History
Franz-Josef Darius originates from a family with a long history in horses, but due to the circumstances directly after the war never had the oportunity in his childhood to deal with them himself. So to satisfy his big passion for animals and his heart as a breeder, he occupied himself by sucessfully breeding exotic birds as well as a rare species of chickens and rabbits.
Like many girls, Claudia fell in love with horses at an early age and started to ride at a public riding school. Later she saw her first arabian horse at a small stud near her home and started to spend all her leisure time there. Then the story began ...
It was in 1987 that they purchased their first purebred arabian mare called Travellers Joy who was of russian-crabbet bloodlines. The year 1988: saw the birth of the first homebred foal who was by World-Res.ChampionKomplekt. Until 1993 the number of horses was kept to a minimum and 2 foals of mainly russian bloodlines would be born each year.
In the middle of the 90’s, Franz-Josef, his wife Marlies and Claudia decided to specialize in straight russian bloodlines as for them these horses combined excellent expression and arabian type, harmonic and solid build bodies with extraordinary movements with a quiet and easy disposition. All the horses coming directly from the russian state stud farm Tersk are performance tested at the racetrack and therefor have great potential as ridden horses as well. In addition to these attributes, they searched for special indivduals for their future breeding program and collected over the years a very high quality base for their farm. From that time on, homebred horses were marked with the prefix ‘Da’. Their goal was (and still is) to prove successfully, that it’s only a prejudice that russian arabian horses are lacking type in comparison to other bloodlines and that they are still competitive!
Present
In 1999, the whole Darius Family moved to Düren where they have now ideal conditions for their breeding program. The modern and well planned facilities clearly show the stamp of engineer Franz-Josef: Barns full of light and air with in total 34 spacious boxes (separate areas for mares, stallions, youngsters, mares coming for service and quarantine), the EU affiliated insemination station with labatory, big sand paddock, indoor arena for the bad weather season and meadows with firm and safe wooden fences. The farm is perfectly situated in the North West of Germany between Cologne and Aachen near to the highway, only 40 kilometers from the Dutch and Belgium border and close the Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports.
The number of horses is kept always around 20 and each year around five babies are born. Special attention is always paid to the broodmares which are considered to give more than the genetic 50% to their foals.
Time passes quickly and in 2010, the first daughters of Massai became three years old and got ready for breeding. For this reason, Claudia and her father started to search intensively for a new stallion that should at least keep up the high standard, but most likely give a new impact to the breeding program. The search inside the russian lines was not satisfying at all and the idea was born, to focus on outcross stallions.
Today, the broodmare band includesmostly daughters of Massai Ibn Marenga as well as his granddaughters by Magic Magnifique and QR Marc which cross perfectly with most of the modern bloodlines.
In 2016 we will certainly repeat several proven combinations with Massai, but we plan also some very exciting coverings for our MassaiIbnMarenga-daughters. (EKS Alihandro, Emerald J, Marajj, Magic Magnifique, Fadi Al Shaqab, SMA Magic One) …Stay tuned ...
Let’s start however with a glance into the past: Born out of two-time European Champion Mare Marenga, even shortly after his birth the hopes of his breeder Reinhard Sax were focussed on this very special colt. No wonder the exotic bay started his successful show career even as a foal, winning the title of German National Champion at Neustadt/Dosse. Flying the flag of the United Arabian Emirates for his then owner HRH Sheikh Ammar Bin Humaid al Nuaimi, Massai Ibn Marenga speeded from one success to the next as a yearling, winning numerous Championship titles from renowned B-shows in European countries. At the end of the year, he could call himself TopTen Colt for the World Championships in Paris. While looking for a special colt for a straight Russian breeding program, the Darius family became aware of Massai and took the unique opportunity without a moment’s indecision. A short time later, the young stallion moved over to the Darius Arabian stud in Düren, and as a three-year-old in the following year, managed to start off right where he had left, winning a number of important national and international Championship titles at A and B-shows.
In 2005, his first and anxiously awaited offspring was born, confirming the hopes of the breeders Franz-Josef and Claudia. Massai’s pedigree is marked by strong line breeding through the line of Russia’s treasure Mammona, which is quite obviously just the right kind of genetic background for a sire destined to put his stamp in his breed. From his first foal crop, there are the lovely bay Da Rhomara (out of Rosinka by Princip) and the extremely typey Da Afrika (out of Aplikala by Karnaval) who caused quite a stir for her stud even during her first presentations. Top scores for type as well as for head and neck earned her class wins and reserve champion titles at international B-shows and a nomination for the Top Five Junior Females at the Wels A-Show and at the German National Championships in Aachen. Da Afrika will be shown again this year by her new owner Antonio Stefano (Italy) who has a quite impressive collection of Massai’s offspring through Da Marcipan (out of Millennia by TheFinalJudgement), and Chanel by Massai (out of Da Namibia by Da Energetic), Futurity Champion Int. B Show Travagliato.
International interest in Massai Ibn Marenga quickly increased, not least with the aid of the Italian training centre of Ca di Gianni where Massai spent half of the breeding season during two years, serving high-quality mares of different bloodlines – with excellent results. To give an example, HDB Sihr Ibn Massai (out of Mayana by BJ Thee Mustafa), who has an extreme head and neck, comes from a mainly Egyptian and Spanish-bred dam who traces back directly to Estopa. The very typey, longlegged chestnut, bred in Germany and owned by Giampolo Gubbiotti, is currently at Ca di Gianni for the 2009 show season. In 2008, there was another yearling filly earning herself excellent results on an international scale. The feminine, charismatic bay AV Dohassai (out of AV Dolimha by Halim Raquim) bred by the Sanchi Family of Arabian Valley Stud convinced variuos judges’ panels and made, amongst others, the title of Champion at the international B show in Bettona.
However, this year, there are historic exports to be looked upon with pride for the Darius Arabians Stud. Three Massai foals will be the first straight russian horses in history to be exported to Egypt!
During a visit to the stud, Sheikh Khaled Binladin and his son Sheikh Salem Binladin fell in love with the promissing youngsters Da Nugget (out of Nadbavka by Balaton) and Da Napirai (out of Nitawka by Kilimandscharo) from the exciting 2008 foal crop, and so purchased them for their Rabab Stud. Later in the year, HRH Prince Saud Bin Sultan Bin Saud Al-Saud (Al Mamlkah Farm) selected for his farms he exotic colt Da Prestige (out of Da Pennsylvania by Da Energetic) which results out of three generations of Darius Arabians breeding program; and in the end of february 2009, he stepped his first foot on egyptian ground!
Lately, Massai has been available to all European breeders via fresh semen. The EU insemination station offers optimum facilities right at the stud. While requests from overseas came in, the production of frozen semen was successfully realized.
