Introducing new blogger: Jean-Claude Rajot
This morning I was talking to Jean-Claude Rajot over the phone and I asked him if he would agree to write on Daughter of the Wind. I didn’t think he would, but I still asked. He agreed. And I am happy he did.
Jean-Claude, a French breeder of Arabian horses, is the president of USCAR (Union pour la Sauvergarde du Cheval Arabe). USCAR is a grassroots preservationnist organization of the old kind (the good kind), in many ways the French version of the US-based Al Khamsa.
Jean-Claude was also a disciple and one of the closest people to master breeder Robert Mauvy, during the last 11 years of Mauvy’s life. Mauvy called Jean-Claude “mon fils” (‘son’). Jean-Claude and friend Louis Bauduin, USCAR’s vice-president, owned several of Mauvy’s horses. Their offspring now constitute the nucleus of their breeding programs.
Mauvy’s teachings have had a most profound influence on me. His small book “Le Cheval Arabe” is my Arabian horse Bible since I was ten. One of the book’s photos features the stallion Cherif (by Saadi x Zarifa, by Matuvu), bred by Mauvy in 1967. A chapter of the book is dedicated to the nursing of Hamada (by Irmak x Shawania by Amri), a favorite of Mauvy, also bred by him in 1979. Do you know that feeling you have when, after looking at a horse’s photo in a picture or reading about him for years and thinking that the horse is more myth than reality, you finally get to see that horse one day? That’s what it felt like when Jean-Claude and Louis Bauduin took me too see Cherif (then 28 years old) and Hamada in 1995, in Bauduin’s farm near Nemours.
When I talk to Jean-Claude, it feels as if the memory of Mauvy and the majestic horses from another era that Mauvy knew and cherished (Dahman, b. 1900; Enwer, b. 1905; El Sbaa, b. 1920, etc) comes alive again. Jean-Claude has a special gift for keeping that knowledge alive and transmitting it. I am glad he will be doing this on this blog.
Jean-Claude will be writing in French, and I will be translating excerpts from his posts to English from time to time. In the meantime, here is a picture of him riding Murad Haouda (Cherif x Hamada), a Shuaymah Sabbahiyah tracing to the desert-bred mare Cherifa, purchased by a French government mission from the Sba’ah in 1869.
Welcome to our group we are always in need of people with your kind of experience.
Bienvenue dans notre groupe ,nous avons toujours besoin de gens de votre experience.
J’ai recu,il ya quelque temps, de M.di Francesco la communication suivante;
” .D’ailleur Mr. Mauvy, que vous semblez admirer a eu recours par 2 fois à Ba-Toustem, et pire encore à St Laurent.Insinuriez-vous que Mr.Mauvy aurait eu la tentation ” d’améliorer” sa jumenterie en utilisant des étalons ,qui d’après vous étaient notoirement connus pour avoir été , alors qu’il avait la possibilité d’aller à Irmak, Ourour, Sumeyr ou Iricho?”
Je vous prie de repondre publiquement a M.di Francesco.
I received,sometimes ago, from M.di Francesco the following mail concerning the late Robert Mauvy.
M.di Francesco claims that Mauvy used twice Ba Toustem and worth Saint Laurent on his mares.M.di Francesco is asking why did he used them while he could have used:Irmak.Sumeyr or Iricho? I asked M.Rajot to answer.
Edouard is the traduction ok?
A ma connaissance, Irmak, Sumeyr et Iricho n’etaient pas encore en France quand Mauvy a eu recours a Saint Laurent et Ba-Toustem. Ils etaient encore en Tunisie. Et Mr. Mauvy s’est rapidement separe des produits de Saint Laurent (Mimounia, de Zarifa) et Ba-Toustem (Mouradallah, de Aouda el Habiba, et Mahabba, de Zarifa).
Je pense que je dois aller lui rendre une petite visite! peux etre ce WE!
Edouard as tu ces coordonnées, merci!
Le me get you his address tonight, Clothilde. You should certainly visit him and take a lot of pictures.
I will be in Belgium and France starting Nov 21, Clo, if you go around the salon du cheval time, I would love to go with you!
Lost my e-mail addresses in computer crash, send me an e-mail.
Not sure I can drag my other French friends to too many horse things…
Christine
Christine