Arabian Breeders Celebration 2010
Santa Ynez, California

Welcome to SMF

The World Cup Arabian horse show ended in Las Vegas on Sunday April 18th. Many traveled from the show on to the Santa Ynez Valley in California for The Arabian Breeder’s Celebration of Farm Open Houses. On Tuesday April 20th at the midmorning mark the farm tours were kicked off; SMF was happy to be the first in this series. Even though the day began rainy, gray and cold it changed just in time! As the guests arrived the sun began peeking out and was backed by a dramatic sky of racing clouds as storm systems swirled in and out of the valley. In this dramatic setting Christie and Henry Metz, the owners of Silver Maple Farm welcomed everyone and introduced event hosts, Scott Benjamin (Canada) and Anette Mattson (Sweden). For the second year this dynamic duo leant their organizational expertise to the Arabian Breeder’s of the area. After the introductions the horses of SMF were presented in mare family groups by the staff. First the stallions were shown for a reference so that when the mare family groups were displayed the audience would then be able to note their unique contributions. “It is a measurement of the successes and the direction of our breeding program if each succeeding generation is an improvement on the previous one”, Henry commented. Christie and Henry firmly believe the strength of a breeding program is based on the strength and qualities of the mares. The stallion’s characteristics are not meant to overpower the mare but to add to her qualities.

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Egyptian Event 2009

Join the SMF Team and experience
this unique “Arabian Horse Event”

Once a year our farm gears up for the annual trek to Lexington, Kentucky for the Pyramid Society’s Egyptian Event. The Kentucky Horse Park is a truly beautiful and unique setting; owned by the State of Kentucky and dedicated to horses of all breeds. The Pyramid Society, a member’s organization dedicated to the preservation of straight Egyptian blood lines for all Arabian horses holds a show there that is unlike any other show for Arabian horses. It includes an exhibition in hand of breeding stock, showing under saddle plus mini educational seminars. Speakers this year were Dr. John Shelle, Coordinator of Animal Science teaching programs at Michigan State University, Trainer Joe Pollo, Joe Ferris and Anita Enander, Arabian historians, magazine contributors and book authors. The show began Monday June 1, 2009 and ran through the finale on Saturday evening, June 6th.  Most barns decorated the horse stalls with vignettes representing the individual farms and displaying information on their horses.

Above is the SMF stall decor proudly showing the ribbons and garlands won during the week of the Egyptian Event. 

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*Simeon Shai’s 24th Birthday Party

Celebration at Silver Maple Farm October 4, 2008

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