Mood:
incredulousNow Playing: A Piece of my heart returns home.........
Topic: Reunited
In 1995 I made the decision to begin breeding Arabians- specifically black ones. I began a search for breeding stock and soon realized that prices for adult horses was way out of my range. This led to a well known ranch in South Dakota called Ara Shep Acres owned by Ingvall and Joann Jensen and managed by June Greenwood.
June sent me a package of information on their available colts and though it was a difficult decision I chose Pharoah. I made arrangements to purchase and ship to NY at weaning.
When he arrived the shipper told me that Pharoah was one of the easiest horses he had ever trailered- adult or youngster. He really liked Pharoah and called him "sensible and smart". These are traits he continues to exhibit to this day- sixteen years later.
I did quite a bit with Pharoah as a young horse. He had a very "hands on" upbringing which I feel has a lot to do with how easy he is to handle now. Pharoah really has a puppy dog disposition and most of his foals inherit it. Pharoah is most definitely a pleaser and goes out of his way to comply with whatever is asked of him. He has never had a moment of mistreatment or man handling his entire life.
After years of breeding him (locals LOVED his babies and he has many Half Arab's out there that are treasured family horses) and showing him I made the mistake (at my ex husbands persistent urging) to sell Pharoah and my other foundation stock and pursue a more "show friendly/fancy pedigree" breeding program. Although it generated an immense amount of interest in the beginning- we had a couple of Magnum sons, a Khemo daughter, the great Black Stallion Colonel J- super star son of Aladdinn- I have come to learn these are not the kind of horses that a small breeder like myself can sucessfully market. At least not for the monies that they can command from the big, well financed and established farms. And they are not what the average horse owner is looking for at all.
The other problem was that I didn't LIKE many of them. I had become very used to sweet natured, laid back willing horses- sure they were "heavier" bodied and not quite exotic but they were what all the text books said an Arabian should be. And they all seemed to be much more difficult to train- and worse I had conformation faults showing up that were NOT acceptable.
So once again, two years ago when Colonel J passed over the Rainbow Bridge I decided I needed to return back to my original breeding program that had worked so well in the past.
The first horse I thought of was Pharoah- but he was unavailable. So I purchased an older stallion, Kuhailan Artex, from Wisconsin. He had many qualities I had been producing im my original program, a good pedigree, he has some of the smoothest gaits I ever seen in an Arabian, plus he had lots of type. It was a good choice as I am really impressed with his first foal crop!
Then, earlier this year, Pharoah's owner and I began some dialogue concerning Pharoah returning home to me. And yesterday it became a reality.
When we first arrived to pick him up, I called Pharoah's name and I swear he looked shocked. So I called him again. Then he came out of his run in with his ears pricked.
I continued to talk to him and went up to his paddock. He met me at the gate and we said "hello". His face was priceless- like he justr couldn't believe I was there. There was no doubt he knew exactly who I was, and was as pleased as I was.
We brought along his three year old daughter Amurrah for training. She and her sire rode home in our big trailer like troopers. Things were a little different since Pharoah had left six years earlier but he settled in nicely.
I look forward to many adventures with this magnificent horse and I have told him he can rest assured he is never leaving home again.
