Soleil DH has been sold to an endurance rider in the North Island and will hopefully be hitting the trails in the near future.

We are fortunate to lease Lee Cox's excellent broodmare, Euralea Fire N Desire (Wind N Fire x Yanah Ibn Estopa). "Dessy" is now in foal to our Shaheen Al Saba for an October 2013 foal. Shaheen Al Saba is also expecting foals from our mares SS Shula, Suha DH and CA Melika Silver Fire, as well as one outside mare Halima's Princess Annamotion (by Prince Fa Moniet) for Carmen Tuite and Deb Bamber.

In December SS Shula foaled a colt by Shaheen Al Saba. Shameless DH (pending) is just gorgeous and utterly full of his own importance. As tempting as it was to re-breed Shula, we have not bred any mares this season as we have our hands full with our latest two-legged addition!

In January Shaheen Al Saba won the title of NZ National Champion Purebred Arabian Stallion. He looked wonderful, and received favourable comments from Canadian judge Scott Benjamin, and many of the spectators. This is the third time Shaheen has been shown in NZ for his third Championship - consistency counts. Many thanks to Angela Rogers for taking the lead.

Cyprus Arabians have sold Sanaa DH to a young rider. They say a picture paints a thousand words - here is a photo of the pair. Sanaa is only just learning to jump but according to her new rider acts like she's done it all before. We couldn't be more proud of our first-born Arabian.

Airborne DH has been sold to Marvae Arabians - it was a very sad sale because she was our big pet, but we are looking forward to seeing how she goes under saddle for Tanya and Marcus and wish them all the best.

SS Shula has given birth to a stunning filly by JA Khudos. See photos on her page.

We also welcomed a filly of the human variety, "Brianna", 9lbs 7oz on the 29th November.

Eight days later CA Melika Silver Fire gave birth to the most beautiful filly by Shaheen Al Saba. Sadly this wee girl drowned in an irrigation ditch, a regrettable mistake that will never be repeated. She was tall, had a beautiful head, long elegant neck and clean well-angled shoulder - this combination of beauty and good structure made her death even more heartbreaking. However, we have another chance - having purchased CA Melika Silver Fire.

We have Melika Silver Fire (SK Shakla Khan x Windella Silver Fire) on lease from Classic Arabians, and she is due to foal to Shaheen Al Saba in December. Melika is a maternal sister to the National champions Redwood Lodge Estonia, Wind N Fire and Redwood Lodge Firewalker (the latter two also having competed in 160km endurance rides - more than just pretty faces!).

Pictured is SS Shula's stunning weanling filly JA Evernesence, bred by Jameel Arabians. "Evie" is by the Ghazal Al Shaqab son Aria Elation, and she proves that the combination of Shaikh Al Badi and Bint Deena blood has once again been a hit with SS Shula - the first example being our own beautiful Suha DH. Jameel Arabians are reluctantly offering Evie for sale.

SS Shula is returning to us in foal to twice National Champion colt JA Khudos (Khouros x Redwood Lodge Estonia), due in the new year.

We have purchased Khalee El Sadir, a 12-year-old mare who has been a riding horse and companion and will now have the opportunity to breed on. Underneath a woolly winter coat is an Arabian of classic beauty, and I hope to take photos in the summer which accurately portray her strong conformation and exquisite head. Most importantly, Khalee is closely related on the dam line to my first Arabian, the one who started it all.

Shaheen Al Saba wins 2009 New Zealand National Champion Junior Purebred Arabian Colt!

Shaheen Al Saba has won the 2009 New Zealand National Champion Junior Purebred Arabian Colt title. We would also like to congratulate Saba Arabians on the success of Shaheen's paternal sister, Suhalia Al Saba, who topped off her successful show season with the title of 2009 Australian National Champion Purebred 3/4yo Filly.

Shaheen Al Saba at the Auckland Arabian Spectacular.

Shaheen Al Saba was sashed North Island Champion Junior Purebred at the Auckland Arabian Spectacular! This was Shaheen's first show, and he was presented to a panel of respected international judges with long-time breeding and ridden backgrounds. To date, all of the Thaqib Al Nasser progeny bred by Saba, who have been shown, have won Champion sashes on every outing. To top it off Shaheen also won the Classic Head class. We couldn't be happier with our boy. SS Shula was beautifully prepared by Angela Rogers and won 4th place in her strong mare class, with her elder sister SS Bint Seetha winning all.

Angela Rogers of Jameel Arabians has leased SS Shula this season. Shula will be bred to the exciting Ghazal Al Shaqab colt "Aria Elation" as well as attending the Auckland Arabian Spectacular and National Arabian Championships shows. Angela is also conditioning and training our young colt Shaheen Al Saba for the same shows.

October 2008 Demelza with Shaheen on his arrival from quarantine.

February 2008 Soleil DH won Top Five Championship Filly at the recent New Zealand Arabian Nationals. This was her first show, and we are thrilled with how she behaved during the competition and also in the preceding days where she was clipped and professionally halter trained for the first time. Soleil took everything in her stride, keeping her cool in the exciting atmosphere, and we look forward to more fun at shows in the future with this little lady.