Barely Surviving Lines: Kuhaylan Krush to *Werdi through Kapiti

The series on Barely Surviving Al Khamsa lines continues (and it’s not likely to stop anytime soon given the number of asil lines in dire straits now in the USA).

This eighth entry on Barely Surviving Lines comes after earlier entries on the critically endangered tail female asil lines to Safarjal in Austria (Hamdani Simri, to Selma from Abbas Pasha’s stud);  to Serije (Saqlawi al-Abd, to *Wadduda, desert-bred, imported by Davenport to the USA); to Dihkenna (Kuhaylan Hayfi, to *Reshan, desert-bred, imported by Davenport to the USA); to Koweyt and Kerasun (Hamdani Simri, to *Samirah, from Ibn Saud); to Rosina in South Africa (Kuhaylan Rodan, to Rosemary and her dam Rodania, desert-bred, imported by Anne Blunt to the UK); and to Rayim in the USA (also to Rosemary).

Today’s entry focuses on the Kuhaylan Krush line that goes back to the mare *Werdi, imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. There are two tail female lines to *Werdi in America today. The first is through *Werdi’s grand-daughter Babe Azab (Letan x Tamarinsk by *Hamrah), it’s continuing in Davenport-only breeding, and it’s essentially doing well (picture below).

The second of the lines to *Werdi is hanging by a thread. It is the line through Babe Azab’s sister Kapiti (Harara x Tamarinsk), a 1926 mare, pictured below. Anne McGaughey, who owns one of the last mares from this Kapiti dam line, also discusses the status of this Kapiti line on her Rare Al Khamsa Strains Website. There is also an article in the new Khamsat magazine on the issue, with photos of many of Kapiti’s descendants.

Kapiti’s great-grand-daughter Mystalla (San Luis Jacob x Killala by Mainad) is the mare through which the line continues into modern times. She nicely blends Davenport, Blunt (through Ribal) and old Egyptian lines from the Stud of Prince Mohammed Ali (*Roda, *Zarife, *Nasr, *H.H. Mohamed Ali’s Hamida) with desert-bred lines imported to Argentina (the Ayerza breeding, this line itself barely surviving in the USA). One of the common features of these lines is that they are all old American breeding lines, which the geeks among us refer to as “Volume Five”. Volume Five horses – or what is left of them – are the group of American-bred asil horses from lines imported and bred before the straight Egpytian tsunami swept the USA starting in the late 1950s. I am personally a nostalgic of the times when such horses dominated the USA Arabian scene, because there was something real, deserty, yet classical about them.

In any case, the line to Mystalla goes on, barely, through two of her daughters bred (and still owned, I think) by Trish Stockhecke. These mares, Bint al-Barra (b. 1991) and Cinnabar Myst (b. 1992) both by ASF David (Daaldan x Dihkenna by Gharis), have the added distinction of carrying one of the last lines to the mare Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mare Dihkenna, who was featured earlier in this same series. These two mares have not been bred, but were alive the last time I checked. They do have a third younger sister, Nuri Al Krush, sired by a Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion from the other *Werdi line (that to Babe Azab), but I don’t think she is in a preservation home, because her 2008 son is not Al Khamsa.

Mystalla also has another daughter, Suuds Mist Hally, by PRI Saqlawi Suud (a horse I really like, by the way), who was bred to Egyptian stallions of the Julyan/Julep/Gulastra/Mesaoud sire line. Within this branch of the family, SS Moria (El Reata Juan x Mist Hally Halima) is in a preservation home, since Anne McGaughey is her owner. Another mare, SS Moriquendi (El Reata Juan x Suuds Mist Hally) was also in a preservation breeding at some point. Not sure if she still is in production.  Anne traces the entire line down to these two mares, Moria and Moriquendi, who, together with the mare Nuri Al Krush, seem to be the last hope for this Kapiti damline. Only three mares left.