Moments in Time: A Prince In Waiting

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MOMENTS IN TIME A PRINCE IN WAITING

St or y a n d p h o t o g ra p h s b y B e t t y F in ke

ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT BEING INVOLVED WITH ARABIANS OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME IS NOT JUST WATCHING THE BREED EVOLVE, BUT FOLLOWING THE LIVES AND CAREERS OF INDIVIDUAL HORSES THROUGH THE YEARS. SOME HAVE BEEN SPECIAL, SOME HAVE BEEN SURPRISING, AND SOME HAVE BEEN BOTH.

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while ago, I described my first encounter with Arabian horses, which happened in 1971 at the Ismer Stud in Germany. For a few years, this stud farm – still going strong today and run by the Madkour I as a yearling in 1972. third generation of the family – was the only one I visited on a regular basis.

Following that first, literally life-changing visit in 1971, I went back there a year later to catch up with the mares and foals.

Besides the already familiar faces, there was something new in 1972. In the field next to the road where I had seen my first Arabians a year earlier, there were now three yearling colts, none of them homebred. One of them, a bay, was a Half-Arabian and I have no idea what became of him. Another, a black, was recently imported from Egypt. I have his name and breeding, but he never found his way into the German stud book; he must have died before registration.

The third was very different from the other two. He was, at one year of age, already snow white and he had the delicate refinement of a porcelain horse. At this stage, he might just as well have been a filly. The boy who showed me around the farm informed me that this colt had recently been purchased from the state stud at Marbach and was the most expensive

horse on the farm.

I took a lot of photos, especially of that white colt who was supposed to be so valuable, and back home I showed them to my friends, who included a rider or two. When I told them that this was a very expensive horse from Marbach, they almost died laughing. How utterly ridiculous! That little white runt was supposed to be a very valuable breeding horse? I had to be joking.

At that time, I was not knowledgeable enough to argue against them. Besides, even if I had told them that he was a son of Hadban Enzahi out of Moheba II, and that he was straight Egyptian (a term which didn’t actually exist at the time), it would have meant nothing to them, because they knew nothing about Arabians anyway. When I look at those photos today from the point of view of a “regular” horseperson, used to warmblood horses, I even understand them. They saw something that looked like a pretty little filly at best, certainly nothing like a future stallion.

But the little white horse, whose name was Madkour, wasn’t a warmblood. He was an Arabian, and a straight Egyptian, and from Marbach, all of which adds up to a horse that needs time to develop. He wasn’t a show horse that was fed and conditioned to mature quickly, like they do today. He was left to develop naturally. Marbach horses take their time to mature; but when they do, they are amazing.

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Left: Madkour I as a 4-year-old, in training for his performance test.

Right: Madkour I aged 19 at the Asil Cup.

He did develop, and he was amazing. I next saw him three years later, when he was four years old and had just been put under saddle, preparing for the performance test that was still mandatory for all breeding stallions at the time. He was far from fully mature even then, but he no longer looked like a filly. In fact, he didn’t leave much to be desired in either type or conformation. Like most Hadban Enzahi get, his neck was on the short side, but it fitted the rest of him and he had a perfect topline with good quarters and legs to match. Two years later, he’d win his first national championship.

The little white horse that my friends back at school thought such a runt was eventually registered as Madkour I, to distinguish him from an imported Egyptian stallion of the same name; and the rest, as they say, is history. Madkour I was arguably the best of Hadban Enzahi’s many notable sons and certainly the most significant for worldwide Egyptian breeding.

For that, it would probably have sufficed if he had sired no more than just *Jamilll, who gave Ansata so many wonderful mares before his return to Germany and subsequent untimely death. Not only that, but you might say that *Jamilll, when he came to Ansata, jumpstarted the international career of his dam Hanan and Dr. Nagel’s breeding program. These days, you’ll find the name Madkour I in many straight Egyptian pedigrees, mostly through either *Jamilll or through Saemah, who was such a wonderful broodmare for Peter Gross and appears in the pedigree of Al Ayad, the sire of *Al Ayal AA and *Baha AA, who both show his influence strongly.

Madkour I’s blood also returned to Marbach through his son Mahadin, whose son Naoufil is a chief sire there today. Madkour I also sired numerous wonderful horses in Germany that were not straight Egyptian, including a whole dynasty of champions for the Ismer Stud, where his blood still figures prominently today.

The farm’s current senior straight Egyptian sire, Saphir III, carries no less than 4 crosses to Madkour I and has given the stud many excellent broodmares.

Madkour I himself was not shown very often, but he was German National Champion Stallion in 1977 and in 1982. Other than that, he made a few appearances at the Asil Cup and as a V.I.P at the Egyptian Event Europe. He was awarded the Elite title by the German registry not for being a champion, but for his achievements as a sire. As a mature horse, he was every inch a stallion, and his significance as a breeding horse stands uncontested.

He was never sold or even leased, remaining at the Ismer Stud his entire life. When he died at the age of 26, he was buried on the premises. The gravestone with his name on it can be seen next to the path behind the stables, bearing silent witness to his importance for the stud. Whenever I walk past it, I think of the little white colt I first saw up in the field by the road, and that my friends laughed at the idea that this was to be a valuable breeding stallion. They never knew how wrong they were. So be careful what you say about a prince in waiting, because one day, he may turn out to be a king.

Madkour I’s gravestone at the Ismer Stud.

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