Here at Sax Arabians in the scenic countryside of Bavaria, we have been breeding Arabian horses since 1988. It has been a long time now, with incredible highlights as well as many highs and lows, which is normal when you breed and own horses. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you have a devastating loss.
Today, I like to begin with the oldest mare we have in our barn, Farids Mandolin. A daughter of Anaza el Farid (Ruminaja Ali x Bint Deena) daughter out of Madrigall (The Minstril x Esprit d’Asadd), she has had many beautiful foals. I think the most special one was Farida Bint Khidar (by Khidar), who was sold to Qatar. Farids Mandolin is now 30 years old, at home in our beautiful mare barn and enjoying her daily walk to the pasture. I must say, she still dances when she is walking and she stills shows power, and it’s so great to walk with her, seeing her in such a good mood!
The next mare to mention is the one and only Essteema, the first female Triple Crown Winner in history. In 1999, as a yearling Essteema, with Johanna Ullström, won all the big shows such as the Wels A Show in Austria, the UK International A Show at Towerlands in the UK, the European Championship Verona, Italy, the All Nations’ Cup Aachen, Germany and then the World Championship in Paris, France. Essteema is now 26 years old, and she enjoys her daily time in the pastures and the care of all of us. She still has a special, very close friendship with Reinhard.
Reinhard and Esstema. Credit Melanie Groger
For those new to the Arabian world, Essteema was a daughter of Triple Crown Winner Essteem (Fame VF x Espressa) and out of Menascha (Menes x Nascha). We still have two daughters of her with us, German National Gold Champion mare Esskhija Bint Essteema (by Khidar) and the three-year-old Essteea Bint Essteema sired by our homebred stallion Lamandro (EKS Alihandro x Lamana).
We have bred Esskhija Bint Essteema to AJ Yas, a son of AJ Mardan (Vervaldee x Felicia RCA) and out of our mare Al Amrya (BJ Thee Mustafa x Krushinka). The Ajman Stud leased Al Amrya for two years and the results were AJ Yas and the filly AJ Tiran (AJ Mardan x Amyra Bint Khidar). AJ Yas was born at our farm and as a weanling, he went to Frank Spönle’s farm where he is still standing and breeding some excellent youngsters!
Jamaal Ibn Esskhija
The cross of Esskhija Bint Essteema and AJ Yas resulted in a beautiful grey colt born in 2024. We named him Jamaal Ibn Esskhija, and he is very special. He is very fine and elegant, and we are extremely proud of him. It is a fantastic cross and we are very happy that we could combine the blood of Al Amrya with the bloodline of our Triple Crown winner, Essteema!
This year we have sold two black full sisters, the yearling Mayassa and two-year-old Marinca, both by AJ Yas and out of Marnica (Martice x Marni) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Staying at home, we have the black yearling colt, Elyas (by AJ Yas). He is out of Elara Bint Esskhija (ex Esskhija Bint Essteema) and carries the bloodline of our wonderful stallion, Marshan (Meshan Ibn Kubinec x Marni). Elyas is another fantastic generation for our future breeding programme.
In recent years, our favourite stallions we used were our homebred stallions Lamandro and Marshan. Tragically, we lost Marshan in an accident on 24 January. We leased his son, Elshaan (ex Elena Bint Europe), to Białka Stud in Poland for one season. They also showed him, and Elshaan took the title of Best in Show Male at the Białka Classic Show. We are very happy that Elshaan had the chance to breed to over 15 mares, and we hope Bialka Stud will be more than proud and happy about his foals next year when they arrive!
Elshaan in Poland. Credit Ewa Imielska-Hebda Photography
We have a small amount of frozen semen left from Khidar (Ansata Sinan x Elizja), so we tried to get our mare Alandra (Lamandro x Al Amyra) in foal to him once again. It worked, and we are very excited about our 2025 foal – hopefully another beautiful daughter! Last year, Alandra gave us Kane, a beautiful grey colt by Khidar.
Kane
At our farm, visitors will find around 10 outstanding daughters by our homebred stallion Lamandro. Then, we also have Elara Bint Esskhija, Marshani (ex Amyra Bint Khidar), and Marshanija (ex Lamandra) to represent the blood of Marshan, plus we have our stallion Elshaan to continue his line. We recently sold Aurelia Bint Marshan (Marshan x Esskhija Bint Essteema) to Syria, in foal to Lamandro.
Elara Bint Esskhija
Here at Sax Arabians, we are big fans of the homozygous black stallion LF Aarmaan Vittorio. He is a black stallion by the famous Magic Magnifique (True Colours x Magic Mon Amour) who goes back to our mare, Al Amrya. We like to breed LF Aarmaan Vittorio to our black mares, but we also bred Marshani to him. We are very thankful we did as in June, she gave us our absolute princess, a fantastic bay filly named Marhaani. Marhaani is the only filly born at our farm in 2024, as we had five colts, so we are very happy!
Marshani
At the moment, we have three full sisters by LF Aarmaan Vittorio out of Monira Bint Amir (Amir Ibn Al Amyra x Marakovka) – Aaitana, Monjaa and Aamona, plus the black colt Monaaco, born this year. Verah (Amir Ibn Al Amyra x Verena), Gazala al Amrya (Gazal al Shaqab x Al Amyra), Elara Bint Esskhija, Marnica, and Asia Bint Khidar (Khidar x Al Amyra) are all in foal to LF Aarmaan Vittorio for 2025. Meanwhile, the black mare Aamona is in foal to AJ Yas for 2025, as are Esskhija Bint Essteema and Miss Marenga (Psytadel x Marenga). We are very excited!
Monjaa
Marshanija
Since the Covid pandemic, we haven’t visited any shows. And, at the moment, we have no regular trainer at our farm as Simon Kelly concentrates his focus on his family and children. Things are changing.
So, while we have had a break and so many other things have happened, we hope to be back at the Aachen Show in 2025!
Asia Bint Khidar
Here at home, we enjoy our beautiful Arabian horses. We have a fantastic number of mares to breed with and many, amazing, beautiful horses. So please don’t hesitate to contact us and come to visit us at our farm. Visitors are always most welcome by appointment or, if you can’t come to visit us, please just ask for some photographs or videos, and we will show you what we have in our green pastures.
Princess Marga (Lamandro x Princess Marenga). Credit Melanie Groger
Enjoy your Arabian horses! Hope to see you all soon somewhere!
Reinhard and Monika
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First published in The Arabian Breeders’ Magazine Volume VIII Special Edition.
