WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD Christine Jamar JADEM AR ABIANS BALEN, BELGIUM
with Jeff Wallace and Theresa Cardamone
What does your dream horse look like? What is the perfect Arabian for you? My perfect Arabian is like a drawing of Peter Upton’s, who drew them in his books. The stallions are short in the back with lots of attitude. Upton can draw it very nicely; with the tail up—you can see the expression! A horse that comes in the ring and looks to the public and says, “Here I am!” and trots like hell! This is, for me, my dream. So, it’s safe to say that Ekstern would represent that? That’s correct. That’s who he really is, and he loved the public. The more they were shouting … the more they made noise, the more he was dancing. The first time I saw Ekstern was in the middle of winter. Freezing, minus 13, or 18, I cannot remember. I went to buy another horse, but then I saw Ekstern flying on the very hard ground, tail up, fat like usual, long hair, and so such charisma! I knew he was from the E line, and I had no blood from this line at that time. Jawarowski, and Jerzy and Urzula Bialobok were there.
me that I had to show him to promote him. So, we went to England and he got fourteen 20’s! Nobody can believe this. So I called Bialobok and let him know. He called a meeting with Marek Trela because it was a surprise to everybody. Most Polish people believed more in Ganges at that time, but when everyone saw the perfection in him, especially with his blood, both studs used him afterward. Also, Marek Trela’s wife was very happy with the foals some years later, which made me happy.
I said I would like to lease him, but he was not for lease. We offered double the money that they normally got for leasing a horse—forget it. When Urzula saw that I loved the horse, she took me by my right hand into the office of Mr. Bialobok. There’s a wall with the pictures of all the white mares from the Milordka line. She said, “Christine, this is it.” It was what I wanted and I think she felt that I wanted it. So I did everything to get Ekstern.
Do you think Jawarowski built the E line of Michalów sort of like an architect? He started with Eskapada and he layered. The silhouette of the E line mares still looks like Eskapada! Exactly. Every breeder has something in his mind that he wants to reach, and Jawarowski had that in his mind, and he reached it. It’s like … they are artists. It’s like a painting. You have a lot of colors you can use, but the way you use them, becomes the result. The stallions, the mares … you use those combinations because you want to reach that. Somebody else maybe would use another combination because he has another goal. Janów has a different kind of horse from Michalów. Both studs have an exceptional group of mares. In 1985, the mares of Janów were stronger horses, more classical, you know. At that time, I liked the Michalów horses the most, because they were more feminine, in my opinion. Over the years, the the Janów horses have improved to the modern standards, thanks to director Marek Trela.
I’ll never forget his first show, he had fourteen 20’s! I wasn’t interested in showing, but Bialobok told
Because of Ofir, Kuhailan horses, and Witraz…? They’re stouter, sturdier. Janów horses had more
2015 Dubai International Gold Champion Junior Colt Gallardo J and his sire, Gold Champion Senior Stallion Emerald J, with Christine, breeder of both stallions.
Kuhailan blood, yes. And Michalów had more Saklawi. I remember the first time I went to Poland in ‘82, I think, a lot of years ago; I was still with the Russian horses. I visited Spain first, then Poland, Russia, and Egypt, to make up my mind what I liked. When I went to Spain there were some horses I liked, but I was not really excited. Then I went to Poland and was crazy about the Michalów horses. That was 80% of the horses I liked. I saw Polish-bred Gwizd in Russia. The babies of Gwizd! I fell in love with his babies on that trip and I liked only 30% to 40% of the horses. I was very disappointed, because at that moment the best horses were all sold, most to the States. I was also very disappointed in Egypt. I saw only nine horses
that I liked and one of them was bought by a friend from Holland. The best horses were also sold there, to the USA. So I decided to breed Polish. But I was young and had no financing possibilities, so I waited until the price of the horses went down in the States. I bought 11 mares and one stallion, Pyrrus, by Bandos. Afterwards, I bought Pegaz, the Palas son out of Pliszka. He was a Michalów-bred stallion. My favorite horses in the face were always Eukaliptus and Bandos. And I was crazy about their daughters! Maybe that’s the same as Jawarowski felt, that’s why I went back to Poland so much. And then Ekstern jumped me from here to there. He jumped over three generations!
WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD
You have been breeding for 37 years; how has it enriched your life? It’s my whole life; that’s all it could be. I don’t think about anything else. I go to bed with the horses, and all I’m thinking about is my breeding, about promoting the Arabian horse, thinking about organizing shows. Everything, my whole life is around Arabian horses. And why? They make me happy. Every baby that’s born that I can see (I welcome the smell!) makes me happy. Better than winning in a show, is a nice baby. The Arabian horse obviously lives inside you; yours is a deep-rooted passion. Oh, yes. It’s a passion. Also, I am a person who wants everything to be perfect. It’s difficult, maybe, for other people to live or work with me, because all must be perfect. My father was the same way. But, to get that goal, I don’t want any risks at all. For me, zero risk goes into everything. So, you do your best to get everything you want and that’s the goal. It’s a passion; some might even say an obsession. Obsession, yes … WN Fawn Obsession! Tell us about your love for her. Fawn Obsession is one of my favorite mares. I bought her sight unseen, but I recieved good recommendations from people. Then at her first show for me, she came charging into the arena. I was like, “Wow! That is a good mare!” She was so balanced, so elegant, so like a Queen Gambine! The eyes, the way she looks at you … it just throws you. She was very feminine and sure about herself—an amazing mare. Do you think highly of the blood of Padrons Psyche? I love Padrons Psyche. I saw him for the first time when the people who wanted to buy him asked me to give an opinion. I flew over from Belgium and recommended him to my friend, who bought the stallion. In those days, there was no commission, just a favor for the friend. Later, I organized my first European Championships and invited Padrons Psyche to come to Europe, and my friend was the sponsor, so he brought him to Europe! And that was a big, big thing for Europe—Padrons Psyche coming from the States. And everybody loved him. Many years later when he came to my farm, I remember the first time we had an open house
and we showed him; he was I think, 20. He was dancing like a horse four years of age, and he was spectacular. The people had never seen a horse show in a presentation like he did. They were clapping and Padrons Psyche acted like he was in the show ring. So the more they applauded, the more he danced to the music. Oh, I still get goosebumps! Tell us a little bit about Belgium becoming a big player on the Arabian horse scene. How did that unfold? Belgium, to be honest, wasn’t concerned about the promotion of the horse until Mr. Joseph Peeters from Stoeterij Arabica started organizing shows. He organized the first international show of Europe in Belgium, and the people came from all around. Peeters asked me to continue with the show. The first year, he taught me, and then every year after, I had the horse show at my farm and all the profits went to charity. Because of this, we received free promotion from TV, radio and news, which created huge publicity for the Arabian horse in Belgium, and still does. For the last 20 years, this is what Belgium has done, and it’s not easy to promote an Arabian horse in a country where the market is huge for top show jumping horses. It’s interesting that many people running major breeding and/or training operations around the world today, have gone through Jadem Arabians. That’s correct. Michael Van den Elsken, Philippe Hosay, Peter Wilms, Juan Murilo, Bart Van Buggenhout, Philip Looyens … Michael stayed the longest. He was, a good, good guy. He was 12 years old. I could see him standing at the gate with his father and they asked if I had a job for him. I said, “He needs to learn the horses.” I tell him, I can’t pay, because he has no knowledge. Not a problem. He must study until age 18 in Belgium, but at 16 he wanted to leave the school, so I had a discussion with the school director to let him know that he works at my farm, and that I will check to see that he is learning for school while he works, and he agreed. Well, you must have a good sense about people because, from travelling through Europe and the Middle East this year, one of the nicest guys met is your trainer Frederick. Frederick came to us he
wanted to work for me. I am very happy, because I liked the way he worked with the horses. This is for me the most important thing. We don’t have many
Al Muawd Stud, because they have a good breeding program, they have good mares. I helped them to get the stallion, and then they leased Gallardo J. We
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training horses at my farm. We have 25 … 30 horses in training, no more. We have four or five people for this. You have to take time, but the horse must stay happy and be your friend. I told Frederick, if the horse is your friend, he will show like it. And the day after, Gallardo J was blowing in the show ring in Dubai!
thought, together we could reach further than alone. In life you have to cooperate and some people cannot do that. But I have always believed in teamwork. A good team is success, and we were good together. The best deal is if two parties are happy. It’s not only about the money, it’s about the feelings also—you have a good feeling.
You must be very excited about the foals of Emerald J, since the rest of the world seems to be. Tell us about him. Emerald J, for me, of course, is special. I had the right to an embryo from his dam, and after two years we finally got a viable one. He was born at Om El Arab International. When I saw Emerald J for the first time he was three weeks old, and I thought he had some potential. He was a nice, cute colt like Sigi described on the phone when he was born. He was good … very correct. Good eyes and everything, but not really special.
If you could resurrect two horses that were not yours, who would they be and why? Bandola would be one. I never met her in life, but what she did … I love that kind of horse. I would have liked to have her in my brood. And who else? Pilarka! My God, I think I still see her! It was the first time we organized the European Championships in 1987. I really would like to have her back with Bandola.
When he was nine or ten months, he came to Europe with a big belly, you know, a weaned foal. But then he started to play a lot in the field and we conditioned him. His head became more and more like a sculpture. So that was, thanks to God, a gift, and he improved so much, so I was very happy. Then he grew up—he was late to mature.
I believe in the Polish mares because it’s a breeding program of more than 200 years. My breeding of pure Polish has existed exactly 25 years. You need to wait a long time to get what you have. I have been a breeder since the end of 70s, when I had Russian horses, but in 1990, I changed everything to Polish in one year. I only kept two horses from before. I had good show horses, but I wanted to go Polish and I had to start from the bottom again. 25 years is needed to have that success.
So, what was it like to be the breeder of the Gold Champion Junior Stallion and the Gold Champion Senior Stallion? The breeder, and the artist too, I suppose—goal met. That’s what we do, put the mare and the stallion together, then check when the foal’s born; did we do a good job last year or not. Luck plays a part also. I was very happy Emerald J went to
And when you have the passion that you, you can stick it out those 25 years, because you don’t want to anything else. And I think Michalów feels the same. The Monogramm babies were born, I think, 21 years ago, but I’m not sure. So, you need patience, but if you believe in what you are doing and love to do it, that’s the most important thing. n