Photos of the day: Burgas, Taleb

“Excellent horse, but his grey color makes him unusable”. So the French government, prompted by the cavalry’s dislike of the color grey, sold the stallion Burgas to Poland in 1923, without using him.  

Burgas, a Saqlawi Jadran by a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, born in 1907, was one of 20 Arabian stallions imported to France in 1914, just before World World One. Of these, ‘Adwan, Ghoumar, Madfah, Nazim, Taleb, and Burgas went to the stallion depot of Pau, in southern France. Below are pictures of the last two. 

The sale of Burgas was a obviously a mistake, since he went on to sire Federacja for the Poles. She was the dam of Witez II. 

Taleb, a Ma’naghi Sbayli, sired the stallion Rabat, who is the represented in the pedigree of the handsome stallion Nichem

5 Replies to “Photos of the day: Burgas, Taleb”

  1. Gosh, when I was a little child, I found a copy of the book: And Miles to Go by Linell Smith. I loved this book and for a child, living in a city-ish area, this book was the closest I could get to horses and specifically, Arabian Horses. If I can underscore what Edouard has written, because I think Witez II is significant in our breed, as we already know that Burgas sired his dam, the mare Federacja but Witez II was also a son of Ofir, who was a son of Kuhailan Haifi, an Asil stallion. Witez II had a very high percentage of Asil lines!!! Witez II became a very important sire in America, siring many influential horses in the blood group we call “domestic”. In my own life, later on, when I was a teenager and my family had moved to a suburban area, I met a stallion by the name of Maratez, a grandson of Witez II. While many of the people who frequent this blog may not care about a non-asil stallion named Maratez, he came at a time in my life, when I was able to connect everything I read on paper, with the living, breathing, real life Arabian Horse. Meeting Maratez remains a pivotal moment in my life, as I knew, in that moment, which breed of horse I wanted in my life. So, I am very grateful for this horse, Burgas and for Federacja, Witez II and of course, Maratez. I am not sure if anyone cares about this but when I read this article this morning, it brought me back to a long ago place. I wish I could transfer the mental image that I see in my mind’s eye, when I think of Maratez.

  2. I owned, trained and showed Maratez and still have Witez 11 bloodlines. I am so happy that you were so impressed with him and to know his heart was the best of all.
    sandie cafritz

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