Robin Weeks is spoiling me with photos of horses she owned, which happen to be horses I like a lot, and I am on a roll. Here’s a couple of pictures of the Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah mare Soiree (Sir x Sirrulya by Julyan) in old age. She was bred by Jeanne Craver, and later owned by Robin Weeks. A favorite mare of mine, as you can tell from the several blog entries about this family. By now I think it’s time I shared with you the news that I am working with Kathy Busch of Kansas City, MO, on leasing a 25 year old chestnut daughter of Soiree which she owns. Her name is Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir), she was also bred by Jeanne Craver, and she is all I am thinking about these days. She’s been treated at the vet clinic recently for a minor uterus infection, and she’ll be ready to be bred over the next couple weeks via artificial insemination. I am still looking for the right stallion for her, with ‘right’ in this case including ‘ready to collect from and ship’ in addition to the other meaning it has for me. By the way,…
Today I was able to find a photo of the stallion *El Abiad (by Karawane x *Rajwa), a Saqlawi “Ejrifi” imported by W.R. Hearst from Lebanon in 1947. For an interesting discussion of El Abiad’s origins, click here. Too bad he does not have asil descendants left in the USA. His full sister, *Bint Rajwa, should have a couple elderly asil horses left, which otherwise trace to Al Khamsa horses in all their lines. I intend to propose *Bint Rajwa and her dam *Rajwa for the inclusion in the Al Khamsa Roster, next year. Photo from the Arabian Stud Book Volume VII, 1953
The second of three videos of foundation horses of Antique Arabian Stud, who draws on desert-bred Arabians from Saudi Arabia. Courtesy of Edie Booth.
Robin Weeks sent me more of these, all tracing to the Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd mare Dahriefa (Dahrecho x Zariefa by Zarlan), one of the main progenitors of the *Urfah tail female in asil breeding in the USA. All photos by Sugar Hill Farms, courtesy of Robin Weeks. Below is Dahriefa, still: The young grey one below is Sugar Hill Sassy (Joramir x Dahriefa by Dahrecho), by a Sirecho son out of a mare by another Sirecho son. This is Dahmira (Joramir x Dahriefa by Dahrecho), a full sister of the above and this is Dahmira’s daughter SH Hamira (Abay-Hami x Dahmira by Joramir), with her grand-dam Dahriefa in the background.. The last photo features SH Hamira on the left and her grand-dam Dahriefa, on the right. She looks so special even in old age, and strongly reminds me of the some of the old desert bred mares at Basil Jadaan’s in Damascus.