CSA Baroness Lady to be bred to MSF Hamdani Simri for a 2015 foal

Hopefully, on Sunday the Ma’naqiyah mare I recently acquired, CSA Baroness Lady will be bred to MSF Hamdani Simri (Faydin x IMF Badia Nafila by PRI Gamil Halim) of Lesley Detweiler, a stallion of very similar pedigree. It is a preservation breeding. Both have highly unusual (within Al Khamsa) Blunt/Crabbet tail females, the mare to Ferida (Ma’naqi Sbaili of the Shammar) and the stallion to Sobha (Hamdani Simri of APS). Both are sired by stallions bred at the Babson Farm. Both are heavily top-crossed with  new Egyptian blood (mainly Ansata with lots of Nazeer), and both have tiny amounts of Early American blood (Davenport, Hamidie, Huntington, and Nedjran) at the back of the tail female through Tizzy for the stallion and Milanne for the mare. MSF Hamdani Simri struck me when I saw him at the 2011 AK Convention in PA in 2011. The large truly Arabian eye, the nostrils made of velvet, the long and arched neck, the curved mithbah, the nice shoulder, and the high tail setting impressed me. Back then I thought I wanted to see a stronger, broader croup and hindquarter (Doyle style) and a broader chest, but that’s okay and the mare has plenty of both. Also, what style he had, what…

Moonflower TA, Kuhaylah Hayfiyah with Moniet and Rabanna lines

Everyday I see dozens of photos of mares on my Facebook accounts and on the pages and groups I follow. This mare, Moonflower TA (Oracle RSI x White Iras Moon by Sir White Moon x CH Lyras Moniet by Tomoniet RSI x Lyras by Lysander x Iras, and hence a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah) struck me, pedigree and looks. I love the shoulder, the prominent and bony withers, the well let down gaskins and clear hocks, the strong and round croup, and the deep girth. She looks like she is a real athlete. I also like the look on the face, a combination of the Moniet look in Egyptians and the Iras one in Davenports. The pedigree is a nice mix of both. Just look at what breeding these different groups of asil Arabians together can produce. Pity it is not tried more often. She is owned by Carly Cranmore in Michigan (and she is for sale, by the way).

Dahman of Ahmed Pasha Kamal

There is not a single mention in Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence of a Dahman of Ahmed Pasha Kamal sired by Jamil out of Farida of Ahmed Bey Sennari. There are only two such Dahmans of Ahmed Pasha mentioned again and again in these Journals, both sons of Farida of Ahmed Bey Sennari (a Dahmah Shahwan of Abbas Pasha lines): the first is mentioned as the sire of Rabdan, Tarfa, etc, and the old white Seglawi of Ali Pasha Sherif (then to Ahmed Pasha then to Khedive Abbas Hilmi) is mentioned as his sire; the second appears a couple of time and his sire is said to be the Koheilan El Mossen of Sennari. The lengthy footnote in the Foundation Tables of the precious book by Pearson and Mol (“The Arabian Horse Families of Egypt”) about the Dahman sire of Rabdan and the other horses being in all probability the son of the old Seglawi of Ali Pasha Sharif then takes all its meaning. I am reproducing parts of this footnote here: Dahman (Jamil El Ahmar x Farida El Debbani); ca. 1893. Grey: “This is the breeding attributed throughout EAO Vol. I to the Dahman given as the sire of Rabdan and others.…

On the birthdates of Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfiq and other Egyptian royalty

He was born in 1875, so he was only 5 when the Blunt met Ali Pasha Sherif for the first time, 24 when he owned what was probably his first Arabian (Saklawi II) in 1899 (according to his herd book), and 32 when he decided to dedicate himself solely to the breeding of Arabian horses (according to Lady Anne’s Journals). His brother Abbas Hilmi II was born in 1874 a year later. Prince Yusuf Kamal was born in 1882, and was only 25 when he dispersed the stud of Prince Ahmed Kamal his father. This puts things in perspective.

What Ali Pasha Sharif horses looked like

This is a picture of Ghazieh gleaned from the internet. Born in 1897 at APS. Bought by the Blunts in 1897 at the APS sale, died in 1917 at Sheykh Obeyd Stud. By Ibn Nura out of Bint Horra by Aziz out of Horra by Zobeyni. Dam of Feyda by Jamil (Aziz x B. Jamila), who is in turn dam of Ibn Fayda (at Inshass Stud in Egypt) and Ibn Fayda I (at Sidi Thabet in Tunisia) both by Ibn Rabdan. Also dam of Ghareb who was used by Lady Anne as a sire at Sheykh Obeyd stud, and her daughter Feyda and Ghazwa  and grand-daughters faiza adn Falha were admired by visitors to Sheykh Obeyd Stud from the world over. Funny, I don’t see a dished face or a flat topline. Maybe Lady Anne Blunt and Ali Pasha Sharif did not know enough about breeding Arabian horses to breed for these. Maybe show judges know better. Personally, I would die for a mare like this one.