Keene Richards’ Arabian horse importation to the USA

This little known importation is the earliest ever made to the United States.  Between 1851 and 1856, Keene Richards took two trips to the Arabian desert, visiting virtually every region of North Africa and the Middle East. He came back with several horses, of which the stallions Massoud, Faysul, Mokhladi (no doubt a Mukhallad, the same rare strain as the French desert import Merjane) and Sacklowie. He left an account of his travels, edited by Thornton Chard, who also wrote this article about the importation. Sadly, the US Civil War broke out and completely destroyed what were extremely promising seeds of early USA Asil Arabian breeding.