Simeon Shamai

 This is Simeon Shamai the first time we saw him at a private viewing of the 2004 foal crop at Simeon... it was the first time I had taken Roy to Simeon and it was an eye-opener for him, he commented on the obvious quality around him "These horses are a world apart!", he recognised the king, Asfour, as being some blessed creature with an old soul... he loved Bay Shahh's huge kind eyes...

When Shamai was let loose, Roy turned to me and said before I could get a word out edgeways (a very rare occurrence!) "This is our sort of horse, Kate! I would love to show jump him!"

I agreed... "Isn't he just smashing! You could do anything you liked on him!"

We then went on to recognise how he had exactly the features our mares needed and also complimented their strengths... his eyes were sparky and full of intelligence, we both saw he also had the temperament we liked - he would be someone's best mate given the chance, just the sort of horse you want to spend hours in the saddle of!

Marion saw how strongly Shamai affected us and she took a gamble on us that day that we look forward to fulfilling... Shamai came home to Zadahan to grow and mature and to enjoy being a baby while he can...

 

When he is grown, he will fly the flag for Simeon and for Zadahan and for the performance abilities of Straight Egyptians...

 

 Shamai has a pretty face with beautiful big eyes, full of friendly mischief! He shows beautiful width between his eyes and his muzzle is sculptured and expressive...

Shamai shows a good length of neck, set well into his shoulders, he has lovely withers and long shoulder blades with an ideal 45 degree angle to the humerus, his elbows are free of his body... these add up to his lift and reach!

He has lovely long forearms, big knees and joints, excellent legs - showing bone that is fine and bladed but substantial enough for a colt of his size, we expect he will mature at 15.2hh...

Shamai's feet are simply excellent - very very sound and balanced, they wear evenly...

Overall, he is also a compact horse - we hope as he matures he will remain "on the square" as it is another thing we are fussy about - Arabs should not be "family" horses (as in fit all the family on their backs!)... he is lovely and smooth over the topline too, something we needed to address with our foundation lines...

His hindquarter is smooth and correct - his tail is set level with his back, not the point of the coup and his topline is "comparitively level" as the standard says, not totally flat. His gaskins are long and his hocks well let down, his stifles clear his body and allow him to get under himself...

 

Simeon Shamai is a very balanced individual, not extreme but very correct and built to be a Rolls Royce ride... we can't wait to see what he can produce from our lovely mares!

It was right about now our jaws hit the floor and Roy and I both fell silent and enjoyed the show...

Shamai proceeded to dance around the arena, barely touching the ground, silver tail bannering proudly behind him...

He waved his head from side to side as if to say "Are you watching me? Aren't I beautiful?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

He didn't need any chasing either, he was very happy to be free to show off!

 

I did manage to focus enough to "study" how he moved as movement is a huge priority for our breeding programme... we already knew we liked Shamai's type and loved his pedigree but this was his biggest test - if he could move, really move, then we would bring him home to Zadahan.

When it comes to movement, bloodlines and boundaries such as Crabbet, Russian, Egyptian, Polish, Spanish etc etc all of them fade, they become obsolete... either the horse moves as well as any horse can or it doesn't!

Shamai literally gave me goosebumps when, after playing around and dancing lightly for a while, he then showed us his power-trot...

It was awesome! He had lift, fore and aft, he had tremendous drive through from behind, tracking up as a saddle horse should! Good overstep... good use of all joints and the reach was superb!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Wentworth said that at full extention viewed side-on, the good-moving Arabian's forefoot would project past the muzzle, preferably to the fetlock joint... and the distance between the forefeet and the hindfeet, viewed from the side, should be equal to give proper balance...

i.e. reach=drive.

I must say, I did get a big surprise when he trotted straight up the arena at us, totally flying... his forelegs were travelling dead straight! This I hadn't expected, I was looking for as close as I could get and definitely for no interference... but to be so straight at this speed!

Roy and I locked eyes and exchanged a whole coversation without uttering a single word!

For me, seeing Roy (whose background is in performance horses) so certain in his admiration for this horse was icing on the cake... I didn't have to argue why we should have him, Roy was every bit as hooked as I was!

 

We walked away reluctantly that day... we couldn't take our eyes off him, we wanted to take him straight home but we told ourselves to be sensible and to talk it over, pros and cons etc... we didn't really need another entire when our darling Khalil was under-used!

All well and good in principle... but we both wanted to grab him lest Marion change her mind!

But, Shamai himself must've known his destiny lay with us... when it came time to catch him and put him away again, he came straight to me (to investigate my camera, which made very interesting noises!) and introduced himself... he was taking no chances it seems and it worked!

We have been very blessed that the horse that captured our hearts also satisfies our minds!

Shamai is such a personality... he has a mischevious streak and a sense of humour - he loves to play and that includes with us... if we can allow him expression of self and teach him discipline, the sky is the limit for this young fella...

We love him!

Shamai's first run at home...

The day he arrived!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Simeon Shamai - 15 months old

These three photos are of our lad still in last year's winter woollies but they show how fast he grew in six short months! 

They show his natural beauty too... and his likeness to his great grandfather Simeon Shai...