Backyard War Mares
Desert scene in a German backyard: the grey Kaidalana (Kaisoon x Dalila) and her bay sister Kaidarana with their daughters.
Polska taken on the day she turned 30.
by Betty Finke
I first met Annelies and Günther Gaede in 1986. They lived not very far from where I live and were what you might call “backyard Arabian breeders.” Their horses, whom I knew well for over ten years, were neither famous nor champions. But they were everything an Arabian should be.
Three years earlier, the Arabian breeding program of the Duisburg Zoo had been disbanded. In Arabian circles, the Zoo was famous as the home of the Egyptian stallion Kaisoon (Nazeer x Bint Kateefa), and Kaisoon himself, who had been a gift of state, never left it. But all the broodmares and youngsters were sold, and the Gaedes had taken in two of the oldest mares, Polska (Schlem x Goplana) and Dalila (Karmin x Koratha). Each of them had presented their new owners with a beautiful filly by Kaisoon. Both were bred back to Kaisoon one more time, and Dalila produced another lovely filly. Not a bad start for a breeding program!
