Michael Byatt Arabians
T
his month’s mare issue seems a fitting time to visit the broodmare pastures at Michael Byatt Arabians, and to marvel at the unsurpassed quality of the resident mares. We reflect, too, on the procession of great broodmares who have passed through Michael’s hands on their way to gracing breeding programs around the world. Two such mares have made a multi-generational impact on the Arabian horse world as we know it today: Kajora and Little Liza Fame, dams of the iconic stallions *Gazal Al Shaqab and *Marwan Al Shaqab, respectively. Owned by Al Shaqab, Doha, Qatar, they could well have been lost to the breeding world if not for the generosity of Al Shaqab, who has made the stallions available to the public, standing them at Michael Byatt’s farm in New Ulm, Texas, for the past several years. Over decades, Michael has honed his ability to select broodmares — it’s a skill involving hunches, and luck, too. The great broodmare is often not the showring superstar, but rather her outstanding structural qualities, pedigree, and even her character, suggest what she can do ... if only a breeder can imagine it. On the following pages we pay tribute to a selection of great broodmares. They are not bound by provenance or pedigree, only by the fate of having come before Michael’s appraising eye.
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