Page 6 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 6
P. 6
T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 0 6
Beate Newport took part in the annual Beate Newport writes on her website about
horse treks from Ghardimaou to Meknassy Kahena, their horse from the Bergmanns:
and imported horses to Germany. Barbara
Wenger also took part in the treks and used “The Bergmanns came to Tunisia as
her stays for ethnological studies. The development workers at the end of the 1960s,
Biebach family had visited the Bergmanns initially on behalf of the DED (German
since the 1970s; the last time was in 2014. Development Service GmbH), later for the
Gisela Schwarz took the famous photo of GTZ (German Society for Technical
Bedui. Dominique de Caprona heard about Cooperation GmbH). Heinz-Gerd was an
the Bergmanns from the Biebachs in the agricultural scientist and worked, for
1970s and visited them in 1999 with her example, in irrigation projects, his wife
sister; she took Sloughis to America to Gisela - trained as a stud manager in
include them in her Shi'Rayân kennel. Raouf Marbach and then studied biology - gave
Ochi breeds Sloughis in Bou Salem, near housekeeping lessons, etc. Heinz-Gerd had
Ghardimaou, and goes hunting with them. brought a horse with him from Germany, an
Let us hear what they had to say in detail:
English thoroughbred named Opal. Gisela
was very enthusiastic about the small, tough
Roland Stichelmeir reports to us:
Tunisian thoroughbred Arabs and the
“… Heinz Gerd [Bergmann] worked on Bergmanns leased a former olive plantation
irrigation projects in the valley of Medjerda. from the Baraket Cooperative and started
It is possible that he dealt with irrigation there - in cooperation with the state stud in
during his studies. He worked as a milker in Meknassy and Sidi Thabet- to breed
Marbach [national stud in Baden- thoroughbred Arabs.
Württemberg near Stuttgart, Germany] and
Gisela sometimes worked in the stables. The In the 1980s they organized treks with
two got married because otherwise they paying guests to take the horses from the
would not have been able to work together farm in Ghardimaou in the spring to the
on a project - back then in Sedjenane." Meknassy stud, i.e. a mare trek and a
“… Heinz-Gerd [Bergmann] bought a black stallion trek along the approx. 400km to the
Berber horse in Tunisia, I think his name stud. They stayed there for the breeding
was Nejdy (Nejem: Biebach), but season and then went back again. In the
unfortunately it died, and so he bought the summer, the mares went with their foals,
black English thoroughbred stallion Opal yearlings and 2-year-olds along the route
from a friend in Beja, the Arab breeder from the farm in Ghardimaou to the
Abdelmajid Essaied (Tunisian race horse Mediterranean coast to Cap Negro or Cap
breeder: Biebach), called Beshir. The horse Serat near Tabarka, stayed there for the
was probably very similar to his Berber. I summer because the farm ran out of water
think that this was in 1973 ..." and then went back in the autumn.
