I took this pricture in 1996, on a horse trip outside Aleppo. These kids lived in the stables, among the horses their father cared for. What struck me is how the colt seemed to be one them, following them everywhere, and wanting to partake in their games. The colt is a Kuhaylan al-Krush, whose dam, a pretty black mare I had come to buy, was bred by Atallah al-Nassar al-Jarbah of the Shammar tribe. His sire was a Kuhaylan al-Sharif of the horses of Ibrahim al-Dawwas al-Saadi. The mare had come in foal from Iraq, which was then under a UN embargo, and people were selling their horses and other assets to feed their families. Both strains are signature Shammar strains, and very dear to their breeders. The owner did not want to sell the mare at the price we were offering (5,000 USD, a huge sum for a non-WAHO-registered horse). Maybe it was for the better, I thought. They would have hated to see their little friend go.
A headshot of the same Ma’naghiyah Hadrajiyah mare, whose name now escapes me. Her sire was a Kuhaylan al-Krush from Shammar, from the marbat of Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarbah. That marbat is known to trace to the “white Krush” of the Mutayr tribe. Kuhaylan al-Krush will be featured next in “the Strain of the Week” series.