Pseudo-Arabians from Iraq

Starting in the 1950s, so-called “Iraqi Arabians” swept across the Middle East race tracks of Lebanon, and, to a lesser extent, of Egypt and the Sudan. Until then, the overwhelming majority of the racehorses involved in the racing industry of these countries were asil desert-breds from the Northern and Central Arabian deserts. The Iraqi Arabians were different. They were not just Arabian horses from Iraq. They were taller, bigger, stronger, faster, and often more attractive than the plainer, smaller desert-breds. They looked like Arabians, but they ran like greyhounds, their tails down. They also matured much faster. Most significantly, they easily outraced the smaller desert-bred on the 1 mile and 1.3 mile races. They were more ‘horse’ than ‘Arabian’, standing above 16 hands. Almost every racehorse owner in Beirut wanted them in his stalls. Iraqis like Shahin ‘Iqab and Sfoug al-Yawer (al-Jarba) brought entire convoys of such “Iraqi” colts to Beirut. Few filles were bought. From the 1950s trickle, the business quickly grew to a major industry in the 1960s and 1970s. The Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) barely slowed it down, but the first Gulf war (1990-1991) dealt it a devastating blow. The names of the first generation racehorses are synonymous…

The archives of Gertrude Bell, “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq”

The archives of Gertrude Bell, sometimes referred to as the “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq” ( how I hate that title!), are at Newcastle University in the UK. If you do not know who Gertrude Bell is, or simply wish to know more about her, then click here. The archives include this first photo of a Shammar camel rider, with horses in the background, near the ancient Arab ruins of al-Hadr (ancient Hatra), in Iraq; and this second photo of Fahd Ibn Haddal, leader of the ‘Amarat Bedouins, and Gertrude’s “friend”.

The stallion Sergent-Major in the “Al-Dahdah Index”

I recently shared with you my plan to propose the mare *Lebnaniah for inclusion in the Roster of Al-Khamsa horses as of 2010. The process is very thorough, usually involving several individuals putting their research skills together. It typically takes several years to complete. As part of this process, I will be sending the Al Khamsa Board original information about *Lebnaniah’s ancestors – information that was not available before. Much of this information is actually included in “Al-Dahdah Index” (don’t laugh), an annotated catalog of noteworthy asil and non-asil horses that were bred in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, the northern Arabian desert, etc) throughout the twentieth century. I have already shared with you the entries on the stallion Shaykh al-Arab and Kayane. The “Al-Dahdah Index” is a living document, which I have been patiently working on for the past twelve years, and I update as often as I can.  The information is based on oral and written primary sources from the Middle East — i.e., it is not extracted from books written by Western travelers, horse buyers, and other occasional visitors. I would like to see the “Al-Dahdah Index” published some day, but not before I add a couple thousand more entries. I think I’ll give it another…

Two modern representatives of the Kuhaylan al-Krush strain

I have written a lot about the Kuhaylan Krush strain recently, more particularly on the branch of that strain that has been associated with the Dawish leaders of the Mutayr tribe. The mares Dafina (to the UK in 1926) and probably El Kahila (to Egypt in 1927) are both representatives of this branch, and so are the three Blunt imports to Sheykh Obeyd: the mares Aida, and Jauza and the stallion Krush. Below are two modern day representatives of that famed strain. The two mares Sharidah and Ma’yufah were bred at the stud of Prince Turki Ibn Fahd Ibn Muhammad Aal Saud in Najd, Saudi Arabia, then exported to the Nujaifi stud in Mosul, Iraq. PS — I wonder what an mtDNA test would show, if samples from these two mares were compared to the Dafina and El Kahila lines, or to some of the Krush Al-Baida horses with the Shammar Bedouins in Syria. The latter are known to trace to the “white Krush” of Ammash Raja al-Dawish of Mutayr, through a mare that had gone to Ibn Rashid. Read more about the Krush of Shammar in Syria here.

Tabib blood line Horses

. These two horses are from the Tabib blood line  They are completely diferent from the French horses,with Thouroughbred blood, that we posted and from today French race horses. The Iraqis are saying roughly that if Tabib (al Souri) was really a Thouroughbred or an Anglo Arab  his sons and grand -sons  should have been faster than ordinary Arab  horses. Dr. Mohamed el Nujaifi have published the results and times recorded by Iraqi horses on the Bagdad racetrack with and without Tabib blood they are almost the same. He also posted  the times of Iraqi Anglo -Arabs, there is really a difference between the times recorded between them and the Tabib blood line horses.  I ‘m not taking the Iraqi horses defense ,they are  WAHO registered,and free to be sold anywhere in the world.This is what matter for the Iraqis after a ban who lasted more than 15 years,and many scandals due to wars, horses substitution and forged papers;the same happened in the beginning of the 90’s with Russian horses due to the late USSR end. Today everything is in order and they can export horses,the Nujaifi’s sent, this year, 6 horses to race in Europe with not much success ,I may say.   They dont care much on what we think about their horses, as long…

Another Dahman Baghdad – but from Iraq

I am preparing an entry about the stud of the Iraqi family of al-Nujaifi near Mosul. This family has been breeding Arabian horses for the past 100 years and even sold some mares to the Turkish horsebuying commission in the 1930s. This short report from the WAHO website showcases the young stallion Dahman Bagdad from the al-Nujaifi breeding (scroll down to the Iraq section).        Dahman Baghdad