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arol Rice’s passion for Arabians has lasted a lifetime. “Mom said I have loved horses since I was just two years old. Marguerite Henry’s books influenced me as a child, and Walter Farley’s books as well. I know everybody says that, but Arabian horses and Walter Farley made me a good student. I started reading his books in the third grade, and learned to use a dictionary at that time, because I didn’t know what the ‘big words’ meant! I still read a great deal — always fascinated by horses, people and the relationships between them.” Carol did indeed learn the “big words,” and her love of horses, as well as the loving care she bestowed upon them, seemed to nurture her unique gift for healing — eventually inspiring Carol to study nursing. She has been a registered nurse and Arabian breeder for over 19 years, and it’s clear that Carol’s long time dedication and commitment to the breed have been key to her success. Carol’s farm, Zilal Al Hawah Arabians,
M a g i n n was named for her most beloved stallion, Zilal Al Hawah CR (Farid Nile Moon x Fairy Phire), whose name means “Shadow of Love” in Arabic. It is hard to imagine a more fitting name for this dark and elegant son of the exotic Farid Nile Moon. Zilal Al Hawah’s refined and sculpted head also bears witness to his tail female descent from Ali Pasha Sherif ’s precious El Dahma, referred to by some as “the first queen of Egypt.” An extremely athletic stallion, Zilal Al Hawah has a balanced body, excellent neck-set, and outstanding tail carriage that demonstrate his noble heritage, which includes 11 lines to *Ansata Ibn Halima as well as descent from numerous legendary Egyptian Arabians. Zilal’s dam, Fairy Phire, combines some of the top Egyptian bloodlines of the 1950s imports with more contemporary EAO breeding through the beautiful mare, *Nazarat. *Nazarat was imported to the U.S. and was subsequently named the Egyptian Event Leading Dam of Halter Champions in 1992 and 1993. Fairy Phire is also a Simeon Shai granddaughter on her dam’s side, tracing
Above and facing page: The 2005 bay stallion Zilal Al Hawah CR (Farid Nile Moon x Fair� Phire). Preceding page: Zaki Ibn Farid CR. 2 ▪ ZILAL AL HAWAH ▪ WORLD
in tail female to El Dahma through the imported Pritzlaff matriarch, *Bint Dahma. Carol’s first breeding commandment for her program is to study all parts of the pedigrees for any prospective matings, to be certain that she likes the four grandparents as well as the parents of her future foal. This was an important consideration in planning the breeding which produced Zilal. In fact, one of
the reasons Carol was so drawn to Farid Nile Moon was her deep appreciation of his sire, Anaza El Farid. “Among my alltime favorite stallions are Anaza El Farid, *Imperial Madheen, *Ansata Ibn Halima, and Ruminaja Ali. I love Farid’s overall great conformation and balance. Although I never saw him in person, I have studied many photographs and videos and as many of his get as possible. I understand that he also had a lot of
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‘personality’ — I’ve heard stories of the things he had managed to disassemble in Michael Byatt’s barn!” Carol recalls one particular day during Fairy Phire’s pregnancy with Zilal Al Hawah: “Fairy Phire was in foal to Farid Nile Moon when I received the news that Farid Nile Moon had died. I went out to Fairy’s stall, sat with her, and cried. I told Fairy that this foal she was carrying was even more important now. Little did I know that she would give Farid Nile Moon back to us! Zilal looks very much like his celebrated sire.” Carol describes Zilal as a calm, good-minded horse with a regal air about him. “He draws attention with his serene attitude, beauty, and size, which he passes on to his get.” Now well under saddle and excelling in hunter under saddle, Zilal has just been started in dressage training. “They can’t just look pretty,” says Carol. “Good conformation should also mean athleticism. Intelligence, trainability, and just plain good manners have to be there too. To me, this element of mutual trust is very important. This breed is noted for its ‘in your tent’ attitude. All of my horses are extremely people oriented. As evidenced by the way they try to ‘help’ me when I’m working around the barn.”
“When the opportunity to purchase Anaza El Farid semen came along, I jumped on it!” Carol exclaims. “Then I looked at my mares, and realized that I didn’t have a mare that I thought would really work with him. Arrangements were made with my friend, Susan Watson, and Bint Aliah Halima was leased for this breeding. She’s a Thee Desperado daughter, out of an Ali daughter, out of an Ibn Halima daughter. I had a gut feeling that linebreeding both Ali and Ansata Ibn Halima would work well. “As Bint Aliah Halima is black, of course I was hoping for a black,” continues Carol, “I did this breeding hoping for a mare for my Farid Nile Moon son. Many people told me that I should be praying for a colt — and colt it was, a really nice colt! Zaki Ibn Farid was on his feet 30 minutes after he was born, with a little help from me. He nursed right away, and didn’t fall down for two hours! He mastered the trot and canter in the stall before lying down. Zaki was the strongest foal I have ever seen. I have high hopes for him as a breeding stallion. He’s a fiery thing, but loves his ‘human staff ’ and tries hard to please. He doesn’t forget anything, and thinks about everything.
Above and facing page: The 2008 chest�ut stallion Zaki Ibn Farid CR (Anaza El Farid x Bint Aliah Halima). 4 ▪ ZILAL AL HAWAH ▪ WORLD
He’s being allowed to grow up before being introduced to the show world. He will breed his first mares this year, and begin a show career next year.” Carol Rice’s second commandment for her breeding program is to try new things (based on careful study of phenotype and genotype), and not be afraid to take a wellcalculated risk. With this in mind Carol chose to utilize another Anaza Al Farid son in her program — *Gazal Al Shaqab. The cross turned out to work equally as well on Zaafina CR, Carol’s ZT Faa’iq daughter (x Siniette Quest). That mating produced her stallion El Sahar CR. “My first purebred was a domesticbred mare, with *Bask, Sinbad, and Gulastra in her pedigree. She was bred to ZT Faa’iq, another Anaza El Farid son. They produced Zaafina CR, a beautiful grey mare. I suspected that doubling the Farid blood by breeding her to *Gazal Al Shaqab would work well.”
I recall my impressions when I went out to Zilal Al Hawah Arabians to visit El Sahar for the first time. He was the most beautiful foal I had ever seen — with such type and charisma — huge black eyes that popped out of his head with a curious gaze. El Sahar’s tail was constantly straight up and flipped over his back as he trotted in slow motion — bouncing across the paddock with his gorgeous dam who could not have looked more proud and regal. I thought that day that he was a special colt. “El Sahar CR was also allowed to grow up without the stress of the show world. He is under saddle now, and will begin his halter career this year with Michelle West, of C’s Arabians,” says Carol. “I am a firm believer that they should all be under saddle. Trainability is very important. We don’t know what discipline he’ll do — he looks fabulous in western tack, but also has the aptitude to do dressage. He may very well be the first western/ dressage Gazal son!”
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The 2007 bay stallion El Sahar CR (*Gazal Al Shaqab x Zaafina CR).
Carol has been a longtime admirer of Marion Richmond’s Simeon Stud program, especially being a fan of the legendary Asfour. “The day that Anne Louise Toner decided to import *Simeon Sachi was a happy day for many breeders in the U.S. — most especially us,” she says. “I had long admired the Simeon program, but at the time there were very few Simeon horses in the U.S., even today they are in high demand and yet few in number.” Carol made the decision to breed Fairy Phire to *Simeon Sachi, who was the very first Asfour son to come to the U.S. from Simeon Stud in Australia. “I wasn’t the first person to purchase a breeding to Sachi, but I did produce his first foal. You can see so many of Asfour’s characteristics in Sachi, and he passes those traits on. Sachi’s first foal, Sasseneh CR, so
exceeded my expectations that I immediately bought another breeding. We now have two Sachi offspring and both have the large eyes, beautiful movement, substance, and disposition that Simeon is so well known for.” El Noor CR is Carol’s *Simeon Sachi son. Carol describes him as a quiet, kind stallion who exhibits many of the lovely Asfour characteristics. “His athleticism is phenomenal,” says Carol. “He is currently beginning dressage training, and I believe he will be quite competitive against all breeds. He hasn’t been bred yet, but we plan to use him for our outcross stallion. I believe the Simeon blood is going to cross extremely well with the Farid blood. We expect this to be a great outcross for our program — as using the Asfour blood over Shaikh Al Badi blood, *Orashan blood, and *Imperial Madheen blood has been extremely successful for many breeders in Australia.” “This has been a year to bring in more mare lines, each selected to complement the stallions,” Carol explains. “We have brought in more Madheen blood — including an Imperial
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The 2006 g�ey stallion El Noor CR (*Simeon Sachi x Fair� Phire).
Madheen daughter, a Thaqib Al Nasser daughter out of an Imperial Madheen daughter, and an *Orashan daughter (whose sire *Messaoud is also the sire of *Imperial Madheen), and we are extremely excited to see how El Noor CR will be producing with these mares. Likewise, it will be interesting to see how our *Simeon Sachi daughter will produce with our Farid-bred stallions. Two more additions represent Haziz Halim, Moniet El Sharaf, Masada El Shahwan, Apple Hill El Nizr, *Ansata Bint Bukra, and *Tuhotmos.” Zilal Al Hawah Arabians has certainly come a long way since its humble beginnings, and it has not always been easy. “Breeding and raising Arabian horses is not a job for the faint at heart,” says Carol. “We have experienced the highest highs — seeing the results of our dreams finally realized. We have also felt the agony of loss — losing a foal anticipated for almost a year. In the end there is nothing that has brought as much satisfaction and joy as seeing the results of her labor of love and continuing to learn year after year.” Carol retired last June from nursing — yes, finally hung
up the stethoscope, and is now focusing full time on her horses. The future looks extremely bright as she is now able to spend the time needed to take the program to the next step with new blood, expanded facilities and staff, and a greater focus on showing and marketing. “With all the stallions now under saddle, we are ready to hit the showring,” she says. “Most of our focus in the past has been breeding and now we have offspring of our stallions and mares ready to get out and show. We look forward to seeing everyone at this year’s Egyptian Event, as well as at some of the Texas-based shows this year. “Please look for the continuation of our story in December, when we’ll highlight the backbone of the program, the mares.” To be continued ….
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Zaki Ibn Farid CR (Anaza El Farid x Bint Aliah Halima)
Zilal Al Hawah CR (Farid Nile Moon x Fair� Phire)
El Sahar CR (*Gazal Al Shaqab x Zaafina CR)
El Noor CR (*Simeon Sachi x Fair� Phire)
For information, contact Carol Rice, Owner · Zilal Al Hawah Arabians San Felipe, Texas · Phone: (832) 971-8607 E-mail: carol.rice77@yahoo.com Web site: www.zilalhawah.com Designed and produced by Arabian Horse World · 05/12