The 13^th of March was a particularly melancholy day for the Arabian horse breeding community, as well as any equine enthusiast, as it marked the death of one of the world’s 20 most beautiful horses; Tagweed Gad Allah. Succumbing to illness at 14 years of age, the gorgeous stud lived a troubled last few days on this earth, having suffered from a throat tumour (presumably cancerous) and having immense difficulty neighing or even breathing.

The news was disheartening to both the Arab equine community and animal rights organizations the country over, owing to the horse’s exceptional beauty, as well as its prized breeding capabilities. According to a postmortem autopsy report submitted the Egypt’s Agricultural Authority, Tagweed suffered from a malignant tumour of the throat, severely constricting the horse’s airways and causing a fatal buildup of puss in the trachea. Though attempts have been made to remedy the situation, it was too late. There are plans to create a lifelike statue of Tagweed, to be housed in the Museum of Agriculture in Dokki, as well as a taxidermy model of the horse using his own skeleton, to be exhumed after 60 days of burial, and kept in the Animal Museum at the Giza Zoo.

Tagweed was a pureblood descendant of a rare and storied lineage of authentic Arabian horses, being the son of Gad Allah Bin Adib Bin Shaarawi Bin Murafiq Bin Nazir (his father), and Tee Bint Adl (his mother), a particularly strong lineage to be sure. He was valued at around $10 million back in 2017, and the cost of a single breeding session would set interested parties back about 8,000 EGP.