Passings: A Salute to Three Resolute Women
It has long been a challenge for women in the Arab world to achieve great things among their male peers. However, women of great strength of character had often played an important role in preserving the heritage of the Arabian horse in the Arab World.
Twenty years have now passed since Mary Gharagozlou has passed away, and her name may not be familiar with many Al Khamsa supporters. However, she was a symbol of strength and perseverance in the quest for preserving the Arabian horses of Iran. Her tribute is best summed up in a memoriam on the WAHO website as follows:
We in the western world have long been familiar with the remarkable contribution of the renowned Lady Anne Blunt and her copious journal entries documenting her life with the Arabian horse, which has served well both scholars and enthusiasts of the Arabian horse for many years. Her contribution is immeasurable and worthy of a separate story.
“On 14th September 2001, after a short illness bravely borne, Mary Gharagozlou passed away. Mary had been a member of WAHO since the early 1970s, and many of you will have met her at WAHO Conferences.
But this short piece is to briefly reflect on the passing of three strong women who we have had to say goodbye to over the past few years.
“Mary led a complex, fascinating, but at times difficult life. Her father, Naqi Khan, was a doctor who came from a long line of Persian landlords and statesmen descended from the Gharagozlou tribe, brought from Central Asia to northwest Persia by Tamerlane in the late 14th century. Her mother was Katherine Ladd, an American librarian at John Hopkins University, Baltimore. Mary grew up to become Iran’s foremost expert on dry farming and a tireless worker for the benefit of the nomadic tribes of Iran, especially in times of famine and earthquakes, earning the greatest of respect from all who knew and worked with her.
Mary Gharagozlou - Iran
“In due course Mary married Majid Khan Bakhtiar, the chief of the Bakhtiari tribe, who introduced her to the Asil horses of Khuzestan that were to become her passion. For many happy years, they enjoyed life to the full. After his death in a flying accident, and for various other reasons, Mary’s circumstances changed greatly but she never gave up her work against all odds to bring the Arabian horses of Iran to the attention of WAHO and the world. “Untiring in her dedication to the Arabian horses of Iran, Mary became the driving force behind the acceptance of their horses by WAHO. What one may not know is that in order to prepare the stud books, especially in the early days, she herself travelled by jeep, by horse and even by camel the length and breadth of Iran, in all weathers and often over difficult terrain, interviewing owners and breeders, recording pedigrees, taking markings, arranging for blood-typing and freeze-marking, and taking every opportunity to learn the history of the horses that had become her life’s work.” Madam Wegdan (Dani) El Barbary - Egypt In January of 2018 “Dani” as her friends called her, passed away. She was a unique woman in Egypt, of noble confidence born out of a love for the Arabian horse and its performance qualities. She had
Mary Gharagozlou on her black Obayan Sharrak stallion, Arras. Courtesy of WAHO Archive.
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