A list of desert-bred Arabian stallions in the West

If you live in Europe or the USA and want to breed your Arabian mare to an asil stallion straight from Arabia Deserta, one who was actually born there, you now have a number of options at hand.

1) If you live in the United States, then your only option for the time being is Mlolshaan Hager Solomon, a 1986 grey stallion bred by Shaykh Muhammad bin Salman Aal Khalifah of Bahrain, and owned by Bill Biel of Michigan. Strain: Kuhaylan al-Mulawlish, his sire a Rabdan stallion. Hager Solomon is 23 this year, and he has sired only one or two asil foals so far, so you should catch him while he is still alive.

2) If you live in the United Kingdom, then the place to go is Jenny Lees’ Pearl Island Arabian Horse Stud. Jenny has Krayaan Dilmun, a 1992  chestnut stallion, also bred by Shaykh Muhammad bin Salman Aal Khalifah of Bahrain. Strain: Kuhaylan al-Kraay, sire a Ma’naghi stallion. Krayaan Dilmun, like Mloshaan, is from a very rare strain of Arabian horses, of which only the Kingdom of Bahrain has representatives. I also undestand that Jenny has an old grey Rabdan stallion on loan from Bahrain, but it is perhaps not the right time to talk about him (unless Jenny thinks otherwise, and I know she will let me know).

Mokhtar

3) If you live in France, then you have quite a few desert-bred stallions to choose from. Chantal Chekroun of the Al Shatane Stud (click here for her address) owns Mokhtar, a 1987 black stallion, bred by ‘Ayadah Talab al-Khalaf of the Shammar tribe. Strain: Kuhaylan al-Krush of the marbat of the Shaykh of Shammar Mayzar al-Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba, sire a Kuhaylan al-Krush, and lots of Krush blood all over. I have written five or six articles on this blog on Mokhtar and his strain. Of all the horses listed here, he is the only one literally born in a desert tent (yes, a black Bedouin tent of camel hair).

Mahboob Halab

4) A promsing desert-bred is Mahboob Halab, owned by Jean-Claude Rajot, of Tournus in Eastern France. Mahboob is a 2005 grey stallion, was bred by Radwane Shabareq of Aleppo, and was born in the Jazirah area of North Eastern Syria, where Radwane kept his horses for a while. Strain: Shuwayman Sabbah of the marbat of the Jarbah leading clan of the Shammar, sire a Kuhaylan al-Mimrah. He is from the very same marbat as the war mare of Faris al-Jarba, which Lady Anne described in her book “Bedouin tribes of the Euphrates”. Mahboob Halab is very mazbut (well ascertained, well authenticated) in his tribe. I understand he is available to a small number of outside mares.

Unfortunately, the second stallion who came to France with Mahboob Halab died at Louis Bauduin’s in Nemours a few weeks after landing. His name was Shahm, and he was a Ubayyan al-Lumaylimi of the marbat of Ibn Suhayyan, and was sired by al-Aawar, a Hamdani Simri of the marbat of Ibn Ghurab. Since this one is dead, I call readily tell you that he was one of the best desert-bred horses ever imported to France, in the opinion of many who saw him and instantly liked him. Shahm was a real loss. More on him later.

5) A very good desert-bred stallion who came to France just before Mahboob Halab and Shahm is Dahess Hassaka. He is a 2005 chestnut stallion standing at Arnault Decroix near Rouen, in Western France. He was also bred by Radwane Shabareq of Aleppo, Syria, and was born in the Jazirah area. Strain: Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq of the marbat of the Naqashbandi sufis of Dayr al-Zor, sired by a Shuwayman Sabbah. Some of the best, most authenticated desert blood runs in this horses’ veins. Both him and Mahboob Halab have a lot of maturing to do, and will show their full potential in a couple years’ time. Dahess Hassaka is the grandson of my own stallion Dahess, whom I gave to Radwane Shabareq in exchange for a Kuhaylat al-Krush filly.

6) A second stallion who came to France in the same batch as Dahess Hassaka is Nimr Shabareq. This one is a 2007 chestnut stallion and is being tried at the racetrack by his owner M. Jardel. He too was bred by Radwane Shabareq of Aleppo, and was born in the Jazirah area. Strain: Ma’naqi Sbayli of the marbat of ‘Atiyah Abu Sayfayn of the Fad’aan tribe, sired by a Kuhaylan al-Mimrah. Nimr Shabareq is a great-grand-son of the pretty mare Holwah, featured here, in the early days of this blog.

I understand that more stallions from Syria may be coming to France in the weeks and months to come, on lease to Arnault Decroix. One of these is Hussam al-Shimal (who might be there already), a Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq sired by a Kuhaylan al-Musinn. Hussam was featured on this blog, here. More about him later.

7) If you live in Spain, then your person is Mrs. Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, who owns Najm Yarob. This is grey Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion, from the same original marbat as Mokhtar above, but bred in Hims, Syria, by Mrs. Ghalyoun’s family. Najm Yarob was featured on this blog, here.

8) There is an asil ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi stallion from Saudi Arabia, Jahel, somewhere in Europe, and I am still trying to find out where. I will add him to this list once I have located him.

Now please note that this list has only desert-bred stallions, with ‘desert-bred’ being loosely defined here, as “originating from one of the countries of Arabia Deserta (Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are all in Arabia Deserta. Egypt and Tunisia are not, which is why asil horses from these two countries are not included in this list). Also not included are the first (and second, and third) generation offspring of horses imported from Arabia Deserta to Europe or the USA. One of these is the bay asil Saqlawi stallion Menjad Maram al-Baida (picture below), the offspring of two Syrian imports, Mokhtar and Hijab. Menjad stands at Mrs. Balthasar in Western France. These first-generation offspring of desert-bred are equally valuable, but they will be featured separately. A lof the Shuwayman, Hamdani, and Krayaan stallions of Jenny Lees in the United Kingdom also fit in this first generation category, since they are the offspring of two desert-bred horses.

Menjad

16 Replies to “A list of desert-bred Arabian stallions in the West

  1. Hi Edouard, Thanks for posting this interesting information. I am not where I can look this up right now but wasn’t Mokhtar at one time at Basil Jadaan’s place or am I thinking of another black stallion by this name?

  2. that’s right Joe, you must have seen Mokhtar at Basil’s in Damascus during your trip to the Middle East. I actually have a series of photos of him at Basil’s. He was gifted to a British lady who took him to France and he eventually found his way to Chantal Chekroun’s al Shatane stud.

  3. Edouard, please remind me to include Mlolshaan Hager Solomon when I (eventually) find time to do something with a rare sire line site. His owner (or someone representing his owner) wanted me to include him on the rare AK strains site, but…. He IS a stallion so he won’t be passing on his strain!

    And feel free to discuss the concept of ‘rare’ and what the definition of ‘rare’ should be. ‘Rare’ is one of those words that everyone knows what it means (when applied to a rare dam line, rare sire line or rare element) until you ask them how many horses are in a group that is considered ‘rare’!

    As always, thank you for bringing these horses to our attention. I particularly enjoy the international flavor of your posts.

  4. will do. it also depends on how you define the larger group. No one will consider Egpytian Hadbans to be rare, but i you narrow down the definition to include Sheykh Obeyd Egpytian Hadbans, then some people might make the case that they are rare indeed. To me, I would like to think of a line as rare, if it rare within the larger Al Khamsa group.

  5. Numbers, I need numbers 😉

    Certainly Mlolshaan Hager Solomon would be considered a rare sire line – there is no quibbling with whether or not one stallion is considered rare. Due to the scarcity of his AK offspring, probably ‘endangered’

    But is the upper limit of ‘rare’ stallions in a rare sire line 5 stallions? 10? 20? I have a stallion that I’m TOLD is of a rare sire line in AK (Gulastra), but is he? I don’t know, I haven’t done the research yet.

    It becomes even harder to define with the
    rare elements since both mares and stallions are included in the count.

    The numbers was one of the issues with the rare strains site – everyone wanted THEIR strain to be considered rare. In the end, we had to set numbers and simply stick to them.

    In the interest of not making a longish response much longer, I agree concerning such groups as the SO Hadbans. CERTAINLY a concern to the SO preservation breeders, but within AK, they are simply not rare as a strain (some dam lines could be considered rare).

    I certainly understand thinking that the horses that we love are the best, but I’ve not understood equating ‘best’ with ‘rare’.

  6. How it is possible to contact Mr. Jean-Claude Rajot with request about terms of covering a mare by his stallion?

  7. Edouard, if it was within your power to freeze semen on any of these stallions which would you do first?
    Rarest? A certain strain? Your judgement of the most classic and authentic?
    According to what I understand we need these rare element horses to preserve the genetic diversity of the breed for the future, how do we balance that with the “usefulness” or “quality” of the horses?
    just got a moment to think..
    thanks,
    Donna

  8. I would go with #1, #2 and #3. In terms of rarity, #1 (Mlolshaan in the USA) is the most pressing priority. There are only a handful of individuals left from this strain, all in Bahrain.

    #2 (Krayaan in the UK) has had a chance to sire a few foals for his owner.

    Recently I saw a daughter of #3 (Krush) in France, and she certainly looks the part. He is 23 years old this year, and it’s time to catch him. High quality endurance type. I would freeze this one first.

    All three are equal in terms of authenticity, even if I have a slight preference for #3. My own bias.

  9. I live in the U.S. I had an Egyptian bred stallion from Arabest Farms and am looking for the Arabian Stud Book registry for a Stallion imported long ago by the name of Halani. I saw an article in Arabian Horse News a long time ago about him but have since moved and cannot find it. Any help in finding info about this early imported Arabian Stallion would be appreciated. Thank you.

  10. How do I find information about the imported Stallion Halab?Please help me get info on this stallion called Halab imported to the U.S. Long ago. My above stamens has a spelling error. His name was not Halani. It was Halab.

  11. He is registered as *Haleb, imported by Homer Davenport in 1906. He died in 1909. He was a stallion used by the Bedouin as a herd sire, in recognition of his breeding.

  12. A recent addition was Obeyyan Mirage in Germany from the royal stud of Bahrain, giften to Warren and Regina Staas.

    Also the two stallions to HM the Queen of England also from the royal stud of Bahrain.

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