Photo of the day: Shams al-Ghurub

Shams al-Ghurub is a black-bay mare from Syria, born in 1987. Her strain is Shuwayman Sabbah. She was bred by the Shaykh of the Bedouin tribe of Tai, Mohammad al-‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Nayif near al-Qamishli in North Eastern Syria, from a strain that originally belonged to the Shaykhs of Shammar, the al-Jarba. The leading families of the two tribes intermarry frequently, and it was on the occasion of the marriage of one of the Tai princesses to Nuri al-Jarba that a Shuwaymah mare was given to the Tai Shaykhs. Shams al-Ghurub is one descendent of this mare. More on this particular strain in a subsequent entry. I took this picture in 1990 in Hims, Syria.    

El Haddad Horses imported from Iraq to Babolna in 1901/ 1902

Horse bought by  Michael el Haddad trip to Iraq 1901/ 1902  Koheilan Raschid  :This was his first buy. 5 years .Height 1.61cm   sire a Koheilan Moradi, Dam a Koheilat el Ajuz He was bought from Raschid Pasha Kaimmakam (governor) of the Holy city of El Najaf.   He was agift from Ibn El Rashid the Shammari ruler of Hail so El Haddad named him Koheilan Raschid. He was bought for 150 gold pounds.  Farha : 6 years    Height 1.56cm Sire Saklawi x Dam Kuhailat el Ajuz   Schechan Shammar 6 years  chesnut  Height 1.57cm Sire Koheilan Ajuz  x Dam Scheha Djilfe Bought for 50 gold pounds  Mares from Sheikh Nayef  supreme Sheikh of the Shammar Em Tiur (meaning  mother of the birds) this name was given to her for her speed..For 130 gold pounds.no further details given. Ayda:  grey 3 years old bought for 125 gold pounds. Semrie :grey  5 years old.bought for 80 gold pounds. Hagyale  (or the grouse) Bay mare taken in war from the Annaze .bought for 220 gold pounds .She became one of Babolna’s most beautiful mares. Hazem Pasha, the governor of Baghdad, horses. A deal was made Between the Governor and Haddad to buy as a”package…

Zamayya

Thanks Edouard, for posting that photo of Yalim. In 1974 we visited his owners the Andersons in Davison, Michigan. Actually I knew who they were well before my involvement with Arabians because they ran a music store near the city where I grew up. When we got involved with Arabians we made friends with some breeders nearby who were among the first to breed to Shaikh Al Badi and it got us curious about the Egyptian imports. In 1972 we visited the Jamisons and saw Shaikh Al Badi as a 3 year old and the youngsters, Bint Alaa El Din, Bint Magidaa, Bint Nabilahh, and Negmaa. We started attending shows in Michigan and saw some offspring of the new Egyptian horses which got our attention. We also saw all of the Lancer imports from Egypt that were in quarantine. I also started looking for other desert breeding that we could find to see in our general area. Someone nearby had a daughter of the Hearst import, *Mounwer, out of a Crabbet bred mare that went to see. A nice mare but grey, not chestnut like her sire. Good quality though, and excellent movements and disposition. Later we had seen the…

Using mtDNA to cross-check *Layya’s origins

Getting *Layya into the list of Al Khamsa Foundation Horses was not easy. There were a lot of rumors about the Hearst importation from the very beginning. Many people here in the USA, believed that H. Pharaon, who sold most of the horses to Hearst, was a crook, and that the horses were not Asil, but mongrels. These persistent rumors meant that the descendents of the 14 horses of the Hearst importation stayed out of the radar screen of the US purist breeding community for years. For instance, they never made it to Jane Ott’s Blue Arabian Horse Catalog (new website!).  Skepticism about *Layya was not limited to US breeders. Some people in the Middle East wondered how Pharaon could have parted with such a precious mare. Also, people took it for granted that the Khamis family of Rayaq, Lebanon, who bred *Layya, would never sell a mare from their prized Shaykhan strain to Pharaon in the first place. Of course this is contradicted by the fact that George Khamis, who at one time was staying in the USA for health reasons, wrote the pedigree of *Layya in his own handwriting (I will ask if I can share a jpg of…

Introducing *Layya

In 1947, American billionnaire and press magnate W.R. Hearst (of Hearst Castle fame) sent a party of several people, including his stud manager Preston Dyer, and the photographer J. Williamson, all around the Middle East in search of Arabian horses for his San Simeon stud. They toured Egypt, Arabia, Syria and ended up buying 14 horses from the racetrack of Beirut, Lebanon, most of them from Henri Pharaon. Pharaon was then president of the SPARCA (Societe Pour l’Amelioration de la Race Chevaline Arabe), which managed the Beirut racetrack. He was also Minister of Foreign Affairs of the newly independent Republic of Lebanon (my home country). If you want to known more about the Hearst importation and its circumstances, check this article out. One of the horses Preston brought back to the USA was the grey mare *Layya, the subject of this entry and a couple others to come.  According to papers given by *Layya’s Lebanese breeder Georges Khamis to Dick Skinner of the Hearst Stables, *Layya (which he writes Leah) was a “Shikeh” by strain, by the stallion “Kayan” out of the mare “Naileh”. Khamis’s handwritten pedigree of *Layya provides somes details about *Layya’s ancestors. All of these are Asil Arabians that lived in…

News from Wisteria

Yesterday night Jeanne Craver wrote to me about Wisteria (my Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mare, by Triermain out of HB Wadduda), which is in the care of the Cravers:   “It looks as though Wisteria had a false pregnancy. She got big (as you saw in the photo), made an udder and came to milk. None of these were as evident as you would ideally like to see. Then the udder went down and she got smaller, and that appears to be that. The odd thing is that Femina did the same thing at the same time. She was due a week later than Wisteria.” Bummer. But you know what, it happens. I don’t mind waiting one more year, because I know the output will be worth the wait. Wisteria will be put back to Javera Thadrian (Thane x HB Diandra) for a fall 2009 baby. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, here is a picture of Javera Thadrian I took in 2002. I am told he still looks as great.

Book: Ibn al-Kalbi’s “Book of the Horse” (ca. 800 AD)

These days, whenever I have a few minutes, I enjoy reading excerpts of Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi‘s “Ansab al-khayl fi al-Jahiliyah wa-al-Islam wa-akhbaruha“. This roughly translates as “The genealogies and histories of horses in the era before Islam and after the rise of Islam”, and is commonly known as “Kitab al-Khayl” (the “Book of Horses”). This precious work was written more than 1,200 years ago (yes, twelve hundred years ago) by one of the most prolific and knowledgeable medieval Islamic historians and genealogists. All of the 140 books Ibn Al-Kalbi (757 AD -819 AD) wrote are now lost, except for two books that survived miraculously: the “Book of Horses” and the more famous “Book of Idols“. A manuscript version of the “Book of Horses” was published in Arabic, first in 1946, then in 1964. If you happen to read Arabic and live in the USA, here is a list of a few libraries where you can find a copy (I xeroxed mine from the Georgetown University Library). Another manuscript version was also translated to French and published by E.J. Brill Publishers in Leyden, Germany, in 1928.   The “Book of Horses” revisits the stories of the most famous horses in pre-Islamic times (before 610 AD) and the period immediately after Islam, up to Ibn al-Kalbi’s own era (150 years after the…

Photo of the day: Barakah, South Africa (b. 1942)

As a follow up to an earlier post on the Asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah strain that breeds on in South Africa, this is a rare picture of the lovely Barakah (Ibn Manial x Gamalat), the mare through which the strain survives in Asil form. Photo courtesy of Albert Kaffka of the Al-Yatun Asil Stud in South Africa.  By the way, if you are interested in the horses that were exported from Egypt to South Africa in the 1940s – of which Barakah was one – and their Asil descendents there, read this article, courtesy of Eugene Geyser, the President of the Asil Club of South Africa. Barakah was bred to the Asil stallion Tuwaisaan, an import from Bahrain, to produce Sahibi Bint Barakah, of which you can find a picture here (scroll down).  

Where I spent my summer vacation..

… Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramut, in eastern Yemen, is not quite the place where you can stroll around in a swimsuit, but is a most interesting town nonetheless. Historically, it linked Arabia with east Africa, India and Indonesia (where a diaspora of more than 4 million Hadramis thrives), and was the main port for the exportation of myrrh, frankincense, and arabic gum, and the importation of precious wood, spices and slaves. Today, it’s a diving spot, and a good place to eat lobster (although not quite like Maine 😉 Check out this blog about Hadhramut, you’ll like it.

Strain of the week: Krush al-Baida goes north

One day in 2006, my friend Hazaim al-Wair and I, intrigued by the addition of “al-Baida” to the strain of many (not all) Kuhaylan al-Krush horses in the Syrian studbook, made a number of phone calls to inquire about the owner of the marbat of Krush al-Baida. All the roads led to one Shaykh of Shammar by the name of Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba. Mayzar was a prominent and respected member of the Syrian parliament in the 1940s, where he was known to defend the interests and the causes of all Bedouin tribes, at a time when the lifestyle and economic conditions of the Bedouins were changing rapidly. Mayzar and his son Antar al-Mayzar were associated with nearly every one of the older horses from the Krush al-Baida strain that we could find in Volume I of the Syrian Studbook. We thought we’d start locating Mayzar’s descendants, and eventually located and telephoned a grandson of his, Faysal (ibn Sattam ibn Mayzar ibn ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba). Faysal told us that his branch of the family owned two separate marabit (pl. of marbat) of Kuhaylan al-Krush: an older marbat from the time of al-Sharif Barakat (a ruler of Mecca back in the sixteenth century A.D., at the time all Shammar was still in Najd), and a second, more recent marbat, straight from the al-Dawish head clan of the…

Strain of the week: from Kuhaylan al-Krush to Krush al-Baida

A previous entry quickly went through the Kuhaylan al-Krush horses that came out of Arabia. Of these, the stallion Krush (sometimes called Krushan), imported by Lady Anne Blunt to Egyptian stud of Sheykh Obeyd in 1911, is of particular relevance for the Krush al-Baida branch of that strain. This is what the Sheykh Obeyd Studbook, quoted by Rosemary Archer in “The Crabbet Arabian Stud: its History and Influence“,  has to say about Krush: A Kehilan el Krush. Grey stallion bred in 1909. Sire: Kehilan el Sueti of the Harb stock. Dam: Grey Kehilet el Krush whose dam was the mare of Ammash el Reja el Duish, known as the ‘white Krush’ famed for her speed. Purchased in the desert in 1911. As far as I know, these three lines are the only Western reference to the ‘white Krush’, “Krush al-Baida” . They are important because they give away the name of the owner of “Krush al-Baida” – a Bedouin warrior of the al-Dawish ruling clan of the Mutayr tribe, the reason for her fame – speed in tribal warfare – and an approximate date. If Krush was foaled in 1909, and “Krush al-Baida” was his granddam, then she would have been alive in the 1880s-1890s. Bedouin oral tradition remembers “Krush al-Baida” as a mare that carried her rider and…

A look at the pedigree of a Moroccan-bred Arabian stallion

WARNING: DON’T READ ON UNLESS YOU ARE A PEDIGREE FREAK OR INTEND TO BECOME ONE. Of the Arabian horses bred in the three North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, the latter is the only one that did not develop its own “brand” of Arabians. Rather, Morocco relied on importations from its two North African neighbors as well as France and Egypt. Lets look at the pedigree of a typical modern Moroccan-bred Arabian horse: Fata, a chestnut stallion of the Jilfan Dhawi strain imported in utero from Morocco to France in 1976. Fata’s dam Tobiha was actually sold by the Moroccan Government stud of Meknes to French breeder jean Deleau, the founder of Haras de la Lizonne, in Western France.  Fata is by El Sud El Aaly (Nazeer x Lateefa), an Asil stallion born in Egypt and gifted to the King Mohamed V of Morocco (a full brother to SF Ibn Nazeer, by the way). Fata’s dam Tobiha is by Burhan (Morafic x Mona by Sid Abouhoum x Moniet el Nefous), another Egyptian Asil, and also a present from Egypt to the Moroccan King.   Fata’s maternal granddam, Mousson is by Murols, a stallion bred at the French stud of Pompadour and imported from France…

Some entries to be posted in French soon

Due to increasing requests from Daughter of the Wind readers, a number of entries will be published in French from time to time. English speaking readers will be able to access them through online translation softwares, however imperfect these tools are. Somewhere down the road, I will need to rely on someone’s help to translate some posts to German, which constitutes a growing part of the readership..  

About an ongoing discussion on straightegyptians.com

Looks like my recent series of entries on Tunisian Asil Arabian horses has sparked a good discussion on Straightegyptians.com, which by the way, I am not subscribed to. I wish I had enough time to contribute to it, but there are only so many hours in a day, and besides, I am pretty certain my boss would fire me.. Still, a couple points on that discussion, if I may: the horses of the stud of La Lizonne are from Moroccan lines, not Tunisian. The stallion El Sudd El Aaly (Nazeer x Lateefa), a full brother of SF ibn Nazeer (Lateef) was sent from Egypt to the King of Morocco as a gift, and never went to Tunisia..  Also, I have promised the readers of this blog an aricle on the Denouste issue, which I hope will shed some light on the status of this horse (i.e., whether he is Asil or not, which would have many implications on the status of many French and North African Arabians). This article in under preparatin, so stay tuned.

Photo of the day: Shaddad

Since it’s easier to share photos than write long articles, I thought I’d post this picture of one of my favorite Asil stallions from Syria. Shaddad (Marzouq x Asila), a Ma’naghi Zudghum (a prestigious branch of Ma’naghi Sbayli), is here pictured as a colt, with a groom and myself standing nearbyThe photo was taken at Zafir Abdul Khaliq’s stables, outside Aleppo, some fiften years ago.. Time flies.

Photo of the day: Dynamite II

Dynamite II is a desert-bred stallion imported to Tunisia by the French in 1920. He is recorded to be by a Hamdani out a mare by the name of Tayyara. I should have more information in my archives (including on his strain) but need to look it up. Meanwhile, here is the picture. The sireline of Dynamite II was perpetued until today through his son Ibn (Dynamite II x Gafir), a Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz and famous racehorse, and Ibn’s son Koraich (Ibn x Targuia).   By the way, if you read French and are curious about Tunisian racing bloodlines, checkout this article. There is also another article in English on Tunisian Arabian horse breeding in general here, which I think is informative, but difficult to follow at times – perhaps because it was translated from French.  

Photo of the day: Bint Nafaa, b. 1962

The gorgeous Bint Nafaa was born in Egypt in 1962, and bred by Ahmed Hamza’s Hamdan Stables, yet she does not have the “Straight Egyptian” label. The Pyramid Society, who coined the “definition” of a Straight Egyptian and Egyptian breds, does not accept El Gadaa, Nafaa’s sire, as a Straight Egpytian. El Gadaa was a racehorse, who stood at Hamdan stables for a while and was bred by Miqhim ibn Mahayd, the Shaykh of the Bedouin Fad’aan tribe. Egyptian records have him as being by El Sabaa, also a racehorse, out of a Ma’naghiyah of Ibn Mhayd.  Fine. But many questions remain unanswered. Did Miqhim race Arabian horses in Egypt? or did he sell the horse to a racehorse owner? did he own El Gadaa’s sire El Sabaa? where was El Gadaa bred, in Egypt, or in the desert?   I know Miqhim ibn Mahayd left Syria sometimes in the 1950s (will get back to you with the exact date) after a series of problems with the Syrian regime, and moved to Saudi Arabia, where he received royal treatment from the King – himself a fellow Anazeh tribesman, who incidentally bred Bint Nafaa’s dam Nafaa, a desertbred Kuhaylah (so marbat) by a ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi – a strain that branched off ‘Ubayyan al-Hunaydees. I know Miqhim kept a…

Famous Quote: Bodgan Zientarski on Kuhailan Haifi Or. Ar.

In 1931 Bogdan Zientarski, accompanied by Carl Raswan went to the desert to buy Arabian horses for Prince Roman Sanguszko of the Gumniska stud in Poland. Here’s an account of Zientarski’s encounter with the stallion Koheilan Haifi, near the desert oasis of al-Jauf: “Finally I hear a neigh, they guide the stallions… they lead the bay Kuhailan Haifi. My legs buckled under me, it is just the horse I am looking for. Not large, dry, on splendid legs without any trace of cow hocks. A long neck, a noble head, although not very small, with distended, thin and moveable nostrils; a splendid high carried tail. I feel, the first time in my life, that during the purchase of a horse I am fainting…” Have any of you experience that near-fainting feeling when coming across a unique Arabian horse for the first time? I have. Twice. I should consider myself lucky. I will tell you about these two electrifying encounters.

Photo of the day: Siglavy Bagdady VI, Babolna

Siglavy Bagdady VI, born in 1949, was the last Asil stallion of 100% old Babolna lines (i.e., no Egyptian Arabian lines in his pedigree). His strain was Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub, tracing in tail female to the mare Semrie, imported from the desert by Michael Fadlallah El Heddad. Siglavy Bagdady VI left one Asil son, Wahhabit, a 1977 stallion out of the Kuhaylat al-Krush mare Delicate Air. Delicate Air was bred by Craver Farms and traces to the mare *Werdi, imported to the USA by Homer Davenport in 1906. Pity there are so few of these Babolna Asil Arabians. They are of such a different type than anything else we see nowadays. They remind me of the last Lebanese Asil I used to see in my childhood. They also are a genetic treasure: each one of them traces to dozens of horses imported from the desert by the kings of the Austria, not found in any other current Asil bloodlines (except in the one remaning German Weil line). If you want to know more about the remaining Asil Arabians of Babolna, you can check out this post (dated May 2 2007, 10.44 pm) in the online forum Straightegyptians.com. This photo of Siglavy Bagdady VI is from the…

Book: Desert Legacy, in Search of Syria’s Arabian Horses, by J. Sannek and B. Loewenherz

In 1997, Jens Sannek and Bernd Loewenherz published what is perhaps the most interesting book to be written in recent times by Western travelers looking for Arabian horses in their original homeland. Traveling with a party of about 14 people which included French preservation breeders Jean-Claude Rajot, Louis Bauduin and Benoit Mauvy, as well as several young children, and joined by Syrian guides and friends, Jens and Bernd visited the Syrian cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, as well the Syrian desert, from Palmyra to Der el Zor (map here), for about two weeks. They described and photographed many of the older Syrian desertbred horses I grew up around (such as Mahrous, Mashuj, both now deceased and Mokhtar, still alive and now in France with Chantal Chekroun). They even met with some of Syria’s last truly nomadic Bedouin clans, the ‘Affat al-Dbayss – a clan from the Fad’aan tribe that owns a good marbat of Ma’naghi Sbayli in the general vicity of Der el Zor. Their book, written in German with an English summary at the end, is full of insights and anecdotes, as well as factual information, and gives one an excellent overview of the state of Syrian Arabian horse breeding in the late 1990s. Unlike other contemporary accounts I have come across, the authors’ description of the…