ONLY ONE OUT OF 11

In 1976, a lovely Dixie Fireflash (Tornado x Fire Flame by *Bask) filly was born. Bred by Fred Johnson and owned by Jesse Fletcher of Fountain, SC. Dixie Fireflash, a big chestnut stallion whom at one time was a rather prominent breeding and show stallion in the Carolina's had a most impressive record of his own. FERLITAS ANGEL would become a proven broodmare for her new owner producing eleven wonderful foals. Who would have ever imagined what was to come? As FERLITAS ANGEL reached breeding age, her owner decided she would be bred to Ansata Shah Zaman. In 1982 at age 6 years old, FERLITAS ANGEL produced her first foal, a healthy gray colt who would go on to sire a total of 13 foals and accumulate a very nice show record to include Region 12 Champion Native Costume with many additional first place, Reserve Champion, and Championships in Purebred Stallion Halter, Native Costume, & English Pleasure. For FERLITAS ANGEL's second foal Mr. Fletcher chose the stallion EW Natal. In June of 1983 another healthy colt was produced although this time the foal was bay. And for the remainder of her production years, Mr. Fletcher bred the mare to the imported grey Salon son *Muslin, a ¾ brother to the U.S. and Canadian Champion stallion *Muscat who often appears today in the pedigree of Purebred Sabino Arabians. FERLITAS ANGEL produced a total of eleven foals for her owner of which nine were sired by the grey stallion *Muslin. She herself was a very conservatively marked bay mare with two rear stockings, a partial sock on the right rear and a star. Of her eleven foals produced, 5 were bay, 4 greys and only 2 chestnuts. Most were very moderately marked, one with no white at all, and one that was clearly a Sabino. Thus the true beginning of this story!

On March 20th, 1989 FERLITAS ANGEL produced a beautiful Purebred Chestnut Sabino filly and was named FA ANJELICA. This filly was purchased as a 2 year old from the breeder and would grow into a lovely mare, yet not ever produce a foal for her new owner Mr. Soussi. It was said that he in fact did try to breed her but was unsuccessful. However, in 1999 ownership of FA ANJELICA changed hands once more as her owner was leaving to go overseas and willingly gifted her to Martha and David Lucas. What a wonderful turn of events took place thereafter! FA ANJELICA would be used in the Lucas's breeding program in spite of her large belly spot that runs basically the length of her barrel, broken white on her rear left leg and additional high stockings and wide blaze. With anticipation FA ANJELICA would settle in foal, Martha and David was quite happy to learn they had been successful and the mare produced her first foal ever, sired by Whitehaven Plantation's late Straight Egyptian stallion, Ansata Ibn Jamila. A gorgeous black-bay filly named WH Magdalina who went Top 10 at the Egyptian Event as a 3 year old! FA ANJELICA would be bred again to produce WH Evangelina, a blood bay full sibling to her first foal WH Magdalina. WH Evangelina was open Judge, Grace Greenlee's top pick out of that years foal crop present during her trip to judge a show at Whitehaven Plantation. She will be started soon to be presented 07' as a Sport Horse. And FA ANJELICA's third foal sired by the Straight Egyptian multi-champion Sport Horse Stallion WH Bodacious, born a most brilliant chestnut with a blaze and high white is just a yearling now is absolutely incredible. WH The Aga Khan is starting to roan out and most likely will go gray. As Whitehaven Plantation's trainer Trisha Blackwell has a saying, "If you are not in foal you are under saddle!" FA ANJELICA had a new job ahead of her! She had been at Whitehaven Plantation for awhile now and no one knew for sure about FA ANJELICA's training or lack of. For as long as Trisha can remember, there were rumors from boarders, their blacksmith, and former employees that they thought FA ANJELICA was under saddle and that she was a pretty good riding horse. As no one knew for sure Trisha was obviously cautious! FA ANJELICA now being older and after having 3 foals needed to get back into condition and strengthen her top line and the time had come. FA ANJELICA, at age 17 would now get back to work and become a show horse on the "A" circuit! Trisha picked a day and went for it! Much to her amazement, FA ANJELICA was incredible under saddle! Yielding to her legs, going forward, halts from her seat, gave to the bit, bends, and more! Trisha was ecstatic! Because FA ANJELICA is so very beautiful, the decision was made to go ahead and show her. Late August of this year Raleigh, NC was the host for the Central Piedmont Arabian show and was FA ANJELICA's first show ever to the best of her owner's knowledge. FA ANJELICA won her Sport Horse In-Hand mare class with a score of 73 and was also the Champion Sport Horse Mare. She placed 3rd in SHIH Mares JTH as well! As FA ANJELICA had basically had just under a month of work after at least 10 years off, there was no need to push the under saddle classes. However Trisha felt she could handle a couple of Introductory Level Dressage classes which she did beautifully, getting better each time and was awarded 4th twice, a 2nd, and a 1st under two different judges her first time out! FA ANJELICA is affectionately called "Jelly Bean" at home. She has found her place of comfort at Whitehaven Plantation with her owners Martha & David as well as her trainer Trisha Blackwell. She is only ONE out of 11 foals produced by her mother that is clearly a Sabino and Whitehaven Plantation is quite proud of their lovely mare. So much so that if all goes well it is planned to present FA ANJELICA at Sport Horse Nationals in 07'! If you are out and about at some of the Region 12 or Region 15 shows next year, you too might get to see FA ANJELICA. I was fortunate enough to personally see her while at the Central Piedmont Arabian Show in August and was so impressed that I wanted to share her story here with you! Drumroll please……..Another Purebred Sabino is successful at a Class "A" Show!

Sabino Arabians and Sport Horse Nationals

As an owner of Sabino Arabians, I have the responsibility of educating all that look at our horses whether it is in print or up close and personal thru their owners/trainers/handlers/etc. Let me give an example of an experience we had while at Sport horse Nationals (2005). On Thursday night there was the barn party at which time Stallion owners were obviously promoting their stallions, us included. We had the July issue of the Sabino Arabian Horse News that featured HG Esquire on the cover as well as the cover story. It was laid out on the table with the other non-Sabino related promotional material. Someone that we know personally who has been a breeder for 15+ years or so came by the stalls. They picked up the magazine and asked "What is a Saab-I-No?”. I was SHOCKED to say the least that a breeder of that many years was so clueless! Of course, this gave me the OPPORTUNITY to explain AND educate which I may have not had the opportunity to do otherwise. We need to create more of those opportunities to educate others. It is not a requirement nor suggested that everyone do print ads to invoke questions, etc. YET as responsible breeders (which we all should be if we are breeding) we should encourage questions while being honest enough to tell mare owners, potential buyers, newcomers just browsing, etc. the truth. Can you imagine the many surprises that have come from someone buying (with the intent to show) a solid bay mare in foal to a solid chestnut stallion to in the end get a uniquely marked foal that based on the current market might be undesirable by many????? And for some they have to see to believe. So let’s get out there and show them! For those who acknowledge our Arabians for what they are and have been, you are to be praised!

This short article is not to diminish the need for correct horses with good minds that are family horses, show horses, endurance horses, and anything that the Arabian can do! The Arabian is a breed that we all love! It goes without saying that a correct horse of any color or markings is much better than one that is not correct, of good mind, allowed to sleep in the tent disposition, etc. We really need to educate others in many different ways and now is the time to do it! There are many Sabinos that are GREAT horses. Yet due to the past history and lack of honesty from so many of those who own/owned them, we as Sabino owners are left holding the responsibility of educating so many about the true Arabian Horse.

There are many "Fence Sitters" "Lurkers" that are very curious about this Sabino thing. It is my hopes they will eventually decide to hop off the fence, know it is a safe place to be, and join us as Proud owners of Sabino Arabians! It is my hopes this article will encourage others to EDUCATE, PROMOTE (whether in print, in the show ring, out on the trail, by conversation, or in any other way), be HONEST, and be PROUD!

Merry Christmas

HALOS FROM HEAVEN Angels DO exist ! On Christmas Day 2001 my Grandmother passed away unexpectedly. After her passing I had what I would call a “Memory Dream”. I had dreamt about the first pony I was on. My Grandmother provided the mount and her name………….“Merry Christmas”. After holding onto a small inheritance check received shortly after her passing with concerns of what should be done with the money, I now had a clear decision. Purchase the colt I had been saving for, HG Esquire, aka ‘E’!

While building our home, living in an RV, knowing the well and septic HAD to be purchased, purchasing those desperately needed items would have seem the responsible thing to do. Yet I truly wanted to pay off the colt I had chosen 6 months previous. I knew what ever was done with the inheritance left behind by my grandmother; it had to be something she would approve of. After having the dream about “Merry Christmas” and my grandmother, I knew she wanted me to have this horse. Hence ‘E’s tag line, “A Gift That Keeps Giving”! I even managed to locate a photo of all of us together in Nashville at Monroe Harding Children’s Home.

Gainey Cornerstone Arabians offered a breeding raffle helping Angel Heart Farm located just outside of Nashville for 3 years. The program caters to children that are chronically & terminally ill thru the use of Equine assisted therapy using mostly Arabians. We felt so strongly that ‘E’ was indeed “A Gift That Keeps Giving” that thru him we could help a program in need. Gainey Cornerstone Arabians and ‘E’ are now looking for a different program to help. Should you know of a program in need, please contact us!

To add to this special story and the relation to “Merry Christmas”, while at the Tennessee Volunteer Horse Fair in 2003 promoting the breeding raffle, managing the booth for Angel Heart Farm while they did a presentation, and spending some time with the very special children of Angel Heart Farm, such as Connor Hunley, my aunt and uncle traveled from Georgia to visit. Upon there arrival, my aunt shared with me she had finally located the brush set I had requested belonging to my grandmother. She remarked she had no idea how I had remembered this set as my grandmother had packed it away many, many years ago and it took her 2 years to locate. Once I had this box with the special items in my hand I had to open it immediately. There was the most beautiful brush set ever. I picked the brush out of its designated place in the box and noticed a tag. When I picked this up to read the hand written inscription I began to cry. The tag read, “To Mim, From Pap, “Merry Christmas”, 1943”!

And to top it off, our first foal from ‘E’, if a filly, was to be named after my grandmother, “Lenora Lace”, yet because we initially had planned to sell her she was named “GA E-Vangeline”. When speaking to my aunt and telling her that I was unable to name the beautiful filly Lenora Lace and had instead named her GA E-Vangeline, she began to cry. She then informed me that my grandfather (whom passed away before my birth) had a sister that my grandmother was very fond of and her name was Evangeline! By the way, the dam of this filly has NEVER had a filly before, only colts!

HG Esquire is truly “A Gift That Keeps Giving” in every since of the word! And never doubt there are Heavenly Angels that create Halos around us all! We hope you have enjoyed what we consider a very remarkable, spiritual, true story. If you have a special story and would like to share, we would love to hear from you! We know there are others out there!

Sincerely, All of us at “Gainey Cornerstone Arabians”

Mustang Sally ~ Reunited with her Registration Papers

"Do you guys remember the story about Mustang Sally???? I made a post on a message board back during the winter of 2003 about this mare who lives only 1/2 mile from me. The girl wanted to come and see "E" and during her visit, she asked did I want to come see her "MUSTANG". I replied, Sure..never have seen a Mustang up close and personal!

Upon arriving at her place, the mare was running up from the back field and I told the owner, "THATS NO MUSTANG" She was so surprised and was also upset...She asked, well then what is she??? I told her at the very least she was half Arabian if not a Purebred but would not really know until the mare got right up to us. And low and behold when she did, the mare was freeze marked! With the help of forum members thru the Kyro Kinetics site, I was able to inform the owner of who her horse was, her age, etc... She was AMAZED and then the journey began....

The mare although aged was still registered to her breeders...They agreed to help her get the papers. Then the wife passed away just before Christmas of that year and things changed. For a little while, it did not look as if this story was to have a happy ending BUT, with the help of Mr. Jim Benedict with AHA Special Services, it has happened. PAPERS ARRIVED YESTERDAY !!! And the new owner is overjoyed!!! This is a straight Egyptian Mare that is bred exceptionally well and comes from a very prominent straight Egyptian Breeder, Mr. Saluti in Pennsylvania. The new owner is so very interested in learning all she can about her horse and the Arabians as a whole, her and her husband went to visit Mr. Saluti a couple of weeks ago. There visit went very well and they enjoyed each others company very much. The new owners came back with much more knowledge than they had left VA with and are now even more excited than before. And as a token of Mr. Saluti's genuine kindness and love of the breed, he gifted the new owners of "MUSTANG SALLY" really, BKA FARAASHAH with Ruminaja Ali's Reserve National Champion Ribbon(s) there are 3 in all incased in a huge frame, complete with photos and all.

What a wonderful breed we have as well as wonderful individuals who own them!!! This was such a happy ending I just had to share!!! Good luck to the rest of you who may be trying to reunite your horse with their rightful heritage!"