Moments in Time
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If you hear the name Om El Arab, you automatically think “*Estopa.” Nor could anyone blame you — *Estopa “made” Om El Arab, to such an extent that it sometimes seems as if she was the stud’s only foundation mare. But that’s far from the truth. When Heinz and Sigi Merz (as she was then) began Om El Arab, they imported a But there was one While most of the other mare at Om El Arab imported mares were from large number of mares. *Estopa may have been the most who proved to be a perfect Spain, there were also significant, but she was not the whole story. nick with Shaker El Masri. several from Egypt and two This was Zbroja (Kord from Poland. They were x Zlota Iwa), a golden all in residence back in chestnut foaled at Michalow in 1967 and imported at age four. 1973, when I undertook that first ever Arabian stud tour with She was one of two Polish mares imported by Om El Arab my school friend. Sigi and her husband were not there when we and she was one heck of a brilliant broodmare, with 14 (out visited. I think it was Sigi’s father who showed us around, and of 16) foals by 8 different sires that all bred on. She may not some of the staff that worked there. I remember one of the girls have been the sort of beauty people swoon over these days, but pointing out a silver-white beauty and saying: “That’s *Estopa, she came from a great family: her dam Zlota Iwa, a rare Polish our most beautiful mare.” And she was. Other than that, she Arax daughter, also produced Zamiec, an important foundation was still a blank slate. She had her first foal at foot, as had all mare for Kurozweki, and Zazula, the 1984 All Nations Cup the other mares, and all those foals were by Shaker El Masri. Champion Mare and founder of an entire dynasty at Michalow *Estopa’s was a filly, later known as Estasha. that includes the 2000 All Nations Cup Senior Champion and The reason why we remember *Estopa today, but have 2003 U.S. National Champion Mare Zagrobla. But that was forgotten most of the others, is that she was a once-in-a-lifetime much later. broodmare, while Shaker El Masri was not a dominant sire. This photo, taken in 1973, shows Zbroja with the first of You couldn’t just breed him to anything on four legs and hit the jackpot — unlike *Estopa, where you could. I am convinced her four foals by Shaker El Masri, Zareef. He grew up to become she would have produced just as well with any other halfway a popular and successful sire in Sweden, and his son Shafeek in turn became a chief sire for Ingalil Martensson in Spain. How’s decent stallion. Not that Shaker’s other foals were substandard, that for an international start? His full brother Zaraf, foaled far from it. They were fine horses and included a good number of licensed stallions — but they just weren’t in a league with *El in 1975, was licensed and had some offspring in Germany before being exported to Denmark, where he was also a popular Shaklan and his full siblings.
Zbroja (Kord x Zlota Iwa) with her son Zareef (by Shaker El Masri) in 1973.
sire. One year later, a full sister was born, Zareefa, who was Reserve Senior Champion Mare at Aachen in 1981. She became a foundation mare for Calbar Arabians in Denmark and a prolific and successful broodmare in her own right. Another full brother, Scha Ze Man, foaled in 1977 and one of Shaker El Masri’s most look-alike sons, founded a dynasty of endurance horses in Germany. He is the only Shaker El Masri son other than *El Shaklan and Ibn *Estopa who was graded “Elite” by the German registry. After Shaker El Masri’s death in 1977, Zbroja had another three daughters for Om El Arab by Ibn Shaker I, *El Shaklan, and Malik, respectively, of which two were successfully shown and all bred on. She then joined her daughter Zareefa at Calbar Arabians in Denmark, where
she produced four daughters and two sons that carried on her blood, including her only two pure Polish foals. Her last daughter was foaled in 1991, when she was 24 years old. I don’t know when she died, but her descendants are still winning at international shows today, as well as proving themselves in endurance. Given Zbroja’s achievements, it seems a total mystery that her name is never mentioned in connection with Om El Arab. Also, I have never seen any photos of her other than those I took with my amateur camera back in 1973. So it’s about time she had her moment in the spotlight. She certainly deserves it. And by the way, one of the Egyptian mares imported by Om El Arab also turned out to be very influential — but that’s a story for another time.