2021 Spring Gathering Report NATRC: My First Ride

Al Khamsa Spring Gathering

The Spring Gathering began with this Inside Al Khamsa email: All of you know the Al Khamsa Roster on our website. It is free to use, but its value is immense: five generation pedigrees, detailed information about the horse, three generation progeny listings, all lines traced to foundation horses and more! Al Khamsa has provided this service for many years, free of charge to everyone. Unfortunately, it is not free to maintain. We need your help so that current and future users can continue to enjoy the Roster. Fifteen years ago, Randy Abler generously volunteered to create our software and maintain the Roster. He recently retired and we need to replace that program with up-to-date software. If we want to continue to offer the Roster pages freely— and we do—we need to raise a lot of money. Your donations are welcome anytime! And please join us for the Al Khamsa Spring Gathering via Zoom on April 10th to help facilitate this effort.

A series of emails followed with teasers and explanations. So it was an eager group of attendees who showed up on April 10th to participate in the first independent programming of its kind by Al Khamsa.

The Zoom conference began with a welcome and introduction by Al Khamsa President Monica Respet. Co-Treasurer Mary Gills explained some of the financial situation, and introduced the books that were being offered as part of the event. Edie Booth spoke to us briefly about the Al Khamsa virtual booth at the AERC virtual convention, just held the previous month. Many of the photos have been placed on the Al Khamsa website for others to see. She thanked those who had participated by sending in photos.

Then it was the turn of the Al Khamsa Database Task Force (AKDBTF) to speak about the history, value and future of the Al Khamsa database and online roster. A detailed slide show was presented by Megan King, co-chair of the Task Force. It detailed how the database has changed from index cards kept in the 1960s and 70s by Diana Marston Wiener through digitization by Sara Jones, who maintained it for over 35 years until ill health intervened. Technology has advanced, and plans are for the database to transition from the current FileMaker Pro database to an online database system, which will be accessible on demand by new software.

There were many questions and much discussion, and then, after a brief break, it was time for the eagerly awaited speakers.

Dr. Samantha Brooks spoke about several major topics: Genome Diversity and the Origin of the Arabian Horse; Estimating Inbreeding and Relatedness; Pedigree vs. Genome, and an update on Juvenile Idiopathic Epilepsy (JIE) Research. It was an absorbing several hours, and kept the audience following along alertly so that they did not miss anything!

After another short break, Dr. Elaine Carnevale spoke on a subject dear to all of us: Preserving the Genetics from the Older Mare. Those deeply involved with preserving endangered lines were especially fascinated by the amazing progress that is occurring in this field.

Speakers

Dr. Samantha Brooks: Genomics of the Arabian Horse—History Written in the DNA

Dr. Samantha Brooks became interested in equine research and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Biotechnology. She remained at the University of Kentucky to study at the Gluck Equine Research Center. While there she earned her Ph.D. in Veterinary Science, specializing in Equine Genetics.

Beth Minnich moderated Q and A between participants and Dr. Brooks.

Beth Minnich is Chair of the Research Advisory Panel of the Arabian Horse Foundation and serves as a member of the AHA Equine Stress, Research and Education Committee. She also served as Chair of the AHA Presidential Task Force on Genetic Disorders. Beth is a graduate of the Colorado State University Equine Sciences Program and has worked as an AHRA (Registry) Field Rep, and staff member at Imperial Egyptian Stud and Valour Arabians. She is also proudly owned by the Davenport gelding, Pal-Ara Khalomi.

Dr. Elaine Carnevale Preserving genetics from the older mare: Challenges and potential solutions Above, left to right: Beth Minnich, Dr. Samantha Brooks and Michael Bowling at the WAHO conference in Doha, 2011. Dr. Brooks and Beth worked well together in presenting information from Dr. Brooks’ latest paper and others. Then Beth and Michael have an article (page 14) in this Khamsat on part of the Brooks paper. A second article is schedule for the next Khamsat, dealing with the section on Y-chromosome ancestry of the Arabian horse in the Brooks paper. Below, Dr. Elaine Carnevale.

Dr. Elaine Carnevale received her DVM from Colorado State University, prior to obtaining a MS (CSU) and PhD (University of Wisconsin) during which her research focused on reproductive technologies and reproductive aging in the mare. Dr. Carnevale worked on broodmare farms and private practice before going to CSU’s Equine Reproduction Laboratory in 1998. She started an Assisted Reproduction Technologies at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory, taught veterinary students, and conducted research. Dr. Carnevale’s teams have produced the first commercial foals after oocyte transfer, ICSI, harvested ovaries, and a novel embryo vitrification protocol. Her research group is currently focusing on maternal factors that influence oocyte quality, such as aging and metabolic issues.

The speakers were very well received, as the programs were good, well-prepared and of great interest to attendees. Both Dr. Brooks and Dr. Carnevale were asked to return for further such programming, and both agreed.

It was noted that many of the most promising procedures for helping aged or damaged mares have successful foalings are not allowed by the World Arabian Horse Organization or the Arabian Horse Association of the U.S. However, they are beginning to be found useful in preserving endangered horse breeds, and as they become more common, may eventually be available to us.

Following the numerous questions for Dr. Carnevale, the conference was officially over, but the Zoom room stayed open, and many of the participants stayed around for several hours, visiting with each other, exchanging news of new horses, expected foals, training results and just renewing the bonds of friendship that hold us all together.

The programs on April 10th, and those from the first virtual Al Khamsa Convention last fall, were so special and so deserving of preservation themselves, that Al Khamsa now has a special section of its website where these can be found. The cost of a subscription to be able to view these is comparable to the cost of attending the live event, and the content is there to be viewed at your convenience.

Our webmaster, Jeannie Lieb, has worked very hard to set this system up, and we hope it becomes a much-used asset for Al Khamsa supporters. In addition to videos and slide shows, the system is scheduled to host the digital Khamsat, and Khamsat back issues. So between the website upgrades, the online roster upgrades and the digital Khamsat, there is a whole lot going on!

This slide of Dr Carnevale’s presentation summarized things well. The last slide was: don’t waste too much time!

Fund Raising!

A special raffle was held, with the winner to receive this elegant horse sheet, with Al Khamsa’s name on it. The winner was Stephanie Kerian, who has joined the work of the Preservation Task Force, purchasing the Code Red Crane-line mare, Cale Hallwah. Congratulations and thanks to Stephanie!

In addition to fees to attend the Zoom conference, raffle tickets to win the turn out sheet and many donations, Al Khamsa made special offers and promoted the books for sale on the Al Khamsa website (see column at right).

It is a measure of respect for the Al Khamsa Online Roster that about $6,000 was raised by the Spring Gathering.

All funds raised at the Gathering were put toward Al Khamsa website software. In addition, a grant is being sought to help cover the large expense needed. Following the Gathering, the Al Khamsa DataBase Task Force (the ever-popular AKDBTF!) followed up on suggestions from attendees, made a final selection of a firm to do the work, and the process is underway! The goal is to have everything complete and online by Fall.

Al Khamsa wishes to thank our speakers, all who participated, who donated, and those who worked so hard to make the Gathering such a success, especially P.J. Altshuler, Mary Gills, Jeannie Lieb and Pam Studebaker, plus Jenny Krieg and Nichole Grodski on social media, and the Al Khamsa Database Task Force. Al Khamsa Publications

As part of the fund-raising for the Al Khamsa Roster software, specials were offered on books offered by Al Khamsa, as shown here. Al Khamsa Arabians, 1983. Out of print. Al Khamsa Arabians II, 1994. $50.00. Al Khamsa Arabians III, 2008. $50.00.

General Interest Books

Al Khamsa thanks the publishers of the following books for allowing Al Khamsa to make money from the sale of their books.

The Babson Influence: A Retrospective, $30.00. A 504-page monograph reflecting the Institute’s first historical research project. This effort focused on the horses imported by Henry Babson and their international influence on Arabian breeding.

Heirloom Egyptian Arabian Horses, $45.00. Heirloom horses trace entirely to the Egypt I and Blunt ancestral elements within Al Khamsa, Inc. bloodstock. This massive research work was many years in the making. Six hundred pages on the Heirloom movement: those Al Khamsa horses tracing only to the Egypt I and Blunt Ancestral Elements. Many charts and photos.

Homer Davenport’s Quest for the Arabian Horse, 2017. $50.00. The annotated edition of Davenport’s My Quest takes the reader along on Homer’s 1906 trip to the Bedouin tribes and then home again with the largest single importation of Arabian horses ever brought to the U.S. from the tribes. It centers Davenport’s original text on the page with marginal notes elucidating 1909 references. The 480-page volume, lavishly illustrated in color and sepia, builds on The Annotated Quest, 1992. Over 150 pages of additional material update the story and clarify questions and mysteries surrounding this remarkable journey.

Davenport Arabian Horses: A Collection of Articles, 2004. $35.00. Anthology of articles about Homer Davenport’s Arabians and their descendants. Hardback, many rare photographs, 266 pages with Index of Horses.

Out of the Desert, by Peter Upton. $29.50. This superb work by Peter Upton, one of Britain’s leading equine painters and authors, focuses on the profound influence of the Arabian horse on the light horse and pony breeds of Great Britain. The work is lavishly illustrated with Upton’s own paintings and sketches, as well as archive photographs and fine art by artists such as Stubbs, Munnings, Sorolla and the PreRaphaelites.

All books available on the Al Khamsa Website. Shipping within the US included in prices listed.

Khamsat Advertising

Advertising Rates can be found on page 63 of this issue. You can send your advertising to the Al Khamsa Business Office or to the editor by mail or by email, or you can order advertising directly on the Al Khamsa website as part of the Al Khamsa store. Click on the main drop-down menu under Publications / Khamsat, and you will find links to selected articles, to a listing of all articles that have been published in the Khamsat since its inception in 1984, to an order form for back issues, to order forms for advertising and subscriptions. We will be happy to create an ad for you to your requirements, or you can find specifications for preparing a copy-ready advertisement yourself under that advertising link.