Windt im Wald Farm Geauga County, Northeast Ohio since 1995

FF Gai Arista

Gainey-bred chestnut halter mare; proven broodmare and easy breeder; level topline, country pleasure prospect; green-broke to ride; affectionate and gentle; crosses to *Bask, Gai Parada++++, Ferzon. Certified 55% Crabbet/Blunt and Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg breeding. 15h.

Arista's 2003 colt WIW Royal Idyll
For more information on WIW Royal Idyll please do not hesitate to email at wiwfarm@hotmail.com or give us a call 440-996-0110.

See Picture below of Arista's 2000 filly
WIW PRINCESS IRIS.

-- A Memoriam

Arista's passing, without suffering or pain, was so much the way that she lived her life at our farm.  When we bought her in November 1998, we found her spooky and terrorized by any dog that came upon her path. She was nearly fastened at the hip to Cameo Windchime, and when she was tired or upset, her lower lip would tremble and flap.  She was a hard keeper in those days, a bit nervous with a tendency to colic.

By 1999, when we got Arista in foal to our Royal Pride Rythm, we noticed that she was starting to be in good weight and that she was a pretty good trail horse who did not mind being in front; she feared nothing, not water, not covering ground, and she always had a little more energy to give at the end of the day.

On April 15, 2000, she gave us WIW Princess Iris, a beautiful, statuesque purebred filly in whom we continue to take great delight, even though she now belongs to Dan and Debbie Kessler in Madison, Ohio.  It was after Iris's sale that we realized how much Arista meant to us, and we rebred her for a 2003 foal in June 2002.

During this pregnancy, Arista's fourth, she blossomed. Her coat darkened and dappled, and the once fearful, dependent Arista now became a confident matron who knew how to extend her influence to the young upstarts on the farm.  We noted that at last the other horses on the farm took her seriously, and she showed the confidence to abandon her former pacing close by the gate to wander deep into the lushest grass.

She certainly seemed in her element. Her favorite act was to open the gate of her own stall to let herself in and then shut it after she was inside. Often she would open that gate and just stand with her head in the aisle. It was her way of saying, "Look at me. Look how independent and smart and happy I am. I don't have to run when this gate is open, but I want you to know that I can open it if I want to." Then she would stand there and look around at everybody and everything with a queen's regal air.

During the Memorial Day weekend, late in the evening of May 24, 2003, we knew it was time for Arista to deliver. On the monitor, we saw her go down and exhibit the familiar signs. We pulled on our light jackets, brought our towels, and our familiar foaling equipment.

At 1 AM on Sunday, May 25, we noticed Arista struggling with this birth. She heaved mightily, but every time she stopped pushing, the foal's front legs slipped back into her.  A holiday is always a difficult time to find a vet during a crisis, so Tom reached for the baby's front legs and gently pulled when Arista pushed, and thank goodness, he was delivered okay. At birth, he was 40 inches at the withers, the tallest, biggest-boned purebred Arabian foal that we have ever seen.

We stayed with Arista and baby for 3 hours, until we were finally sure that this long-legged youngster could find his own nourishment and that Arista was going to be okay.

At baby's eleventh hour, we turned both him and Arista out in the sunshine and took our first photos of them. We were relieved that our second foal was safely-delivered all seemed well. We watched Arista enjoy her fourth foal and teach him to run and to keep up with her.

On Wednesday, May 28, just moments after Arista and her foal were inside for the night and Arista had just started to eat her grain, we watched her head jerk up, a strange light enter her eye, and almost instantaneously, she staggered to the right and appeared to get herself caught in the water bucket, something she never ever had done. As she finally righted herself, she fell again, this time halfway in her stall and halfway into the aisle. The epinephrine was too late. Every remedy was too late as her sparkling eye glassed over, and the new baby cried in terror. We tried milking her for a last feeding for the baby, but that was too late as well. She passed from this world in less than three minutes

There was nothing more to be done than to give her an honorable burial and to keep this last foal, this strapping colt, alive. It was a numbing task that first twenty-four hours, but our Arista has a lasting place of honor, where the balmy breezes blow downward. 

It has been six weeks since Arista's sparkling presence faded from us. Writing about her lasting importance to us is overdue.  Arista carried valuable Crabbet lines to Gai Parada, *Royal Constellation, Abu Farwa, Rissla, and multiple crosses to our favorite, Mesaoud. She had the long legs and the white blaze and markings that we have come to associate with Crabbet breeding, and we looked forward to  having a few more foals from her by Royal Pride Rythm.  She was the one we thought about when we thought about Crabbet preservation breeding. Arista very much exemplified the Enya piece, "Loch Lorean." In spite of her substantial bone depth and down to earth mannerisms, there was a part of her that barely ever touched the ground beneath her feet and made her truly ethereal.

She leaves us one opportunity to preserve her influence: his name is WIW Royal Idyll. We thought about this charming name the night of his birth, but since his dam's death, his name is all the more appropriate, the heir apparent to Arabian horses with names like HRH Arthur, *Royal Diamond, *Royal Constellation.  Idyll has already survived some  tough moments in his young life, and he surely reminds us of the strapping young heir-apparent, Arthur, who, according to legend, was the only individual who could extricate the sword from the stone.. Idyll is all that now remains of our Arista, and we are truly endeared of his fortitude, total trust, and his ability to dig his heels in at every opportunity to prove that he is indeed an idyll-- and hopefully not the last of his line to pass on the Crabbet qualities that we have so come to treasure.

FF Gai Arista: a lively ride, a good mother, a gentle spirit...
Rest in Peace

	Percentages and research © by Eva Dano FF GAI ARISTA  AHR 348182 53.2227% Crabbet/Blunt 55.3223% GSB (incl. Crabbet) 8.59375% Davenports 36.5234% Polish 38.9633% Egyptian 6.25% Russian 21.875% WK Kellogg 72.3633% CMK 6.25% Dickinson/Travelers Rest 28.0045% Abbas Pasha Source 14.0625% WR Brown/Maynesboro Stud 32.2021% Abbas Pasha/Ali Pasha Sherif Source 64.9658% BAHC Source (Blue List or BLUE STAR) 53.6377% BLUE STAR Source 4.6875% Patton (Remount) 10.9375% Babson Egyptian 3.125% Albert W Harris 5.4018% Old Babolna (pre-WW II) 4.05283% Old German (Weil) 12.4512% North American Desert Source 73.4375% Early American Foundation (vol V) 75% American (thru vol VIII) 81.25% American Foundation (thru vol X) 100% American (thru vol XV) .073242% El Emir 11.2793% Mesaoud 2.09961% Ghazala .78125% Image 7.03125% Raffles 10.1563% Skowronek 2.73438% Nasik 16.6992% Blunt AK Ancestral Element .537108% Borden AK Ancestral Element 8.59375% Davenport AK Ancestral Element .78125% Dwarka AK Ancestral Element 33.9844% Egypt I AK Ancestral Element 1.36719% Hamidie AK Ancestral Element 1.9043% Huntington AK Ancestral Element .390625% Mirage AK Ancestral Element .390625% Nejdran AK Ancestral Element 1.5625% Saud AK Ancestral Element Ibrahim/Skowronek sire line ~ Gazella 1840 (Poland) dam line thru *Wierna ~ A Kuhaylah 'Ajuz American Foundation-bred Please check the Glossary on my web site for descriptions of the different percentages.  Glossary and FAQs: http://www.meranch.com/books/pctgs.htm

 WIW PRINCESS IRIS with her new family Dan and Debbie Kessler of Madison, Ohio 

At Windt im Wald Farm we are preservationist Arabian horse breeders. specializing in Crabbet/CMK bloodlines. We also provide Arabian horse training and riding lessons.

A Tribute to Fadjur and Ferzon

The Arabian Horse in Literature