Talaria Type

“Success is not final…failure is not fatal. It is the initial vision, and the courage to continue against all odds, which counts in life.”

“Talaria Type” really began over fifty years ago for Allison, as from the time she could first draw, she continually sketched horses…horses with big eyes, flaring nostrils, arched necks, gay tails and “dished” faces. Where did such a vision come from in a little urban girl? Who knows, but eventually her vision found a name: Arabian.

For Curt, his vision took shape one Saturday morning at Talaria when he saw a beautiful Bey Shah daughter dance out of her stall and his dream of combining that fire with Botswana’s beauty crystallized.

Our mutual vision has many facets…the farm itself and responsible stewardship of the facility and the land; our dedication to breed the very finest Arabian horses we can, given our combined resources; and our absolute commitment to give our horses the very best lives possible.

Talaria Farms, before our purchase of the facility, was home to the historic Ramses Herd of Straight Egyptian Arabians (which originated with Martin Loeber at his Plum Grove Farm, and was purchased and brought to Georgia by Herman and Judith Felton in 1988). Much of the Ramses Herd had been dispersed by the time we bought the farm, but gradually we brought back several of the original Ramses mares (particularly those with Prince Ibn Shaikh in their pedigree) to serve as foundation mares for our own emerging broodmare herd of fine purebred Arabian horses.

We both believe that contemporary breeders must try to preserve the older bloodlines (particularly the increasingly rare Straight Egyptian bloodlines) and, in addition to the Ramses mares, we have incorporated Soufian, Iknatoon, Babson and other older lines in the current herd—and continue to search for mares carrying rare or underused bloodlines to add to our program.

Underlining our breeding vision is a strong commitment to breeding a more “hybrid” Straight Egyptian and Egyptian Related Arabian. While we understand that line breeding is important to set type, we are also concerned that too much line-breeding (or worse, in-breeding) is dangerous, as such practices set undesirable traits and genetic problems along with the desirable qualities.

We believe a profile of our mutual vision is emerging…consistent enough to be termed “Talaria Type.”

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS WHICH WE BELIEVE OUR HORSES SHOULD DEMONSTRATE
IN ORDER TO FULFILL THE DEFINITION OF TALARIA TYPE?
 
We constantly strive to produce balanced foals (with bodies which can be divided into three equal parts), and good length of leg under this balanced body. We breed for expansive heart girth, strong, well angled hips, and short backs. Straight good “waterfall” tail carriage is a requirement—as well as large dark eyes, set relatively low on the head, and eyes which exhibit no sclera when the horse is relaxed. Most of our horses exhibit well shaped fairly long necks, and fine throat latches. Talaria horses are known for their beautiful heads, with large jowls, good width between the eyes, defined jibbahs, and refined muzzles with prominent nostrils.
From the beginning, we have been committed to breeding good movement into our foals.  Our horses demonstrate excellent “sport horse” type movement and are found competing and winning in performance shows from endurance to open & amateur classes, in Class A, Regional & US Nationals levels in addition to the performance classes at the US Egyptian Event.
Talaria horses have outstanding temperaments and, almost without exception, are extremely intelligent. Trainer after trainer has reported this fact, in addition to new owners of Talaria offspring. Our horses are willing, have great heart, and are very trainable in a variety of disciplines.

Fertility. Because we are breeding more “hybrid” Straight Egyptian horses, the sons and daughters born out of our herd have demonstrated excellent fertility when incorporated into other farms’ breeding programs. Moreover, stallions produced at Talaria are proving to be tractable and well-mannered in the breeding shed, and Talaria-bred mares to be excellent mothers. To our knowledge, not one of the Talaria Farms-bred mares has ever rejected her foal.
Genetic Diseases. In order to reduce (to the greatest degree possible) genetic abnormalities and diseases in our program, we have been extremely careful in (1) checking the pedigrees and medical history of stock added to our herd and (2) culling any horses which might be susceptible to genetic problems. Thus, we can state that, in our personal foal crops, no Talaria foal has demonstrated any serious genetic problems, such as:

  • Parrot mouths
  • CA (Cerebellar Abiotrophy) – Talaria stallions are tested clear.
  • SCID – Talaria stallions are tested clear.
  • Juvenile Epilepsy
  • LFS (Lavender foal syndrome)
  • GPT (Guttural pouch tympany)
  • Ataxic movement

In addition, we have consistently attempted to breed out sclera (pronounced white in the eye), offset/wry tails, and loss of skin pigmentation in our horses.

Beyond the acclaim from knowledgeable breeders who have purchased Talaria horses for their programs, our horses are validating the Talaria program by winning classes & championships in show rings around the world.Our vision is, of course, far from complete…it is always a work in progress. Furthermore, the pursuit of perfection can never be complete, as there is no perfect horse.

However, we are proud of what we have created thus far…and remain committed to the future.

While this website is filled with conformationally unaltered images representing our breeding program, we invite you to contact us for a visit to Talaria Farms, and witness “Talaria Type” for yourself.