Historical Reference

Saafaddan

The first straight Egyptian stallion used at Walter Schimanski's Masada breeding program was Saafaddan. Saafaddan was by Faddan and out of Saaba. 

What was the objective of the Masada breeding program?   Some breeders have focused on creating the “perfect Arabian head”, or the “look at me” show attitude, or the “ideal tail carriage”.  Walter wanted to bring back the endurance horse of the Bedouin; an ideal most of us will unfortunately only read about but never have the opportunity to truly know.  Walter wanted first and foremost the old desert type Arabian with a ‘tent’ disposition.  Combined with this calm and sensible personality was a requirement for superior athletic ability, which translates into straight strong legs with dense strong bone and short cannons, sloping shoulder angles, short strong backs, deep heart girths, a desert type croup with the tail set right on top, a perfect equilateral triangle between point of hip, stifle and buttock, good withers, elegant long necks rising from the shoulder, a long mitbah, connecting the head and neck, and a clean throat latch.  Walter always felt getting a beautiful head and eye on the horse was the easy part, and the icing on the cake. 

Saafaddan was a rich mahogany bay straight Babson, Dahman-Shahwan in strain, but with many Saqlawi characteristics.  He was bred by another great breeder, Mrs. J.E. Ott, and was purchased from Bob Cowling. Saafaddan, under the capable hands of Linda Tellington-Jones, was a top endurance winners, before becoming herd sires for Walter Schimanski.  “He was magic when he moved, just like his sire,” recalls Walter.  “When Saafaddan put on a show, it would take your breath away.  He was not tall, not especially leggy, but perfectly balanced with an elegant neck that could move like a cobra.  He could have had a better eye (no horse is perfect after all) but what a wonderful angle to the croup and hip, and he moved like no other horse: elastic, elevated and with unbelievable suspension.”  Walter always describes Saafaddan as “very much the teenager all his life”.   Walter recalls that Saafaddan had a typical loving, tractable, gentle Babson disposition except when it came to his rival Lothar.  “Saafaddan used to spend a good deal of his time tearing down the fences between the stallion paddocks to decimate Lothar.  Strange to tell though, nothing bloody ever came to pass of their mixing.  This was probably because Lothar very sensibly decided to retreat into his stall and ‘leave the field’ to Saafaddan for grazing.  Fundamentally, Saafaddan was all show and didn’t have a mean bone in his body.” In the fall of 1976 Saafaddan had a bad case of colic that required surgery.  He never fully recovered. A few months later, in the midst of a terrible Illinois winter storm, Saafaddan coliced again.  “Poor sweet Saafaddan was in agony,” recalls close friend Don Austin. “ The vet couldn’t come so Walter headed out to get medicine.  While he was gone, Saafaddan died.”

Pedigree
Saafaddan	Faddan	Fadl	Ibn Rabdan
			Mahroussa
		Bint Saada	Ibn Samhan
			Saada
	Saaba	Fay-El-Dine	Fadl
			Bint Serra I
		Fa-Habba	Fadl
			Bint Bint Sabbah

Mahrus Egyptian Arabians
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Where  I 40, Rte 66, and Rte 93 cross

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