The Pyramid Society offers its condolences to Mary Ellen Chavez of Sonrisa Farms in Los Lunas, NM on the passing of her stallion Donatello KA (Makhnificent KA x DB Shahlaha) on Saturday, August 31st, 2013. The 2001 grey had a memorable show career, garnering top 10's at The Egyptian Event, a Class A Championship, a Reserve Champion World Class Stallion, and ranking in 2009 as a leading Straight Egyptian Sire of halter winners. Donatello began his breeding career in 2004 and was also a proud Pyramid Society EBC Stallion.

"The day I met Donatello for the first time, the course of my life was altered, even though at that moment I didn't realize it," writes Mary Ellen, "With my 18-month-old son on my hip, I arrived at Kehilan Arabians and instantly found not only the breathtaking white stallion I had dreamed of, but also some of the greatest people I have ever met. Becky, Janice, Nancy, Herb and Jean took me into their family, and I will be forever thankful to them." Mary Ellen reports that Donatello colicked late on the last Saturday in August.

While there is rarely a happy ending when we lose our closest companions, The Pyramid Society caught wind of a beautiful story of friendship and support which emerged from Donatello's passing. The day before he died, artist Paola Marinangeli released a portrait of Donatello, which was noticed by fellow New Mexico breeder and member Brenda Dumas of Rose of Cario Arabians in Peralta. Brenda, upon learning Donatello had died, rallied the support of other breeders, friends, family and Pyramid Society members to purchase this painting for Mary Ellen, in memory and honor of her stallion. "I was overwhelmed at the love and caring that all of these people selflessly came together to express for me as well as for Donatello," writes Mary Ellen, "I cherish the people and relationships I've made through these incredible Straight Egyptian horses. I am still overwhelmed with emotion and appreciation to everyone for their outpouring of love."

While nothing can replace the horses we have loved and lost, we continue to be amazed at the care and camaraderie of our membership, embodying the true familial spirit of the Straight Egyptian horse.

"Two horses from our program won championship titles," states Tzviah, "Our 2010 colt, Atiq Abir (Nader Al Jamal x Atiq Ayla), won the Silver Medal in the Colts section, and the 2012 filly Malikah AA, sired by Laheeb and out of our Atiq Adara (Al Ayad x Alhambra B), owned by Ariela Arabians, won the Bronze Medal in the Yearling Fillies section." It was the first time either horse was ever shown.

Idan Atiq Arabian Stud owners Tzviah Idan and Kuti Aharon were also thrilled to host Marion Richmond of Simeon Stud (Australia) this week while she visited Israel with her family. "We spent an awesome day together evaluating horses from our program, which are closely related to Simeon foundation mare 27 Ibn Galal V, and we also visited parts of Israel that most tourists never get to see." Later in the day, Tzviah, Kuti, and Marion were welcomed to Ariela Arabians, where they were also treated to a horse presentation.

"We have a great group here in New Mexico: Brenda Dumas (Rose of Cairo Arabians), Jake Gutierrez (Wildwood Farms) and Cynthia Culbertson (El Miladi) were all instrumental in helping make this a success," she writes, "We introduced our beautiful horses to a lot of people." Mary Ellen, Cynthia, Brenda, and Jake each had a few words to say about Straight Egyptians to the crowd, who then had an opportunity to spend an hour with Sonrisa's Conntessa KA and the 28-year-young SW Fa Anna, who Mary Ellen reports was wonderful about letting the children hug on her and feed her treats.

Are you sharing your Straight Egyptians with your community? LET US KNOW!

The farms in the write-up included Coyaba Farms (Chattanooga, TN), Maiden Chase Arabians (McDonald, TN), Misty Valley Arabians (Chickamauga, GA), and Paradise Arabians (Lafayette, GA). In addition to a short-but-enticing historical account of the breed, each farm shared their own interest in the Egyptian horse, along with photos and invitations for others in the area to get involved.

The Pyramid Society applauds and supports the community outreach efforts of its membership. Thank you for carrying out our shared mission by continually promoting the Egyptian Arabian horse.

THE FULL ARTICLE MAY BE FOUND BY USING THE LINKS BELOW!

"Our 2012 Egyptian Event Class Champion, Amer Shahed, along with Al Aassifah, who is both a 2012 EE Top 5 and a son of the World Champion stallion, Imperial Baarez, provide breeders of any size with access to exceptional sires who are both producing show quality foals."

Representing the blooodlines of Ansata in the SE Legacy program is IH Safeer, who is on lease to Charles and Carey Niman for the 2014 breeding season. For breeding fees and additional information, and to see SE Legacy's brand new website, vistwww.selegacy.com. Also, keep an eye on The Pyramid Society's Stallions at Stud for new profiles coming soon for Al Aassifah and IH Safeer!

The clinic, held in August, enabled attendees to experience Tommy's common-sense training techniques and also helped the Kenworthy family showcase the incredible Scapa! Gary says, "Everyone knows that Scapa is an incredibly beautiful stallion that produces superior-quality foals. After all, he was second (by a significant margin) on the Leading Sires list at this year's Egyptian Event. It is impressive by anyone's standard, but when you consider he held that distinction in three categories: by points, by number of winners, and also in the combined category of halter and performance sires... that's powerful! What everyone doesn't know is that they may be seeing Scapa in the show ring again, under saddle! We'll see. Given what he has accomplished with Tommy, and his love affair with Amy Simpkins, that might be a good bet!" To see Scapa and Tommy at work, click the "keep reading" link below and look for the video clip on the sidebar! 

2013 has been a great year for Fertile Crescent, with the arrival of a beautiful grey filly by Thee Desperado out of the Pope's mare, Amal Magidaa LDA. "Arabians, Ltd. helped us with this special ET foal which allowed us to continue dressage training with Caspian eQuest in Wylie, Texas."