Saving Gisela’s Bergman’s horses.
Gisela Bergman has been living in Tunisia and breeding Arabian horses from old Tunisian lines for more than three decades. She is one of the very last breeders of the Dolma Batche tail female in Tunisian breeding.
Gisela has recently had trouble feeding and taking care of her horses. She is elderly, suffers from arthritis, and lives on her own on farm in a remote area near the Tunisian-Algerian border. A number of her friends and supporters, some of them veterinarians led by Sofiene Ezzar, have set up a support group on Facebook, Tous Unis Pour Aider Gisela, and are doing the best they can, with limited means. The Facebook site has photos and a video which shows the condition of the horses (one photo below).. Things look pretty ugly.
If you can do(nate) anything for Gisela, her horses and her asil sloughis, or just want to express your moreal support to this “Lady of the Horses” please hop on this site, or give Gisela a call at: +216 212 92 350. You would need to keep trying, because the cell phone network is poor in that part of the country.. Anything you can do will help.
Over the past year and a half of doing the blog, I did not posted any “rescue” entries at all, despite the increasing number of Arabians horses starving and suffering for poor treatment in many areas of the world, including the USA, where there are rescue efforts all over the place, and where some people are turning the horses loose or selling them for meat due to the recession here.. But I felt the plight of Gisela and her horses deserved to be featured here.. thanks to Patrick for the info.
This is very disturbing. Is it not possible to purchase these horses from these troubled breeders so that they are not lost for good? How far will these donations go, and is it a sustainable long term solution? Hopefully we can all help to keep this lines from fading away.
What these guys are doing will not solve the long term problem, and I am trying to activate some contacts in Tunisia to see what can be done, but call her to find out more, Mohammed..
I agree with Mohammed, I am willing to help, maybe put the link on other fora as well?? And I will try and call her today.
If needed I would go to Tunesia and help out??
With Love, Monique
I don’t know what you can do, but someone needs to do something, fast. I am going to write something about Gisela in the Khamsat Express, which goes out to 1000 subsribers worldwide.
If you speak to her, can you report back?
Yes I will certainly do so. I will have time tomorrow to call, do you know if she speaks english or german?? And is it o.k to put on SE.com and Arabian Lines??
Kindest regards, Monique
Edouard, do you know exactly where Gisela is located? Far from Tunis?
in Ghar Dimaou on the Tunisia Algeria border. Google it up..
Already before this topic was lounched, I tried to contact Gisela by fax, phone, … but time seem to have stopped in that part of the world I sent her a letter by postal service to enquire about her horses … she rang me this evening asking to call her.
She is a walking archive for sure on the Tunesian and desertbred Arabs
We had a long chat on the origines of the Tunesian stock, the French acquisition depot near the desert tribes in Syria, the increasing proof that is being found in Tunesia on Abd El Kaders theory that the pure bred Arabian originally came from (Northern) Africa from the long distance racers selected there, etc
She had also an interesting story about a not so nice Asil club boycotting the asil Tunesians for commercial reasons (in fear of the large number of asils that were once still available in Tunesia)
And about the notorious stallion Barr. Apparently all data on Barr can be found in the French archives including purchase, tribe of origin and hujjah. He was only used a limited time on pure bred mares because of his pony size before moving on to a Barb breeding station were he ended up in the Barb studbook.
I mentioned this site and although she has no internet she is very interested to get in contact with Saudi and other middle-eastern breeders on this site to share ideas.
She remained vague about the future of her herd. Feeding problems sound as if they are immense and she has not been breeding since 2004. She runs some program for handicapped children and hopes to give the herd a future like that for when she’s no longer around – which honnestly, it doesn’t really sound like a plan.
She has lost track of most of her horses imported to Europe but apparently there were 9 mares exported near Saarbrucken although the owner stopped breeding.
I’m not sure if she’s willing to let go but maybe there are ways to save her herd for future generations.
She seems like a walking archive of information and she was truly delighted to hear somebody was still interested in Tunesian bloodlines. Anyway, her phone is +21621292350, give her a call it will be worth your time. She speaks German and French, I’m not sure but I assume she also speaks English
I know very well this breeding, i’m used to go there, we try to found people interested to develop it.so wellcome
je connais trés bien cet élevage, j’y vais souvent, on essaye de trouver des gens intérressés pour le dévelloper et le valoriser. soyer les bien venus
my email : kiio@libero.it
mobile1: +216 98329810
mobile2: +216 20329810
Merci Karim de ton temoignage..
Je viens de lire les discussions sur Facebook au sujet de Gisela Bergmann, malheureusement la derniere date de mars passe. J’aimerai bien envoyer une donation mais je sais pas comment proceder. Y a-t-il un groupe/association etc. qui s’en occupe? Sur Facebook:
Hayet Dhifallah wrote on January 5, 2009 at 12:58am
Les informations ont déjà été données par Sofiene le 25 novembre :
“nous vous proposons de l’aider dans cette période très difficile à travers des dons que vous enverrez sur le compte de la CCGC (Coopérative Centrale des Grandes Cultures) de Jendouba sur le RIB : 03405024011500478012 tnd.bna Jendouba par mandat minute qui vont être convertis en aliment “.
Ceci n’est pas tres clair. C’est quoi, un mandat minute? C’est plus facile pour moi de faire un transfert direct a un compte en banque. Il me faudrait donc un nom, un numero de compte, l’adresse de la banque ainsi que le swift code ou routing number.
J’apprecierais bien un conseil a ce sujet.
Merci beaucoup.
Bonjour Gulsun, je vous suggere d’appeler Gisela Bergmann d’abord et de confirmer que cet arrangement tient toujours.
@ Gulsun Sherif merci de ton intérêt ça fait vraiment plaisir, tu trouveras dans le message qui suis un élément de réponse.
je reste a l’écoute.
Les informations pour le ccgc c’est une affaire qui date, je l’avais posté parcequ’il y avait des gens qui voulais faire des dons selon conditions mais ça peu étre encore valable il faut me le demander pour que je vérifie.
Toujours est il téléphoner a Gisela est une bonne idée sinon vous pouvez me contacter par téléphone mail ou sur face book a votre convenance et je vous donnerai une réponse aussi précise que possible.
La ferme est tout un contexte toute une histoire, a part les chevaux on essaye de sauvegarder les sloughis et de résoudre les problèmes du quotidien beaucoup plus terre a terre mais combien nécéssaire.
Cette année on a repris la reproduction des chevaux pour éviter l’extinction de certaines lignés.
Merci de votre intérêt.
my email : kiio@libero.it?
mobile1: +216 98329810?
mobile2: +216 20329810
face book : karim chaouch
skipe : kiioch
@Edouard C’est juste une entré en matière
Just a short note regarding Barr, because there’re so many rumors and nearly no facts.
Name: Barr
Born: 1942
Breeder: Jawali tribe/Syria
Strain: Manakki (Managhi) Sbeili
He came together with Ghalbane, Masbout and Cheikh el Ourbare from Syria. This was one of the last importations.
There was very much irritation, because Barr was A L S O registered in the barb stud book, because he was also used on barb mares, to produce horses for the French government.
Hi Stefan, this is fantastic! Where does the information come from? first hand? second hand?
Hi Edouard,
the information about the breeder, strain etc. is from our German Arabian registry (VZAP) and can also be found in the pedigrees of tunisan breed horses.
The information regarding the other stallions, is from a close friend which is a real expert of the Tunisian lines.
A short correction, regarding the statement of Mme. Bergmann. There is neither someone in Germany who owns 9 horses of her, nor living near Saarbrücken. Maybe she means close friends of me, which are living near Kaiserslautern. They own 8 Straight Tunisan mares, from different lines. Only 2 of them are from Mme. Bermann. They have also a wonderfull daughter of Jahir and Bidaya (selfbred).
Bye
Stephan
Wow. Is that daughter of Jahir and Bidaya registered? She does not appear in Datasource. You must certainly be aware that the tail female of Bidaya is extremely rare as it goes back to the Jilfa mare Dolma Batche. Bidaya granddam is also the sister of the beautiful Sumeyr imported to France in the late 1950s. Bidaya and her daughter are also two of the few Tunisian mares that do not carry the blood of Esmet Ali, who is otherwise ubiquitous in Tunisian breeding. Your friends in Kaiserlautern owner a treasure.
My friends stopped breeding some years ago. But Boukha had 1 filly, from Hadr el Basher. Sadly that filly died as a yearling.
I don’t know if there is any progeny left of Bidaya, because she had by the former owner some foals with SE stallions.
it’s with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our beloved tchad.
LET’S HAVE A THINKING FOR HIM./Users/karimChaouch/Desktop/DSC04679.JPG
it’s with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our beloved tchad.
LET’S HAVE A THINKING FOR HIM.
So sorry to read this. What did he die from, Karim?
he was bad and he die. you can see photos on face book (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32288989030&ref=ts)(tous unis pour aider gisela) now his join his familly in the farm horse cimetry.
y can’t publish some fotos on this page.
he was really a fantastic horse !!!!!
good bye my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we meet later!
bonjour edouard
je voulais avoir ton avis sur la lignée de ma jument elle s’appelle EZZINA tu peux la trouver sur all breed data base , est si tu as une idee sur la possibilité d’avoir une insimination artificielle d’un des etalons desert beed syrien .
je compte la saillir cette année et je veux préserver son sang de ESMET ALI
merci
salut edouard
juste une precision EZZINA ( chaabane x ouilayah )
Dis-donc walid, tu as un lignee en or! que des bons et beaux chevaux tunisiens partout, de sang pur, et des vieilles lignees. quelle chance!
ou habites tu? la france ou l’afrique du nord? es tu en contact avec jean-claude rajot ou louis bauduin? ecris-moi: ealdahdah@hotmail.com
Je pourrais peut-etre t’aider..
Hi, I also have a pure Tunesian stallion from Gisela Bergmann’s breeding. His name is Haouès and we live around Stuttgart. This year I am going to breed with him for the first time on two part-tunesian mares who are also living around Stuttgart.
Hallo everybody,
does someone have any news about Gisela Bergmann? The facebook-links are not actice any more.
Greetings from Hamburg/Germany
Bernhard
Bernhard, you may want to contact Sofiane Ezzine who visits Gisela regularly.
Hallo Edouard, thank you for your answer. But you ist Sofiane Ezzine and how can he be contacted?
Bernhard, his contact is sofsoftn@facebook.com
Hallo Edouard,
thank you!
Bonjour Tout le Monde,
Je viens de rendre visite à Gisela, elle se porte comme un charme, mais la trace des années commencent à se faire sentir, avec quelques étourdissements, évanouissements. Elle est toujours aussi agréable et timide que ceux qui l’ont connus peuvent le savoir.
J’ai cherché sur le web et je suis tombé sur cet article, car je suis aussi dans la réflexion de trouver le moyen d’aider Gisela sur le long terme et qu’elle puisse subvenir à ses besoins de façon autonome, car les dons ça va un temps, mais après ils finissent par s’arrêter, les gens souvent perdent de l’intérêt.
Je laisse aussi mes contacts, Aziz Abdelli : 24800060
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/aziz.abdelli
E-mail : aziz.abdelli@?gmail.com
Tout ceux qui veulent aider ou continuer à aider, nous pouvons creer un groupe de travail et de réflexion afin d’aider Gisela de la manière la plus efficace.
Ceci ne vise qu’à sauver, sauvegarder et perpétuer une partie de notre histoire, l’histoire de l’humanité.
Bonne journée