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Cedar Kaifa was bought as a match for RB not only as a broodmare to preserve
the rare Maneghi Hadruj strain with pure-in-strain foals, but also as part of a
matched pair for driving. Her size and movement were very similar to RB's, and we had great hopes of being able to show people that you can do many things with an Arabian since it isn't common to see a pair consisting of a stallion and a mare. The fact that she was also trained as a riding horse was simply the 'icing' on an already wonderful cake.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. On May 25th, 2001, we lost Kaifa to an apparent embolism. She had been vetted out in preparation to being bred to RB a week before her death, and pronounced "Fat and sassy" by the vet.
We were in shock. Neither George nor I slept very well after her death. I kept seeing her body every time I closed my eyes. The hardest part was knowing that she had gone without any foals to carry on her lines.
I placed a call to Carol Raymond, from whom we had bought Kaifa from in Dec. of 2000, because I felt that her former owner had a right to know what had happened to Kaifa and not hear it through the grapevine. Carol's immediate
reaction was that she wanted to replace Kaifa with another Managhi mare. She felt that, with the Managhi lines so close to being gone, it was important to preserve
RB's bloodlines within the Managhi strain which could only be done by breeding him to Managhi mares. Carol said that we should to come to her farm and pick out another mare. So in June, George and I traveled out to Bethel, OH to Cedarstone Arabians once more to pick out another mare. And that is how CSA Jerusha came to Royal Blue Farm.
Although we love Jerusha, Kaifa still lives on in our hearts and memories. We
share Kaifa in the only way that remains to us since she had no Managhi offspring - through our stories about Kaifa and the time that she spent with us.
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