Shela

Shela (El Batal x Siva by Silver Rain) was one of my father’s favorite mares. She was bred by Mr and Mrs. Bancroft in the UK in 1981, exported to Jordan in 1983, where Princess Alia Al-Hussein helped my father acquire her from the stud of Said Khair in 1991, along with another mare, Ziba. Shela traced to the Crabbet Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah mare Bint Helwa, through Ghazala, Gulnare and Gayza, and her pedigree consisted mainly of Crabbet, Egyptian and Polish elements, with a pint of Marbach blood. She measured a full 15.3 hands, was very powerfully built, and had a way of staring at you that would make you think twice before you looked back at her. She came from Jordan with her son, Fanar (another looker) by Hilal el Eid (Misk x Haboub) and produced a filly, which died at an early age, before dying herself while in foal, as a result of being mishandled by a lousy vet.