"Zara" and "Zara," Ghezala and Ghazila

 

Most Hagen-Renaker collectors enjoy learning more about the Southern California pottery and the stories behind its creations. Some of the best resources are artist Maureen Love's original sketchbooks; she often (but not always) wrote the names of the horses on the covers. That is the case with the origin of the H-R B-655 "Large Zara" Arabian mare. She appears in the company's handwritten Mold Book in January 1957.

Photo by author. This "Large Zara" was restored after having suffered much damage and being rescued from a living estate sale in Southern California.

Source: Hagen-Renaker Online Museum

Maureen noted the real horse's name, Ghezala, on the cover of the sketchbook. Photos of the real Arabian mare GHEZALA AHR #4699 (chestnut mare 1948, Abu Farwa x Ghazna) show the strong resemblance between the horse and the Hagen-Renaker figurine.

Ghezala lived in Southern California with her owner, Leland Mekeel, and his family. 

To find other H-R origin stories, though, we sometimes have to step outside the model horse hobby itself.

This is the case with the backstory of the H-R B-708 "Small Zara" Arabian mare. She appears in the Mold Book in March 1959. Arabian horse authority Carol Woodbridge Mulder told me that the small "Zara" design was based on the 1952 gray Arabian mare GHAZILA 7486 (gray mare 1952, Abu Raseyn x Fahama). Carol was there when Maureen Love visited Ghazila with her owner, Grace Dashiell. (I'm not certain of the year.)

The earliest photo I found of her was as a two-year-old in the March 1954 issue of Western Horseman magazine. 

The young horse in the photo above doesn't look much like the H-R 6" "Zara" mold.

Photo by author

But this one, below, certainly does!

Grace Dashiell took out a full-page ad in the May 1967 issue of Arabian Horse News with this image of Ghazila.

After Maureen passed away, her heirs sold many pieces of her pastel sketches and other art on eBay. Several collectors saved the eBay images for reference. This one appears to show a younger gray Arabian mare with a lovely head.

Source: eBay auction listing

I wonder if this is one of Maureen's sketches of Ghazila? Since Maureen did not note her name, we may never know for sure. But I think it's at least possible.  Either way, the "Small Zara" mold is a favorite among H-R collectors.

Photo by author