The program begins with Estopa (Tabal x Uqaima). She was born in 1965. Her breeder was D. Miguel Osuna Escaleria, Spain. When Heinz-Rüdiger and Sigrid Merz bought the light grey mare in 1970, she never had a foal, but her pedigree was excellent and Estopa was exported to Germany.  Here entry into the country was without fanfare.  Estopa stood in a small riding barn in Berlin, where Heinz-Rüdiger Merz studied economics. Later he and his wife founded the well-known stud farm Om El Arab, located in the Black Forrest.  Estopa then became Om el Arab’s foundation mare.

She and her offspring became most important for the farms breeding program. The cross with the Morafic-son Shaker El Masri was most successful. It was a “golden cross” and it marked a new age in Arabian Horse breeding.  From that cross, the Spanish-Egyptian-cross became famous worldwide! Some of Estopas most successful foals are:

Estasha – multi-champion mare and dam of champions, i.e. El Masra (European- and World-Champion-Mare1980 and World-Champion-Mare-Reserve 1989) and Bint Estasha (World-Champion-Mare 1989)
Estawa – i.e. European-Champion-Mare. She died early and left just two foals: Bint El Shaklan (World-Junioren-Champion-Filly-Reserve 1981) and Bint Estawa, dam of numerous international champions.
El Shaklan - Multi-Champion, i.e. European-Junior-Champion, World-Junior-Champion, European-Senior-Champion, World-Senior-Champion-Reserve, U.S. Top Ten. One of the leading sires in Arabian Horse breed-ing.
Ibn Estopa - Multi-Champion, winner of the elder stallions at stallion licensing in  Germany 1981, Spanish National Junior Champion, World-Senior-Champion, sire of champions, i.e. Gazal Ibn Estopa (German Na-tional Champion)
Estara - German National-Champion Mare and dam  of champions
Estopa Son (by El Shaklan) – German National Champion 1989

This is just a brief list. You can write pages about this winning family!
Did  Sigrid and Heinz-Rüdiger Merz except such a success when they bought Estopa in summer 1970? However, Es-topa and her foals won everything in Europa in the seventies and eighties. Europe became too small, so the Merz’ de-cided to go with some of their horses to USA. In 1982 and 1983 Estopa and several of her offspring, including El Shaklan, were exported to California. And they were still succesful!
Because of private circumstances the stock were divided. Sigrid Merz, now better know as Sigi Constanti, stayed in California. While Heinz-Rüdiger Merz returned to Germany and is still breeding Arabian horses – still from the Estopa line.  Estopa herself stayed in sunny California were she died in 1993.

When Hans-Joachim Nagel saw the little bay filly Hanan (Alaa el Din x Mona) at the Egyptian state stud El Zahraa in 1967 it was love at the frst sight. She became the foundation mare of his breeding program in Germany. Just a few mares gave birth to such international influential horses like Hanan.  Although Hanan’s foals were not shown their impact for the Arabian Horse breeding is incredible:

Ibn Galal I (by Ibn Galal) – he was sire at the Hungarian state stud Babolna. Ibn Galal I sired mares like 214 Ibn Galal I  and 223 Ibn Galal I (dam of Internaional champion mare Elf Layla Walayla).
Jamil (by Madkour I) - U.S. Top Ten, sire of numerous champions like Ibn Jamil, Ansata Nile Pasha, BKA Damilll, Ansata Haji Jamil, Vision, Nahbay, Delta Venus, Imperial Mistilll, Tiffaha, and Ansata Samaria.
Asfour (by Malik) – who was sold to Australia as a colt. At the 5th continent Asfour is well-known as a sire of typey champions like Simeon Sadik (Australian National Champion) now in England.
Salaa el Dine (by Ansata Halim Shah) – sire of champions, like. Adnan, Alaa Al Din, Crusader, Shahin, Sinus, Senador, Safir
Hanan produced several beautiful mares, too. Her most influential daughter was Ghazalah (Ghazal) dam of Afifa, Ai-sha, Ibn Nejdy.

Hanan was just 19 when she gave birth to her last foal: Salaa el Dine. He is known as one of the leading sires in Straight Egyptian breeding. Dr. Nagel allowed is beloved mare to rest. She was the queen at his stud farm Katharinenhof till her death in 1994.

Madinah (Ibn Galal x Mona II) is another mare  descending from Straight Egyptian lines. She was born in 1978. Ruth and Professor Siegfried Paufler bought her as a weanling filly from her breeder Dr. Hans-Jörg Tauschke. The Paufler’s never had a stud farm, they just owned one or two mares in a small stable (a former garage) near their house. Madinah was a stroke of luck for them, giving the Paufler’s several foals of high quality.
Her first baby was El Moniet (by Mohafez), a chestnut colt and just the first of many successful ones. El Moniet re-ceived a 1st prize at the stallion licensing test in 1985. One year later he won the stallion performance test. Another well-known son is the black Madallan-Madheen (by Ansata El Salaam). He got a gold ribbon at the Arab Horse Soci-ety’s offical stallion show. Due to an accident, to his front legs, Madallan-Madheen is still unshown.
The combination with Messaoud was especially successful. Madinah gave birth to  five foals by Messaoud. Her best daughter is Mesoudah-M, a champion mare herself and dam of international champions like Midoun El Madheen (Ger-man National Champion Res. in 1999), Maydan-Madheen (Senior Champion European Egyptian Event), Madheen Shah, Mutair HP and Mishaal HP (all three won championships on international shows).
Internationally well-known is Madinah’s son Imperial Madheen. As a foal he was named “Madhin”. The Paufler’s shown him at a regional show, when he was only a few weeks old. He was charming, he was elegant and the judges gave him the foal championship as a very promising colt. But the German breeders never got a chance to try  “Mad-hin’s” qualities, because he had caught the U.S. breeder, Barbara Griffith’s eyes. She imported him and gave him a new name: Imperial Madheen, known as a sire of typey show champions in different countries.
Madinah felt happy until her early death. In autumn 1996 as the result of colic set her life to an end.

Neschi (Kilimandscharo x Nevada) represents the Russian lines. The chestnut mare was born in 1974, her breeder was Sylvia Garde-Ehlert, a well-known international judge. Neschi was the first foal out of Nevada (Aswan x Naina), a mare imported form Russian state stud farm Tersk and a former of a successful family of show champions.
Neschi was shown at the WAHO-show in Hamburg in 1978 and at the National show in Aachen in 1980. Both times she was named Best Mare in Show.
Her offspring by Russian bred Neman (Nabeg x Nega by Aswan) were of superb quality. Her son Neschnij, born in 1987, won his class as a 4 years old at the National Show in Aachen. After that he was exported via USA, were he stood at well-known farm like Aries, Karho and Sandspurt. Again Neschnij was successful at shows, i.e. he was Top Ten at Scottsdale. He is now an appreciated sire in Brazil.
The 1986 born Negresco was also a promising colt. He was just two years old when he won every championship in Europe a young colt could win. He left just one age-class. Negresco had been kidnapped. The newspapers wrote about the kidnapping of the famous and valuable colt, but nothing helped. The kidnapper killed Negresco just several hundred meters from his stud farm.
But Neschi gave birth to another bay colt by Neman – Nadir I. He was as successful as his full brother – and is alive today. In 1990 he was exported via France. The Calvet family bought him for their Shamila Stud. Nadir I was not only successful as a youngster, but as a senior stallion, too, winning the World Championship for the Calvet family.
Two years ago Nadir I returned to Germany, winning the National Championship. Reinhard Sax, a well-known breeder of Straight Russian Arabians in Southern Germany, saw Nadir I and bought him for his excellent mare band.
Neschis female line is reprensented through her daughters Nenija and Nascha, both by Neman, both champion mares. They produced best with Menes (Nabeg x Metropolia). One example is Merana (Menes x Nascha) * 1989, a champion mare in Baden-Baden, Babenhausen and Moos (German international shows). Another beautiful mare out of this family is the fleabitten grey Naravna (by Narav Ibn Aswan), who was German National Champion Mare in 1998.

From the oldest female line in Europe – the line of Murana I (1816) – two mares were named „Elite Mares”: Sahmet (Hadban Enzahi x Jatta) and Shiwa (Ghazal x Shari).

Sahmet was born in 1957 at the Haupt- und Landgestüt Marbach. She was known as one of  Hadban Enzahi’s most beautiful daughters. Her son Sindbad (by Hadban Enzahi) was exported via Australia, were he sired champions foals.
Another son by Ghazal was chief stallion Marbach – Saher. He was known for typey riding horses with excellent char-acters. Saher himself was schooled in dressage on a high level.
Saher left a lot of elegant daughters in Marbach and some well-known sons like Dschunaid, Harik, Sabek Ibn Saher or Mardschan.  Dschunaid won the stallion licensing as a three years old.  Harik and Sabek Ibn Saher got a premium at the stallion licensing and were successful at shows and under saddle. Mardschan seems to be one of the best Saher sons. He is trained on high dressage level, he is a multi show champion and sired well-known horses for show and riding, too.
The female line of Sahmet is very small, she left only one filly: Sandara by Gharib. Last year Sandaras daughter Salua (by Nasrodin) won several championships in Germany. She is a typical mare of this line: Feminine, elegant, good sub-stance and good movements.

Shiwa is a great grandchild of Jatta, born in 1971 at the stud farm of  Rolf Ismer, Germanys biggest private stud farm with about 200 horses. Together with Madkour I Shiwa gave birth to five outstanding foals: Mashour, Madour, Mashoura, Ma Chere and Madoura. Each one an international champion!
Mashour was especially well-known in Europe for his elegance and type. He looked very much like famous Ghazal (Nazeer x Bukra), his maternal grandsire. 
Mashour was just nine month old when he won the European Junior Championship. He was then a light grey colt, ex-tremely elegant. This was just the starting point for his show career. Maybe 1991 was “Mashour’s year”. He was presented at several shows, earning standing ovations every time shown. He collected a lot championships and blue rib-bons, such as: Platin Cup, German National Senior Stallion, European Champion  and World Champion Reserve.
Mashour and his siblings left elegant horses with a nice disposition, well-known for riding. A good example his Mashours daughter Mahari who won a lot of competitions under western saddle.
 

Susanne Boesche