Wadd for sale — update

March 28 2017 update: he has found a home. More later. Reposting from Aug 2016: I am putting Wadd, my 5 year old Davenport stallion, up for sale. He is the youngest offspring of the grand Triermain CF, out of Wisteria CF, one of the prettiest Triermain daughters and a favorite of Charles Craver. He is a Kuhaylan Haifi by strain, bred within the strain for four generations. His sire was the main Kuhaylan Haifi stallion at Craver Farms in the last period of its activity, as was the sire of his sire before him. He would be best used to perpetuate his breed, preferably within the asil group of horses, including the Davenports, Saud, straight Syrians, North African, Bahraini, Sharps, and other Arabian horses lines that came directly from the Arabian and Syrian deserts. He sired one offspring for me, a filly now two months old, and is an easy breeder. He has a curious and playful disposition. He leads easily but is not broken to ride. For readers from the Arab world where these things matter, almost every one of his ancestors came from the desert with a certificate of authenticity (hujjah) from its Bedouin breeder or owner.…

Laura’s Major WA

This is a photo of the 2004 Hamdani stallion Laura’s Major WA, a horse of Davenport bloodlines. A closely bred stallion by Sergeant Major CF out of Miss Laura SHF by Mimic out of Kestrel by Saluation out of Trill by Tripoli. I saw this stallion last summer at the farm of Dawn Woods in Parker, CO. He was  bred by Mary Gills from horses tracing to the program of Fred Mimmack. Fred was asking me about this horse, and at the time I did not appreciate enough the combination of power and refinement he exudes. The muzzle is small, the eye placement low, and the eye big and expressive.

Origin of the Egyptian Kuhaylan Khallawi strain of Futna

Sheykh Tahawi Saeed Mejalli al-Tahawi who is in his nineties was interviewed recently by Yehia Abdel-Satar Eliwa al-Tahawi. The old man, who is the memory of the Tahawi clan of Egypt, told him that the original Kuhayla Khallawiyah mare had come to Shaman Ghumah al-Tahawi from the Mawali Bedouins. I had hypothesized this connection of the Futna line to the Mawali tribe some seven years ago on this blog, here. It is now confirmed. This makes the Egyptian Kuhaylan Khallawi strain of Bint Futna one of the most prestigious strains of Northern Arabia, that of Khallawiat al-Nesswan [“of the women”, not sure why they are called this way]. A branch of the Mawali leading family, the Aal al-‘Aabed, who had settled in Damascus, and provided Syria with its first president, Muhammad ‘Ali al-‘Aabed, owned a Khallawi line that survived in Asil form until the late 1990s, in both Lebanon and Syria.  I owned the last such mare in old age. These were quite the race horses. When Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid was on his way from Istanbul to Mecca on pilgrimage, he was hosted by the leader of the Mawali Bedouins near Hama, in central Syria, and presented with a Khallawia mare. In Syria,…

Note on the ‘Ajman Bedouins of Eastern Arabia

According to their own histories and the reports of British agents, the ‘Ajman are a Yemeni Bedouin tribe with an ancestral homeland around the city of Najran, today in South-West Saudi Arabia, but historically a Yemeni city until 1934. Their parent tribe of Yam still live in the Najran area. They trace further back to the Hashed, the dominant tribal confederation in modern Yemen. The ‘Ajman seem to have moved to the north-east first, to southern Najd around 1720 AD. Captain George F. Sadleir, the first Westerner to cross the Arabian Peninsula from shore to shore, encountered them in Eastern Arabia in 1819, and dated their settling thereto the end or the twelfth century Hijri, or around 1780. Around 1820, the ‘Ajman joined forces with Turki ibn ‘Abdallah, the 5th ruler of the Saud dynastty and the founder of the Emirate of Najd, which was seeking to reestablish control over Eastern Arabia, where the Shiite tribal emirate of the Bani Khaled held sway. In 1823, a large tribal coalition led by the ‘Ajman defeated  the Bani Khalid and moved into their Eastern Arabian realm. The battle, known as al-Radhimah, reportedly lasted for three months, and unfolded over four phases: the first pitting the ‘Ajman on their own against the…

On the elusive strain of Kuhaylan al-Kray

In his 1936 book “Rihlah ila Bilad al-‘Arab” about his journey to Arabia in search for Arabian horses, Dr. Ahmad Mabrouk of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt mentioned two mares of the Kuhaylan al-Kray strain in the stud of Prince Saud ibn ‘Abdallah Ibn Jalawi, governor of the Eastern region of the then newly established Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [translation mine]: “Krush al-Kray, golden chestnut, no white on the face, pretty head, nice legs but short neck, five years old, her dam the bay Kray, and her sire the bay ‘Ubayyan.” “Bay Kray, white on the hind legs, pretty, eight years old, not to be mated.” This seems to suggest that the strain of Kuhaylan al-Kray (or Karay), was actually an offshoot of the more famous strain of Kuhaylan al-Krush, but was not to be mated for some reason. As I came back from Bahrain where I saw representatives of this rare strain, I dug a bit deeper and found the following in the ‘Abbas Pasha Manuscript, in the section on Kuhaylat ibn Jarshan, the Jallabiyah: “and we [several elders from the ‘Ajman testifying] mated her to Kuhaylan al-Karay, the horse of Ibn ‘Ulbah of Aal Mu’yid of Al ‘Ajman” This reference constitutes…

Kuheila´t Umm Zorayr Nadija at Royal Stud, Bahrian

Kuheila´t Umm Zorayr Nadija 1568, grey mare, born 2009, by Hamdaany Wadhah 901 out of Kuheila´t Umm Zorayr Zaraya 1036 and her colt Kuhailaan Umm Zorayr 1775, bay, born 2016, by Hamdaany Senafee 1381  Two colts playing: Kuheilaan Um Zorayr 1775 (right) and Kuheilaan Um Zorayr 1776 (by Hamdaany Ra´an 1294 out of Kuheila´t Umm Zorayr Alia 1612)

Dahman strain back to Bahrain

I met Regina and Warren in Bahrain for the first time, after corresponding with them for seven years. They have been preserving the Dahman strain branch of the original Bahraini mare Sawannah in Germany, with their foundation mare Ghazalah (Ibn Taamrud x DB Jasidah by Desert Jalam) and her daughter Muharraq by Theeb. They also breed a Hamdani strain from Al Kamila (Desert Dhellal x Bint Amiraa). The ancient Dahman strain died out in Bahrain with the death of Dahmeh Umm Wajnah, and is now only represented by a stallion, the last of his line, Dhahmaan Hoobeishi, whose photo Matthias Oster posted below. So the Royal Stud of Bahrain sought a replacement for their lost line, and Regina sent three mares, and now a fourth is on her way. When in Bahrain, Regina was gifted an Ubayyan stallion (photo below, with the ruler’s brother) who will hopefully reach Europe sometime next month.  

Zayn al-Khayl

Zayn al-Khayl, a desert bred Rabdan stallion from the breeding of the Sheykh of Tay, was one of the main stallions in Syria before the war. He was something of a sensation. Everybody wanted to breed mares to him, and his daughters were superb, and correctly conformed as he was. He was standing at the farm of the sons of Mustafa Jabri when ISIS-affiliated thugs came and took him away, along with most of the herd. Later on information filtered that he was kept in an ISIS-maintained stud in Albu Kamal, on the Euphrates valley near the Iraqi border crossing, and that he may have died there about six months ago. I don’t know who took the photo and when it was taken.  

The Hamdaniyah of Fadlallah Jirjis from Qassis

In the same vein as this note in 2014: Fadlallah Jirjis, a Syrian Christian from the area of Wadi al-Nasara, and a close friend of Dr. Iskandar Qassis, owned a precious Hamdaniyat al-Simri mare from the Qassis herd. He would never be tired of repeating that she was from the breeding of ‘Ajaj (Ajaaaaaaj as he would say it) ibn Shibib, one of the Sba’ah leading Shaykhs. She was a bay daughter of Sahab, the beautiful bay Ma’naqi Abu Sayfayn head stallion of Qassis; her daughter Zabia, was by Qassis’ other stallion, Kharuf, a Ma’naqi Zudghum. Ma’naqi Abu Sayfayn and Ma’naqi Zudghum are the two most precious branches of Ma’naqi Sbayli, the first from the Fad’an and the second from the Sba’ah.

Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer and offspring at Royal Stud, Bahrain

Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer 1057, grey mare, born 1997, by Musannaan Dinaar 866 out of  Maanaghieh Shalfa 774 and her filly Ma´anaghieh 1789 by Mlolshaan Wesam 1371: Ma´anaghieh Ghada 1665, grey mare, born 2013, by Dahman Hoobeishi 1085 out of Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer 1057 Ma´anaghieh Maysa 1625, grey mare, born 2011, by Obeyaan Al Muheeb 957 out of Ma´anagieh Tabasheer 1057 Ma´anaghieh 1714, grey mare, born 2014, by Rabdan Sary Al Leil 1090 out of Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer 1057

Extinct and surviving Bahraini strains

Putting together information from Judi Forbis’ series of articles “Pearls of Great Price” on Bahraini horses as reproduced in Classic Arabian Bloodstock, with information from Dana Al Khalifa’s introduction to her “Living Treasures of Bahrain”, and comparing these with the current strains existing at the Bahraini Royal studs, one can list the Arabian horse strains lost to Bahrain in the course of the last 80 years:  Shuhayban, which is Kuhaylan ibn Waberah (mare gifted to Egypt in 1930s, as reported in Forbis, strain died out before 1970s) Kuhaylan Om Soura (in Forbis, strain died out before Forbis visit in 1970s) Dahman Najib (in Forbis, strain died out before Forbis visit in 1970s) Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz (reported as current in Forbis and Danah, died out before WAHO conference of 1998) Hadban (reported as current in Danah, died out in 1980s) Hadhfan, which is Ubayyan Umm Al-Ardaf (last stallion featured in 1998 catalogue, strain died out in early 2000s) Wadnan (last stallion featured in 1998 catalogue, strain died out in 2000s) Suwaiti (last stallion featured in 1998 catalogue, strain died out of 2000s, replaced with a branch from Saudi Arabia) Krushan (strain died in 1990s or 2000s, replaced with non-asil branch from UK) Dahman Umm…

Kuhaylat al-Aadiyat

One of the main reasons why some strains do not appear in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript is that they had not been formed or named yet. One example is Kuhaylan Hayfi in Northern Arabia, and another is Kuhaylan Al-Aadiyat in Bahrain. The latter strain is peculiar to Bahrain, stemming from a Kuhaylah Ajuz of the Bedouin Shaykhs of the ‘Ajman tribe, gifted to Bahrain at the turn of the XXth century. The story of how it was named is told here. Note that both Kuhaylat al-Aadiyat and Kuhaylat Umm Surayyir/Zurayr both came to Bahrain from the ‘Ajman tribe of Eastern  Arabia. Lady Anne Blunt already noted the ‘Ajman original provenance of many of the Bahrain strains.  

Differences between males and females in Bahraini Arabian horses

Again, elevating this other quote Laszlo relayed from Valerie Noli-Marais’ 1972  article in Arabian Horse News, because it’s very relevant to the discussion about the pronounced male-female difference in Arabian horses, but also to other earlier discussions on dished profiles: ”The stallions are between 14.3 and 16 h.h., very masculine, short-backed and compact, with long powerful necks, with prominent crests, good withers, broad and deep chests, and tremendously powerful quarters. Top-lines are good and tail carriage is truly magnificent. the legs apart from disfigurement by the shackling,are excellent and dry with large flat knees,short pasterns and large strong hooves… The mares are smaller, 14.2 to 15 hands high, feminine, with finer heads,more to our western taste. Some had quite good dished profiles, although this factor is not mentioned in the traditional standards. When questioned about the “dish”, it was apparent that this was not sought after or bred for, but happened to be present in some horses. It is tolerated in mares but not in stallions.”.. She certainly knew how to identify and describe the good points in an Arabian horse. Her last sentence, about the dish being tolerated in mares but not in stallions, certainly rings a bell, in…

The real Drinker of the Wind

In a comment on an earlier post, Laszlo reminded us of this quote from Valerie Noli-Marais in an article from a 1972 Arabian Horse News issue about the horses of Bahrain: “When a Bahrain Arabian horse is taken off its hobbles and proudly bursts into motion, with mane flying, dark kohl ringed eyes flashing, tail straight up like a banner and arching his long neck, it is a sight to bring tears to the eyes of any horse lover – for truly it is he – the real Drinker of the Wind… The wonderful photos Matthias Oster has been featuring here over the past two days are an illustration of this. So is this photo of Saidan Gharib at the 1998 WAHO conference in Bahrain. One of the things I loved the most about these Bahraini horses is how different stallions are from closely related mares, often their sisters and their mothers. Just as in wildlife, there is a differentiation between the male and the female, which has almost been erased in the show horse. Bahraini stallions exhibit strong primary masculine features like thicker necks, while mares’ neck are much thinner.