkable movements of the mare Remarqable
KA which were awarded with a perfect score (three times "20")
from the judges. And how to describe the moment when the grand old gentleman
MA Alishah bursted into the ring and swept away all competitors
in his class like a thunderstorm?
Photo: Erwin
Escher
The nineteen years old MA Alishah (Ruminaja Ali x AK
Shagat)
was the oldest stallion in the show
How
to express my feelings when the ultra classic and spirited stallion
Nashem Al Sabhah floated through the ring with bold and balanced
movements that impressed breeders and riders alike? And my joy when
the judges awarded him with the highest scores for movements of all
the stallions of the whole show! (You'll find a video of him at our
video page.)
And then there was the sad moment when I realised that high set tails
and extreme tail carriage seem to be old fashioned items of the past...
Meaningful moments indeed but they are easier experienced than described!
So I decided to keep the whole story short and to show you as many pictures
as possible. We all know that "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Photo: Doris
Melzer
The
Show
The historic ambiente of the Baden-Baden race court, one of the most
beautiful race courts in the world, made the Egyptian Event Europe once
more a splendid performance. This year's show was smaller in numbers
of entries than its forerunners. However, the horses who came in front
of the judges were of excellent quality (with just a few exceptions).
Even most colts and stallions were great ambassadors of the breed. Horses
were entered from ten different countries, from as far away as Egypt.
The Hosts of the Event (Ferdinand Schwestermann, Horst Preuss, Hansjürgen
Friedmann) had done an extremely good job in both promoting and organising
the show. In the afternoon the stands were packed with thousands of
visitors, many of them were non-horsy people who had read the announcements
in the local press. Who knows how many of them fell in love with Arabian
horses at this special weekend?
Photo: Doris
Melzer
The
supporting program with falcons and eagles and the demonstration of
a charming shepherdess with her dogs was really exciting. Did you ever
saw dogs that could divide a mixed herd of black and white ducks
into one herd of black and one of white ducks? These dogs did it with
ease! The audience was spellbound.
The Parade of Stallions was another attraction for young and old. Nine
straight Egyptian stallions from five different countries came in front
of the visitors. People were invited to touch them and to ask the stallion
owners anything they would like to know about the stallions. It was
a feast for the eyes to see the boys standing nose to nose, tails flagged,
ears pricked, neighing to each other. Visitors were pleased and certainly
enjoyed the stallions.
Photo: Erwin
Escher
Maydan-Madheen
at the Stallion Parade
Sadly
enough I didn't saw one Arabian horse under saddle. How could this happen?
Last year two endurance races were held under the patronage of The Pyramid
Society Europe but this time the organisers held it with Churchill:
"No sports!" Hopefully next year we'll see some performance
classes again.
The
Judges
Judging
Judging was very even at this show. However, I fear that the judges
were reluctant to give realistic scores for the legs. In other words,
they simply did not want to hurt the feelings of the owners! In any
case the lowest mark for legs was the "15" and that was for
sure not a reflection of what we all saw. In my opinion judges
are here to judge a horse properly, not to please the breeders and owners
in the first place. Or did the organisers of the show didn't buy the
signs with a "9" or a "10"?
Everything on this planet is relative. This rings true for the evaluation
of horses. Due to various reasons the third placed horse in any given
class could be your champion and the fourth-placed can be mine. The
Reserve Champion Stallion could match far better with your mare than
the Champion Stallion of a show and the mare in the third place can
be a better producer than the winner. Who knows how the dices fall?
This is just to remind you (and me) that a show victory is exciting
and wonderful but certainly not everything...
Click here to see the Champions of the Egyptian Event Europe
Photo: Doris
Melzer
All
photos by Erwin
Escher, Doris
Melzer & Carola
Toischel
This feature was brought to you in
August 2004 by:
www.straightEgyptians.com
All rights reserved.
