Silver Zenif's exciting 2013 by Rachael Claridge
2013 has been a very busy and exciting year for Phoenix Field Arabian Stud's Silver Zenif my 100% Crabbet Arabian stallion by Lutfi Pasha out ofImperial Silver Lace. Our season was slightly delayed due to the adverse weather conditions which plagued the country in March and an outbreak of EHV within Beaufort Hunt country during April. However in May, Zenif came straight out onto the in hand show circuit and qualified at the Wales and West Arab Show for the Crabbet Championships at his first attempt. This set the scene for the rest of the season; i.e. getting to Malvern for the Crabbet Championships, something I have not done before and a venue I’d not visited since I was a girl some 20 years ago! Therefore our training, preparation and presentation had to be taken up a few notches which we achieved with the help of my sponsors Ariat Europe and The Arabian Emporium. Our second aim for 2013 was to re-start Zenif’s ridden career after I backed him myself in 2011. Howeverseveral family weddings during 2012, including my own, meant my horses were put on the back burner for a year. Zenif’s success continued into June when he became the proud sire of his first part-bred bay filly foal Golden Zarifah (aka Zarah) out of Mrs Katie Doyle owned by advanced endurance rider Sally Milverton from Somerset . Zarah was born slightly too close to the Hartpury BEF futurity grading of young endurance horses to enter. Hopefully Sally will take Zarah this year following Zenif’s success in 2010, where he scored 8.75 as a 3yr old and was awarded a higher premium score, ranking him 2nd nationally for endurance young stock. The summer continued with July being a very busy month initially with the World Crabbet Convention at Addington Manor followed by the National Arab Show at Malvern.
On Saturday 20th July Silver Zenif and I took part in ‘The Horses Parades’ within the Hanif family group. The parade was the centre piece of the Crabbet Convention with the committee taking a great amount of care to present today’s descendants of those Arabian horses imported and bred by the Crabbet Stud.The end result was nearly 100 horses shown in family groups interspersed with displays by top performance horses in ridden showing, dressage, endurance, show jumping and western. The family groups were arranged according to key foundation mares of the Crabbet breeding programme. With four main sections arranged around the mares Dajania, Queen of Sheba, Rodania and Sobha who were all imported by the Blunts, founders of the Crabbet Stud, in the late 1800s. Each section was then subdivided into groups descended from major influences within that. The parade was an amazing event to be part of and to also watch from the viewing gallery at the beautiful venue on a fabulous summer’s day. We met several old friends and made many new ones from across the globe and hopefully Zenif attracted the eye of many future 'ladies' . A commemorative book and DVD have been produced by the Crabbet Organisation committee and all participants received a beautiful stable plaque to mark the special occasion.
I then attended The Crabbet Convention Conference on Sunday 21st July which was an opportunity to talk and listen to some of the world’s most prominent experts, including Michael Bowling, Peter Upton, Alexia Ross, Jennifer Hawkins and Betty Finke. I could have listened to Peter Upton all day on ‘The beginning of the Crabbet Arabian Stud’. Peter’s account of how the Crabbet’s arrived in Europe was fascinating and it was lovely to know I owned a 100% of my own with Zenif. Michael Bowling’s presentation on Genetics was very interesting indeed with discussions surrounding Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID ),Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA) and Lavender Foal Syndrome (LFS) from the audience which consisted of large and small Arabian studs from across the globe, thankfully for my own peace of mind Zenif is clear of all three genetic conditions. After a superb lunch Jennifer Hawkins from Shahwanpark Arabians, New South Wales gave a presentation on her stud in Austrialia, how to market your horses for performance or pleasure and also what impact the geographical environment has on your breeding programme. Alexia Ross then gave a detailed account of “The Shrinking Gene Pool” with particular emphasis on the bay Crabbets which she and the Gadebrook stud have had recent success, (Kaalif is Zenif's nephew). Betty Finke then offered a fascinating slide show on the ‘Crabbet Influence in Europe ’. Betty’s knowledge of the bloodlines and performance successes of the mares, stallions and geldings from each European country was amazing and it was fabulous to celebrate the diversity of the Crabbet breed across all equestrian disciplines through pure, part and anglo descendents and hopefully many more to follow in future years. The convention was then brought to a close with stud presentations and an opportunity to ask questions of the Panel of Guest Speakers.
After such an amazing weekend I was then into the throws of moving house and also preparing for the National Arab show. Friday 26th July was such a hot day at Malvern but was incredibly fruitful with Zenif being placed 5th in the National In-hand Crabbet Stallion Championships and he also took home the special award for being the highest placed 100% Crabbet Stallion. I was so proud of Zenif because it was such a prestigious event to attend and being placed so highly showed great potential against the more mature stallions in the group, roll on 2014!
August saw Zenif and I return to school under the fantastic guidance and mentoring of Intelligent Horsemanship practicioners Adam Goodfellow and Nicole Golding who are based near Cirencester. Adam and Nicole gave me the confidence to continue with my training of Zenif alone and to aim for a pleasure ride by the end of the Endurance GB Season. Adam and Nicole gave me a few more tools and techniques to use with a young stallion/horse to allow me to confidently ride him out alone around Badminton, which is predominantly full of bay hunters or polo ponies so we are quite distinctive! The rest of the summer and autumn was spent practicing our new skills and building up our partnership which has been developing over the past 6 years. Then on 8th December Zenif and I travelled to Barbury Castle for a 16km Christmas pleasure ride with the Cotswold Branch of Endurance GB, escorted by my FEI 2* Egyptian Maarhabi (R Ali Bey/Maarlene) ridden by my crew Leah Tuck. Both horses (and riders) had a fabulous ride around the Ridgeway and it was great to take in the view because the last time I rode the route was during my 120km competition in August in the pouring rain! Organiser Jill Kent gave us all a mince pie and rosette after completing the course which involved open countryside, steep climbs, bridleways, kites and children at the Barbury Castle picnic area and the Point to Point Tannoy which boomed across the valley. Zenif was completely unphased by the whole experience and lead from the front because Maarhabi took advantage of his younger (and lighter) jockey and pretended he was still on his post-season vacation! 2014 will see Zenif start his novice career with Endurance GB and he will continue with his showing career now we are chasing the title of in-hand Crabbet stallion.