Born and raised in the countryside near the Belgian border of North-Brabant, in the South of the Netherlands, and having a father with a career in show jumping and horse insurance, horses have been a part of Aad Oomen’s life since his early childhood. He started riding lessons at the age of six at a local riding school, and got his first own horse, a Welsh pony gelding named Jacky, at the age of eight.
With warmblood show jumpers still being his second best passion, Aad developed a real interest in the Arabian horse because of his first Welsh pony. Owning and riding horses took a short break during his law studies at the University of Leiden between 2004 and 2010, but since 2006 he immersed himself more and more in the breed characteristics of the Arabian horse, its bloodlines and strains, by visiting horse shows, visiting and talking to breeders and reading books. After the start of his corporate notarial career in Amsterdam in July 2010, the first Arabian broodmare was acquired in 2018, and Sahidi Arabians was founded.
The Arabic word “sahidi” (derived from the word “sayidi” (سيدي), also written as “sayyidi”, “sayeedi”, “sa’eedi”, “saheedi” or just “sidi”) means “sire” or “mylord” and is an honorific when addressing a master of the household, an older family member and in some regions a king or a saint.
Sahidi Arabians is a hobby and a passion and by no means a professional business. We focus on breeding one or two foals each year by breeding our classic Russian / Polish families to the more modern outcrossed bloodlines of today’s arena. With that, we participate with our horses in horse shows and eventually also bring our horses under the saddle.
Our horses are stabled with our friends of Forelock’s Arabians in Nieuwkoop, the Netherlands.
Our horses are trained and presented by Tom Oben and his team of Obi Training Center from Peer, Belgium.