Some Sad News
August 26th 2011 02:08
It is with deep regret today that Kalikapsychosis announces the death of the great stallion SK Shakla Khan. He has been gone since last christmas, and yet I didnt know. I find this unbelieveable - Im a fully financial member of the society, I recieve all news letters and magazines - how did I not know this before?
When I was still at work and flicking through a property magazine I saw that the Fairview property itself was for sale, this after the death of Peter Hall's soul mate, Vivienne. In all the years I worked there I never knew she was sick. There was some strange, unexplained behaviour that was whispered about, but something of the magnitude of cancer was never even guessed. The 90% dispersal sale was announced, and I saw my beloved SK was for sale, to approved home only, for the sum of $25,000
I thought with regret of how I promised him I would look after him in his retirement and how it was not to be. I was desperate to see him before he was sold but I knew that in all likelihood, he wouldnt be. The horse industry has yet to recover from the financial blows of the equine flu, and no one has that kind of money to spend even on a fantastic horse like Shakla Khan. I was worried that if someone could cut an acceptable deal, my poor old boy would have to move, which he would hate. Something my dear Shooks and his sons hated was a change in routine. To this day if Magnus' routine is upset one can expect a fair helping of the SK temper!
I checked back with the Fairview site a few times to see what was happening but there werent many updates and what was there wasnt terribly informative. It was last night I googled the boy himself and found one article - only one - announcing his death on the 21st of December 2010. He was laid to rest at Fairview. Aside from that I found one - very short - chat string talking about his death. Nothing about how he died. No accolades, no poems, no memorials. Im hurt by this. Amir El Shaklan had PAGES in the Arabian magazine and he was mourned on every equestrian site on the web. Shakla Khan was the 'perfect sire for the daughters of Amir' and the market is flooded with his flame red, snake necked progeny. I have gone back through my magazines, the december issue - no doubt published before his death - simply announces his sale. The next two are blank of any mention of him at all. This is atrocious. Shooks was standing in Australia for almost 20 years. He has influenced almost every line and his foals and related horses will be at our shows for years to come.
Hearing of his death, I had a sudden urge to have Shakir back, to have any part of my beloved stallion I could have. But even though it hurts, Shakir couldnt make it better. Its enough to know Shakir was the first partbred ever born by Shakla Khan. Shakir is more of his mother, anyhow, and has a good and loving home I could not replicate.
The important thing is my memories. That he taught me to love stallions, to fall headlong into their seduction and throw caution and everything you've ever learned about stallions to the wind. That their strength is their love, and stallions are capable of greater love than mares or geldings. He taught me to trust, to feel my way. I'll never forget the day he started to groom me with his teeth - I was terrified, sure he would bite me, but as I went to reprimand him I felt a tingling, pins and needles cascade over me, a whisper of communication....'Trust me, trust me..' And I did. And I learned that a horse CAN know, exactly, the limitations of his human handlers and stay within them. A horse, even a stallion, can be trusted, communicated with, and can love just as you love him. I'll never forget his soft wickers of encouragement as Teshan bore his sons, in the yard adjacent to his stall. I'll never forget his beauty, and his frustration with being the most popular stallion on the property - by halfway through breeding season, he would rather sleep than breed.
And I can look into Magnus' eyes and see his sire - Magnus was ever his father's son, with his long neck and smooth back and beautiful, deep dark eyes. His big strided trot and his flaring temper. I can watch Zayfir and know that even though he is, and quite obviously, a son of the silver family, his grandsire is in him, Shakla Khan's blood made him as surely as Teshan and Touch of Magic did - Magic was chosen because he was the son of my beloved Shooks and Silver Shadow.
Even if the arab world has chosen not to mourn you my dear, dear boy, Theres one horse woman out there who is weeping because she's so, so sorry, in a life lived with a goal of having no regrets, I now have a huge one, that I didnt see you, one last time, for a hug and a sniff and a wuffle, to feel your silken coat under my fingers one last time and know you, my darling boy. I now have a greater responsability than I ever dreamed, not just to breed good healthy horses, but to breed beauty and fire and yes, even a little of your famous temper, for the world to see and admire.
When I was still at work and flicking through a property magazine I saw that the Fairview property itself was for sale, this after the death of Peter Hall's soul mate, Vivienne. In all the years I worked there I never knew she was sick. There was some strange, unexplained behaviour that was whispered about, but something of the magnitude of cancer was never even guessed. The 90% dispersal sale was announced, and I saw my beloved SK was for sale, to approved home only, for the sum of $25,000
I thought with regret of how I promised him I would look after him in his retirement and how it was not to be. I was desperate to see him before he was sold but I knew that in all likelihood, he wouldnt be. The horse industry has yet to recover from the financial blows of the equine flu, and no one has that kind of money to spend even on a fantastic horse like Shakla Khan. I was worried that if someone could cut an acceptable deal, my poor old boy would have to move, which he would hate. Something my dear Shooks and his sons hated was a change in routine. To this day if Magnus' routine is upset one can expect a fair helping of the SK temper!
I checked back with the Fairview site a few times to see what was happening but there werent many updates and what was there wasnt terribly informative. It was last night I googled the boy himself and found one article - only one - announcing his death on the 21st of December 2010. He was laid to rest at Fairview. Aside from that I found one - very short - chat string talking about his death. Nothing about how he died. No accolades, no poems, no memorials. Im hurt by this. Amir El Shaklan had PAGES in the Arabian magazine and he was mourned on every equestrian site on the web. Shakla Khan was the 'perfect sire for the daughters of Amir' and the market is flooded with his flame red, snake necked progeny. I have gone back through my magazines, the december issue - no doubt published before his death - simply announces his sale. The next two are blank of any mention of him at all. This is atrocious. Shooks was standing in Australia for almost 20 years. He has influenced almost every line and his foals and related horses will be at our shows for years to come.
Hearing of his death, I had a sudden urge to have Shakir back, to have any part of my beloved stallion I could have. But even though it hurts, Shakir couldnt make it better. Its enough to know Shakir was the first partbred ever born by Shakla Khan. Shakir is more of his mother, anyhow, and has a good and loving home I could not replicate.
The important thing is my memories. That he taught me to love stallions, to fall headlong into their seduction and throw caution and everything you've ever learned about stallions to the wind. That their strength is their love, and stallions are capable of greater love than mares or geldings. He taught me to trust, to feel my way. I'll never forget the day he started to groom me with his teeth - I was terrified, sure he would bite me, but as I went to reprimand him I felt a tingling, pins and needles cascade over me, a whisper of communication....'Trust me, trust me..' And I did. And I learned that a horse CAN know, exactly, the limitations of his human handlers and stay within them. A horse, even a stallion, can be trusted, communicated with, and can love just as you love him. I'll never forget his soft wickers of encouragement as Teshan bore his sons, in the yard adjacent to his stall. I'll never forget his beauty, and his frustration with being the most popular stallion on the property - by halfway through breeding season, he would rather sleep than breed.
And I can look into Magnus' eyes and see his sire - Magnus was ever his father's son, with his long neck and smooth back and beautiful, deep dark eyes. His big strided trot and his flaring temper. I can watch Zayfir and know that even though he is, and quite obviously, a son of the silver family, his grandsire is in him, Shakla Khan's blood made him as surely as Teshan and Touch of Magic did - Magic was chosen because he was the son of my beloved Shooks and Silver Shadow.
Even if the arab world has chosen not to mourn you my dear, dear boy, Theres one horse woman out there who is weeping because she's so, so sorry, in a life lived with a goal of having no regrets, I now have a huge one, that I didnt see you, one last time, for a hug and a sniff and a wuffle, to feel your silken coat under my fingers one last time and know you, my darling boy. I now have a greater responsability than I ever dreamed, not just to breed good healthy horses, but to breed beauty and fire and yes, even a little of your famous temper, for the world to see and admire.
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