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Breeding to an Ideal
To understand the Hallany Mistanny story, you must go to the island of Roda in the Nile river in Egypt, to the Manial Stud of Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik at the turn of the 20th century. A great grandson of Abbas Pasha, The Prince remains one of the most accomplished scholars, breeders, and horseman of the Egyptian Arabian. When it came to breeding his ideal, the prince looked to old painting and etchings. He favored the Zobeyni look, of strong powerful hindquarters, bodies of deep girth, good long hips, wide through the chest, coupled with fine flat bone, beautiful swan like necks, all in flowing lines of symmetry, and heads of classic Egyptian type. The quality of the head was very important to the prince and even to this day remains a hallmark of his bloodlines. With this ideal in mind the prince's breeding produced the nearly perfect stallion *Zarife and the beautiful mare *Roda, the parents of Hallany Mistanny.
Meanwhile, one of America's most prominent breeders, William Robinson Brown, also was working on his ideal, toward breeding a light cavalry mount and endurance horse. In 1918 Brown imported 4 stallions and 18 mares from Wilfrid and Lady Ann Blunt's Crabbet Stud in England.
Brown And Humphrey
The year is now 1932, and Brown wanted more Arabians, from Egypt this time. And here we are at a critical point in Hallany Mistanny's history. It was whom Brown choose to send to Egypt, to select and purchase his Arabians that made all the difference. Brown's agent was E.S. Jack Humphrey. Humphry's knowledge of livestock breeding, and genetics was unparallel, as was his hands on experience. He trained horses for the U. S. Cavalry. As Brown's manager he trained and rode many of his endurance horses for the Army rides.
Humphrey hand picked Brown's famous 1932 imports, *Zarife, *Roda, *Nasr, *HH Mohamed Ali's Hamida, *HH Mohamed Ali's Hamama, and*Aziza. Humphrey's choices were no fluke, as with all of his work, decisions were made with a keen eye, and in the most methodical manor.
With Dr. A.E.Branch, head of the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS), as an escort, Humphrey's visit included the studs of the RAS and Prince Mohamed Ali. He viewed the horses and studied their pedigrees. Thus Humphrey made his choices.
Later accounts of *Zarife and *Roda would describe them as two of the best individuals to ever come out of Egypt. Both hard to fault. Both true Egyptian type. None of Brown's six imports from Manial carried Blunt desert bred blood, unlike his first importation from Crabbet. Therefore, the joining of the two importations would be something of an outcross. Brown's breeding plans, however never came to fruition. Soon after the horses arrived at his Maynesboro Stud, the great depression forced dispersal. Most of brown's horses went to General Jacob M. Dickenson and his historic Travelers Rest Stud in Tennessee.
A Star Is Born
It was Dickenson who made the decision to breed *Roda to *Zarife. And on April 21, 1937 their foal the black-bay colt was born. Dickenson named him Hallany Mistanny. And from the moment of his birth he was a superstar. Hallany Mistanny carried 37.5% of Negma's blood. She was his maternal granddam and paternal great granddam. He also was line bred to Dahman El Azrak, who was the keystone to all of Prince Mohamed Ali's breeding. With seven crosses to Dahman El Azrak, Hallany carried 37.5% of this great stallion's blood. Thus Hallany Mistanny was the ultimate Prince Mohamed Ali horse. He would be the last horse of 100% Mohamed Ali bloodlines. And he would be the last true straight Egyptian, carrying no blood of the Blunt's desert-breds.
Dickenson's daughter Mrs. Peggy Dickenson Fleming, had just married. And her father gave her the pick of the 1937 foal crop as a weanling gift. From among 20 foals Mrs. Fleming chose Hallany Mistanny. Mrs. Fleming raised Hallany Mistanny and trained him herself, starting him under saddle. She rode him English. Hallany Mistanny matured to 14-3 hands and 1000 pounds. In appearance he possessed the Saqlawi scope and elegance, with extreme power and strength, much the prince Mohamed Ali ideal.
Premature Retirement
When Hallany Mistanny was three, another world event would again disrupt the beautiful horses from Egypt: WWII. Mrs. Flemming's husband had to leave for military service and she went with him to his post. While she was gone General Dickenson sold Hallany Mistanny. "Peggy doesn't need a stallion" was his reason. "And he probably was right" she said . " I was busy with my family, but I thought I would nearly die."
General Dickenson sold Hallany Mistanny to Blaine McGowan of Forest Lake Ranch in Eureka, California. And it is here that the stallion's story almost ends. For the next 15 years Hallany Mistanny sired only one registered foal. McGowan simply was not a breeder. Hallany Mistanny was his working cattle horse and personal riding mount, and that was enough. McGowan obviously valued Hallany Mistanny because he received several purchase offers which he declined. One came from Mrs. John Ekern Ott and her daughter Miss. Jane Llewellyn Ott. McGowan wrote back, "Hallany Mistanny is not for sale."
Howard Marks to the Rescue
One day Hallany Mistanny came face to face with Californian Howard E. Marks of HMR fame. Marks could not get the beautiful black-bay stallion out of his mind. He too, tried to buy him. For the next three or four years Marks kept going to visit Hallany Mistanny. His persistence paid off. (next page please)
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