A R A B I A N
H O R S E
W O R L D
D E C E M B E R
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Arabians Ltd.
and the next thirty years
B Y
J E F F R E Y
W I N T E R S T E E N
Those lucky enough to attend the 2014 Arabian Breeders World Cup in Las Vegas saw an emotional presentation of the Arabian Horse Breeders Alliance’s 2014 Ambassador Award to Judy Sirbasku and Shawn Crews of Arabians Ltd. For more than 30 years, Arabians Ltd. has been a pillar of the Egyptian Arabian community and a true ambassador of the Arabian breed. The presentation was made all the more poignant as Arabians Ltd. lost their foundation sire Thee Desperado (The Minstril x AK Amiri Asmarr) and imported outcross sire *Mishaal HP (Ansata Sinan x Mesoudah M) just a year earlier.
“The Ambassador Award meant so much to us. It encompasses what we have always sought to do,” says Judy, owner and founder of Arabians Ltd. (with her late husband Jim). “I can’t say that we are really marketers, but we have always tried to expose and educate people about the Arabian horse. We give people the opportunity to come from totally non-horse-oriented environments and learn the business from the top rather than the bottom like most newcomers do.” This award now sits beside the Pyramid Society Trustees Award bestowed on Judy in 2013. At first blush, such a prestigious award from one’s peers, and the multitude of accolades conferred over the years, coupled with the recent passing of their foundation sire, might give some a reason to take a step back. Although Judy is the first to concede it was a difficult year, she exudes optimism about the future. “While it has taken us a bit to lift our hearts up again and look toward the future, we already have the future genetics in place for moving forward. That has not only made this transition easier, but incredibly exciting! Furthermore,” Judy adds, “we have a tremendous group of clients and feel a deep responsibility for their future success. They trust us to help them get there so, of course, we are moving forward!” By Judy’s side since Arabians Ltd.’s inception, General Manager Shawn Crews adds, “While Thee Desperado really put us on the map, and with the unexpected loss of *Mishaal HP, which was really hard, Judy and I knew both days would eventually come, and had prepared for it.” Nothing typifies this preparation more than a uniquely bred bay stallion: The Sequel RCA. Arabians Ltd. has dutifully preserved Thee Desperado’s legacy with numerous sons and grandsons. In fact, there is no other farm worldwide that carries more of his blood. That said, The Sequel RCA, more than any other horse, shoulders the hopes and aspirations of Thee Desperado’s legacy for Judy and Shawn. By Thee Desperado, The Sequel RCA is out of Thee Desperado’s full sister La Marsala. “We linebreed,” explains Judy, “but we had never inbred before Sequel. But in the late 1990s an idea was kicked around to breed Desperado to La Marsala.” Left: Arabians Ltd. owner Judy Sirbasku with Bob Boggs. Facing page: The Sequel RCA (Thee Desperado x La Marsala), 2001 bay stallion, Egyptian Event Supreme Reserve Champion Stallion. 2 ▪ ARABIANS LTD ▪ WORLD
THE SEQUEL
THEE INFIDEL
Shawn had always been intrigued by The Egyptian Prince, who was the product of mating two full siblings in blood, *Morafic and *Bint Mona. (They were both by Nazeer and their dams were full sisters.) Tom Salome, the breeder of Thee Desperado, owns La Marsala and Shawn remembers, “I said to Tommy, ‘let’s try it one time.’ He wasn’t so sure about it, but in the end we did it. The first foal, a colt, was sold to the King Abdul Aziz Horse Center in Saudi Arabia. The next foal was The Sequel and he was exotic, I mean, we couldn’t take our eyes off him.” As soon as the bay colt was weaned he went to the show barn at Arabians Ltd. for training, but this didn’t mean that Tom was interested in selling him. “He kind of felt like maybe he should have kept Desperado,” remembers Shawn. By the time The Sequel RCA was three, Tom started to rethink the idea of selling him. It is expensive to keep a colt, and Tom decided to offer The Sequel RCA for sale. When Shawn learned this she went straight to Jim and told him they needed to buy this colt. Shawn remembers with a laugh, “Jim just said, ‘You got Desperado, you got three of his sons, what the hell do you need this colt for!” It was Judy’s pragmatic look to the future that convinced Jim this horse was needed. As a result, The Sequel RCA came to Arabians Ltd. “Judy was smart to buy
2013 Egyptian Event Gold Champion Junior Filly Jamillas Belle RCA (Pimlico RCA x Desperados Belle RCA), shown by Greg Knowles for owner Melonie Behan of Southern Belle Arabians. 4 ▪ ARABIANS LTD ▪ WORLD
Above: Thee Infidel (Thee Desperaco x Bint Magidaa by *Khofo), 1995 bay stallion, and Bint Magidaa’s last son. He is an Egyptian Event Silver Champion Colt, U.S. National Top Ten Stallion and Top Ten Futurity Colt, owned by Thee Infidel Group and standing at Arabians Ltd.
PIMLICO RCA
Pimlico RCA (Thee Desperado x Bint Bint Jamil by Mohafez), 1997 stallion, is a significant horse in the program. He is an Egyptian Event unanimous Gold Champion Stallion and Region 9 Champion Stallion.
Bellagio RCA’s dam Rhapsody In Black (Thee Desperado x Aliashahm RA by Ruminaja Ali), 1994 black mare, Judy Sirbasku’s favorite mare.
that horse,” Shawn says. “Most people won’t spend the money if it is not something they don’t need right away. She really has the ability to look into the future and hold on to something for another day. Judy bought The Sequel long before we needed him. With most of our mares similarly bred, we just couldn’t use him a lot at the time. One exception was Asila RCA, whom Judy picked immediately for The Sequel, and the result was an exotic filly named Truly Sequel RCA, who is a full sister to Shah Mishaal’s dam. She alone was enough to confirm the young stallion as a sire and caused quite a stir. When we lost Thee Desperado, it was a relief to not worry about which stallion his mares (predominantly Mishaal daughters) would be bred to. The Sequel is the best source of genetics that made Desperado great. In our minds, he was ready and named years ago, to be the heir apparent.” Shortly before they purchased The Sequel RCA, Arabians Ltd., with the help of Frank Spönle, acquired the stallion *Mishaal HP on lease. Judy and Jim would eventually purchase the impressive, white stallion. It was another critical step in a long-term plan in which The Sequel RCA would play an integral role. As Shawn explains, “We would need a very tightly bred colt to eventually breed to the Mishaal daughters. He was perfect, and would finally have a number of the best mares of the program in his book.” All of this aptly demonstrates a large part of Arabians Ltd.’s success: their judicious use of outcross stallions to bring in new genetics but maintain their look. “We didn’t want to lose the look of Desperado, which is our brand, what we are known for,” Judy explains. “We needed Mishaal’s outcross blood, but we didn’t want to change the look of what we produce; we wanted to go forward with this distinctive Desperado look.” The goal for *Mishaal HP’s arrival in Texas was twofold, Shawn says. “First off, we needed the genes, something that wasn’t related to our program. Judy and Jim had me out looking all over the world for about five years. It wasn’t easy to find something we liked that did not already have Thee Desperado or The Minstril in it. We wanted either an Ansata Sinan son or an *Imperial Madheen son. These bloodlines crossed well with the Desperado blood in the past, so I knew genetically this would mesh. When
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BELLAGIO RCA
Bellagio RCA (Alixir x Rhapsody In Black by Thee Desperado), 2003 black stallion, EBC Champion Colt and Egyptian Event Junior Champion Colt.
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Frank said he found one by Sinan out of *Imperial Madheen’s full sister, the light bulb went on! “Then there was Mishaal HP’s phenotype,” Shawn continues. “While our foals are really refined, elegant, and have longer necks than the typical straight Egyptian horse, our yearlings looked like weanlings next to the Scottsdale bunch. We needed to bring in more substance and put some size on them. We also wanted that bold carriage that Mishaal brings, something that was important for us to beef up in our program.” The success of *Mishaal HP, however, was better than anyone could have predicted. As Judy recounts, “It is unusual for a horse to be even 20 percent better; Mishaal was about 80 percent better than we ever hoped for. He was so perfect for our program, it was unbelievable! We now have the two families to blend back and forth. We are now seeing Mishaal daughters crossing on Pimlico (bred by Dara Meadows Farm) and Bellagio. And the Thee Infidel/Mishaal cross has set records for us in the showring. We are now seeing Sequel on Mishaal daughters and they are out of this world. It is the culmination of this longtime plan.” “Mishaal is and was the glue that made this whole genetic mix of the Ruminaja Ali and Thee Desperado bloodlines work,” adds Shawn. “We are so fortunate that we have a large number
Above: Amirah Gemaal DB (Bellagio RCA x Silkh SWA), Egyptian Event champion, owned by Dreamco Arabians. Left: Frank Spönle, Judy Sirbasku, and Greg Knowles.
of his daughters and now we have a promising Mishaal son we will start breeding next year, Shah Mishaal RCA. Adding to the allure of Shah Mishaal RCA, he is out of one of Judy’s all-time favorite mares, Bint Asila RCA (by The Sequel RCA). Bint Asila’s female line goes to the noted *Jamill daughter Imperial Mistilll, the dam of Imperial Mistaar, a female line we are excited to infuse and offer in our program.” Shah Mishaal RCA 8 ▪ ARABIANS LTD ▪ WORLD
BELLAGIO RCA
SUZANNE PHOTO
representative offspring of
Above: Illa Fariha Magidaa (Bellagio RCA x Bint Fariha Magidaa), Egyptian Event champion. Left: 2014 grey colt (Bellagio RCA x Kahramana RCA).
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ALIXIR
was 2014 Egyptian Event Champion TwoYear-Old Colt, and was shown by another instrumental member of the Arabians Ltd. team, Greg Knowles. And while this next generation from Thee Desperado and Mishaal is already bearing fruit, the seeds have already been planted for the next genetic step forward. This next step takes the form of a promising outcross stallion, a son of World Champion *Al Adeed Al Shaqab who arrived on lease a little over a year ago. Kamal Ibn Adeed represents a one hundred percent outcross for the Arabians Ltd. program. In many ways the lease of Kamal Ibn Adeed mirrors finding *Mishaal HP because he is out of a mare whose blood Judy wanted very much to incorporate into their program. “Kamal is out of an Ansata Hejazi daughter, a horse we always admired but never had a chance to be involved with,” Judy says. How Kamal Ibn Adeed has ended up at Arabians Ltd. seems almost dictated by fate. “In the showring we were getting beaten by this colt shown by Michael Byatt for owners Dennis Fournier and Anne Wright,” Shawn explains. “There was a lot of buzz about him at the Egyptian Event. I had 25 horses at the Egyptian Event, however, so I didn’t have time to do anything but concentrate on our own barn. Consequently I had never seen him up close, just enough to be a little jealous. As luck would have it, I was judging a
Alixir (The Elixir x The Prevue by The Minstril), 1998 bay stallion. A senior stallion at Arabians Ltd., Alixir holds the title of siring more Egyptian Event EBC champions than any other stallion.
show in Reno and Dennis called and said I was not far from him and would I come and see Kamal. When I got there and Dennis turned him loose, I could not take my eyes off of him. “He has the most upright, vertical, mind-blowing movement with straight tail carriage, blow and snort,” continues Shawn. “And then when he is done, Kamal will walk over to you and stick his tongue out. I haven’t ever seen a horse before that has that kind of movement that didn’t also have a difficult personality. We deal with a lot of newcomers and personality is important to us.” 10 ▪ ARABIANS LTD ▪ WORLD
INFINITY RCA
Infinity RCA (Bellagio RCA x Kamil FA by Thee Infidel), 2009 stallion and Egyptian Event Bronze Champion Junior Colt and Egyptian Event Champion Western Pleasure Open.
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SHAH MISHAAL RCA
SUZANNE PHOTO
Shah Mishaal RCA (*Mishaal HP x Bint Asila RCA), 2012 grey stallion with a tail female line to Imperial Mistilll, is a promising young Mishaal son that will start breeding in 2015.
There have not been a lot of Thee Desperado daughters or granddaughters crossed on the blood of Al Adeed Al Shaqab, so Judy was anxious to see the results. Kamal Ibn Adeed’s first foals will arrive in January. “Judy and Dennis just renewed their agreement and we are thrilled to have Kamal on lease for an additional breeding season,” she says. As Judy looks back on the difficult time surrounding the loss of Thee Desperado and *Mishaal HP, she is candid. “It really took a couple of stallions to fill the void. But you know, we are ready to move forward, to continue to build on the legacy of those foundation sires, as well as build upon our new sires. One of those stallions that we were blessed to use was the *Mishaal HP son, Ramses Mishaal Nadir (out of Ramses Minx), leased from Dr. Lucille Dietrick. We are very happy with Nadir’s foals. Many thanks to Lucille for sharing him with us and to Allison Mehta for her help and support.” Also the recipients of a lot of praise and respect from both Judy and Shawn are the Affiliate farm owners Mark and Deb Burke of Amethyst Acres Equine Center and Mike Cimino of Colthill Crescent Arabians. “Mark, Deb, Mike, and their clients are our family. They are a huge part of who we are and of our success. The Affiliate farms exclusively use the Arabians Ltd. stallions. To have this number of exceptional mares for our stallions is invaluable,” Judy says. “It is priceless to have likeminded, dedicated and knowledgeable partners. Together we have been able to achieve many of our longtime goals, and we have a lot of fun working together!” 12 ▪ ARABIANS LTD ▪ WORLD
Shawn echoes Judy’s sentiment and is enthusiastic about the future for Arabians Ltd. “Judy’s passion drives this; it is her life’s work. She is the most futuristic-thinking and patient person. Those two qualities are essential to being a great breeder. She is always thinking down the line when I am just trying to solve the problem of the day. It is because of this valuable trait that Judy has built a worldwide, instrumental breeding program. I can’t wait to see the next generation!” Of course, this future is built upon the team that has been carefully assembled at Arabians Ltd. Adam Schwalm, Marketing Director, is responsible for educating new owners. “Adam is an excellent horseman, extremely knowledgeable, and his enthusiasm is infectious,” says Shawn. “He
KAMAL IBN ADEED Kamal Ibn Adeed (*Al Adeed Al Shaqab x NF Bint Sajha by Ansata Hejazi), 2009 grey stallion.
BINT AL RIYAHH
Representing the retired stallion Thee Asil is Bint Al Riyahh (Thee Asil x Emperial Sparkle by *Shahir IASB), 2005 mare, Egyptian Event Bronze Champion Mare, owned by Missy Head. Thee Asil is co-owned by Maiden Chase Arabians and Arabians Ltd.
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has a huge responsibility at Arabians Ltd. and takes that commitment very seriously. This is a young man with a big future and we are happy he is on our team. Stephane Robillard is our longtime Breeding and Farm Manager, along with his wife Mellisa who is the Stallion Book Manager and a huge support to Judy, myself, and just about everyone on the farm. Stephane does embryo transfer and freezing semen, all in-house so our mares and stallions do not have to go anywhere! We never cease to be amazed by the level of excellence Stephane brings to our game in the breeding shed. He really is a genius. Tara Maus runs Client Services and keeps this place humming. The clients adore her. She does everything with a magnetic, can-do personality. Luis Paniagua is Arabian Ltd.’s Head Trainer and one of the most talented young trainers in the business. Our clients sleep at night when they know Luis is looking after their show babies, which says a lot. Not to mention he has seen the winners circle a number of times. Jenna Johnson is our resident Vet Tech, she is on top of the health of every horse on the farm everyday and stays in close communication with the owners. Susan Glover runs our front desk and Jill Hayes is the first voice you hear when calling the mare care division. Both are great ladies that love the farm and it shows. “Having said all of that, first and foremost it is our clients who make
THE PEOPLE
Mike Cimino of Colthill Crescent Arabians, Folsom, Louisiana, with his dog Jethro.
Deb and Mark Burke of Amethyst Acres Equine Center, LLC, Buchanan, Virginia.
Farm and Breeding Manager Stephane Robillard and his wife Mellisa, Stallion Book Manager.
Head trainer Luis Paniagua, left.
this organization different,” adds Shawn. “Arabians Ltd. has always been devoted to educating the public about the joy and lifestyle of the Arabian horse. It is those who join us and contribute to the family and Egyptian community as a whole that make this team strong.” With Judy and Shawn, nothing has changed from this original ideal — Arabians Ltd. looks to continue this successful formula for years to come. It becomes obvious from the infectious enthusiasm of both Judy, Shawn, and their committed team and dedicated clients, that the best of Arabians Ltd. is yet to come.
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Jenna Johnson, veterinary technician.
Adam Schwalm, marketing director, aboard Infinity RCA.
THE FARM
REISSIG PHOTO
Judy Sirbasku, Owner Shawn Crews, General Manager Adam Schwalm, Marketing Director · Waco, TX · 254.714.1803 · info@arabiansltd.com
Affiliate farm: Colthill Crescent Arabians 985.264.3250 · www.colthillcrescent.com
Affiliate farm: Amethyst Acres Equine Center, Inc. 540.254.1017 · www.amethystacres.com
Judy Sirbasku, Owner Shawn Crews, General Manager Adam Schwalm, Marketing Director · Waco, TX · 254.714.1803 · info@arabiansltd.com
Affiliate farm: Colthill Crescent Arabians 985.264.3250 · www.colthillcrescent.com
Affiliate farm: Amethyst Acres Equine Center, Inc. 540.254.1017 · www.amethystacres.com
Designed and produced by Arabian Horse World · 12/14 Design elements by Getty Design Reprinted from the December 2014 Arabian Horse World cover story