Holiday Season 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Profound.  That is the best word to describe some of what happened in our lives in 2007.  The first extraordinary event was the birth of our first grandchild.  Sophia Josephine was born on February 6^th to the incredulous joy of her adoring parents, Benni and Kim.  Benni is our second to youngest.  First in life come the incomparable, until-that-moment unknowable and overwhelming feelings that come with the birth of your own children.  Then, many years later, life brings you yet another time to re-live that profound experience in seeing that same wondrous joy in the eyes of your children with the birth of their children. This year was Sophie’s first Christmas.  After opening a myriad of modern toys that teach and talk and amuse, she seemed to enjoy the challenge of climbing to sit atop one of the empty boxes the best. 

In April Sigi and Janina traveled to Syria for an Arabian horse conference.  They stayed in the middle of Damascus.  Upon their return Janina penned these thoughts, “I must admit that we were a little apprehensive to travel to Syria during these difficult political times but decided that it was an opportunity of a lifetime that we couldn’t miss.  As soon as we arrived in Syria our fears were forgotten and we experienced great hospitality, beautiful places and amazing people.  Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world and strolling around its Souks you can immerse yourself in amazing exotic smells, sounds and colors, ancient churches and famous mosques . . . We lost ourselves in this amazing city and fell in love with Syria.  We visited a crusader castle, the beautiful and ancient city of Aleppo, the water wheels in Hama and so many other unbelievable places that I cannot begin to describe without losing some of their magic.” 

My first twenty or so Christmases were spent at my grandparent’s house.  With my grandmother’s passing to rejoin my grandfather, the family home that always seemed large enough to house our ever-growing family, was sold.  Prior to the new owners moving in this summer, I visited the house for one last time.  It was mostly empty as I climbed the stairs to the balcony at the top landing where the bedrooms are.  Suddenly, on that warm August morning, it was Christmas.  Almost fifty years dissolved and I could see us all assembling with anxious anticipation on that landing early on Christmas morning.  The adults, wondering in whispers just loud enough to be heard whether Santa had come that year, or, had he somehow missed our house.   We all lined up in order, from youngest to oldest.  When the last sleepy adult was in place, and the word was given by my grandfather, we tore downstairs eyes wide with wonder and excitement.  I could hear the excited voices in slippers and bathrobes; I could smell the pine of the Christmas tree and bowl of tangerines; I could see the twinkling lights and brightly wrapped boxes. Somehow, Santa never forgot us.  Though it was summertime and fifty years later, it was Christmas, right down to the flaming plum cake that my grandfather lit with appropriate seriousness due this time-honored tradition.            

In November Sigi and I had the great fortune to take a trip to Cairo and then planned our return home through Paris, where we attended the World Championships for Arabian horses.  Our flight arrived into Cairo quite late at night.  Though it was winter in Egypt it was a warm, almost sultry evening.  The half-hour drive to our hotel coursed along quiet highways and then we branched onto peaceful streets. On that short journey I gazed for the first time into the wide and dark and dreamy waters of the Nile.  Our hotel literature stated that the Great Pyramids of Giza were very close by.  As we approached the hotel, apart from the lights illuminating the splendid hotel architecture and splashing onto the well tended gardens, all we could see was darkness out the car’s windows.  “Where are the pyramids?” we asked our driver.  “Just over there” he replied, pointing left out the car window.  We couldn’t see anything and thought we had probably made a mistake in not bringing our binoculars.  Early the following morning we opened the curtains in our room and there, outlined through the thin Nile mist and towering high above us, stood Cheops, the largest of Egypt’s pyramids.  The view was profound.  After breakfast we left the tranquility of the hotel and its sprawling gardens, and merged into a frenetic Cairo that has been thrust unwillingly into the 21^st century, while holding firmly onto ancient traditions.  Gone now were the quiet highways and peaceful streets.  Instead minivans, small cars and tractors darted and honked their way forward in a tangled web of congested traffic; pedestrians dodged and somehow wove their way through this maze to safety on the other side; small donkeys pulled carts piled high with produce or hay, often with a couple of oxen in tow; a few men rode their camels along the edge of this calamity, careful not to trod on those who were using a little available space in the dirt to build a fire to warm some food or drink.  This view of modern day Cairo stands in stark contrast at the base of ancient pyramids built two thousand years before Christ was born, by a culture so sophisticated that engineers still today are baffled as to how these complex monuments were constructed.  We spent several days visiting horse studs.  The horse has played a vital role in Egypt’s long history.  Today’s breeders of Arabian horses can rightfully proclaim that Egypt is a source of some of the most beautiful Arabian horses in the world.  

We left Egypt in the darkness of the early morning, along those same peaceful streets and quiet highways that we now knew would soon break loose with an onrush like a busy anthill.  We landed in Paris a few hours later to cold and rain.  Normally we stay in the south of the city, in a large hotel near the sprawling expo complex that holds the World Championships each year.  This year we found a quaint little hotel in the middle of the city near the Louvre, in an area where we go each year to browse, do some shopping and enjoy a nice dinner.  Each morning we rode the Metro (subway) to the show.  We had hoped to cheer on two mares we had bred and are now owned by the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia.  Unfortunately, they weren’t shown, but we were able to cheer on some of our bloodlines bred by other breeders.  The quality of the horses in the competition was extraordinary.  Our star this year was a Sanadik daughter bred in Poland, who was a former National Champion Mare of Poland and was last year’s U.S. National Champion Mare.  She tied for 1^st in the Senior Mare class with another entry from Poland who also was a former Polish and U.S. National Champion Mare.   The World Championships were, as always, a high octane event replete with French pageantry, world-wide support, packed audiences, and some of the finest Arabian show horses in the world. 

A couple of years ago we, along with a group of breeders from across the country, decided it was time to put on a European style horse show, similar in format to the World Championships in Paris.  The show was two years in the making.  We chose Las Vegas for the location and called it the Arabian Breeder’s World Cup Show.  Held this April, the show attracted visitors from all over the world and some horses were flown in from various countries to compete.  The show featured Las Vegas style pageantry with opening acts of dancers in colorful costumes and gymnasts doing gravity-defying movements high above the arena floor.  At shows end the award for the most successful breeder, the World Cup, went to us, Om El Arab International.  The event was an overwhelming success, and it is quite possible that the Arabian Breeder’s World Cup show will become one of the top 5 shows for Arabian horses in the world. 

Profound.  The wondrous innocence of a new life.  Cherished memories of happiness that never fades. Trips into other worlds.  Events, some simple and some grand, that leave footprints – an inerasable joy - on our lives and in our hearts. 

We wish you all, family and friends, a happy and healthy new year, filled with moments, some simple, and some grand that will leave footprints in your hearts for you to cherish all life long.

Sincerely,

Jay & Sigi Constanti

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APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

BACKGROUND
 
Our farm and breeding program is known as Om El Arab International.  It began in Germany in 1970 as “Om El Arab”.  During the early 1980’s most of the breeding program was relocated to Santa Ynez, CA, and became known as “Om El Arab International”.   Since the early ‘70s this breeding program has produced many of the world’s most successful show and breeding stock.  Om El Arab bloodlines are found in prominent breeding programs in every country where Arabian horses are bred. 
 
The farm is located on 62 acres in the Santa Ynez Valley, which is often referred to as the “Valley of the Arabian Horse”.  We manage about 100 Arabian horses throughout the year.  Each winter we farm about 45 acres in forage hay.  The land is used for this crop for half of the year, and then horses are turned out onto the fields for the other half of the year. 
 
Due to the long-term success of our breeding program we regularly receive visitors from all corners of the globe, approximately 1000 per year.  We host functions on the farm, such as the well-received “Valley Farm and Wine Tasting Tour”, now approaching its third year of tours.  Earlier this summer we hosted the AHA Registration Commission meeting. That event also included an afternoon for a Breeders Forum, inviting the public to meet and ask questions of our commissioners.
 
APPRENTICESHIPS AT OM EL ARAB
 
Apprentices from many countries have come to our farm over the past twenty years to gain experience.  These apprentices are involved in all aspects of the management of the farm, and experience first-hand, the myriad of activities on a full-service facility.  Though we are primarily a breeding farm, we also show at several large shows each year, and start some horses under saddle.  The breeding activities involve stallion, mare and foal management.  We collect and ship chilled semen across the country.  We collect, freeze and ship semen around the world.  We foal out some 20 – 25 mares each year.  Apprentices are involved in all aspects of teasing, breeding, foaling and foal management.  Depending on experience and aptitude, they can handle some of the stallions.  Considerable conditioning and training is involved in preparing horses for shows and our apprentices are involved throughout the process.  We start several horses under saddle each year.  Those apprentices with considerable riding skills can help start and ride the horses out into the adjoining hills and farmlands.
 
We encourage interaction between our apprentices and visitors, and they are involved in all of our presentations and events. 
 
SUMMARY
 
We feel that our farm provides an enriching experience for serious minded equine enthusiasts considering a career in the horse world.  They get real-world experience on a farm well known around the world for world-class Arabian horses and first class professionalism. Because this is a family business, they too become “family” and are a source of enrichment to our lives as well.
 
 

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Good luck Om El Bandora Estopa (Om El Shahmaan x Om El Bandeira
by *Sharem El Sheikh) at Al Shaqab Stud!