ASAV Breakfast get-together at Egyptian Event
Saturday, June 7, 2008

It was the largest attended educational event in Egyptian Event history with over 85 people attending "The Babolna Legacy."  Tzviah Idan, a lifelong Arabian horse lover, writer, and speaker presented an hour and half long Power Point presentation about the history of Babolna and its horses. Tzviah [pronounced "Svee-yah"] Idan was born and raised in Michigan but lives in Israel and her presentation on these Hungarian horses, covering both purebred Arabians and Shagya Arabians, was sponsored by Darlene Steven Stables, Simpsonville Kentucky.

Tzviah Idan

Darlene an ASAV founding member and Shagya breeder, said that when she found out from The Pyramid Society's Anna Bishop that this year's Egyptian Event would be offering an educational seminar on The Legacy of Babolna and its horses,  it seemed only natural to sponsor the event. Tzviah  Idan and her partner Kuti Aharon, began importing Straight Egyptian Arabians from Babolna  to their Idan Atiq Arabian Stud in Israel about ten years ago, and Tzviah has been researching the fascinating history of Babolna and its horses for many years.

Tzviah's presentation covered Babolna's history though the ages, from its conception as a Royal Military Stud with the mandate of breeding 'the most elite and noble horses', to describing its unique strategy of establishing both a purebred Arabian horses and a much larger parallel partbred breed, which we know today as the Shagya Arabian. These horses were originally referred to as the Babolna Araber or Araber Rasse in German and Fajta Arab [or 'Arab related' horse] in Hungarian.  She showed old pictures of early desert bred imports that were used both in Shagya and purebred Arabian breeding. Her research into Carl Raswan's description of desert-bred horses was interesting as it presented the Arabians that were imported to Babolna and how their names came from the tribes and the region in the middle east from where they originated.

Tibor von Pettko-Szander, Hungarian coaching master and Stud Director of Babolna was the topic of intrigue and scandal as his direction of the stud as a horseman developed these brilliant horses to a greater extent, only to be branded as a traitor in his attempts to evacuate and save them from the approaching Russian army near the end of WWII.  She also discussed how the first Shagyas arrived in the U nited States along with purebred stallions Witez II and Pilot, as prizes of war captured by General George Patton.

After explaining the semi-complicated studbook number-naming system known to Babolna and the other Austro-Hungarian Empire State Studs, she showed pictures of the bloodline brands used to identify the horses in the field.  She explained, that traditionally, when a horse's name was entered into the studbooks the registrar would use colored ink: blue for Shagyas and green for purebred Arabians. Tzviah's ended her presentation with photos of both Shagya Arabians and Straight Egyptians.  She showed family groups of horses from Babolna and how these horses influenced the modern programs of major breeders from all over the world.

Eight ASAV members and friends attended this large, 8 am presentation on June 7th 2008 in the Patron's lounge at the Kentucky Horse Park and afterwards we introduced ourselves  to express our appreciation for her seminar. Tzviah graciously accepted an invitation to come back to Finchville to see the Shagya horses and share a day talking about Babolna and Hungarian horses. 

Speaker's bio:  Tzviah Idan, originally from Detroit, Michigan, combined her passion for Arabian horses and dream of living in Israel and moved herself and three purebred Arabians to Israel in 1984. She eventually formed a business partnership with longtime friend and veteran livestock breeder, Kuti Aharon, to jointly breed straight Egyptian Arabian horses as the Idan Atiq Arabian Stud. After researching the rare Egyptian bloodlines of the Babolna Stud for many years, the two travelled together to study these horses and eventually were able to acquire seven mares and a stallion to establish their unique 'Babolna Egyptian' program.

Tzviah enjoys writing and contributes to several Arabian horse magazines a nd is currently working on a  book about the Babolna Stud, its history and its horses.