Davenport on *Wadduda

I was re-reading the Cravers’ “Annotated Quest” the other day, and came upon this description of *Wadduda by Homer Davenport, which had marked me the first time I read years ago: “The war mare, the present from the Supreme Ruler, was the chestnut. She seemed to be fretting to get out of the only town she had ever been in. In her highly carried tail, I saw some blue beads tied gracefully in her hair. I knew they were to keep off the ‘Evil Eye’ […]. Her names they told me was “Wadduda”, meaning “love”; that she was a Seglawie Al Abed, seven years old and had been the favorite war mare of Hashem Bey for four years. She didn’t like the town, she wanted to go — and those who told me pointed to the desert.”  

New (annotated) translation of the Arabic original document of *Simri

Simri was a desert-bred Arabian horses of the Hamdani Simri strain imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. He did not leave any progeny. I have never seen a photo. I did this new translation of his hujjah from the original Arabic document, and have annotated it below: ———————————————– “Blessings upon God who created horses from the Wind of the South (1), and put goodness in their forelocks (2), and domesticated them for [the benefit of] the Prophets — prayers and peace be upon them; the first who domesticated them was the Prophet Solomon Son of David — prayers and peace be upon both — and he said, after he became enamored with them: “Bring them back to us”, and went on stroking their necks and their legs (3); and [God] most high said: “by the racers, panting, and the chargers at dawn”(4); and [the Prophet Muhammad] prayers and peace be upon him said: Goodness is in the forelocks of horses (5); and there remained five of them (6), and from these came forth this blessed lineage; And after that, the blonde (7) horse with a star and a snip that drinks with him (8), and his age…

Fascinating letters relating to the 1931 Ziętarski / Raswan horsebuying trip

Monika Luft writes: A sensational discovery: Unknown letters of Bogdan Ziętarski and Carl Raswan from their expedition to Arabia! Polskiearaby.com have unearthed documents which cast a new light on the famous horse-buying expedition for the stud of Prince Roman Sanguszko in Gumniska near Tarnów. Several letters, discovered 80 years after being written, bring surprising details on one of the most extraordinary expeditions of the 20th century. More here: http://www.polskiearaby.com/?page=ludzie_i_konie&lang=en&id=52 See Edouard’s previous quote from Bogdan Ziętarski.

A ray of hope for the Turfa horses

Wendy Clark has taken up the torch on the preservation of the American asil Arabian horses that trace in tail female to the outstanding *Turfa, a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the stables of Saudi Arabia’s King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Aal Saud, and imported to the USA in 1941 by Henri Babson.These tail female *Turfa’s and other precious asil Arabians with lines to this mare are now critically endangered, after having been very popular with many breeders up to the 1980s. Recently, Wendy obtained the 1995 mare Bint Ibn Hilweh (Ibn Muhandis x Alah Al Abayyah), a tail female *Turfa, and added her to her *Turfa preservation breeding program. The mare seems to have been neglected by her previous owners, and is now recovering slowly at Wendy’s. The photo below is from before that time, when she was still with her breeder Susan Whitman. I first saw this photo on Susan’s website ten years ago, and this was one of two of my favorite mares.  

The horses of F.E. Lewis on the DAHC website

Not sure if I have linked to this article by Pat Payne on the horses of F.E. Lewis, an early breeder of asil Arabians of Davenport bloodlines in California, and mostly known as the breeder of Antez (Harara x Moliah by Hamrah). It’s posted on the website of the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy (DAHC), which is worth checking regularly for other historical articles.  

Lili Marlene SHF, 2004 Hamdaniyah Simriyah, USA

Lili Marlene SHF (Sergeant Major CF x Kestrel by Salutation) is a 2004 Hamdaniyah Simriyah of Davenport bloodlines bred by Fred Mimmack of Colorado. I really like this mare. She is reminiscent of some of the best-bred and best-balanced Arabians that were to be found in the 1950s and 1960s in my home country of Lebanon, and which of course traced to the same original ‘Anazah and Shammar Bedouin horses as the horses imported to the USA from the same area by Homer Davenport in 1906. They’re all one and the same.  

*Wadduda blood today

I have now officially become infatuated with the desert-bred mare *Wadduda. I am reading and re-reading everything I can find about the mare and her famous descendants (Hanad, Antez, Jadaan, Caravan, Dhareb, Bint Sahara, Bint Sedjur, etc) squinting at fuzzy old photographs, and obsessively making notecards like I used to do when I was ten years old. The pedigree geek in me in back big time, and I am loving it. Below is a photo of the 2003 asil Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Twickenham (Regency x Kiddleywink by Regency) (look at that smart friendly face and these short prickled ears). Twickenham is one of three stallions still pensioned at Craver Farms, along with his sire (and grandsire) Regency, now aged 30, and the grey Triermain. While not a tail female descendant, Twickenham carries the highest percentage of *Wadduda blood in asil breeding: 19.5%, on par with his sire.

More offspring of the Syrian stallions in France

Mourad Oufah Habib (Jahir x Murad Had’ra by Medicq Allah), a Shuwaymat Sabbah, and one of Louis Bauduin’s mares in France foaled a colt last year, by the asil Syrian stallion Mahboub Halab, who also happens to be a Shuwayman Sabbah from the Shammar Bedouins. Louis sent me these two pictures of the mare; the first one shows the mare heavily in foal on April 30th, and the second, followed by her baby on May 1st.

Photo of the day: Nasman, asil stallion of the Nasman strain from Iran

Reader Amirhosein Ghasemi from Iran is the administrator of the online Persian Horse Forum, and a breeder of asil Araiban horses, and turkmen and Kurdish horses too. He sent me these breathtaking photos of one of his asil stallions, Nasman. I am completely taken with this horse. His strain, also Nasman, is now only found in Iran, and traces back to the old Arab tribe of Bani Lam (so do the Hadban, Shuwayman and Wadnan strains).

Nauwas and Hisani Jzairah, Ubayyan mares of desert lines in the USA

Veteran preservation breeder George Hooper sent these old pictures of the asil ‘Ubayyah mare Nauwas (Al-Khobar x *Muhaira), one of my favorite mares of old Saudi bloodlines, and her filly foal Hisani Jzairah by the desert bred sire *Jalam al-Ubayan. The one below is of Nauwas and her colt Princeton Kadil:

Hussam al-Shamal, asil Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq stallion from Syria, in endurance racing

Arnault Decroix sent me the following account of the first endurance race (13 miles) of the Syrian stallion Hussam al-Shamal: “Hussam a fait sa course avec Nicolas aux Andelys en Normandie. Epreuve élevage 20 kms pour 6ans.  Il l’a fait en 14,84 kms/heure, le meilleurs temps de l’épreuve de vitesse imposée entre 12 et 15 kms/heure. Ayant été gêné par d’autres concurrents pendant la course, il a terminé sur l’hippodrome à 40 kms/heure, parfaitement sec avec une récupération à 40 de pulsation. Pendant la course il était tout à son affaire, restant trés froid, ce qui n’était pas le cas au vet gate où il avait tendance à s’enerver à la vue des autres chevaux…A la remise des prix, le jury à souligné ses origines syriennes et son cachet et le public de cavaliers et d’éleveurs, semble t’y avoir été sensible de par leurs applaudissements. Il fera une autre course de 40 km le 9 Juillet à Vatteville la rue toujours en Normandie et si tout va bien une 60 km par la suite.” Here are some pictures of this race from Arnault:

New asil foals from around the world: Hungary

Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary has two colts this year, both sired by his stallion Dahhmany Bagdady (Wahhabit X Tisrina B by Salaa El Dine): the first, Shahhran Bagdady (below) was born on 5th of March, out of the Wahhabit daughter Shahhra (Wahhabit x 225 Sheherazade B by Ibn Galal III). The second, Sulayman Bagdady is out of the Farag II daughter Soraya B (Farag II x 204 Ghalion) and was born on the 10th of April. Both colts are from the Kuhaylah al-Shaykhah line of 60-Adjuse, and combine old Babolna, Egyptian and Davenport bloodlines. Laszlo says little Sulayman moves like a dancer.